In German and Slovenian, the base type
zimbar exists alongside the base type
camera, as shown by the standard variants
deu. Zimmer and
Kammer or
slv. cimer and
kamra. In some uses, the two are also synonymous, as shown by the map
map of the concept DACHKAMMER. The base type
zimbar is originally Germanic (see below), whereas the base type
camera goes back to Latin, so that in Slovenian both are to be regarded as loanwords. More precisely, both were probably taken directly from the respective language family:
slv. cimer derives from
deu. Zimmer for the type is absent in Romanic.
Slv. kamra can most easily be understood as a substrate borrowing from Latin-Romanic or as an adverbial borrowing from the Romanic neighbours, which the
palatalised forms, though rarely attested in
VA, seem to indicate. In any case, it is unnecessary to assume a secondary mediation via
deu. Kammer. At best, a multiple borrowing from both German and
Lat.-
Roa. is conceivable. At best, a repeated borrowing from both German and
Lat.-
Roa. is conceivable. However, it is important to point out that the (partial) synonymy of the two types results from the function of the denoted spaces. Historically, they come not only from different language families, but also from completely different traditions of house construction.
Zimbar stands for constructions made of wood, as is clear from the related forms in the other Germanic languages; cf. Kluge 2012 (online n.p.):
"
Zimmer,
Sn std. (8th century),
mhd. zimber, zim(m)er m./n.,
ahd. zimbar,
as. timbar ‛living space, dwelling, wooden building, timber'.
From
g. *
temra- n. ‛Building timber, timbered', also in
anord. timbr,
ae. afr. timber;
gt. in
tim(b)rjan ‛to timber' (like
anord. timbra,
ae. timbr(i)an,
afr. timbria, timmeria,
as. timbron,
ahd. zimb(a)rōn,
mhd. zimbren, zimmern,
nhd. zimmern). [...]".
Lat. camera, on the other hand, presupposes stone construction, which the
Old High German evidence points out just as unmistakably as the concise article in Kluge 2012 (online n.p.):
"
Kammer Sf erw. obs. (8th century),
mhd. kamer(e),
ahd. chamara,
as. kamara.
Borrowed early from
l. camera ‛vaulted ceiling', then ‛room with vaulted ceiling, vaulting', which in turn is borrowed from
gr. kamára ‛vault, vaulted chamber'. [...] Likewise
nndl. kamer,
ne. chamber,
nfrz. chambre,
nschw. kammare,
nnorw. kammer".
Greek lexicography confirms this depiction (see
LSJ, under
κᾰμάρ-α, Ion. κᾰμάρ-η [μᾰ], ἡ). The widespread adoption of stone construction is known to have resulted in numerous Latin-Romanic borrowings in German (
Examples). In this light, it is remarkable that there is no indication in the VerbaAlpina material of a borrowing in the opposite direction, i.e., from
zimbar into Romance languages. However, timber construction was by no means completely displaced. The borrowing of the type
zimbar into Slovenian shows that, especially in areas such as the Alps, where both materials are readily available depending on the altitude, it apparently became well established and spread alongside stone construction (cf. the
map). Incidentally, the onomasiologically related base type
thilla,
deu. Diele, which was also borrowed into Slovenian, but not into Romanic languages, presents itself quite analogously (cf.
map). This results in the following stratigraphic sketch:
| STRATO romanzo | .
STRATO gem. (ted.)
|
STRATO slavo (slov.) |
| camera | .
Chamber | .
Diele, Zimmer→ | .
→→ dilje, cimr |
chamber | .
| ↑ | .
SOSTRATO ↑ |
.
|
SOSTRATO ↑ | .
| latino-romanzo camera |