Examining the Adoption and Diffusion of Ecclesiastical Gallicisms in Old Spanish

Abstract

The presence of multiple loanwords in the Ibero-Romance of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries demonstrates language contact. Teasing out the nature of the relationships that resulted in the adoption and spread of these borrowings is difficult due to the limitations of the evidence, found only in written registers produced by those with access to education. This helps explain the catalogue nature of most historical borrowing studies about Spanish. This paper argues, however, that an inferential network analysis of the extant data on ecclesiastical loanwords that entered the lexicon through contact with Gallo-Romance speakers elucidates their adoption and spread, moving beyond the list. Using five borrowings as illustrations (capiscol, chantre, fraile, maestre, and monje), it asserts that their diffusion was facilitated and influenced by both the strong and the weak ties that developed inside and outside religious institutions, which left a lasting mark on the Spanish lexicon.