Alvydas Umbrasas LITHUANIAN LEGAL TERMINOLOGY IN 1918–1940: TERMS OF THE MAIN CODES Vilnius, 2010, 341 pp.

DIANA ŠILOBRITAITĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

In 2010, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language published Dr. Alvydas Umbrasas’s book Lithuanian Legal Terminology in 1918–1940 (Terms of the Main Codes). It is based on A. Umbrasas’s dissertation of the same title, defended in 2005. The aim of the study published in the book under review is “to describe linguistically the expression of legal terminology used in 1918–1940 and to identify its predominant types” (12).

The book consists of an introduction, three main analytical sections, conclusions, and lists of the sources studied and the literature consulted. At the end are a summary in German and a glossary, which lists alphabetically the legal terms mentioned in the monograph.

The introduction specifies the subject and aim of the study, describes the research material and the state of legal terminology during the period under investigation, and surveys the sources. The first of the main analytical sections, Classification of Legal Terms by Branch of Law, discusses the concept of the legal system and the relationship between a legal term and a branch of law. In this section, legal terms are classified by branch:

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civil law, criminal law, procedural law, general law, financial law, administrative law, forensic medicine, labor law, constitutional (state) law, commercial law, criminalistics, international law, and others.

In the second analytical section, The Expression of Legal Terms, the terms are examined according to the number and relationship of their components, their structure, origin, formation, and other aspects.

Vienažodžiai terminai, kurių rasta apie 1500, aptariami kilmės ir darybos aspektais. Pagal kilmę vienažodžiai terminai skirstomi į savos ir svetimos kilmės terminus. Savos kilmės terminų skyrelyje nagrinėjami terminizuoti paprastieji žodžiai, terminizuoti ir naujieji dariniai ir sudėt-tavardėję terminai. Svetimos kilmės terminai skirstomi į skolinius, vertinius ir hibridus. Autorius pastebėjo, kad „terminų, kurie šiandienos akimis būtų laikomi neteiktinomis svetimybėmis, kodeksuose vartojama vos keletas“ (267).

In analyzing compound legal terms, the author distinguishes two-word, three-word, and multiword terms. Two-word terms (nearly 3,100) are examined in terms of expression and origin; their synonymy and variation are also discussed. Three-word legal terms (nearly 900) are further divided into terms containing prepositions and terms consisting of three independent words. Multiword terms consist of four, five, or more components. According to the author, “these terms are quite diverse in structure, but similar in the grammatical expression of their components to those discussed earlier (two-word and three-word terms – D. Š.), and are therefore not examined in detail in the study” (211).

The third of the main analytical sections, Differences in the Terminology of the Codes, compares the terminology used in translations of the codes. The book’s preface states that this section “focuses more attention on the most important codes—the criminal and civil codes. It also briefly discusses questions of authorship of the translations and their relationship” (10).

The book’s final chapter presents the conclusions, in which the author writes that “1918–1940 was a very important period in the history of legal terminology, because Lithuanian began to be used in legal documents only after independence was declared” (265), although “by the end of independence, legal terminology had not yet become established, and some terms had synonyms or variants. One of the more important reasons for this was a shortage of approved terms” (270).

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A. Umbrasas’s book is very useful both to terminologists and to specialists in the field under analysis—lawyers—because, as the author notes, “the terminology of law in 1918–1940 has not been specifically studied by linguists, and there are no substantial studies of contemporary legal terminology, apart from an occasional short article, mostly from the perspective of language culture” (9).

Received 2010-12-20

Diana Šilobritaitė Institute of the Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius Email: [email protected]

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