THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE THROUGH THE MANUSCRIPT 109 OF NEAGOE BASARAB’S TEACHINGS: CONVENTIONAL WORD BREAKS AND COMPOUND WORDS WITH OR WITHOUT HYPHEN [p. 2r-66r]

Estelle VARIOT Aix-Marseille Université, France, CAER, France

Abstract

In this paper, the author aims to present some of specific aspects, registered in the MS 109 [p.2r-66r] of Neagoe Basarab’s teachings, connected with language and, especially, with the conventional word breaks and the way how compound lexical words are constituted, over time. The random presence of variable typographic signs (. , : =), in the title and in the body of the manuscript, reveals that it was redacted at a moment when normalization was not yet done and when their papers in the sentence could potentially be different. All along the chosen fragment, some words are split or reunited, with or without hyphen, or with some typographic signs mentioned above. That corresponds to a hesitation of the copyist or an evolution in the use of language. The analysis of many terms will give the opportunity to underscore some recurrent trends as well as some changes, in a context when numerous forms are not either totally standardized and are still developing during the later period when the natural, latin alphabet replaced the Cyrillic one, till nowadays. From the diachronic and synchronic points of view, this article will intend to show the topicality and the importance of studying manuscripts and ancient authors, at a key time for the Romanian language when it reoriented itself toward Latinity. Keywords: Neagoe Basarab, manuscript, typographic and editorial conventions, compound words, hyphen, diachronic linguistics, Latin graph.