2025/01/01 by Rübekeil, Ludwig
Arts and Humanities · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Linguistics and language evolution #Linguistic and Cultural Studies #Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies
paper · doi:10.5167/uzh-280559
This article presents and discusses four Latin words for which a Germanic etymology is — more or less — accepted. The study begins with the famous ‘elk word’ alcis , ἄλκη, which serves as a template for the analysis of the other three words: socerio, melca and reno . In the case of all four words, the literary transmission overshadows their everyday use and diachronic evolution within Latin. And, while the Germanic origin of alcis is quite obvious, the same clarity does not hold for its counterparts, especially when it comes to the awareness of their users. On balance, none of the four prove to be straightforward examples of loanwords which are smoothly adopted into the Latin language and become integrated into the Romance lexicon in the end. It is the aim of this paper to examine the origins of these words and their pathway into Latin, as well as the interfaces between literary tradition and linguistic use, both before and after the written records.