Overview of Some Borrowed Terms from Romance Languages in Legal Terminology in Albanian

Introduction

Throughout its history, Albanian has been in contact with various languages of the Balkan Peninsula.

Speaking especially of the influence of Italian terminology on legal terminology in the Albanian language, we should mention the predecessor of the Italian language, i.e., Latin, viewed from the perspective of its impact on Albanian terminology as a whole. The influence of Latin on the Albanian language was exerted over a relatively long period of several centuries—as a state language, as a language of economic and trade relations, and as a language of culture—with Latin elements in the lexicon occupying first place among Albanian borrowings in terms of number and the extent of their use. Albanian Latinisms appear in forms that belong to different chronological layers (Domi, 1988:179).

Latinisms belong to the general lexical layer and partly to early Albanian terminology. Latinisms in legal terminology have entered, let us say, as Italianized Latinisms through Italian. Latin borrowings in Albanian were embedded in the Albanian lexicon, especially in the general lexicon, apparently at a very early date, so much so that it becomes necessary for Latin borrowings, at least from early periods, to be viewed not as borrowings, but rather as "Early Latin words" (Çabej, 1976:56). Italy's linguistic influence in Albania continued unabated even after the end of Roman rule, and only with the Ottoman conquest of the country did the pace of this influence slow down somewhat. As in Roman times, even during the Middle Ages, relations between Italy and Albania were mainly political, religious, trade/economic, and cultural.

When it comes to Italian influence on the Albanian language, we must be clear from a historical point of view. The Latin element must be distinguished from the Italian element in Albanian, so as to separate where the former ends and where the influence of the latter begins. This is one of the fundamental problems in the linguistic history of Albanian. Without being able to make a definitive distinction, it can be said that Italian was formed from Latin in the seventh century AD. This is the chronological boundary between these two languages, a demarcation that should be taken into account in the study of Albanian Romanisms.

The share of Latin borrowings in the general lexicon of Albanian is so large that the Albanian language has often been described as a “mixed semi-Romance language”, about which G. Mayer wrote: "It is beyond any doubt that the Albanian language has escaped for a hair the complete Romanization, just like the Celtic language in France. It came out of this period with severe damage to sounds, vocabulary and grammatical forms". (Helmut, 1988:329).

In the following, we present some borrowings in the general lexicon of Albanian, especially appearing as bookish lexicon, but used in the field of legal terminology, although not as direct terms within it:

In General Language:

abstenim-i (lat. abstinentia- përmbajtje --abstention, not participating in voting), abuzim-i (lat. abusus- tepri, shpërdorim-- excess, abuse, misuse); adaptim-i (lat. adaptatio- përshtatje--adaptation);

aksesor-i (lat. accessorium-shtojcë; complementary or secondary part attached to the main part, appendix);

dedikim-i (lat. dedicatio-kushtim; përkushtim, të kushtuarit-- dedication, devotion).

edukim-i (lat. educatio-edukatë; të edukuarit--education).

evoluim-i (lat. evolutio-zhvillim; -- evolution, gradual change and development of something).

inaugurim-i (lat. inaugurare-shuguroj; inaugurate; inauguration, an official ceremony on the occasion of starting work on an object of economic or social importance).

koment-i (lat. commentarium-shënime, diary; an explanation and evaluation of a social or political event).

konstante/tja (lat. constants-i qëndrueshëm; -- stable; constant size).

minus-i (lat. minus-pa, i vogël; -- a sign (-) placed between two numbers or two quantities to indicate the arithmetic operation of subtraction).

rezidencë-a (lat. residentia-vendqëndrim, vendbanim;--the place or building where the government, the head of state or a senior official permanently resides, the seat).

spektator-i (lat. spectator-shikues;-- one who watches an artistic, sports, etc., show).

Historical Conditions and Geographical Circumstances - Linguistic Contacts

The presence of borrowings in a language is clear evidence of linguistic contacts established on the basis of the geographical circumstances and historical conditions of the peoples whose languages have these borrowings. The process of language borrowing is a common phenomenon with a more or less universal character; therefore, a large number of works have been devoted to this problem, in which definitions have been given and classifications of borrowings from different perspectives have been made (Thomai, 1984:192).

Before we start dealing with borrowings in the legal lexicon, we pause to examine the treatment of borrowings in various linguistic and terminological studies.

There are two types of borrowings:

Imported borrowing, when the borrowing is so similar to the model that the local speaker can accept it as his/her own, and substituted borrowing, when the speaker incorrectly reproduces the foreign model, replacing it with a similar form in his/her language.

The Main Factors That Have Determined the Entry of Borrowings from Italian and French into Albanian Legal Terminology

Even today, there is a determined struggle to supersede foreign words, in those cases when we have Albanian and more popular words for them, which express completely the same meaning. A word is born and invented; it changes and develops, but, in the end, it may even disappear altogether. Words disappear with objects or notions of time; many others are replaced by words borrowed from other languages.

It is known that no language is isolated and protected from external intrusions.

Terms derived from Italian and French in Albanian legal terminology constitute a relatively large part of the entire lexicon borrowed from these two languages.

The main factors that determined these relations and borrowings were the important changes that took place in the socio-economic, political, ideological and cultural life of the Albanian people during the National Renaissance and after the declaration of independence of the Albanian state in 1912. In Albania, the military administration of Korça with its surroundings from 1917 to 1921, the Lyceum of Korça, where classes were held in French from 1917 until the occupation of Albania by Italian fascist forces, and the presence of many Italian and French companies that used the wealth of the Albanian land changed the structure of the population by putting it into direct contact with the life and culture expressed in the Italian and French languages. This situation was largely reflected in the Albanian lexicon, where borrowings from Italian outnumbered those from French. Such a phenomenon is understandable given the geographical proximity of the Albanian people to Italy.

Work on Replacing Some Foreign Terms with Words from the Albanian Lexicon

Borrowed terms are of two types: foreign international terms and non-international foreign terms.

For the purpose of completing the basic legal terminology, two types of borrowings can be accepted:

Internal or intra-linguistic borrowings that come from within the language, from the terminologies of other fields;

External borrowings, which come from foreign-language terminologies.

Here we will review those borrowings that in legal terminology come from the Italian and French terminologies.

In order to highlight these features, which are observed in both languages, we can provide a series of examples that illustrate the degree of borrowing in the legal lexicon of the Albanian language. To this end, we present examples in reverse order, giving first the Albanian language and second Italian, as well as French:

In Albanian In Italian (Derived from or through Italian)

akaparim-i accaparramento

akaparoj accaparrare

akaparues-i accaparratore

arkivist-i archivista

arrest-i arresto

arrest-i arresto

arrestim-i arresto

arroganc/ë-a arroganca

arrogant-i arrogante

banal-e banale

bandë-a banda

bandit-i bandito

banditiz/ëm-mi banditismo

bankrotim-i bancarotta

baronesh/ë-a baronessa

baron-i barone

barrikad/ë-a barricata

degjeneroj degenarare

demarkacion-i demarcazione

dispozicion-i disposizione

finac/ë-a finanza

financ/oj finanziare

financier-i finanziere

indipenden/ë-a indipendenza

itinerar-i itinerario

karrieriz/ëm-mi carrierismo

kolegjial-e collegio

komisionar-i commissionario kontribut-i contributo

kurtuazi-a courtoise

padron-i padrone

parull/ë-a parola

repart-i reparto

revist/ë-a revista

skadim-i scadenza

sked/ë-a scheda

skedim-i schedatura

skedoj schedare

sovran-i sovrano

sovranitet-i sovranita

spiun-i spionare

sportle-i sportello

valut/ë-a valuta

valutor-e valutario

virtuoz-i virtuosita

xhiroj girare

xhiro-ja giro

xhirues-i girante

In Albanian In French (Derived from or through Italian)

atashe-u attaché

balotazh-i ballottage

realizim-i realisation

rekrutim-i recrutement

rekrutoj recruter

rent/ë-a rente

rutin/ë-a routine

sabotim-i sabotage sabotues-e saboteur

sadist-i sadique

sadizëm-mi sadisme

seanc/ë-a seance

sondazh-i sondage

trezor-i tresor

asamble-ja assemble

azhirim-i ajournement

azhurnoj ajourner

broshur/ë-a broschure

deplasim-i deplacement

debat-i débet

debllokim-i deblocage

debllokoj debloquer

debutim-i debut

debutoj debuter

debutues-i debutant

eksploatim-i exploitation

eksploatoj exploiter

eksploatues-i exploiteur

demarsh-i démarche

demaskim-i demasquer

departament-i départment

deshifrim-i dechiffrement

deshifrues-i dechifftreur

detashment-i detachement

kurtuazi-a courtoisie

liberaliz/ëm-mi liberatismo

liberalizoj liberaliser marionet/ë-a marionette

financ/ë-a finance

finansier-e financier

financoj financer

fines/ë-a finesse

garanci-a garantie

grup-i groupe

homazh-i homage

indisponibël indisponible

kamuflim-i camouflage

kontroll-i contôler

kontrollor-i contrôleur

massakrim-i massacre

nonshalant-e nonchalan

Legal terminology, as the terminology of a field with a wide scope in practice, is related to the daily life of teachers in high schools and professors in Albanian universities; people facing the problems of their time should be helped in communication, especially specialists, for precise conversations and actions.

It can be said that legal terminology is consolidated to some extent, but work should continue to supplement and revise dictionaries for specialized fields of knowledge to remedy inherited shortcomings, and especially to resolve current problems in this terminology.

Conclusion

The influence of Latin and Romance languages on Albanian has been great, but sometimes their traces have been overestimated.

Linguistic facts show that Albanian, for one reason or another, and due to one status or another, has taken many words from Romance languages.

In reality, Albanian resisted the strong influence of Latin and Romance languages and was not assimilated by them.

Borrowed Romance words in Albanian are phonologically adapted according to the principles and phonological habits of Albanian.

Romance phonemes from Italian and French are changed and modified in our language in pronunciation and spelling. Most Italian borrowings have penetrated into Albanian directly from the spoken language, while French borrowings have penetrated more on the basis of written texts and orthographic form.

References