Wanderwort

Translations

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Article

A Wanderwort is a word that circulates among the languages of a more or less large area, following different paths of borrowing which are sometimes difficult or impossible to clearly reconstruct.

Wanderwörter may emerge in a large number of languages of different genealogical affiliation, and their diffusion is not limited to specific areas, but may even surpass typical areal boundaries and appear in languages that are significantly far away from each other. Structurally, Wanderwörter undergo independent processes of adaptation and integration in the lexica of each of the languages in which they appear, which often results in significant formal differences, which frequently complicates the task of identifying them.

Example

There are several examples of Wanderwörter within the Mediterranean area: mostly, they circulated via the Eastern Mediterranean during the Iron Age. <img src=>