Abstract. This article explores the football terminology used among the Banat Bulgarians – a linguistic community historically separated from the main Bulgarian language area. Through field observations and lexical comparison, the study analyzes key football terms structured into semantic categories (players, fields, actions, rules, etc.). The research identifies both borrowings from Romanian, Hungarian, and English, as well as preserved native words and forms adapted to the sports terminology. Verb forms describing game actions are presented, showing structural and semantic parallels with standard Bulgarian. The study demonstrates how international football terminology is integrated into a small yet actively functioning linguistic environment that has retained its unique linguistic identity.
Keywords: Banat Bulgarians, Banat dialect, football terminology
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This publication is the result of the completion of the Cultural Identity of the Banat Bulgarians and the Bulgarian Catholic Literature project, funded by the Scientific Research Fund under contract KP-06-H70/1.
REFERENCES
DICHI, P. 2012: Istoriyata na futbola. prev. Georgi Tsankov. Sofia.
DIMITROVA, L. 2020: Chuzhdoezikovite zaimstvania v savremennata ruska sportna leksika. – V: Ezikov svyat – OrbisLinguarum. T. 18. Kn. 1. Blagovgrad, 23–30.
DOSEV, V. 2023: Futbolnata leksika v internet statiite za svetovnoto parvenstvo v katar. – V: Ezikov svyat. Kn. 21. Ch. 3, Blagoevgrad, 113–118.
STAMATOV, K. 2011: Sportnata terminologia na trite nay-populyarni kolektivni sporta v sarbia i bulgaria (futbol, basketbol i voleybol). Sravnitelno izsledvane. – V: Izvestia (Minno-geolozhkiuniversitet„Sv. Ivan Rilski”). T. XI. Sofia, 14-61.
STOYKOV, ST. 1967: Banatskiyat govor. Sofia: Izdatelstvo na BAN.
STOYKOV, ST. 1968: Stoykov, St. Leksikata na banatskia govor. Sofia: Izdatelstvo na BAN.
