In the second century A.D., the Roman Empire stretched to the territory of present-day Slovakia, with the Danube forming its border in this region (Limes Romanus). Alongside the river, the Romans ...constructed a system of fortified points (e.g. Gerulata), and during wars against invading Germanic tribes under the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 A.D.) they even penetrated, for a short time, into the areas on the left bank. For Marcus Aurelius, “a philosopher on the throne”, as well as the Roman emperor Hadrian (117 – 138 A.D.), the Greek cultural heritage was an object of admiration and a source of great inspiration. In this favourable atmosphere, various areas of Greek culture flourished, among them scholarship, grammar and linguistics. Especially, works of two grammarians from Alexandria, father and son, became crucial for the following centuries: Apollonius Dyscolus and Aelius Herodianus. They have been considered the last great linguists of antiquity. The article aims at bringing results of research focusing on Greek grammatical texts of this period to Slovak readers.
The current paper explores the semantic evolution of the Romanian term academie (academy), considering the denominative processes involving it since its first documentary and lexicographic ...attestations to the present. Our approach expands from the identification and classification of the semantic areas to which the term belongs, to the investigation of the potential causes (e.g. cultural contamination) for the changes in the original meaning, under the influence of linguistic and extralinguistic factors. In a sociolinguistic perspective, this denominative unit both fulfils the function of identifying and classifying particular referents and represents an index to the social dynamics specific to a community. Thus, current social practices indicate that, in addition to the usage of the term Academie in the title of the highest cultural and scientific “forum” in Romania (Romanian Academy), in the designation of some higher education institutions and specialised colleges, we witness its proliferative usage as an identification label for some associations and organisations in charge with maintaining and improving professional standards. Moreover, a whole of range of company names employ the term for marketing purposes, as a guarantee to outstanding quality and scientific rigour of varied products and services. Another aspect of social practices involving the term under discussion refers to the ironic usage and deprecating value attributed to it in media headlines to the purpose of drawing public attention to the negative image of some so-called “academies”, whose ownership or corporate image is associated with some Romanian public figures of doubtful reputation. Nevertheless, we trust that these onomastic fashions are not liable to prejudice the social validity of the positive connotations of the term.
This article aims to study to what extent various works of Old French grammar had an impact on the Romanian Grammar by Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Otherwise, it is a question of wondering about the ...modalities which enabled Ion Heliade Rădulescu to adopt a foreign model, in order to create another work and integrate it into a different linguistic domain, at a given time. It also permits to think about the richness offered by the development of digitalization of old works in the process of scientific research.
Based on Sanda Golopenția’s work, The Language of Romanian Enchantments ‘Limba descântecelor românești’, our attempt is to highlight the importance of the word in the ritual scenario of folk spells. ...The semantic richness as well as the craft of putting together and uttering spells and verbal formulas is witness to the popular belief in the magic force of the word. Polysemous items, verbal licenses, and an archaic lexical stock create a semantic geography in which things mix and separate, in which the magical and the ordinary intertwine and this world communicates with the unseen and the netherworld. Sanda Golopenția’s effort to clarify the terminology, to organize the entire semantic inventory undertaken by the Romanian researcher together with other researchers of the phenomenon, creates new paths for understanding and interpreting the spells. Thus, the pragmatic approach to spells becomes a rich source of understanding and interpretation of this cultural heritage.
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