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    • Flaga wersji językowej  English Flaga wersji językowej  Polski
    Published: 2026-04-02
    Vol. 832 No. 3 (2026)

    Melancholia, starsza siostra depresji, w ujęciu diachronicznym: historycznym i współczesnym

    Radosław Pawelec
    Poradnik Językowy
    Section: Papers and dissertations
    DOI https://doi.org/10.33896/PorJ.2026.3.5

    Abstract

    This article explores the semantic evolution of the word melancholia (‘melancholy’) in the Polish language. Early studies of melancholy were predominantly medical in character, though they also exhibited a degree of interdisciplinarity. From the 19th century onwards, cultural and literary associations began to develop, accompanied by cognitive and aesthetic values, such as an expanded notion of ‘seeing with the heart’ and of beauty. In contemporary usage, melancholia functions only to a limited extent as a medical term, having largely been replaced by the broader and more precisely defined term depresja (‘depression’). At the same time, melancholia has retained its primarily cultural dimension, along with strong literary connotations.

    Keywords:

    melancholia (‘melancholy’) , depresja (‘depression’), history of Polish language, evolution of concepts, Romanticism

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    Citation rules

    Pawelec, R. (2026). Melancholia, starsza siostra depresji, w ujęciu diachronicznym: historycznym i współczesnym . Poradnik Językowy, 832(3), 75–99. https://doi.org/10.33896/PorJ.2026.3.5

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