>since DEX means that the new one "jupan" is from Slavic
>"ZupanU", the feminine form "jupãniTa" is from
>Slavic "jupanica" but not from Polish.
Of course, since "zhupan" was known to Romanians
much earlier - centuries prior to those Moldavian
noble scribblers (Miron Costin etc.) attended schools
in Poland.
But the question refers to "ban", which in
Hungarian is "bán" [ba:n]. And we know that
this title (belonging in certain periods of time
to high-rank nobility) was chiefly used in the
Serbo-Croat areas and in the Hungarian
neighboring provinces only (Croatia and
certain Serbian areas were included in the
Hungarian kingdom too). Romanians also
had sort of a duke, "the ban", of their own
only in the realm of Oltenia, starting in the
13th century -- possibly because
the possession included the former banate
of Severin (Szörényi Bánság), that belonged
to Hungary and played some major role
exactly on the eve of the creation of a greater
important Romanian state between the
Carpathians and the Danube -- a state that
engulfed Oltenia too (the rulers of the greater
state were at the same acknowledged feudal
lords over some regions in Southern
Transylvania as well).
So, what kind of word is "ban"? Turkic (Avar
or Protobulgarian)? Or Slavic? (I guess that
Hungarians either borrowed it from the
South Slavs or from the... Turkish language
of the ruling class of the incipient Hungarian
nation - 8th-9th centuries.)
George