VARIANTS, MEANING AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF TEMPORAL ADVERBS TOČ AND TOLIČ

Abstract

The paper focuses on temporal adverbs toč and tolič the meaning of which is ‘a moment ago’. They are preserved in archaic Croatian dialects and are remnants of the Old-Croatian lexical layer. Besides in the local Croatian idioms, they can also be found in literary works by Croatian authors almost all of whom originate from the areas in which these temporal adverbs are still used. In the introductory part of the paper we discuss temporal adverbs in general, the meaning of the adverbs toč and tolič, list their variants and explain their etymology. The paper also contains information about the geographical spread of these, in many ways interesting, lexemes.