Trace of Šimon Ondruš in the Etymological Dictionary of the Old Church Slavonic Language

Abstract

In the Etymological Dictionary of the Old Church Slavonic Language, which contains 2,483 entries, the name Šimon Ondruš appears in 91 of them. Ondruš’s etymological interpretations are original, controversial, often isolated. The specific features of his etymologies, which the Etymological Dictionary of the Old Church Slavonic Language mentions, include in particular the application of laryngeal theory, the Benveniste model of the Indo-European root and the Schwebeablaut, in addition to the method of semantic parallels, the theory of the originally single phoneme r/l in the Indo-European proto-language, delabialization of Indo-European and Proto-Slavonic consonant groups. For a number of words generally considered to be old borrowings from Romance or Germanic languages, Ondruš preferred their domestic origin, explaining them as autochthonous words. Ondruš’s interest in Old Church Slavonic language was also reflected in the dictionary: for several Old Church Slavonic words, he specified their translation into contemporary Slavonic languages, including Slovak.