Marulić’s <i>Judith</i> as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology

Lewis, Kristian; Vrgoč, Dalibor

doi:10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik, Vol. 52 No. 1, 2026.

Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology

Kristian Lewis orcid.org/0000-0002-9202-9702 ; Institut za hrvatski jezik, Zagreb
Dalibor Vrgoč orcid.org/0000-0002-6259-0187 ; Institut za hrvatski jezik, Zagreb

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APA 6th Edition

Lewis, K. & Vrgoč, D. (2026). Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology. Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik, 52 (1). https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

MLA 8th Edition

Lewis, Kristian and Dalibor Vrgoč. "Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology." Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik, vol. 52, no. 1, 2026 https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12. Accessed 24 Aug. 2026.

Chicago 17th Edition

Lewis, Kristian and Dalibor Vrgoč. "Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology." Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik 52, no. 1 https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

Harvard

Lewis, K., and Vrgoč, D. (2026). 'Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology', Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik, 52(1). https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

Vancouver

Lewis K, Vrgoč D. Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology. Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik [Internet]. 2026 [cited 2026 August 24];52(1). https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

IEEE

K. Lewis and D. Vrgoč, "Marulić’s Judith as a Source of Croatian Military Terminology", Rasprave Instituta za hrvatski jezik, vol.52, no. 1, 2026. [Online]. https://doi.org/10.31724/rihjj.52.1.12

Abstract

Marulić’s epic Judith possesses historical significance that has long been recognized and appropriately valued within the Croatian cultural community. Consequently, it has generated a substantial body of scholarly literature and has been analyzed on multiple levels. Since its publication is considered a turning point in the history of Croatian secular literature – despite being based on a biblical narrative – Judith represents a linguistic, literary, and cultural treasure. This privileged status also makes it a fruitful starting point for research. The present study focuses on the lexical layer of Judith understood as military terminology. Previous research into the history of Croatian military lexis suggests that works from earlier periods of Croatian literacy – encompassing lexicographic production, newspapers, periodicals, and literary works alike – bear considerable witness to the use and preservation of military terms. Within this framework, Marulić’s epic is approached as a relevant source of military vocabulary from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Historical circumstances support this view: Bosnia fell under Ottoman rule in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482, and in 1493 the Battle of Krbava Field and the defeat of Croatian troops under Ban Derenčin deeply resonated throughout Croatian lands. Military topics were undoubtedly the subject of discussion across Dalmatia, including in Marulić’s native Split, and it may reasonably be assumed that basic military terminology was not unfamiliar to Marulić himself, a versatile intellectual of his time. Considering that Judith was composed eight years after the Battle of Krbava Field, and that the poem is often interpreted – at least in one of its semantic dimensions – as an allegory of the Croats’ struggle against the Turks, our working hypothesis is that it also contains elements of Croatian military terminology.