The paper analyzes the properties of the Slavic lexeme baba from diachronic perspective. The author makes use of Polish and Slavonic etymological dictionaries in order to outline various hypotheses concerning the origin of the word. Most of the linguists claims that the Proto-Slavic word *baba is imitative of children s talk (babble words), but not all scientists accept this interpretation. First Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, and then Andrzej Bańkowski, said that the word coming from the Indo-European root *bha- to speak . The Proto-Slavic word *baba had lots of different meaning, including sorceress , which survived in the Slavic languages into 19c. The word baba in the Slavic mythology is also the name of the demons, for example Baba Jaga, baba żytnia.
I. Pochodzenie słowiańskiej baby
II. Miejsce baby w kulturze duchowej dawnych Słowian.
III. Baba w językach słowiańskich
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