LANGUAGES AND CULTURES IN CONTACT: THE FRENCH LANGUAGE A ND THE MARITIME TERMINOLOGY

Abstract

The lexical borrowing is a fertile area of research, because it involves the contact between linguistic systems, cultures and spiritual identities. Through this work we try to demonstrate, using linguistic and statistical arguments , that the French language had a major role in shaping the Romanian maritime terminology in the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The basis of our approach is the premise that, during this period, French had a great influence over the Romanian language, especially in t he scientific, technical, political and cultural areas.

Keywords

• Linguistic contact
• Romanian maritime terminology
• French influence
• calque
• loanword