Scripta & e-Scripta vol 5, 2007

Scripta & e-Scripta vol 5, 2007
Digitization Department at IMI-BAS: Three Years of Experience Scripta & e-Scripta vol 5, 2007 floyd Mon, 12/24/2007 - 18:10

In 2004, when the Department for Digitization of Scientific Heritage was cre¬ated within the Institute for Mathematics and Informatics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, several key areas of its work had been defined: general methodology and practical setting for digitization of cultural and scientific heritage; digitization of medieval manuscripts (incl. digital imaging, cataloguing, text representation, electronic publishing); digitization of mathematical texts; audio archives: methods for digitization and restoration; application of quantitative methods for the study of data related to the cultural heritage, and applications of edutainment to cultural heritage studies. This paper presents the development of the research and practical work in the last three years of the existence of the department when unique mixture of experience and competences on the Bulgarian setting were achieved. The paper concludes with ideas for future development.

Subject: Other Digitization Workflows DELOS reference model BulDML Musical periodicals DIGMAP

‘RomanCyrillic Std’ – a Free Font for Slavists (and other Philologists)

  • Summary/Abstract

    The author has developed and released two high-quality free fonts for the scientific community, RomanCyrillic Std and Kliment Std. The latter font has already been introduced in a separate paper (see Scripta & e-Scripta, 3–4/2006); the purpose of this paper is to introduce the RomanCyrillic Std font which has originally been released at the same time as Kliment Std, but has been considerably updated and expanded. The licensing conditions of the font allow it to be freely used for any scholarly research and publication. For any user of the font this has two important consequences: 1) The font is fully licensed and legal to use which means it does not violate anyone else’s copyrights. 2) This also means that the font may not be altered, modified, changed, renamed etc. by the end-user. The font is made available as a Unicode 5.0 OpenType font in TrueType format. It can be used on Windows PCs as well as Macintoshes – there is only one font file for use on both platforms. This means that there is complete compatibility and interoperability between these two platforms for any documents that use this font. The same is true for web-sites that assume the presence of a specific font in their html code. The font contains supplements: Latin alphabet, Cyrillic, Glagolithic, Cyrillic characters with special diacritics, and Greek fonts with special characters (monotonic as well as polytonic), IPA characters, and other symbols. As the content and the location of the Old-Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet in the Unicode space has not yet been established, the font has the possibility to evolve, in order to adequately reflect all requirements of this standard.


Gregory Camblak – on some controversial issues

  • Summary/Abstract

    The studies of the life and writings of Gregory Camblak are numerous: they started 200 years ago. Still, there are many controversial issues that await further research. This article suggests answers concerning the following two questions: 1. What is the origin of Camblak's name and family? and 2. Did he witness the fall of Tarnovo under the Ottomans? The author of the paper put forward the following hypotheses: the name of Camblak is of Proto-Bulgarian origin; his family was Bulgarian by origin although some of his relatives lived in Byzantium; Gregory Camblak was born between 1356-1359 (most probably in 1357) and during the Council of Konstanz he was 60-62 years old; Camblak left Tarnovo before its fall under the Ottomans and he never came back: his mastery in the depiction of the enslaved Tarnovo cannot be used as a sound argument that he witnessed the fall.


The Notitia Archiepiscoporum of Bulgaria (according to codices Paris Gr. 880, Mosq. Syn. Gr. 286 and Tyrnavo 18)

  • Summary/Abstract

    The list of the Archbishops of Bulgaria that was published by Du Cange in the late 17th century has been edited many times in various countries. This list, which is a precious source for the history of the Archdiocese of Ochrid, was known until recently only by one manuscript in the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris, which was brought to light by Du Cange. Recently the list of the Archbishops of Bulgaria was found in two more codices. Professor Dr. V. Tapkova-Zaimova found it in the codex No Mosq. Syn. Gr. 286 from the collection of the Moscow State Historical Museum (it was published by S. Barlieva). Professor Dr. A. A. Tachiaos found it in the codex No 18 of the Public Library of Tyrnavo, Greece. In this article the list of the Archbishops of Bulgaria is republished on the basis of the codices No Paris. Gr. 880, Mosq. Syn. Gr. 286 and Tyrnavo 18. Note has also been taken of the interventions of H. Gelzer and J. Ivanov in the edition of the Paris codex as well as those of S. Barlieva in the edition of the Moscow codex.


Das “Munchener Abecedarium” – ein neues Facsimile samt einigen neuen Beobachtungen

The “Munich Abecedarium” - a New Facsimile and Some New Comments

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the present article, a new facsimile – in colour – of the so-called “Munich Abecedarium” is being published for the first time. The new facsimile is much better than the first photograph published by Trubetzkoy in 1930. The grayscale picture published by Mares in 1971 was already much better, and the current publication adds colour and an online version which can be even more enlarged for closer inspection. The article comments on the most obvious cases where previous readings and renderings of the alphabets differ and features a new, more faithful, transcription of both the Cyrillic and the Glagolitic alphabet from the „Munich Abecedarium“.


The Ideological Use of Biblical Motifs and Quotations in the Canon on the Translation of the Relics of St. Clement of Rome

  • Summary/Abstract

    The hymn devoted to the finding and the subsequent translation of the relics of Saint Clement of Rome shows a double interest: it is one of the earliest hymnographical compositions in Old Church Slavonic, and it contains clearly ideological elements. The relics of Saint Clement, third Pope after Saint Peter, played a main role in two important periods of the christianisation of the Slavs: the mission of the byzantine brothers Constantine-Cyril and Methodius in Moravia (863–869), and the baptism of the Rus’ian prince Vladimir in 988. Therefore, the study of the canon on the translation of the relics of Saint Clement can provide us a valuable evidence of the ideological use of biblical motifs and quotations. Several scholars con¬sidered a newly discovered Russian version of the hymn as the work composed by Constantine the Philosopher on the occasion of his finding of the relics in 861. On the contrary, the Russian historian E. V. Uxanova, basing on the ideological use of biblical quotations, came to the conclusion that such hymnographical composition would have a Russian origin, dating from the period of the christianisation of the Kievan Rus’. In this article, we will show how a careful rereading of those biblical motifs and quotations don't allow us to support either of these hypothesis


Some Notes on the Motif of Conversion to Christianity of the Bulgarians in 'Chronica Pontificum Romanorum' by Thomas Ebendorfer

  • Summary/Abstract

    The paper deals with the motif of the conversion to Christianity of the Bulgarians in Chronica Pontificum Romanorum by Thomas Ebendorfer. The examination of the text together with fragments taken from other Latin chronicles reveals that in Thomas Ebendorfer’s chronicle there is no uniting of the Cyrillo-Methodian motif and the one about the conversion of the Bulgarians by their prince Boris. To some extent such a development of the motif is foreordained by the invention of source unused before then in Latin historiography. Most probably it was Liber pontificalis since in the text on the pontificate of pope Nicolaus I in the both works in question some resamblances were found which are not peculiar for the early mediaeval Latin historiographical narrative in the Chonicle by Reginon of Prum.


О Скопльской минее XIII в.

The Festal (Skopje) menaion from 13-th century

  • Summary/Abstract

    В статье в сопоставлении с аналогичными сербскими рукописями рассматривается самая древняя болгарская праздничная минея ХІІІ-го века, находящаяся в Софии (НБКМ, № 522). Сделаны кодикологические и палеографические заметки. Обстоятельственно рассмотрены содержание и состав минеи с точки зрения календаря. Структура служб анализирована с позиции литургической практики ІХ/Х–ХІІІ вв. На основе анализа сделаны следующие выводы: 1) Скопльская праздничная минея содержит ранний состав Константинопольских памятей ІХ–Х вв. и десять оригинальных произведений древнеболгарской книжности. Это свидетельство о времени перевода данного типа богослужебной книги; 2) В рукописи сочетаются елементы кафедрального Константинопольского богослужения с элементами неосавваитской манастырской (вероятно святогорской) богослужебной практики. Кодекс показывает смешивание литургических традиций вне зависимости от календаря.


Слово Иоанна Златоуста о твари и о суде” в сборнике РНБ ОСРК F.I.4: краткий вариант гомилии, приписываемой Клименту Охридскому

Sermon of John Chrysostom about being and the Judgment in the miscellany RNB OCRK F.I.4: the short variant of homily, ascribed to Kliment Ohridski

  • Summary/Abstract

    The text of the Sermon usually is included in the Slavonic miscellanies entitled Zlatostruj (both in the short and in the complete version) was published first by N. L. Tunickij, who supposed that it is attributed to St. Kliment of Ochrida. The same opinion was declared by many other authors (B. Angelov, K. Kuev, X. Kodov, Kl. Ivanova, etc.) The main argument was common places in the text and similar readings with this Sermon and otherKliment’s works. The author of the current paper analyses a short version of the Sermon about being and the Judgment in an unpublished manuscript of 16th c. (RNB OCRK F.I.4). This codex (possibly of ruthenian origin) is a miscellany of mixed content with archaic features of language and contains many translated works of Basil of Caesarea, Ephrem the Syrian, Gregory the Theologian, etc. In the conclusion the author assumes that the Sermon there was a short vesrion of the Sermon in the early stage of Old Church Slavonic literature.The publication of the copy is enclosed.


The Face of God’s Divinity: Some Remarks on the Origin, Models and Content of the Trinity Images of Synthronoi Type in Post-Byzantine Painting

  • Summary/Abstract

    The present text is an attempt to understand and to come closer to that which has been passed down through the centuries as the perception of God as the Holy Trinity, which has found its visual expression in art that in the Orthodox tradition has been transformed into an indivisible part of theology. To this end, one of the variants for the visualization of the idea of the Holy Trinity is chosen that exists both in Eastern Orthodox and Western art with close formal characteristics, but in different contexts: the image of the Trinity of the Synthronoi type.What are the origins of this image, what is its meaning, what were the mechanisms for its spread and what are its basic models - these are the questions that the present text raises, without pretending to be able to answer them definitively.


The Murals of the St. Demetrios Church in Boboshtica: Local Traditions and Constantinople Influences in the Ecclesiastical Art of the Prespa-Korcha Re

  • Summary/Abstract

    The St. Demetrios is a one-nave, one-apse church, which has been re-covered with a gable roof. The murals date from different periods. The first layer, which this study dates to around the last quarter of the 14th century, includes murals on the eastern wall of the naos (the Holy Virgin on the throne, Melismos, St. Cyril of Alexandria, Archdeacon Stephan, the Annunciation, the Ascension), on the western wall of the naos (the Dormition of the Holy Virgin, the Judas’s Betrayal or the Mocking of Christ, Christ before Pilate, the Helkomenos, St. Constantine and St. Helena, St. Cosmas and St. Damian), on the church facade (the Donor’s composition, the Baptism of Christ ) and in the entrance - St. Paraskevi and St. Barbara. The other murals in the church date from the 17th-18th centuries. On the western wall of the naos above the entrance there is a one-line inscription, paraphrase the Gospel of Matthew [22:39-40]. The lunette above the entrance of the church represents the Holy Virgin and Child, defined by the rare epithet "The Dwelling-place of the Uncontainable [God]". This is the third such representation in the byzantine art which I know of. The other two are in the Church of the Monastery of St. Saviour in Chora, in Constantinople. This paper has repeatedly drawn stylistic and iconographic parallels with the church of Christ Zoodotes in Embore not only because this is the nearest church in geographical terms, but also because it was probably commissioned by the same donor. Still, I will refrain from advancing the thesis that the two churches were decorated by the same team of painters. The stylistic features relate the murals in this church to the range of monuments in the Kastoria region from the second half of the 14th century. It can be assumed that the painters which painted St. Demetrios church in Boboshtica have also worked in the rock church of the Annunciation near Globochica.


The music archive of the eastern rite catholic church in Bulgaria

  • Summary/Abstract

    As a result of collection, description and ordering of the musical scores of the Eastern Rite Catholic Church in Bulgaria an archive has been created. This archive should give a solid base for further investigations of the cultural and musical traditions of the community. The selection of the classificational principles, being one of the major problems in the AE description, draws on already established archive models in Bulgarian and foreign musicology, such as the works of Christina Japova “The Archive of Dobri Hristov” and the Vatican Film Library, as given in “Manuscripta 2006”. The making of an inventory by means of AE in text format provides conditions for future detailed and serious research work, based on this archive.


The Origin of Bulgarian Relative Pronouns

  • Summary/Abstract

    This article is part of forthcoming research on the history of Bulgarian relative pronouns. The question of their nature, origin, and evolution is inextricably bound up with the repeatedly discussed problem of the so-called replacement of their initial anaphoric stem by an ‘interrogative’ one. The relativization is a process of transformation of mutually dependent sentences (interrogative: who will…?; conditional: if someone…) into relative clauses, through changing their initial meaning, and transforming the noun, or the pronoun, which unifies them semantically, into a relative conjunction, which, usually has gender, number, and case. The acquirement of relative function by the *kw- stem is a result of a choice between several alternatives (*Ч-, *t- и *kw- root). Several possible causes and ways for the course of this process, mentioned in this article, can be supposed. The process of replacement of the old stem was catalyzed by several factors, which acted with different force, with different types of generated relative clauses, and with different relative pronouns. Probably, the relative *kw- stem was established lastly in the developing (commenting, procentential) clauses, under the influence of other relative clauses.


The Cycle of Texts Dedicated to the Virgin Mary in an Unstudied Manuscript from the 14th Century

  • Summary/Abstract

    The patriarchal library in Belgrade keeps a parchment collection under the number 219 (PC 219 below), II + 192 leaves (384 pages), format 4?, written in 1381. It has never been studied or compared to other similar manuscripts until now. The miscellany comes from Sremski Karlovci. The preliminary observation of the cycle of works dedicated to the Virgin in the miscellany PL 219 demonstrates once again that manuscripts containing undetermined source material can present the researcher with many surprises. Putting the works into cycles (without observing the calendar order) and their placement at the opening of the miscellany could be interpreted as intentional. Most probably the miscellany has been compiled for a church or monasteries dedicated to the Mother of God or rather to her Dormition because the texts provided for this holiday are three. This accumulation of the texts is an exception in the whole manuscript tradition with which I am acquainted. Detailed comparative examination of the texts and their translation, as well as of the history of the codex itself is yet to be carried out.


Personalia: Elena Tomova at 60

  • Summary/Abstract

    Elena Tomova is a senior researcher at the Department of Old Bulgarian Lit-erature, Institute of Literature, and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and a member of the Union of Scholars in Slovenia. She is working in the fields of theory and history of medieval Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian literatures, medieval Slavonic hagiography and paleography, and computer supported processing of Slavonic manuscripts. Elena Tomova was born in Plovdiv (1947) where she finished elementary and high school. She graduated at Sofia University, Russian and Bulgarian Philology in the Faculty of Slavic Studies (1965–1969). She received her PhD degree in 1977 in Moscow University, Russia, under the supervision of Prof. N.I. Kravcov. Her dissertation is entitled Comparative study of the vitas of St. John of Rila, St. Theodosius of Pecera, and St. Stephan Neman’ja and their relation to folklore. She participated very actively in various initiates and publications in the In-stitute of Literature BAS. Elena Tomova is a scholar with very wide and multilateral approach to the Slavic written heritage. In the Department of Old Bulgarian Literature she directed a few projects in comparative studies of South Slavic and Balkan literatures


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