In contrast to the majority of chapters united in this volume that report on research conducted on modern languages, the present study analyses two historical languages by discussing classes of words attested in Polish Medieval Latin which might be interpreted both as borrowings (or loan translations) from Old Polish and as products of regular Latin word formation. Section 1 provides basic information on research data and indicates the specificity of Medieval Latin in terms of linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects. Section 2 provides a more detailed insight into the Latin used in medieval Poland. The degree of interplay between Latin and Old Polish is of particular interest, with emphasis on inflectional morphology as the method of transferring vernacular stems into Latin. Section 3 considers the role of inflection in Latin word formation from a more general perspective and discusses the competition between inflection and word formation as operations in Polish Latin. Section 4 distinguishes some lexico-semantic classes within which there may be interaction between borrowing and word formation. In addition, the section proposes a few more precise criteria for determining whether inflection or word formation operations have taken place in cases when lexemes with Latin stems appear and demonstrate ‘unexpected’ semantic and morphological parallels to Polish lexico-semantic classes. Further, the section evokes a series of agent names in Polish and Czech Latin in the light of the Štekauer's onomasiological theory, thereby referring to the loan translation mercipotus (‘the sealing of a deal by making a celebratory toast’) as a possible manifestation of the continuity between competition and collaboration. Section 5 summaries the conclusions.

The position of Latin in medieval Poland

The present study is based on data from the Polish Medieval Latin dictionary (Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum, LMILP), and draws from Weyssenhoff- Brożkowa (1991) which deals with the influence of Old Polish on Polish Medieval Latin, as well as from Rzepiela (2005) which treats word formation in Polish Medieval Latin. The data were also verified in related text sources and in the Electronic Corpus of Polish Medieval Latin (eFontes).