Res Humanitariae

Simple and clear at the first glance, the word sea, having Indo-European parallels which have practically the only meaning ‘sea’, on a closer examination turned out to be not so clear. Linguistic and ethno-linguistic, including folklore, data of Slavic traditions make it possible to interpret the word sea in Slavic languages and dialects in the sense of ‘water’ in general, and especially – the vast expanse of water – regardless of salinity, flowage and other properties of water. Moreover, the same semantics are characteristic of many, if not all, Indo-European denominations of the sea, and many words of non-Indoeuropean languages as well. Aspects of future studying of this topic can be seen in the explanation of other words with root *mor-/mar-, identification of their semantics, motivational relations and etymology, as well as other lexems, denoting the sea, the causes of their emergence or preservation in i.-e. languages and solving a number of other problems of diachronic aspect.

This article examines a specific kind of sacrifice to the pagan Lithuanian and Prussian gods recorded in the written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, sacrifices made in and by water. There is a total of just ten such records known. Both Lithuanian and Prussian tribes practiced this kind of sacrifice. It is noteworthy that sacrifices involving water were not made to a single deity, but rather to several different gods; that the kind of sacrifice varied and that the most diverse sorts of intentions were pursued in making the sacrifice.

In the context of XVI–XVII centuries written sources, this article provides an overview and evaluation of authenticity of to the Balts pantheon and the water sphere attributable deities Perdoytus, Wejopattis, Gardouten, Bangpjtjs, Luobgelda (partly Bardoayts) that were described in Matas Pretori­jus (Matthäus Prätorius) work “Sights of Prussia, Or Prussia’s Observation Place” (Deliciae Prussicae, oder Preussische Schaubϋhne) (the end of the 17th century). The focus of this article is on the analysis of authenticity Perdoytus (Gardouten ↔ Bardoayts) and opposition between Wejopattis ↔ Bangpjtjs mythologemes. In order to assess the validity of data the author uses in-depth comparative research whose core is in the comparison of the original and secondary material, allowing to determine who, when and what kind of mythical material changes were made. The study revealed that the mythical information provided by M. Pretorijus and other ancient written sources from XVI–XVII centuries are overshadowed by redundant and unauthentic information or interpretations of chroniclers. The author attempts to define this multi-level mental and physical phenomena by introducing a new term information noise in the verification process of ancient written sources.

The article analyses the tendencies of the expression of the relation between the addresser and the addressee in the first Lithuanian advertisements, published in the periodicals Aušra, Varpas and Židinys at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The relation between the addresser and the addressee is considered to be one of the ways to achieve the peripheral persuasion effect. Attempts are made to perceive these relations in the article by analysing the linguistic expression in terms of pragmatic linguistics and stylistics, by means of which the addresser names the addressee and expresses a request-persuasion to purchase the advertised product. Since advertising is one of the most popular public genres entrenched in the present-day language, indirectly but considerably affecting not only the standard language development, but also the culture of communication, when analysing the tendencies of the expression of the relation between the addresser and the addressee in the first advertisements, the research results have been evaluated with respect to the rules of the general principle of politeness.

Pirmieji švyturiai buvo paprasčiausi LAUŽAI, uždegti aukštesnėje pakrantės vietoje, kad saviškiai, išėję jūron, rastų kelią namo. Homeras VIII a. pr. Kr. „Iliadoje“ aprašė Trojos karą: „Kai užgęsta saulė – ant kranto uždegami signaliniai laužai.“ Norint, kad laužas matytųsi iš toliau, reikėjo ugnį kelti aukštyn. Net du antikos švyturiai yra „Septyniuose pasaulio stebukluose“ – Aleksandrijos (Pharos) (280–247 m. pr. Kr.) ir Rodo Kolosas (292–280 m. pr. Kr.). Prasidėjus laivybai, nusidriekė jūrų keliai iš Viduržemio jūros, aplink Europą ir iki Skandinavijos. Pakeliui, besiplečiant Romos imperijai, pakrantėse dygo pirmieji švyturiai – Ostia, Genua, La Coruna, Cordouan, Dover, Hook...