Naukir, nauclērus, ναύκληρος: etymological note on the Eastern Adriatic vernacular reflexes of an old nautical term / Naukir, nauclērus, ναyκληροσ: Etimološka bilješka o pučkim odrazima jednog starog pomorskog termina na istočnom Jadranu

Abstract

The reflexes of the Greek nautical term ναύκληρος in the Slavic vernaculars of the Eastern Adriatic can be traced from medieval (navьklerь, navkir) and early modern (naukijer, naukir) to present-day attestations found in modern dialects of Dalmatia (naukir, navukir, nakir). It seems unproblematic to assume that these forms do not descend directly from Greek, but there is no consensus on the near source of borrowing. Different authors have so far proposed Medieval Latin (Maretić), Italo-Romance (Vasmer) or Dalmatian-Romance (Vinja, Skok) as possible sources, yet most of these authors do not take into consideration the particularities of phonetic development in the Eastern Adriatic and Italo-Romance material. This paper discusses phonetic issues concerning the hypothesis of Italo-Romance or Dalmatian-Romance origin of the Eastern Adriatic forms and considers a range of possible solutions.

Keywords

• etymology
• ναύκληρος
• nauclerus
• Croatian Adriatic dialects