On the Lexical, Morphological, and Semantic Structure of English and Romanian Heraldic Vocabularies
On the Lexical, Morphological, and Semantic Structure of English and Romanian Heraldic Vocabularies

Summary/Abstract: This article examines language structure applied to a specialized lexicon. Heraldry has developed a rich terminology in both English and Romanian, reflecting on a millennium of symbolic representations of power and authority. As, to our knowledge, the two lexicons have not been compared before, this article analyzes them morphologically - featuring compounding (cross-crosslet, contra-sângeap), and derivation (superimposition, afrontat) -, lexically - namely borrowing (ferreté, ondé, nimbat, rampant) - and semantically - focusing on synonymy (pairle / shakefork) and specialization (cognizance) -, only to conclude with an overview of similarities and differences between English and Romanian heraldic lexicons.

• Details
• Contents