Między lękiem a fascynacją. Pojęcie powietrza w dziejach polszczyzny

This paper, which proposes a historical overview, is dedicated to the notion of (air) and its lexical equivalent in the Polish language. This notion has undergone numerous changes over time; it has formed through direct human experience on the one hand and through the Christian and Slavic traditions as well as scientifi c knowledge overlapping on the other hand. This notion has always been important to the human being, it has been commonly referred to in metaphors and similes. In the historical analysis, two basic senses of powietrze (air) were taken into consideration: ‘place’ and ‘substance’. In both cases, there has always been a clearly ambivalent attitude to the human being, who sees threats on the one hand and feels that air guarantees life on the other hand.