Naukir, Nauclērus, Nαyκληροσ: Etymological Note on the Eastern Adriatic Vernacular Reflexes of an Old Nautical Term Cover Image

Naukir, nauclērus, ναyκληροσ: Etimološka bilješka o pučkim odrazima jednog starog pomorskog termina na istočnom Jadranu
Naukir, Nauclērus, Nαyκληροσ: Etymological Note on the Eastern Adriatic Vernacular Reflexes of an Old Nautical Term

Author(s): Nikola Vuletić
Subject(s): Ancient World, Middle Ages, Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, South Slavic Languages
Published by: Sveučilište u Zadru
Keywords: etymology; ναύκληρος; nauclerus; Croatian Adriatic dialects;

Summary/Abstract: The reflexes of the Greek nautical term ναύκληρος in the Slavic vernaculars of the Eastern Adriatic can be traced from medieval (navьklerь, navkir) and early modern (naukijer, naukir) to present-day attestations found in modern dialects of Dalmatia (naukir, navukir, nakir). It seems unproblematic to assume that these forms do not descend directly from Greek, but there is no consensus on the near source of borrowing. Different authors have so far proposed Medieval Latin (Maretić), Italo-Romance (Vasmer) or Dalmatian-Romance (Vinja, Skok) as possible sources, yet most of these authors do not take into consideration the particularities of phonetic development in the Eastern Adriatic and ItaloRomance material. This paper discusses phonetic issues concerning the hypothesis of Italo-Romance or Dalmatian-Romance origin of the Eastern Adriatic forms and considers a range of possible solutions.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 81-98
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English, Croatian