Archaism

As archaism ( Latinized from Greek ἀρχαῖος archaios " old, former " ) is in lexicology denotes a word whose frequency of use decreases and which is perceived by the speakers of a language community as old-fashioned. Archaisms are still used by some (especially older ) speakers and many speakers are familiar, they belong to their passive vocabulary.

Perished words are lexical units that have disappeared from the vocabulary of the present-day language or only in some solidified sayings continue to exist (eg cone " illegitimate child ", now only in the phrase " with the kids " at present ).

In the rhetoric is denoted by archaism the deliberate use archaic words or phrases. The deliberate use of archaic words can have stylistic or ideological reasons.

Causes for the disappearance of words

The obsolescence and eventual disappearance of a word can have the following reasons:

In many archaisms no closer reason for their disappearance can be specified.

Obsolescence can be both a word as a whole concern (example: Barber Barber → ) or only one meaning of the word or only a particular aspect: the notation ( Roulleau → Rollo ), flexion ( the finale → The Finals ), conjugation ( schnöbe → snorted ), etc.

Some archaisms survive longer in dialects or standard German in a particular country (eg bicycles in Switzerland, godson in Germany ). Therefore, the classification of a word as archaism is also dependent on the language variety that is considered.

Lexicographic treatment of archaisms

Archaisms are marked in dictionaries, codifying the vocabulary of a language in its current use, as obsolescent or obsolete. These are candidates for eradication in future editions of the dictionary. You will always resumed with in dictionaries to preserve skills for the reception time of past texts and train. With Osman, 2003 ( see below literature in 1971 ), there is a specialized dictionary that pragmatically marked Lemmatyps for the German.

Pragmatic value of archaisms

The pragmatic or rhetorical value of the use of archaisms in a contemporary linguistic context is to produce a certain period atmosphere (eg in literary works ), or is a person to be characterized by their way of speaking.