Serbian and Greek : A Long History of Lexical Borrowing

Abstract

This paper offers diachronic insight into the influence of the Greek language on the Serbian lexicon in the domain of loanwords. After an overwiew of some historically and linguistically relevant factors, a systematisation of Serbian Grecisms is presented—and illustrated with selected examples. This is based on chronological stratification and formal criteria related to both registers, literary and vernacular (with a special stress on the most significant, medieval period), as well as geographic and genetic classifications of Serbian Grecisms. Finally, the complexity of the factors involved in this analysis is illustrated with some formal and/or semantic doublets originating from various periods and directions of borrowing Greek words into Serbian.