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Sorin Paliga

University of Bucharest, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Faculty Member

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Linguist, historian of religions and cultures, translator
Address: University of Bucharest, Dept. of Russian and Slavic Philology
https://unibuc.ro/user/sorin.paliga/?lang=en

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Nerissa Russell

Cornell University

Università degli Studi di Torino

Emir O. Filipović

University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Philosophy

Alejandra B Osorio

Wellesley College

Kansas State University

Maria Cristina La Rocca

Università degli Studi di Padova

Louis de Saussure

University of Neuchâtel

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Jacques Chiffoleau

EHESS-Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales

Lorenzo Verderame

Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma

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Papers by Sorin Paliga

Herrscherschaft and herrschersuffix in Central-East European languages

Linguistica, 2002

The paper resumes a topic the author approached in severa[ instances beginning with 1987: some sp... more The paper resumes a topic the author approached in severa[ instances beginning with 1987: some specific terms referring to the semantic sphere Herrscherschafi. In Romanian, ban, jupîn, stăpîn and probably also cioban reflect the indigenous Thracian substratum; these forms also reflect the archaic Indo-European Herrschersujfzx -n-. In Slavic, their equivalent forms ban, župan and stopan reflect either a Late Thracian or (Proto-)Romanian influence. Equally Rom. vătaf reflects the substratum influence, whereas Slavic vatah, vatak, vataš reflects the same borrowing. On the other hand, Slavic gospodƄ, belongs to the archaic Proto-Slavic core elements, while cěsaŕƄ, reflect a Germanic influence. Finally, Rom. boier is an East-Romance innovation derived from bou 'ox' and initially meant 'owner of cattle = rich man', a traditional association between cattle-owners and richness. The word had a large distribution from the early Middle Ages until late in the 20th century.In a p...

Oxford University Press eBooks, Aug 6, 2015

This chapter focuses on the Thracians. The Thracians did not have a written tradition. This detai... more This chapter focuses on the Thracians. The Thracians did not have a written tradition. This detail may be considered either normal, as most ethnic groups of antiquity did not use writing as means of communication; or it may be considered somewhat unexpected, given the proximity of the Thracians to the Greeks and later the Romans of the Empire. Nevertheless, one can work out a quite comprehensive list of Thracian words. The Thracian forms are gleaned from various sources, often with approximate spellings and therefore with a high probability of being misread or misinterpreted. The chapter then looks at Thracian religion, one of the striking features of which is aniconism. Also striking is the peculiar representation of the supreme god, Zalmoxis, also spelled Zamolxis. There is no visual representation of this god or other Thracian gods of 'classical' Thracian society. Some Thracian groups adopted Roman ways of life and others resisted into the fourth century. This may have some bearing on the two dialects in modern Albanian—Romanian, Bulgarian, and Albanian being the main heirs of the Thracians—but this is a matter of debate.

Slovesný vid a slovesná konverze

Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká stru... more Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká struktury (nebo "architektury") slovesného vidu v češtině (a v jiných slovanských jazycích), druhé se týká konverze aspektu při překládání a tlumočení textů či diskursů z češtiny (popř. z jiných slovanských jazyků) do jazyka, který vid (aspekt) nemá anebo má, ale ten má úplně jinou strukturu ("architekturu", jako např. angličtina); a opačným směrem: z jiného jazyka do češtiny (anebo do jiného slovanského jazyka). Autor stručně analyzuje starší a novější hypotézy ohledně slovesného vidu a teorie překladu a v podstatě se přiklání k názoru, že je slovesný vid (aspekt) uskutečňování markedness (Bernard Comrie), a dále rozvíjí jasnější definici tohoto termínu v českém (a vůbec slovanském) kontextu.

Re‐reading Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum. Who were the Sclavi and the Blachi? And who were the Bulgari and the Pastores Romanorum?

Studia Archaeologica et Linguistica. Miscellanea in honorem annos LXXV peragentis professoris Adriani Poruciuc oblata, 2023

In various works and analyses, Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum has been much analysed, criticised and ... more In various works and analyses, Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum has been much analysed, criticised and praised. In many of these discussions, however, there have been numerous errors in the analysis of his text, including how the ethnonyms have been translated. At first sight, matters seem clear: Sclavi are the Slavs, but — precisely — which ones? And the Blachi are… Well, this seems a difficult point, as the translations cannot be ‘Vlakhs’, as we often see. This translation tells us nothing about the group Anonymus had in mind. Nevertheless, Anonymus was remarkably clear and offers accurate details. The analysis of these details may lead to reliable and persuasive results, if we look at the text without modern and contemporary political interpretations. Considering only the context in which the text was written, Blachus referred to ‘any Romanised’ group. Therefore, it should be translated contextually, considering both the geographical location of the populations it referred to, and also the historical period. This paper tries to clarify some debated parts of Anonymus’ work. Gesta Hungarorum is a valuable source of ethnographic and historical details, which are entirely coherent and consonant with other data. The text is a wonderful lesson on ethnicity and sense of history.

Prior tempore, prior lege: Symbols, legends, myths in historical analysis (in Romanian)

Archaeology of the First Millennium A.D., VI, 2021

Abstract: The paper tries to sum up the main problems of ethnicity understood as both a human and... more Abstract: The paper tries to sum up the main problems of ethnicity understood as both a human and historical phenomenon, but also as a phenomenon reflecting a permanent change. Defining ethnicity has always been difficult, as ethnicity implies a complex grid of components, of variable importance in time or a given social context: language, habits, social norms, religion but, without any doubt, political influence. The paper refers to some case studies, implying the change in time, but also the relation endonym v. exonym, i.e. the form used by the representatives of a certain ethnic group v. the form used by foreigners. Examples like Deutsch ~ Dutch ~ Holland, Hellenoi ~ Graeci, Suomalaiset, Suomalaisia ~ Finns etc. indicate that such situations are very frequent in history, including the much quoted case Daci, Dacisci v. Getae.
As the paper reflects author's analyses and hypotheses published over years on several occasions, it also sums up author's views and results, in an attempt towards an ample work dedicated to ethnicity.

Čechoslovakismus, česko-slovenský bilingvismus, obecná čeština. Jazykové, kulturní a politické pohledy na středoevropský jazyk.

In honorem Octavia Nedelcu, 2022

The analysis concentrate on specific aspects referring to teaching Czech as a foreign language. I... more

Hungarian or Rather Substratum Elements in Romanian

ЮГОЗАПАДЕН УНИВЕРСИТЕТ »НЕОФИТ РИЛСКИ«, 2018

The linguistic, historical and cultural relations between the Hungarians and the Romanians have b... more The linguistic, historical and cultural relations between the Hungarians and the Romanians have been much affected by the ideological and political approach. This was already obvious in the 19th century. The debates from those times until now referred to primordiality, the answer to the question ‘who came first’ summarised in the slogan prior tempore, prior lege or, in a more elegant formula, qui prior tempore potior iure. The purpose of this paper is to show these ways of analysing history, archaeology and linguistics because it can not lead to a rational and scientific discussion. The role of linguists is to make correct and reliable analyses; to underline difficulties, if possible without preconceived ideas; to offer solutions; and to avoid political implications or political interpretations. This paper tries to present some relevant cases, i.e. the currently erroneous hypothesis, shared by most linguists in both Hungary and Romanian. Some words considered of Hungarian origin are, in some cases, substratum (Thracian) elements, e.g. Rom. gând &lt; Hu. gond; labă ~ láb, talpă &lt; talp etc., while a mântui is explainable as a peculiar development of post-classical Lat. manu tueor ‘to heal by hand’. Some of these elements are shared with other languages grouped in the so-called Balkansprachbund. All these are not intended to deny the influence of Hungarian on Romanian. This simply means that comparative and historical-etymological analyses must be correct and based on analysable data, not on choosing politically and ideologically convenient interpretations. The paper tries to outline these details, and to offer solutions. The solutions must follow the general rules of comparative and historical linguistics, among these the ever present and inevitable principle of repeatability. Key word: historical disputes, ideology, comparative linguistics, Hungarian- Romanian relations, substratum elements, Thracian heritage, Balkansprachbund. Two earlier versions of this paper, in Romanian and Hungarian, may be downloaded from the Drafts section,

Proto-Boreal Theory and Its Implications in Understanding the Central-East and Southeast European Ethnogenesis : Slavic , Baltic and Thracian

N. D. Andreev's theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the scientific world b... more N. D. Andreev's theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the scientific world by its large spectrum of linguistic problems: Proto-IndoEuropean, Proto-Uralic and Proto-Altaic (later he also added Korean) were considered as newer, derived branches from an older linguistic group labelled Proto-Boreal. It is also a difficult book as various languages are put together, regularly considered as belonging to different families according to traditional classifications. It is true that the idea of an archaic relationship between Uralic and Indo-European is not new, and was advocated – with notable results – by some linguists, mainly by Karel O!tir (1921) and Bojan "op (1974, 1975). Their pioneering work would deserve more attention, and Andreev’s theory would not thus seem isolated. It reflects, in fact, a long and strenuous effort towards identifying and explaining an archaic relationship among languages usually categorised independently. It is true that other linguist...

Pre-Indo-European (or ‘Mediterranean’) v. Proto-Boreal. Some thoughts on prehistoric linguistic relations

The paper aims at updating and clarifying some aspects relevant to the analysis and classi cation... more The paper aims at updating and clarifying some aspects relevant to the analysis and classi cation of the so-called ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘Pre-Indo-European’ heritage of southeast Europe v. the Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic idioms, sometimes analyzed in the context of ‘Nostratic’ or ‘Proto-Boreal’ or ‘Euro-Asiatic’ idioms, a tendency, which seems to have been predominant in the linguistic studies of the last decades. Keywords: Euro-Asiatic, Indo-European, Nostratic, Mediterranean, Neolithic Revolution, Proto-Boreal, Uralic.

Working with Old Church Slavonic texts: the simple way from non- standard encoding to unicode encoding

In editing Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) texts there are several issues to be solved. The f... more In editing Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) texts there are several issues to be solved. The first refers to the former use of non-standard, non-unicode fonts, which consisted of replacing the Latin characters by the specific OCS characters. This means such a text cannot be displayed if that specific font, often of bad quality, is not installed. The solution seems simple enough: a script, which behaves like a find-replace sequence. After such a replacement, the old font is replaced by a new, good quality font, e.g. Dilyana or Method Std. The second issue refers to the keyboard layouts (hereafter keylayouts), as the current keylayouts installed with both Windows and OS X do not allow to type all the specific OCS chars. The solution is a dedicated keylayout, for both Cyrillic and Glagolitic, for OS X and Windows. Using a find-replace sequence also allows to automatically convert Cyrillic to Glagolitic, and vice-versa. The presentation aims at clarifying some practical aspects, and to show how the author has solved such issues.

Romanian definite article revisited

Linguistica, 1999

I shall attempt to resume a long, almost endless discussion: the origin of the Romanian definite ... more I shall attempt to resume a long, almost endless discussion: the origin of the Romanian definite article. Any grammar of Romanian or any comparative grammar the Romance languages (e. g. Tagliavini 1977) always observes that Romanian, an iso lated case in the Romance family, has an agglutinated definite article. The typology is not indeed rare: Bulgarian, Albanian, Armenian, Basque and Swedish witness the same mechanism. We cannot approach the topic by analysing all these languages, yet a comparative analysis would be finally useful. In our case, it is obvious that Romanian cannot be isolated from Albanian and Bulgarian. A potential solution must explain the situation in ALL these three "Balkanic" languages, even if Romanian is not Balkanic stricto sensu1. The paper shall focus on the deep roots of the Romanian and Albanian definite arti cle, its typological relations with other linguistic areas, and shall attempt to explain this isolated situation in the field of Romance...

Slovesný vid a slovesná konverze Verbal Aspect and Verbal Conversion

Abstrakt: Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se... more Abstrakt: Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká struktury (nebo "architektury") slovesného vidu v češtině (a v jiných slovanských jazycích), druhé se týká konverze aspektu při překládání a tlumočení textů či diskursů z češtiny (popř. z jiných slovanských jazyků) do jazyka, který vid (aspekt) nemá anebo má, ale ten má úplně jinou strukturu ("architekturu", jako např. angličtina); a opačným směrem: z jiného jazyka do češtiny (anebo do jiného slovanského jazyka). Autor stručně analyzuje starší a novější hypotézy ohledně slovesného vidu a teorie překladu a v podstatě se přiklání k názoru, že je slovesný vid (aspekt) uskutečňování markedness (Bernard Comrie), a dále rozvíjí jasnější definici tohoto termínu v českém (a vůbec slovanském) kontextu. Abstract: There are two topics, which the author wishes to discuss based on older and newer analysis. One refers to the structure (or 'architecture') of the verbal...

Compiling dictionaries of defunct ( ? ) languages : Thracian elements in Romanian

Translating Holan's major works

Slavica litteraria

The paper presents author's experience as a translator of Vladimír Holan's major works, beginning... more The paper presents author's experience as a translator of Vladimír Holan's major works, beginning with Toskána (Romanian Toscana), the first to be translated at the beginning of the 1980s, then successively revised several times. It was followed by Bolest (Rom. Durere, Eng. Pain), Holan's poetic diary containing (very) short poems written from 1949 to 1955. At the end of the 1980s the third translation: Noc s Ofélií (A Night with Ofelia, Romanian Noapte cu Ofelia), the first to be included in an anthology. The last arrived in the series was the translation of Holan's most acclaimed work: Noc s Hamletem, Rom. Noapte cu Hamlet, Eng. A Night with Hamlet, finalised in July-August 2019. With the generous support of the Culture Ministry of the Czech Republic, Holan's major works are now published in a bilingual Czech-Romanian edition in 3 volumes.

Etymology and ideology : substratum heritage and the Slavic influence on Romanian

Opera Slavica

Jakobson's outstanding contribution to the history of Czechoslovak cultural studies and research

Slavica litteraria, 2016

A Pre-Indo-European place-name: Dalmatia

Linguistica

Two years ago 1 ventured to suggest another etymon ofthe place name (hereafter PN) Ardeal, the Ro... more Two years ago 1 ventured to suggest another etymon ofthe place name (hereafter PN) Ardeal, the Romanian form for Transylvania and, connected to this, 1 also explained the PN Dalmatia (Paliga 1986). 1 shall not rediscuss the whole topic, yet it is useful to briefly point the essentiais of my hypothesis for a larger discussion. 1 started from the observation that the largely accepted hypothesis which sees Rom. PN Ardeal as a reflection of Hung. Erdély is not at all feasible, mainly from reasons of phonetic evolution, as long as the expected form should have been *Erdei or * A rdei. W e can better understand the situation of this PN if placing it in a reasonable linguistic-comparative context. As a matter of fact the situation is simple enough: Ardealis a compound of the type Ar-deal, ar- (a particle lost in vocabulary, probably akin to a arunca, a aruca "to cast away, throw") with the reconstructable meaning "over, far away", and deal "bili", also "f...

Review of Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského - ESJS

Opera Slavica

0222-7, then each successive volume has a different ISBN. It is estimated that a compact volume w... more 0222-7, then each successive volume has a different ISBN. It is estimated that a compact volume will be published later. After almost 30 years, an ample etymological dictionary of Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) has been completed. As its elaboration and publication covered a generation, it is obvious that the initial group of linguists was gradually replaced by successive groups. Thus, the first editor-in-chief (hlavní redaktorka) was Eva Havlová and her group included known linguists like Emilie Bláhová, Zoe Hauptová, Radoslav Večerka and, last but not least, Ilona Janyšková and Helena Karlková who later became the heart of the new series together with the younger linguists Václav Blažek and Vít Boček. The list of the contributors is of course longer. The scan of the first pages of the first volume and of the 19 volume tries to suggest the long list of authors. As OCS is a reference point in any study referring to Slavic etymology, it is obvious that this work becomes mandatory for all the etymological analyses referring to the Slavic languages. There is, I think, another similar, ambitious etymological dictionary: the etymological dictionary of the Bulgarian language (Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik-BER). The first volume was published in 1962 and the editors-in-chief were the well known Bulgarian linguists Vl. Georgiev, Iv. Gălăbov, J. Zajmov and St. Ilčev. The last volume in this series is vol. 8 published in 2017, entries from tésam to fjákalka, edited by the younger generation of Bulgarian linguists: Liljana Dimitrova-Todorova and Ludwig (Ljudvig) Selimski. We are waiting for (probably) the last volume #9, unless the authors are planning other 2 volumes. I have been compelled to compare the two attempts-ESJS and BER-because they seem the most ample, complete etymological dictionaries of a Slavic language, and elaborated by large groups of linguists. Of course, we cannot ignore the previous etymological dictionaries of a given Slavic language. First of all Czech, for which one may invoke at least 3 reference dictionaries: that of Machek (of course, with several editions), Holub-Lyer (1st ed. 1952, 2nd ed, 1978) and Jiří Rejzek; for Polish the 'classical' etymological dictionary of Aleksander Brückner; for Serbian-Croatian the 'classical' dictionary of Petar Skok (Etimologijski [ recenze ] OPERA SLAVICA [ XXX / 2020 / 4 ]

Linguistica

The labyrinth is beyond any doubt one of the most fascinating aspects of human societies. Though ... more The labyrinth is beyond any doubt one of the most fascinating aspects of human societies. Though its magic forms and implications are well known and have been the subject of important analyses - the best known being perhaps P. Santarcangeli 's Il libro dei labirinti now with many translations in various languages, lately rediscussed by Krzak (1985) - there still are unrevealed aspects, some perhaps improperly understood. It is our purpose to examine here (1) the pre-Indo-European (hereafter pre-IE) family of the fundamental Greek form labýrinthos (a term sometimes labelled 'Mediterranean', which is not ultimately incorrect), (2) the pre-IE family of English forms maze/amaze and their unexpected south and southeast European parallels (noticed a long tirne ago, but unconnected to this context), and (3) the interpretation of the available data in the sense that the labyrinth was initially a projection of the Neolithic Goddess 's sacred body.

Czech Language in Bucharest (in Czech: Čeština v Bukurešti)

The paper deals with the main issues when teaching Czech, a Slavic language, in a non-Slavic coun... more The paper deals with the main issues when teaching Czech, a Slavic language, in a non-Slavic country (Romania). The papers presents the main trends of the last years, and suggests ways for the future, including the issue of ‘obecná čeština’ (the colloquial koiné) and Czech-Slovak bilingualism.

Herrscherschaft and herrschersuffix in Central-East European languages

Linguistica, 2002

The paper resumes a topic the author approached in severa[ instances beginning with 1987: some sp... more The paper resumes a topic the author approached in severa[ instances beginning with 1987: some specific terms referring to the semantic sphere Herrscherschafi. In Romanian, ban, jupîn, stăpîn and probably also cioban reflect the indigenous Thracian substratum; these forms also reflect the archaic Indo-European Herrschersujfzx -n-. In Slavic, their equivalent forms ban, župan and stopan reflect either a Late Thracian or (Proto-)Romanian influence. Equally Rom. vătaf reflects the substratum influence, whereas Slavic vatah, vatak, vataš reflects the same borrowing. On the other hand, Slavic gospodƄ, belongs to the archaic Proto-Slavic core elements, while cěsaŕƄ, reflect a Germanic influence. Finally, Rom. boier is an East-Romance innovation derived from bou 'ox' and initially meant 'owner of cattle = rich man', a traditional association between cattle-owners and richness. The word had a large distribution from the early Middle Ages until late in the 20th century.In a p...

Oxford University Press eBooks, Aug 6, 2015

This chapter focuses on the Thracians. The Thracians did not have a written tradition. This detai... more This chapter focuses on the Thracians. The Thracians did not have a written tradition. This detail may be considered either normal, as most ethnic groups of antiquity did not use writing as means of communication; or it may be considered somewhat unexpected, given the proximity of the Thracians to the Greeks and later the Romans of the Empire. Nevertheless, one can work out a quite comprehensive list of Thracian words. The Thracian forms are gleaned from various sources, often with approximate spellings and therefore with a high probability of being misread or misinterpreted. The chapter then looks at Thracian religion, one of the striking features of which is aniconism. Also striking is the peculiar representation of the supreme god, Zalmoxis, also spelled Zamolxis. There is no visual representation of this god or other Thracian gods of 'classical' Thracian society. Some Thracian groups adopted Roman ways of life and others resisted into the fourth century. This may have some bearing on the two dialects in modern Albanian—Romanian, Bulgarian, and Albanian being the main heirs of the Thracians—but this is a matter of debate.

Slovesný vid a slovesná konverze

Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká stru... more Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká struktury (nebo "architektury") slovesného vidu v češtině (a v jiných slovanských jazycích), druhé se týká konverze aspektu při překládání a tlumočení textů či diskursů z češtiny (popř. z jiných slovanských jazyků) do jazyka, který vid (aspekt) nemá anebo má, ale ten má úplně jinou strukturu ("architekturu", jako např. angličtina); a opačným směrem: z jiného jazyka do češtiny (anebo do jiného slovanského jazyka). Autor stručně analyzuje starší a novější hypotézy ohledně slovesného vidu a teorie překladu a v podstatě se přiklání k názoru, že je slovesný vid (aspekt) uskutečňování markedness (Bernard Comrie), a dále rozvíjí jasnější definici tohoto termínu v českém (a vůbec slovanském) kontextu.

Re‐reading Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum. Who were the Sclavi and the Blachi? And who were the Bulgari and the Pastores Romanorum?

Studia Archaeologica et Linguistica. Miscellanea in honorem annos LXXV peragentis professoris Adriani Poruciuc oblata, 2023

In various works and analyses, Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum has been much analysed, criticised and ... more In various works and analyses, Anonymus’ Gesta Hungarorum has been much analysed, criticised and praised. In many of these discussions, however, there have been numerous errors in the analysis of his text, including how the ethnonyms have been translated. At first sight, matters seem clear: Sclavi are the Slavs, but — precisely — which ones? And the Blachi are… Well, this seems a difficult point, as the translations cannot be ‘Vlakhs’, as we often see. This translation tells us nothing about the group Anonymus had in mind. Nevertheless, Anonymus was remarkably clear and offers accurate details. The analysis of these details may lead to reliable and persuasive results, if we look at the text without modern and contemporary political interpretations. Considering only the context in which the text was written, Blachus referred to ‘any Romanised’ group. Therefore, it should be translated contextually, considering both the geographical location of the populations it referred to, and also the historical period. This paper tries to clarify some debated parts of Anonymus’ work. Gesta Hungarorum is a valuable source of ethnographic and historical details, which are entirely coherent and consonant with other data. The text is a wonderful lesson on ethnicity and sense of history.

Prior tempore, prior lege: Symbols, legends, myths in historical analysis (in Romanian)

Archaeology of the First Millennium A.D., VI, 2021

Abstract: The paper tries to sum up the main problems of ethnicity understood as both a human and... more Abstract: The paper tries to sum up the main problems of ethnicity understood as both a human and historical phenomenon, but also as a phenomenon reflecting a permanent change. Defining ethnicity has always been difficult, as ethnicity implies a complex grid of components, of variable importance in time or a given social context: language, habits, social norms, religion but, without any doubt, political influence. The paper refers to some case studies, implying the change in time, but also the relation endonym v. exonym, i.e. the form used by the representatives of a certain ethnic group v. the form used by foreigners. Examples like Deutsch ~ Dutch ~ Holland, Hellenoi ~ Graeci, Suomalaiset, Suomalaisia ~ Finns etc. indicate that such situations are very frequent in history, including the much quoted case Daci, Dacisci v. Getae.
As the paper reflects author's analyses and hypotheses published over years on several occasions, it also sums up author's views and results, in an attempt towards an ample work dedicated to ethnicity.

Čechoslovakismus, česko-slovenský bilingvismus, obecná čeština. Jazykové, kulturní a politické pohledy na středoevropský jazyk.

In honorem Octavia Nedelcu, 2022

The analysis concentrate on specific aspects referring to teaching Czech as a foreign language. I... more

Hungarian or Rather Substratum Elements in Romanian

ЮГОЗАПАДЕН УНИВЕРСИТЕТ »НЕОФИТ РИЛСКИ«, 2018

The linguistic, historical and cultural relations between the Hungarians and the Romanians have b... more The linguistic, historical and cultural relations between the Hungarians and the Romanians have been much affected by the ideological and political approach. This was already obvious in the 19th century. The debates from those times until now referred to primordiality, the answer to the question ‘who came first’ summarised in the slogan prior tempore, prior lege or, in a more elegant formula, qui prior tempore potior iure. The purpose of this paper is to show these ways of analysing history, archaeology and linguistics because it can not lead to a rational and scientific discussion. The role of linguists is to make correct and reliable analyses; to underline difficulties, if possible without preconceived ideas; to offer solutions; and to avoid political implications or political interpretations. This paper tries to present some relevant cases, i.e. the currently erroneous hypothesis, shared by most linguists in both Hungary and Romanian. Some words considered of Hungarian origin are, in some cases, substratum (Thracian) elements, e.g. Rom. gând &lt; Hu. gond; labă ~ láb, talpă &lt; talp etc., while a mântui is explainable as a peculiar development of post-classical Lat. manu tueor ‘to heal by hand’. Some of these elements are shared with other languages grouped in the so-called Balkansprachbund. All these are not intended to deny the influence of Hungarian on Romanian. This simply means that comparative and historical-etymological analyses must be correct and based on analysable data, not on choosing politically and ideologically convenient interpretations. The paper tries to outline these details, and to offer solutions. The solutions must follow the general rules of comparative and historical linguistics, among these the ever present and inevitable principle of repeatability. Key word: historical disputes, ideology, comparative linguistics, Hungarian- Romanian relations, substratum elements, Thracian heritage, Balkansprachbund. Two earlier versions of this paper, in Romanian and Hungarian, may be downloaded from the Drafts section,

Proto-Boreal Theory and Its Implications in Understanding the Central-East and Southeast European Ethnogenesis : Slavic , Baltic and Thracian

N. D. Andreev's theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the scientific world b... more N. D. Andreev's theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the scientific world by its large spectrum of linguistic problems: Proto-IndoEuropean, Proto-Uralic and Proto-Altaic (later he also added Korean) were considered as newer, derived branches from an older linguistic group labelled Proto-Boreal. It is also a difficult book as various languages are put together, regularly considered as belonging to different families according to traditional classifications. It is true that the idea of an archaic relationship between Uralic and Indo-European is not new, and was advocated – with notable results – by some linguists, mainly by Karel O!tir (1921) and Bojan "op (1974, 1975). Their pioneering work would deserve more attention, and Andreev’s theory would not thus seem isolated. It reflects, in fact, a long and strenuous effort towards identifying and explaining an archaic relationship among languages usually categorised independently. It is true that other linguist...

Pre-Indo-European (or ‘Mediterranean’) v. Proto-Boreal. Some thoughts on prehistoric linguistic relations

The paper aims at updating and clarifying some aspects relevant to the analysis and classi cation... more The paper aims at updating and clarifying some aspects relevant to the analysis and classi cation of the so-called ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘Pre-Indo-European’ heritage of southeast Europe v. the Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic idioms, sometimes analyzed in the context of ‘Nostratic’ or ‘Proto-Boreal’ or ‘Euro-Asiatic’ idioms, a tendency, which seems to have been predominant in the linguistic studies of the last decades. Keywords: Euro-Asiatic, Indo-European, Nostratic, Mediterranean, Neolithic Revolution, Proto-Boreal, Uralic.

Working with Old Church Slavonic texts: the simple way from non- standard encoding to unicode encoding

In editing Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) texts there are several issues to be solved. The f... more In editing Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) texts there are several issues to be solved. The first refers to the former use of non-standard, non-unicode fonts, which consisted of replacing the Latin characters by the specific OCS characters. This means such a text cannot be displayed if that specific font, often of bad quality, is not installed. The solution seems simple enough: a script, which behaves like a find-replace sequence. After such a replacement, the old font is replaced by a new, good quality font, e.g. Dilyana or Method Std. The second issue refers to the keyboard layouts (hereafter keylayouts), as the current keylayouts installed with both Windows and OS X do not allow to type all the specific OCS chars. The solution is a dedicated keylayout, for both Cyrillic and Glagolitic, for OS X and Windows. Using a find-replace sequence also allows to automatically convert Cyrillic to Glagolitic, and vice-versa. The presentation aims at clarifying some practical aspects, and to show how the author has solved such issues.

Romanian definite article revisited

Linguistica, 1999

I shall attempt to resume a long, almost endless discussion: the origin of the Romanian definite ... more I shall attempt to resume a long, almost endless discussion: the origin of the Romanian definite article. Any grammar of Romanian or any comparative grammar the Romance languages (e. g. Tagliavini 1977) always observes that Romanian, an iso lated case in the Romance family, has an agglutinated definite article. The typology is not indeed rare: Bulgarian, Albanian, Armenian, Basque and Swedish witness the same mechanism. We cannot approach the topic by analysing all these languages, yet a comparative analysis would be finally useful. In our case, it is obvious that Romanian cannot be isolated from Albanian and Bulgarian. A potential solution must explain the situation in ALL these three "Balkanic" languages, even if Romanian is not Balkanic stricto sensu1. The paper shall focus on the deep roots of the Romanian and Albanian definite arti cle, its typological relations with other linguistic areas, and shall attempt to explain this isolated situation in the field of Romance...

Slovesný vid a slovesná konverze Verbal Aspect and Verbal Conversion

Abstrakt: Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se... more Abstrakt: Jsou dvě témata, která chceme rozvíjet na základě starších i novějších analýz. Jedno se týká struktury (nebo "architektury") slovesného vidu v češtině (a v jiných slovanských jazycích), druhé se týká konverze aspektu při překládání a tlumočení textů či diskursů z češtiny (popř. z jiných slovanských jazyků) do jazyka, který vid (aspekt) nemá anebo má, ale ten má úplně jinou strukturu ("architekturu", jako např. angličtina); a opačným směrem: z jiného jazyka do češtiny (anebo do jiného slovanského jazyka). Autor stručně analyzuje starší a novější hypotézy ohledně slovesného vidu a teorie překladu a v podstatě se přiklání k názoru, že je slovesný vid (aspekt) uskutečňování markedness (Bernard Comrie), a dále rozvíjí jasnější definici tohoto termínu v českém (a vůbec slovanském) kontextu. Abstract: There are two topics, which the author wishes to discuss based on older and newer analysis. One refers to the structure (or 'architecture') of the verbal...

Compiling dictionaries of defunct ( ? ) languages : Thracian elements in Romanian

Translating Holan's major works

Slavica litteraria

The paper presents author's experience as a translator of Vladimír Holan's major works, beginning... more The paper presents author's experience as a translator of Vladimír Holan's major works, beginning with Toskána (Romanian Toscana), the first to be translated at the beginning of the 1980s, then successively revised several times. It was followed by Bolest (Rom. Durere, Eng. Pain), Holan's poetic diary containing (very) short poems written from 1949 to 1955. At the end of the 1980s the third translation: Noc s Ofélií (A Night with Ofelia, Romanian Noapte cu Ofelia), the first to be included in an anthology. The last arrived in the series was the translation of Holan's most acclaimed work: Noc s Hamletem, Rom. Noapte cu Hamlet, Eng. A Night with Hamlet, finalised in July-August 2019. With the generous support of the Culture Ministry of the Czech Republic, Holan's major works are now published in a bilingual Czech-Romanian edition in 3 volumes.

Etymology and ideology : substratum heritage and the Slavic influence on Romanian

Opera Slavica

Jakobson's outstanding contribution to the history of Czechoslovak cultural studies and research

Slavica litteraria, 2016

A Pre-Indo-European place-name: Dalmatia

Linguistica

Two years ago 1 ventured to suggest another etymon ofthe place name (hereafter PN) Ardeal, the Ro... more Two years ago 1 ventured to suggest another etymon ofthe place name (hereafter PN) Ardeal, the Romanian form for Transylvania and, connected to this, 1 also explained the PN Dalmatia (Paliga 1986). 1 shall not rediscuss the whole topic, yet it is useful to briefly point the essentiais of my hypothesis for a larger discussion. 1 started from the observation that the largely accepted hypothesis which sees Rom. PN Ardeal as a reflection of Hung. Erdély is not at all feasible, mainly from reasons of phonetic evolution, as long as the expected form should have been *Erdei or * A rdei. W e can better understand the situation of this PN if placing it in a reasonable linguistic-comparative context. As a matter of fact the situation is simple enough: Ardealis a compound of the type Ar-deal, ar- (a particle lost in vocabulary, probably akin to a arunca, a aruca "to cast away, throw") with the reconstructable meaning "over, far away", and deal "bili", also "f...

Review of Etymologický slovník jazyka staroslověnského - ESJS

Opera Slavica

0222-7, then each successive volume has a different ISBN. It is estimated that a compact volume w... more 0222-7, then each successive volume has a different ISBN. It is estimated that a compact volume will be published later. After almost 30 years, an ample etymological dictionary of Old Church Slavonic (hereafter OCS) has been completed. As its elaboration and publication covered a generation, it is obvious that the initial group of linguists was gradually replaced by successive groups. Thus, the first editor-in-chief (hlavní redaktorka) was Eva Havlová and her group included known linguists like Emilie Bláhová, Zoe Hauptová, Radoslav Večerka and, last but not least, Ilona Janyšková and Helena Karlková who later became the heart of the new series together with the younger linguists Václav Blažek and Vít Boček. The list of the contributors is of course longer. The scan of the first pages of the first volume and of the 19 volume tries to suggest the long list of authors. As OCS is a reference point in any study referring to Slavic etymology, it is obvious that this work becomes mandatory for all the etymological analyses referring to the Slavic languages. There is, I think, another similar, ambitious etymological dictionary: the etymological dictionary of the Bulgarian language (Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik-BER). The first volume was published in 1962 and the editors-in-chief were the well known Bulgarian linguists Vl. Georgiev, Iv. Gălăbov, J. Zajmov and St. Ilčev. The last volume in this series is vol. 8 published in 2017, entries from tésam to fjákalka, edited by the younger generation of Bulgarian linguists: Liljana Dimitrova-Todorova and Ludwig (Ljudvig) Selimski. We are waiting for (probably) the last volume #9, unless the authors are planning other 2 volumes. I have been compelled to compare the two attempts-ESJS and BER-because they seem the most ample, complete etymological dictionaries of a Slavic language, and elaborated by large groups of linguists. Of course, we cannot ignore the previous etymological dictionaries of a given Slavic language. First of all Czech, for which one may invoke at least 3 reference dictionaries: that of Machek (of course, with several editions), Holub-Lyer (1st ed. 1952, 2nd ed, 1978) and Jiří Rejzek; for Polish the 'classical' etymological dictionary of Aleksander Brückner; for Serbian-Croatian the 'classical' dictionary of Petar Skok (Etimologijski [ recenze ] OPERA SLAVICA [ XXX / 2020 / 4 ]

Linguistica

The labyrinth is beyond any doubt one of the most fascinating aspects of human societies. Though ... more The labyrinth is beyond any doubt one of the most fascinating aspects of human societies. Though its magic forms and implications are well known and have been the subject of important analyses - the best known being perhaps P. Santarcangeli 's Il libro dei labirinti now with many translations in various languages, lately rediscussed by Krzak (1985) - there still are unrevealed aspects, some perhaps improperly understood. It is our purpose to examine here (1) the pre-Indo-European (hereafter pre-IE) family of the fundamental Greek form labýrinthos (a term sometimes labelled 'Mediterranean', which is not ultimately incorrect), (2) the pre-IE family of English forms maze/amaze and their unexpected south and southeast European parallels (noticed a long tirne ago, but unconnected to this context), and (3) the interpretation of the available data in the sense that the labyrinth was initially a projection of the Neolithic Goddess 's sacred body.

Czech Language in Bucharest (in Czech: Čeština v Bukurešti)

The paper deals with the main issues when teaching Czech, a Slavic language, in a non-Slavic coun... more The paper deals with the main issues when teaching Czech, a Slavic language, in a non-Slavic country (Romania). The papers presents the main trends of the last years, and suggests ways for the future, including the issue of ‘obecná čeština’ (the colloquial koiné) and Czech-Slovak bilingualism.

Mitologia tracilor. Religie, credințe, moșteniri (Thracian Mythology. Religion, creeds, heritage)

Mitologia tracilor. Religie, credințe, moșteniri, 2025

This is the second edition of the book, initially published in 2008, with some additions and revi... more This is the second edition of the book, initially published in 2008, with some additions and revisions. Even if with a limited number of pages, the main problems related to the Thracian mythology are covered. The heritage of the Thracian mythology in southeast Europe is also approached.

https://www.meteorpress.ro/carti/mitologia-tracilor-2.html

Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian

Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, 2006

This is a first attempt (published in 2006) to put together all the relevant certain, probable or... more This is a first attempt (published in 2006) to put together all the relevant certain, probable or possible elements of substratum (Thracian) origins in Romanian. There were some errors in this attempt. Most of them have been re-discussed and corrected in papers published after 2006. The most important update is our Etymological Dictionary of Romanian (Peter Lang, 2024) which includes almost all the data of the 2006 lexicon, with all the necessary corrections and additions. Nevertheless, some data in the 2006 lexcon are still useful for all those interested in the complex issues of Romanian etymology.

Lingvistica şi arheologia slavilor timpurii. O altă vedere de la Dunărea de Jos.

by Eugen Teodor and Sorin Paliga

An Etymological Dictionary of Romanian

An Etymological Dictionary of Romanian, 2024

An Etymological Dictionary of Romanian. The story's origins date back to the early 1980s, when I ... more An Etymological Dictionary of Romanian. The story's origins date back to the early 1980s, when I began gathering information for a book aimed at deciphering obscure etymologies of Romanian. My interim conclusion was that the Slavic and pseudo-Slavic heritage v. the substratum heritage represented and reflect the main challenges to working out a good, reliable etymological dictionary of Romanian.
The complex linguistic stratification of southeast Europe is illustrated in tens and hundreds of examples showing the Pre-Indo-European, Indo-European (Thracian), Latin, and Slavic heritage, as well as other influences, e.g., Hungarian and Turkish (Ottoman). The etymology of Romanian is a critical and sometimes controversial subject, but I'm hoping it will provide a solid and trustworthy resource for information.
The actual dictionary is preceded by a lengthy, yet hopefully not tedious, introduction. Its goal is to explain the complicated problems of Romanian etymology. It is followed by a list of prehistoric roots reflected in the heritage of Romanian.
I would like to thank all those who have supported this ambitious project over the years.

The dictionary may be ordered in printed form or as ebook:

https://www.peterlang.com/document/1309431

Slavii în perioada migrațiilor

by Florin Curta and Sorin Paliga

In honorem Sorin Paliga

In honorem Sorin Paliga, 2022

The colleagues have kindly dedicated me a volume to my 65th anniversary. I thank them all.

The essential Works of Vladimír Holan: original Czech text and Romanian translation

Durere; Toscana; Noapte cu Hamlet; Noapte cu Ofelia , 2017

The three volumes represent a bilingual edition (original Czech text and Romanian translation) of... more

Morfologia limbii cehe, Partea I: verbul. Partea a II-a: sfera nominală (Czech Morphology, part I: The Verb; part II: the nominal sphere)

Editura Universității din București, 2011

This is the first ample morphology of the Czech language published in Romania. It is divided into... more

An Introduction to the Comparative Study of the Slavic Languages (Introducere în studiul comparativ al limbilor slave)

Editura Universității din București, 2012

This is the first ample book of this kind published in Romania. It analyses the origins, evolutio... more

Mitologia slavilor (Slavic Mythology)

Meteor Press, 2006

This is a brief, but compact analysis of the basic problems related to the Slavic pre-Christian b... more

Linguistics and Archaeology of the Early Slavs. Another View from the Lower Danube (in Romanian)

Lingvistica și arheologia slavilor timpurii. O altă vedere de la Dunărea de Jos, 2009

This is the first and, for the time being, the only interdisciplinary attempt to analyze the arch... more This is the first and, for the time being, the only interdisciplinary attempt to analyze the archaeological and linguistic data referring to the early Slavs, their origins and their relations with the neighboring ethnic groups, then their expansion.
Sorin Paliga is linguist and slavist, and co-author Eugen Silviu Teodor is an archaeologist, specialized in the period of migrations of southeast Europe.

Mooned Song

This is my third, and last, volume of poems written in English. They were all written during one ... more

Dupăamiaza Byzanțului / A Byzantine Afternoon

Dupăamiaza Byzanțului / A Byzantine Afternoon, 1997

This is my second book of poems, in fact (very) short poems. Initially, they were in Romanian, th... more

Serbarea, 1993

I once used to write poems, this means approx. from 1973 to 1985. After that date, my activity co... more I once used to write poems, this means approx. from 1973 to 1985. After that date, my activity concentrated on linguistics, mainly historical and comparative linguistics, history of civilizations, Central European languages and cultures (mainly Czech and Slovak, also Slovene).
This is the PDF version. The printed original is dated 1993.

Lexicon Proto-Borealicum et alia lexica etymologica minora

The first and most important part of this volume is dedicated to the common heritage of Indo-Euro... more The first and most important part of this volume is dedicated to the common heritage of Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic languages, based on the analysis of Nikolaj Dmitrievič Andreev, and enlarged with other examples.
The other three minor lexicons refer to the situation of the velar spirant in Romanian, to the basic 100 Slavic roots and a glossary of Lithuanian mythological terms (in Romanian).

Etymologica et Anthropologica Maiora

The volume includes the most relevant studies published between approx. 1986 and 2006. Most of th... more

Christmas and the Saviour

The conference ‘The Church and the Otherness’, Sofia, 2024

The paper analyses two words specific to the Christian vocabulary in Romanian: Crăciun ‘Christmas... more The paper analyses two words specific to the Christian vocabulary in Romanian: Crăciun ‘Christmas’ (‘Yule’ would be a translation closer to the meaning) and the series mântui – mântuire – Mântuitor ‘the save from sin – the Saviour (Jesus)’.
Crăciun is the only case when a substratum element is preserved as a Christian term (just like Yule or Easter in English, or Ceppo in Italian). The verb mântui, and its derivatives, has been assigned to the Hungarian influence. A careful analysis of the words as well as the comparison with the beliefs in the magic hands shows that the most probable origin is the evolution of manu tueor ‘to save by hand’, which initially was a medical term, connected to the magic hands of a doctor. It was later used in connection with Jesus’ magic hands.

Paliga Cong-Kazanlăk

Ancient Thrace: Myth and Reality, 2022

The paper analyzes the languages spoken in southeast Europe BEFORE Romanization, followed by a re... more The paper analyzes the languages spoken in southeast Europe BEFORE Romanization, followed by a reconstruction of the linguistic tableau AFTER Romanization. The paper focuses, in fact, on the situation of Thracian and Illyrian, and how these languages survived or did not survive the long-lasting and deep process of Romanization.

Prior tempore, prior lege: simboluri, legende, mituri în analiza istorică (Symbols, legends, myths in the historical analysis)

Arheologia mileniului I p. Chr. VI. Dunărea de Jos între antichitate și evul mediu, 2021

The study aims at analyzing and clarifying the main problems connected to ethnicity understood as... more

ALBANIANS, ROMANIANS, SLAVS – ETHNICITY, CHANGE AND POLITICS IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM C.E.

STUDII DE LIMBĂ, LITERATURĂ ŞI METODICĂ, 2020

The paper analyses various hypotheses regarding the ethnicity of the Slavs as compared to other s... more The paper analyses various hypotheses regarding the ethnicity of the Slavs as compared to other similar processes in the 2nd half of the first millennium C.E., mainly with reference to the Romanians and Albanians, who developed a specific ethnicity in the very vicinity of the Slavs (Sclaveni, also Sclavi in the documents of the 6th century and later), but also to other groups. Ethnicity is a complex phenomenon, continuous in history. The first millennium is just a period of faster developments. Other examples are briefly analysed, i.e. the process of ethnicisation in the wake of the Yugoslav split, which offers a very good, verifiable example of ‘ethnicisation’. Linguistic, historical and cultural details are analysed in order to create a probable or, at least, plausible historical tableau. The addenda briefly present some specific details, referring to the Germanic, Romance and other ethnic groups. Anonymous’ Gesta Hungarorum and Gesta principum Polonorum are also briefly presented as good examples of how ethnic groups were perceived and analysed in the Middle Ages.

Czech pýř ‘žhavý popel (burning ashes)’, Greek pyr = English fire, Romanian pururi, (de-a) pururea ‘eternal(ly)’ < ‘eternal fires’. A new descent into the realm of prehistoric sacred fire, and its forms of survival in some modern languages.

Czech, and some other Slavic languages, preserves a (now) rarer word for ‘fire’, specifically for... more Czech, and some other Slavic languages, preserves a (now) rarer word for ‘fire’, specifically for ‘burning ashes’: pýř, against the common word for ‘fire’, oheň < Proto-Slavic *ogńь. The situation in modern Czech and other Slavic languages is seemingly reversed from that in the ancient languages, as the Indo-European root *peu-ṛ (*peə2-w-r) has been very well preserved in some languages, whereas the forms derived from Proto-Slavic ogńь have a direct and clear relation to Lithuanian ugnis, Latvian uguns, Old Indian agniḥ and Latin ignis.
As Machek notes, ‘fire’ must have had peculiar meanings in prehistoric and protohistoric societies, mainly with those ethnic groups which practised cremation as a normal burial rite, and perhaps on other occasions, where fire had its essential role, for exmple, the fires burning around the period of the winter solstice, as still preserved in the long period from (now) December 21st to January 6th, as witnessed in syntagmas like Bulgarian bădni večer = Serbian badni veće = Albanian nata e buzmit ‘the night of the logs’, that is, ‘the night when fires were burning everywhere’ = the period of the winter solstice, now Christmas Eve.
Less known is the peculiar situation of Romanian pururi, now used as an adverb with the basic meaning ‘eternally, for ever’, also as de-a pururi, with the same meaning. The etymology is, despite its being mentioned as ‘unknown’ in the current dictionaries, limpid clear: the plural of an initial form *pur ‘fire’, neuter plural pururi (pur-uri). The modern meaning ‘eternally’ is, beyond any doubt, derived from ‘eternal fires’.

Key words. Sacred fire, cremation, burial rites, god of fire.

Tracii. Oameni, zei, războaie (The Thracians. People, gods, wars)

by Cătălin Borangic, Sorin Paliga, and Alexandra Comsa

Meteor Press, 2018

This is an interdisciplinary analysis of the linguistic, archaeological and sociological problems... more

Thracian Mythology (Mitologia tracilor)

Meteor Press, 2008

It is a brief, but compact approach to the Thracian mythology and its survival until modern times... more

Hungarian-Romanian linguistic relations (Hungarian and Romanian texts)

This is the initial Romanian and Hungarian version of a paper later re-written in English and ava... more This is the initial Romanian and Hungarian version of a paper later re-written in English and available as a free download under the title
Hungarian, or rather substratum elements in Romanian?
The Hungarian and Romanian versions, unpublished, are uploaded here for convenience, in an attempt to show the meandering ways of the linguistic analysis, and for a larger debate.

A dialog about the Romanian etymology (in Romanian)

Alternanțe, 2024

The text is a discussion between writer Diana Cârligeanu and me (Sorin Paliga). The dialog aims a... more

Why I am (not) a Dacomaniac or how some suffer from paligatoritis (in Romanian)

Surâsul Bucovinei, 2024

This brief humorous-polemical text addresses an issue seemingly more and more present in the scie... more This brief humorous-polemical text addresses an issue seemingly more and more present in the scientific literature: ‘straw man arguments’ and ‘cherry picking’. Arrogance and lack of minimal deontology seem to elbow into the scientific literature not without success as long as such ‘research’ finds a good haven with prominent publishers. The text specifically criticizes Dan Dana and his aggressive language, sometimes endorsed by prominent specialists in the field of ancient studies.