Anthroponymic Terms in the First Lithuanian Psychiatry Textbook of the Inter war Period

Abstract

The article examines anthroponymic terms, i.e., those derived from people’s names and surnames, in the first Lithuanian psychiatry textbook. It describes how anthroponyms become one-word terms, how anthroponyms that function as the subordinate components of compound terms are adapted to the morphological system of the Lithuanian language, and takes a deep dive into the matter of the survival of anthroponymic terms in modern Lithuanian psychiatric terminology. It has been found that any changes that take place in the structure of anthroponyms after they become subordinate components in the process of their transformation into appellatives, also known as appellativisation, are but minimal, with the anthroponyms usually preserving the spelling of the onym, the extent of their Lithuanisation limited to the addition of Lithuanian endings to the authentic root morphemes, preceded by an apostrophe or not. The most significant extent of structural transformation in the process of appellativisation can be observed in the case of anthroponyms as they turn into one-word terms. As a rule, they lose their onymic spelling and become constituent components. All simple anthroponymic terms are still in use in modern Lithuanian psychiatric terminology for their simplicity, international recognition, compact expression. In contrast, their dubious function usually undermines the survival of compound terms as terms, their inaccuracy, the underlying notion being no longer relevant, and so on; on the other hand, some of these terms fall out of the field of psychiatry. Some compound terms have survived only to an extent—the spelling of the anthroponymic element has changed or has been dropped altogether, the definition of the main component has been revised and narrowed down.