Alvydas Umbrasas. Lietuvių teisės terminija 1918–1940 metais: pagrindinių kodeksų terminai

152 D. Šilobritaitė | DIaNa ŠIlOBRItaItė Institute of Lithuanian Language In 2010, the Lithuanian Language Institute published Dr. Alvydas Umbrasas Lithuanian Law Terminology 1918-1940 (Lietuvių teisės terminija 1918–1940 knyterminai). It is based on A. Umbraso’s dissertation of the same name metais), which was defended in 2005. The aim of the work published in the book in question is to “linguistically describe the expression of consumer law terminology in 1918–1940, to identify the prevailing types” (12). The book consists of an introduction, three main parts of the study, conclusions, research sources and literature lists. The monograph ends with a summary in German and a glossary listing the legal terms used in the monograph in alphabetical order. The introduction indicates the object of the work, the purpose, describes the research material, the legal terminology of the research period and reviews the sources. The first of the main parts of the analysis, The division of legal terms by branches of law, discusses the concept of the legal system and the relationship of the legal term with the branch of law. In this part, the terms of law are divided into branches: Alvydas umbrasas LITHUANIAN LAW TERMINOLOGY 1918–1940 years: Background CODEX Terms V i l n i u s, 2010, 341 p. Terminology | 2010 | 17 153 civil law, criminal law, procedural law, common law, financial law, administrative law, forensic medicine, labour law, constitutional (state) law, commercial law, criminal law, international law, etc. In the second part of the examination, the expression of legal terms, terms are examined according to the number of elements, their relationship, structure, origin, composition, etc. Around 1,500 single-word terms are discussed in terms of origin and construction. The term is used to refer to the origin and origination of a person's name. The section on terms of their own origin deals with terminated ordinary words, terminated and new derivatives and conjugated terms. Terms of foreign origin are divided into borrowed, secured and hybrid. The author observed that “there are only a few terms used in the Codes that would be regarded as unrepresentable foreign words in today’s eyes” (267). When analyzing the composite legal terms, the author of the book distinguishes two-word, three-word and polyword terms. Biword terms (almost 3100) are examined in terms of expression and origin, their synonymy and variantity are discussed. Three-word legal terms (around 900) are further divided into terms with prepositions and terms with three independent words. Polyword terms consist of four, five or more elements. According to the author, “these terms are quite different in terms of structure, but in terms of the grammatical expression of the elements they are similar to those already discussed earlier (twoand three-word verbs – D. Š.), so they are not examined in detail in the work” (211). The third of the main parts of the study, Differences in Codex terminology, compares the terminology of codex translations. In the preface to the book it is written that in this part “more attention is paid to the most important – criminal and civil – codes. A little talk is also made about the problems of authorship of translations and their relationship” (10). The final chapter of the book presents conclusions, in which the author writes that “1918–1940 is a very important period in the history of legal terminology, because only after the declaration of independence the Lithuanian language began to be used in legal documents” (265), although “at the end of independence legal terminology was not yet established, some terms had synonyms or variants. One of the more important reasons for this was the lack of approved terms’ (270). 154 D. Šilobritaitė | The book of A. Umbrasas is very useful both for terminologists and specialists in the analyzed field – lawyers, because, according to the author, “the terminology of the law of 1918–1940 has not been specifically studied by linguists, there are no larger and modern legal terminology studies, with the exception of one other article mainly with regard to language culture” (9). Retrieved 2010-12-20. Diana Šilobritaitė Institute of Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania Email: [email protected]