The Influence of Polish Baptism on the Native Language

Abstract

Baptism of Poland in the 10th century is a historical act for the Polish language and native culture. This act had a fundamental impact on the formation of the Polish language. Through the act of baptism and the subsequent work of Christianization in the Latin rite, the Polish language passed from the era of speech to the era of writing and gained access to Western culture. The Latin alphabet gradually introduced Polish to the group of literary European languages. Under the influence of baptism, a new lexicon was formed expressing the foundations of all sciences, the foundations of education, religious and moral lexis, beautiful names of people were created. The Bible, which has been translated into Polish for at least 700 years, has become a model of literary texts.