Slovak kaputan – an unusual Turkish loanword

Abstract

The Slovak 1786 notation of the Turkish term kaputanbaša represents one of the relatively rare direct borrowings from Turkish into Slovak. The first component, kaputan ‘captain’, is particularly noteworthy, as it appears to be absent from Ottoman sources, even though a -put- variant should be anticipated in the evolutionary chain from Turkish *kapitan to kapudan. Previous studies on this Slovak attestation (Stachowski 2020; 2021) proposed only a single borrowing channel; here, two additional possibilities are introduced. Although a definitive explanation remains elusive, the significance of this Slovak record is undeniable. Additionally, the second component, baša ‘pasha’, is examined, given the variations in its etymological treatment by different scholars.