Der Weg von gr. lat papyrus zu kat. paper

Abstract

The first chapter of the article deals with the history of the flexible writing materials in antique to medieval periods: Papyrus, Parchment, Paper. It tackles the production of paper in Xàtiva between the 10th and 13th century. In the second chapter the Greek and Latin terminology of flexible writing materials such as vellum, card (charta), papyrus (including its Egyptian etymology) and pergamenum is dealt with. The third chapter primarily includes arguments that in the word «papyrus» the semantic development from papyrus to paper, as well as the change of the suffixes (e.g. -yrus to -er) took place in Italy (cf. North West Italian: «papèr»). The Catalan word «paper» is therefore a derivation from this North West Italian word.