Łacińska humiliatio a staropolska pokora. Wpływ polszczyzny na łacinę w średniowieczu
Latin humiliatio and Old Polish pokora. The influence of Polish on Latin in the Middle Ages

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses cross-linguistic interference observed while studying Latin humiliatio, humilitas (and additionally homagium, venia) and Old Polish pokora, referring to the statutory and customary legal practice of ‘public humiliation of the culprit, most often the murderer, and their request for forgiveness’. The research focuses on the linguistic and socio-cultural changes that made the juridical meaning of humiliatio, humilitas emerge. The paper offers a diachronic analysis of the development of a set of words that share the root humil*, followed by a synchronic study of the vocabulary attested in Old Polish, Old Czech, and in Medieval Latin used in other countries. The article discusses linguistic and socio-cultural factors that might have contributed to the development of the juridical sense of humiliatio, humilitas in Medieval Latin in Poland, and concludes with a hypothesis that the described sense emerged as a calque of one of the senses of the Polish word pokora.

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