Obyczaj w dobie staro- i średniopolskiej. Próba odtworzenia dawnego pojmowania wartości

This paper is dedicated to analysing valuation methods associated with the social concept OBYCZAJ (CUSTOM) in the Old and Middle Polish periods. The records where the main exponent of the concept, the lexeme obyczaj, is valuated in terms of morality. Such a valuation is manifested in various manners: the occurrence of the lexeme obyczaj in contexts shared with the names of other values, the existence of derivatives that are positively marked in terms of axiology and an antonym together with negatively marked derivatives, and fi nally, attachment of evaluative epithets to obyczaj. The initial three valuation manners show that obyczaj was perceived as a name of a value, yet the abundance of negatively market epithets (along with many positive ones) undermines such a conclusion. It seems that obyczaj was presented in Old and Medium Polish texts as a model value on the one hand, and as its realisation in practical behaviours, in which case it was characterised by axiological ambivalence, on the other hand. Old social concepts were particularly susceptible to evaluation in ethical terms and were often considered as values albeit at times unobvious ones