FROM ”PANTALON“ TO “BÉCHAMEL“: FRENCH EPONYMOUS BORROWINGS IN ROMANCE LANGUAGES. NORMS, USAGES, AND VARIATIONS

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the importance of the influence of French on other Romance languages (namely Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Romanian) through the study of eponyms, understood in their canonical sense as lexical units derived from proper names. Situated at the intersection of (historical) lexicology, sociolinguistics, and contact linguistics, this approach sheds light on how French-derived lexemes such as pantalon, charlotte, béchamel, and others are integrated and develop differently depending on normative, sociocultural, and mental frameworks, as well as on the discursive practices specific to each individual Romance language. Thus, the data recorded in the lexicographic reference works of each language under consideration, along with attested examples from corpora (see the final bibliography) will highlight distinctive, and at times even contrasting, trajectories of lexicalization. Furthermore, our analysis will emphasize that these divergences manifest themselves not only at the level of Romance typology, but also within the conceptual domains examined, namely those of fashion and gastronomy.
Finally, the inclusion of the Romanian language within this methodological and analytical framework, through the study of Gallicisms such as pantaloni, șarlotă, and beșamel, as well as certain false Gallicisms such as joben and alendelon, provides additional data that contribute to the validation of the research hypotheses, particularly by illustrating phenomena related to contact linguistics.