Interaction among Borrowing, Inflection and Word Formation in Polish Medieval Latin

The present study discusses classes of words attested in Polish Medieval Latin which might be interpreted both as borrowings (or loan translations) from Old Polish and as products of regular Latin word formation. Starting from the general structural similarity between Polish and Latin as inflectional languages as well as from their phonetic similarity, it emphasizes the role of inflection in lexical transfers from Polish into Latin. The interaction between borrowing and word formation is, in turn, addressed in terms of parallel semantic niches occurring in Old Polish and Polish Medieval Latin. The analysis consists in verifying whether the niches encountered in Polish Medieval Latin are organized according to a lexico-semantic pattern attested in Latin of any period in its history. In addition, by making recourse to Štekauer’s onomasiological theory, the possible interaction between competition and collaboration, as manifested in new coinages in Polish Medieval Latin, is examined.