Scripta & e-Scripta vol 6, 2008

Scripta & e-Scripta vol 6, 2008

Slovo: Towards a Digital Library of South Slavic Manuscripts Research Cooperation and Networking between Austria and South-Eastern Europe

  • Summary/Abstract

    Project (2007-2008), funded by the Austrian ministry of science in the 7FP, united scientists from Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Coordination of the project is concentrated in the Department of Old Bulgarian Literature of the Institute of Literature, BAS. Participants from five countries have established operational network between research institutions and libraries aimed at studying the Balkan monastery culture and presentation of South Slavic culture and literature in comparative perspective. During the project (February 2008) training is implemented in the use of international standards for description and analysis of the written heritage (principles and methods, terminology, etc.) Results: 1). Establishing a common platform for electronic publications in Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet (Unicode 5.1); 2). Supporting an international conference with participants from 10 countries; 3). The most important result of the project was the creation of experimental electronic portal on the Internet for medieval written culture in the Balkans (http://slovo-aso.cl.bas.bg ). The project created an initial basis for collaboration and for further development of study, conservation and exhibition of Slavic heritage in digital libraries.


Paul the Not-So-Simple

  • Summary/Abstract

    The present report describes the construction of a technologically innovative electronic edition of the Old Church Slavonic "Life of St. Paul the Simple" from the Codex Suprasliensis. From a philological perspective, the on-line edition of the Life of St. Paul the Simple described here has attempted to address the pedagogical and research needs of Slavic medievalists by providing a textual edition that presents the manuscript material in a way that is both richer and more easily accessible than any other edition, paper or electronic. From a technological perspective, it has also attempted to explore some of the ways in which modern electronic text technology can be used to produce research and teaching tools that are superior to those available without such technology.


Полнотекстовые базы данных как основа для электронных изданий средневековых рукописей в Интернете: требования, реализация, перспективы

Full-text Data Bases as Foundation of Electronic Publications of Mediaeval Manuscripts in Internet: Requirements, Realization, Perspectives

  • Summary/Abstract

    Статья посвящена вопросам хранения, обработки в базах данных и публикации в Интернете транскрипций древних славянских письменных памятников. Основное внимание уделено требованиям, которые должны предъявляться к информационно-аналитическим системам исследовательской направленности, содержащим сведения как о самих рукописях и текстах, так и о их текстологических и лингвистических единицах. Помимо известных пользовательских компонентов – средств (1) навигации, (2) создания запросов, (3) упорядочения и визуализации выборок, – подобные системы должны иметь и необходимые компоненты, позволяющие создавать полнотекстовые электронные коллекции и библиотеки, – (1) модули ввода и редактирования данных (текстов и их единиц) и информации о них, (2) средства установления связей между единицами текстов, рукописей и их частей, (3) справочники, словари и авторитетные файлы для мета-, аналитического и лингвистического описания и разбора, (4) средства автоматизированной трансформации единиц. Примером многофункциональной системы, удовлетворяющей указанным требованиям, является информационно-аналитическая система (ИАС) «Манускрипт», создаваемая с 2003 года в Удмуртском и Ижевском техническом государственных университетах (руководитель работы – Виктор А. Баранов, URL портала проекта – http://manuscripts.ru/). В статье представлены функциональные возможности основных модулей системы – (1) специализированного редактора OldEd, (2) модуля грамматических словарей, (3) web-модуля поиска и лемматизации текстовых прецедентов, (4) web-формы поиска на основе мета- и аналитической информации, (5) web-модуля запросов и представления материалов коллекций.


Unicode 2C1A: Glagolitic "Pe": Fact or Fiction?

  • Summary/Abstract

    Recent developments in Unicode have made it possible for a large variety of historic characters of the Slavic languages to be correctly encoded in Unicode. However, there are some areas which require additional work, and for other problems, several solutions co-exist. A puzzling problem arises when texts contains obvious errors, especially so if one single text is the only available source for the claimed existence of a specific letter. The Glagolitic "Pe" character is such a character, and because it represents such a unique case, it paper will present a fresh look at the original source (the famous "Munich Abedarium") and its interpretation.


Metadata and Electronic Catalogs of Slavic Manuscripts: A Multilingual Web-based Terminological Resource for Mediaeval Slavic Studies

  • Summary/Abstract

    В Секторe древнеболгарской литературы, Институт литературы Болгарской академии наук, в последнных лет (2004–07) развивается проект, который предназначен для машинной обработки палеославистичной терминологии. Эта терминология используется на разных уровнях при создании электронных описаний славянских рукописей в информационный массив “Реперториум”. Информационный массив содержит около 300 описаний славянских рукописей ХІ–ХVІІ вв. в XML формате. Компьютерное описание рукописей делается по модели, созданой на базисе TEI и развивался в последние десять лет в следующих направлениях: 1) стандартизирование терминологии описания; 2) орфография, палеография и язык древних памятников; 3) схемы описания и обработки отдельных типов сборников; 4) означения и идентификации отдельных текстов памятников письменности, их текстологическrх приметах и греческих соответствий. Настоящее изложение охватывает два основных аспекта проекта: Стандартизация терминологии, которая встречается как идентификация наименования конкретных текстов (статей) в описываемых рукописей, т.е. современные научные названия литургических и внелитургических текстов (жития, поучения, наставления, хождения и пр.). Эти названия различаются в разных славянских и неславянских языках и в разных научных традициях. До сих пор рабочий коллектив уточнил de visu более чем 800 заглавия средневековых славянских текстов, идентифицировал их параллели в существующих латинских и греческих источниках. Цель докладчика показать как возможно сделать синхронный словарь этих названий и как можно пользоватся автоматически этим справочником. Предлагается система поиска научного заглавия, оригинального заглавия и начало текста, которая включена в проект Repertorium Workstation проф. Дейвида Бирнбаума из Питсбурге, США. Археографическое, палеографическое, текстологическое и лингвистическое описание текстов предполагает изпользование соответствующей терминологии, которая нуждается в уточнении и стандартизации, сравнивая ее употребления в разных школ палеославистики. Докладчик предлагает несколько общих признаков, по которым можно интегрировать метаданные в описание средневековых рукописей и создать систему ключевых слов, которые возможно применить в библиографических примечаниях. Проект включает демонстрацию работы системы индексов в информационном корпус “Реперториум” и связанный с ним энциклопедический справочник терминологии.


The Linguistic Information in the Electronic Corpus of Old Slavonic Texts

  • Summary/Abstract

    Доклад посвящен включению лингвистических данных в электронном корпусе древних славянских текстов. Анализу подвергаются различные современные подходы в этом отношении. Приводятся сведения о форматах, использованных до сих пор в славянской научной традиции, а также делаются параллели с практикой включения языковых данных популярнейших проектов в области электронной обработки современных и древних языков. Подход авторов базирован на технологии языка описательной разметки XML (Extensible Markup Language) и все выводы сделаны на основании этого выбора.


Process and Strategy Development for the Digitization of Macedonian Written Cultural Heritage Materials

  • Summary/Abstract

    It is obvious from the above that in the Republic of Macedonia the digitization of cultural heritage materials in still at an early and somewhat fragmentary stage, but the necessity of conforming to standards and principles already accepted in European projects has been recognized from the outset. Those standards and principles enable, through the process of digitalization, free access to European cultural heritage materials. It remains necessary to indentify the digitization projects to undertake in Macedonia, to determine the needs and priorities for the digitization processes, and to establish the steps to follow in order to implement this practice successfully in Macedonia. This will contribute to the ongoing development of digital libraries, and to general digital content creation within the framework of larger European initiatives and recommendations.


Character Set Standardization for Early Cyrillic Writing after Unicode 5.1

  • Summary/Abstract

    A White Paper prepared on behalf of the Commission for Computer Processing of Slavic Manuscripts and Early Printed Books to the International Committee of Slavists This White Paper emerged from discussions among the authors at the Slovo conference that took place in Sofia from 2008-02-21 through 2008-02-26. It is partially a response to three documents published by the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences: "Standard of the Old Slavic Cyrillic Script", "Standardisation of the Old Church Slavonic Cyrillic Script and its Registration in Unicode", and "Proposal for Registering the Old Slavic Cyrillic Script in Unicode" The purpose of this White Paper is to provide for the benefit of medieval Slavic philologists: 1. A review of the current state of Unicode with respect to encoding early Cyrillic writing. 2. A brief statement of basic Unicode design principles. 3. An overview of the relationship between character set and font technologies. 4. A response to "Standard","Standardisation", and "Proposal" that provides a realistic perspective on the compatibility of these documents with modern character set standards. 5. A discussion of the possible need for further expansion of the early Cyrillic character inventory in Unicode. 6. A discussion of strategies for meeting the encoding needs of Slavic medievalists in a standards-conformant way. This White Paper is contributed for discussion before and during the September 2008 International Congress of Slavists in Ohrid.


Возникновение славянских служебных миней: общие гипотезы и текстологические факты

Formation of the Slavonic Menaion: General Hypotheses and Textological Facts

  • Summary/Abstract

    The article traces the earliest history of the Slavonic Menaion for December, based on the textological research of a wide range of manuscripts of East Slav, Serbian and Bulgarian origin, dating from the 11th and until the 14th century. The multiple layers of the contents of South-Slavonic codices of the 13th - 14th century are outlined, proving, at the same time, the unconvincingness of the hypothesis for the significant influence of Old Russian originals in their formation. The study confirms the textological connection of the non-standard Russian menaia (RGADA, Synod. Typ. 98; RGADA, Synod. Typ. 130; RGADA, Synod. Typ. 131) to the Old-Bulgarian protographs. The article discloses also the unhomogeneousness of a number of offices in the East Slav menaia for December, where a more archaic layer is incorporated. The data show that the formation of the 12-volume East Slav collection is the result not of a single translation, but of a longer and gradual process of reception of the Byzantine hymnographic repertoire, starting as early as the 9th - 10th century at the literary centres of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. Therefore the Old Russian menaia reflect not the opening stage of that liturgical book in the Slavonic environment, but an older, comparatively established stage, marked by its unification, backed by approximately a century and a half of tradition.


Лемматизация в словарях южнославянских переводных текстов эпохи позднего Средневековья

Lemmatization in Dictionaries of South-Slavic Translated Texts in the Late-Mediaeval Epoch

  • Summary/Abstract

    Der Aufsatz fokussiert sich auf die verschiedenen Vorgehensweisen und Prinzipien der Lemmatisierung, die bei den einzelnen slavisch-griechischen und griechisch-slavischen Wцrterverzeichnissen zu mittelalterlichen Ьbersetzungen benutzt wurden. Schwerpunkt der Untersuchung sind die Wцrterverzeichnisse zu zwei sьdslavischen Texten - zur Ьbersetzung aus dem 14. Jh. der "Quelle des Wissens" des Johannes von Damaskus (nach Weiher 1969 und 1987) und zum Buch Hiob Ende des 14. oder Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts (nach Hristova-Shomova). AuЯerdem wird umfangreiches Material aus zweisprachigen Indizes zu weiteren 16 дlteren Ьbersetzungen mit bewiesener oder vermuteter bulgarischer Herkunft, die in sьd- oder nur ostslavischen Abschriften tradiert sind, ausgewertet. Es lдsst sich feststellen, daЯ die Autoren solcher Indizes bei der Lemmatisierung auf Probleme verschiedener Art stoЯen. Ihre konkreten Lцsungen bei der Auswahl und der Darstellung der Wцrter hдngen davon ab, ob die Lexikographen ihren Schwerpunkt auf das sprachliche Factum (der Abschrift oder den Abschriften) oder auf das sprachliche Konstrukt (der ursprьnglichen Ьbersetzung) legen. Die Probleme und ihre Lцsungen werden im Rahmen verschiedener sprachlicher Ebenen klassifiziert und erlдutert: lexikalisch-semantische, grammatische, orthographisch-phonetische. Es wird auch analysiert, wie weit die neuen Computertechnologien bei der Lцsung der existierenden lexikographischen Unterschiede, Schwierigkeiten und Probleme behilflich sein kцnnen. Am Schluss wird darauf hingewiesen, dass zweisprachige Wцrterverzeichnisse fьr die Erforschung anderer Bereiche innerhalb der Altslavistik und ьber sie hinaus eine wichtige Rolle spielen, weswegen diese Fragen nach Strukturierung und Gestalt der Lemmata, eine breite Diskussion sowohl mit den Autoren solcher Indizes, als auch mit ihren Benutzern notwendig machen.


Destruction of Handwritten Literary Legacy and Monastery Libraries in Kosovo and Metohija

  • Summary/Abstract

    In this paper author attempts to illustrate the history of destruction and estrangement of Serbian handwritten legacy from monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija. Some of these manuscripts represented the pieces of the most significant Serbian medieval writers; there were also numerous copies of the Scripture, liturgical texts and works of Byzantine holy fathers. Had it not been for the centuries of destruction of the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, today we would certainly have a much more comprehensive idea of original Serbian literature, but also of the reception of Byzantine and Christian literature in general. The task of Serbian science therefore must be to at least list the things preserved in the country and abroad and present the results of such research to the public.


On the Authorship Сьлание о празднице Пасхы Attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria

  • Summary/Abstract

    The author analyzes the Fourth Oratio against the Arians by Athanasius of Alexandria in Slavic translation of Constantine of Preslav. Assumptions are made on the principles of calculation of Passover, which – on the one hand are in line with tradition during the fourth century, and, on the other hand, there are arguments for possible intervention by Bulgarian author in the text to prove the purity of the Eastern tradition. In appendix the edition of the Slavic text of the Oratio is published for the first time (the copy of year 1489 in the manuscript ? 968, collection of M. Pogodin, RNL, St. Petersburg, f. 209r-222v).


The Miracles of the Great Martyr Menas in the Medieval Slavic Pre-Metaphrastic Menaia-Cheti (critical edition of the text, based on MS 1039 from the N

  • Summary/Abstract

    This publication aims to introduce an interesting hagiographic work in Slavic translation – cycle miracles of Martyr Menas, allegedly written by Timothey from Alexandria. Critical edition is based on the copy in the MS 1039 from the collection in NLCM (placed under the date 11 November). The text of the miracles is collated with all available for the author copies of pre-metaphrastic menaia-cheti: compositions in which texts of so called Old redaction are included: No 94 of Dechani monastery, III c 24 Archive of Croatian Academy, No 441 of Hilandar monastery, No 59 of National Library of Serbia in Belgrade. They contain only six out of thirteen miracles. The order of miracles in No 1039 NLCM follows source materials described in BHG (Halkin 1957: 112–114). It can be assumed that the initial composition in the Slavic pre-metaphrastic menaia-?eti was included the whole cycle, which was abridged in later tradition. Enclosed is the edition of the text.


Once Again on the Cult and Hagiographic Texts about St. Paraskeve/Petka of Rome in the South-Slavic Middle Ages

  • Summary/Abstract

    The veneration of St Paraskeve/ Petka of Rome became widespread rather early among the Orthodox Slavs on the Balkans, as is clear by a well-known historical record from 1234 (which states that at that time the Life and the Office of this Roman martyr were accessible everywhere in medieval Bulgaria) and by the numerous manuscript copies of the texts dedicated to her. Her Live is preserved in several different versions witnessing both to independent translations from Greek and to attempts to create a free narrative based upon the already existing Slavic texts. Furthermore, the literary tradition of St. Paraskeve of Rome, in addition to being interesting in itself, has proved to be important for the Balkan cultural and religious history in at least two other ways: it deeply influences the cult of St Parakeve/Petka of Epibatai (the most popular Balkan woman-saint) and it was fundamental for building-up the popular cult of St Paraskeve/Petka on the Balkans. The article provides an edition of a little-known passion of this Roman martyr made according to the three preserved South-Slavic transcripts of the text (Savina Monastery, MS 29, 1380; Moscow, State Historical Museum, Xludov collection, MS 241, middle of the 15th century; and Plovdiv, National library, MS 101, end of the 16th-beginning of the 17th century).


Сказание о 12-ти пятницах в позднeм возрожденческом списке попа Панчо Димитриевича Scripta & e-Scripta vol 6, 2008 floyd Fri, 12/26/2008 - 07:50
Narration about 12 Fridies in a Copy of Father Pancho Dimitrievich of Late Revival Period

В статье вводится в научное обращение неизвестный до сих пор список апокрифного Сказания о 12-ти пятницах, найденный в рукописи 1837 г. возрожденческого книжника Панчо поп Димитриевича, из деревни Новоселци, Софийской области. Список подвергается детальному анализу, приводятся сведения об истории и рукописной традиции апикрифа, прослеживается его распространение среди восточых и южных славян. Текст сказания ставится в контекст апокрифной книжнины Византии, Востока и Средиземноморья. Акцентируются две функции Сказания – его роль в качестве табуистического текста и его связи с гностическими и эзотерическими верованиями. Сказание о 12-ти пятницах является свидетельством об устойчивости апокрифных мотивов в традиционой народной культуре по болгарской земле вплоть до середины XIX века.

Subject: Literary Texts Apocrypha Prediction literature Taboo Popular literature

Repentance for and forgiveness of sins

  • Summary/Abstract

    This article deals with the early history of the penitential discipline. Assuming that repentance helped or contributed to receiving God’s forgiveness at the time of the Last Judgment, the Church began to impose penances (epitimia), after which the sinners received forgiveness after confession. This order, followed since the beginning of the 3rd century, has been changed several times. The practice of public penance, always and strictly followed by the western churches even in the 5th century, was abandoned by the eastern ones after the introduction of the office of presbyter presiding over penance was introduced in the second half of the 3rd century. Around the end of the 4th century, after the example of Constantinople, the eastern bishops abolished this office and, based on the assumption that each individual examined himself before participating in the liturgy, "absolved" the sinners from mandatory confession of what they had done and offered them "recommended penance" in private. The provision of canonical epistles and council decisions for the graded exclusion of sinners from participation in the holy liturgy officiated at in eastern churches was initially administered by the bishops, and by presbyters presiding over penance from the second half of the 3rd to the end of the 4th century. With the substitution of obligatory confession for the practice of private penance, the terminus post quem for the beginning of which was the abolishment of the office of presbyter presiding over penance, the application of graded exclusion from participation as a penance for a transgression was brought down only to those of the sinners who had chosen to make a confession. This was largely to condition the subsequent summarizing of the features of the individual categories of penance, which by means of their different degree "of liberty" "absolved" different parts of the severity of committed sin. The summarization, constituting a quantitative approach, followed the principle that the degree of difficulty was one but the quantity of its applications was directly proportionate to the severity (one penance done a different number of times). The penitential discipline in the West, strictly followed even after the beginning of 5th century, became the "most powerful means of leading the believers", while in the East its application received a private (secret) character, formalized to a "tariff penance" under the influence of monastic practice. Surprisingly, during the time of St. Theodore of Studios (+826) penance was not recognized as a sacrament.


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