Pri la kulturhistorio de Eŭropo /Zur Kulturgeschichte Europas
Zweisprachig: Esperanto und Deutsch
Joanna Lewoc, Wolfgang Viereck
The Atlas Linguarum Europae (ALE) is the first continental linguistic atlas.
It is, primarily, an interpretative word atlas. Among the methods to
interpret the geolexical data, motivational mapping is an innovative one and
the most important one to illustrate Europe’s cultural history. It asks for
the motives in designating certain objects. Taking the history of religions
as the frame of reference, it becomes apparent that Europe’s cultural history
is not made up of random elements but exhibits a recurrent structural
pattern. Three layers can be distinguished here, one historical level and two
pre-historical ones. Concentrating on plants, animals, supernatural beings,
natural phenomena, diseases and bread, it is demonstrated with many examples
both from the ALE and from the author’s own research that the same reality
was first given kinship and zoomorphic names to be followed by
anthropomorphic names and finally by Christian and Islamic names.
