Ultraque lingua : Bilingvismul greco-latin şi implicaţiile sale

Abstract

This paper deals with an essential issue in the making of the European linguistic and conceptual community, namely, Latin and Greek bilingualism. First acknowledged by the Latin writers’ phrase utrasque lingua, the fusion of Latin and Greek elements was commented upon in modern exegeses, which refer to the concepts of contact and interference. The former has a historical dimension, denoting the use of the two languages within a particular spatial and temporal context, whereas the latter addresses the consequences of this contact for the evolution of the two languages. We have approached both concepts, but insisted on the latter, drawing on the taxonomic criteria established by the French linguist Fr. Biville, and further elaborating on the typology of interference: A. Relational interference, which is either textual, in bilingual texts, or metalingual, which reveals the Latin authors’ awareness of the limits and flaws of their linguistic system, compared to Greek, an attitude that provided the basis for modern contrastive linguistics; B. Interference by transfer, which involves an impressive number of Greek loans in Latin and the translation of Greek texts into Latin; C. Interference by fusion, manifest in the following three types: hybridization (i.e. Latin derivatives suffixed on a Greek or a hybrid basis), the coining of hybrid words (by phonologically and morphologically adapting Greek loans to Latin) and a common stock of words, by virtue of the Indo-European origin of the two languages. The linguistic and cultural contact and interference between Greek and Latin contributed not only to their growth but also to fostering European cultural and spiritual communion.