Kolor biały w języku włoskim i polskim – porównanie semantyczne

This paper consists of three parts. The first one describes theoretical studies on colour with particular attention paid to Berlin and Kay’s theory, as well as to other significant linguistic studies, i.a. the ones conducted by A. Wierzbicka. This part also illustrates the status of research on colour in both languages of interest, i.e. Italian: M. A. Kristol, M. Grossmann, and Polish: R. Tokarski, I. Bjelajeva. The second part is mostly focused on etymology of the words bialy and bianco, both in Polish and Italian. Additionally, attention is paid to the Pre-Indo-European etymology defining the white colour in both Romance and Slavic languages. The last part of the article analyses the semantic connotations of the white colour in idioms, paremies and literature.