Noblesse lituanienne et noblesse volynienne au XVe siècle [Contribution à l'étude du vocabulaire social dans la grande-principauté de Lituanie

Abstract

Danielle Skakalski, Lithuanian and Volynian nobilities of the fifteenth century. Contribution to the study of the social vocabulary o£ the Lithuanian Great Principality. This article gives a brief outline of the formation of the Great Principality of Lithuania, and of the part played by its ruling class in the union with Poland until the beginning of the fifteenth century. It proceeds to analyze the terminology used to designate different categories of the nobility, mainly in the fifteenth century. The study proves the preservation of lexical tradition inherited from the State of Kiev and combined with terminology intentionally borrowed from the Polish vocabulary. The Polish influence was strongest in regions bordering Poland, such as Volynia. This terminological study shows the attraction exercized by the Polish social model of nobility on that of Lithuania, and, in general, the influence of Polish culture in a region historically belonging to the world of Eastern Slavs.