On the concept of researching turcisms in Czech language

Abstract

The article examines different concepts of researching Turkish loanwords in modern Czech language in comparison with Polish approaches. It describes the rather faint interest in this issue as well as some problems with understanding the term turcism, and places it among expressions that have a wider meaning, such as orientalism or even arabism. It also gives examples showing interpretation of Turkish-originated words in Czech dictionaries. The paper also includes possible ways, both direct and indirect, of incorporating Turkish-originated words into Czech and asks a question about a language mediator in contacts between Turk languages and Czech and Polish.