Orð og tunga - 01.06.2016, Page 99

Matteo Tarsi: On the origin of Christian terminology 89
The century during which each word is fi rst att ested in Icelandic
sources according to ONP and LP, together with its lending language
(mainly on the authority of AeW, IeW and ÍOb with some corrections
according to the present article, Tarsi 2014b and Halldór Halldórsson
1969b) are given in round brackets.
• Ecclesiastical titles: abbadís (12th, MLG.), ábóti (13th, OE.), biskup
(10th, OSax.), djákn (13th, OE.), erkibiskup (12th, OSax.), kardín áli
(13th, Vulg.Lat.), klerkur (13th, OE.), magister (12th, Lat.), meistari
(13th, MLG.), munkur (11th, OE.), nunna (12th, OE.), páfi (12th,
OSax.), prestur (12th, OSax.), prófastur (13th, OE.)
• Buildings and architectural parts: altari (11th, OSax.), kapella
(13th, MLG.), kirkja (12th, OE.), klaustur (13th, OE.), kór (13th,
MLG.), musteri (12th, OE.)
• Liturgy-related terms: bagall (12th, ME.), kaleikur (13th, OE.),
kóróna (13th, Lat.), kristinn (12th, OSax.), kross (12th, OE.), krúna
(13th, MLG.), kufl (13th, MLG. or OE.), kyrtill (11th, OE.), messa
(11th, OSax.), mirra (13th, MLG.), mítur (13th, Lat.), nón (12th,
OE.), obláta (13th, OE.), páskar (12th, OSax.), prósessía (13th, Vulg.
Lat.), saltari (12th, OE.), sálmur (11th, OE.), sekvensía (13th, Vulg.
Lat.), signa (13th, Vulg.Lat.), vers (13th, MLG.)
• Beings and places of the Christian doctrine: djöfull (12th,
OSax.), engill (11th, OE.), paradís (12th, OSax.), postuli (12th, OE.),
prófeti (13th, Lat.)
If crossed with a chronological classifi cation based on the century
during which each word is fi rst att ested, the semantic classifi cation
eventually reveals four borrowing “layers” which roughly mirror
some actual changes within the Church’s institutional and doctrinal
sphere, i.e. new words are more likely to be recorded in writing very
near in time to the introduction of the novelty they denote. This, how-
ever, is not clearly appreciable in all cases, as just a small number of
medieval manuscripts have survived to our time. A good example of
how far back in time the fi rst att estation of a supposedly early loan-
word might be is OIc. kristinn ‘Christian’, whose fi rst record in Ice-
landic sources we have is from the 12th century, while its importance
for the Christian doctrine, its early record in the Jelling-2 rune-stone
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