Alcune osservazioni sulla terminologia relativa ai rapporti fra i sessi nei Kanun delle montagne albanesi

Abstract

We conducted a short analysis of historical, cultural and linguistics aspects based on a corpus of traditional Albanian law (Kanuni i Leke Dukagjinit, Kanuni i Skanderbegut, Kanuni i Dibrës) existing in several areas of northern Albania inhabited by a population of Catholics and Muslims. The survey, aimed at highlighting the features of the vocabulary related to the relations between the sexes, the strong role played by religious institutions and, in particular, by the Catholic Church (as is evident from the events related to the codification of KS), focused on terms related to the most important stages of the existence of the individual in the Kanun society, e.g., legitimate marriages martesa me kunorë , illegitimate unions (pa kunorë), and other lexemes related to this semantic field, e.g. kopil “bastard” lidhun “damned, blasted", used to refer to members of an unmarried Catholic couple. With regard to the latter lexeme, particularly interesting is the development of specific meanings, recorded in the ancient Albanian literature, which emerged in magic-religious contexts (“lent, carnival, sorcery, magic”). There is also a large number of borrowings in the lexicon related to family relationships, particularly in the area of marital infidelity, e.g. kurvni (from Slavic languages) as well as many Turkisms (varan / Jaran, zinaç).