Rozwój znaczeniowy wyrażenia pospolite ruszenie w polszczyźnie

The paper contains an analysis of the linguistic processes that have led to the transformation of the term pospolite ruszenie into an idiom. Research shows that the contemporary semantic content of the expression refers to a large extent to the connotations linked to its historic designatum. Terminological uses of the expression are richly documented with quotations in dictionaries, the earliest from which date back to the 16th century. Whereas its idiomatic uses are not noted by any modern dictionary, although they appear frequently in contemporary Polish texts.