On names and terminology from Oriental-Islamic culture in Bosnian spelling

Abstract

Names and terminology from Oriental-Islamic spirituality and culture are an important layer of the lexicon of the Bosnian language to which users mostly build a special relationship. That is why orthographic standardization of such words is a very challenging and responsible task. The expectations are always different. In the case of the names and terminology discussed in this article, Muslim theologians, intellectuals, imams, etc. have the greatest influence and the most significant role. They must first of all understand that the vocabulary in question has ceased to be Arabic by the act of borrowing and has become Bosnian, falling that way under the normative ‘jurisdiction’ of the Bosnian language. Only by incorporating all such words into the appropriate Bosnian spelling categories we show that they are fully accepted and domesticated in the Bosnian language. Likewise, as we wander around choosing different ways of writing them (especially those that are foreign to the Bosnian language and spelling), we are actually showing that these words are still a ‘problem’ for us, even after centuries of their presence in the Bosnian language. In doing so, one should know that every battle against natural laws, including linguistic ones, is lost in advance.