Prodá Chudobu a koupí si Nouzín - lidová etymologie, lidová paměť a Český koutek v Kladsku

Folk etymology refers to the process of making connections between etymologically opaque words and words that despite having similar forms or meanings are etymologically different. It is a manifestation of people’s natural need to attain a clear understanding of the things that surround them, identify relationships between them, and give them an order. The first part of the study addresses folk etymology vis-à-vis folk memory. The second part focuses on folk interpretations of toponyms that were used by the inhabitants of the Czech Corner, a territory located in Kłodzko Land in what is now Poland. Arguably, the most remarkable example of these is the traditional folk interpretation of “selling Poverty to buy Need”, meaning that the financial situation of the local people was never very good. The phraseme, which contains the names of two villages on the Czech border ‒ Chudoba (EN: poverty) and Nouzín (EN: place where people are in need), is believed to be based on the common assumption that the two place names remind us of the poverty that the region faced. The reality is however that etymologically Nouzín has nothing to do with „need“. Additionally, the study deals with folk interpretations of the toponyms Pálenina, Kodrcov, Plhánek, Zámecká hora and Pec.