The concept of HOME in Polish and Portuguese – distant cultures, similar concepts

Abstract

The concept of HOME in Polish and Portuguese – distant cultures, similar concepts

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the concept of HOME in Polish and in Portuguese language and culture. The methodology which suits its purpose best and allows to compare words from different languages without an ethnocentric bias is the NSM, Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach cf. Wierzbicka 1996, Goddard/Wierzbicka 2002. On the basis of lexical and textual data the meaning of Polish dom is explicated and compared with its Portuguese equivalent, casa. Despite the differences in treating public and private space in Polish and Portuguese cultures, the notions of HOME in these two languages have many things in common: both dom and casa are multidimensional concepts referring not only to ‘people living together in a place’ but are also related to emotions such as love, tenderness and homesickness, and to feelings of security and warmth.