Language and Literature Studies

Proposal for a unified encoding of Early Cyrillic glyphs in the Unicode Private Use Area

  • Summary/Abstract

    The paper proposes an encoding standard for early Cyrillic characters and glyphs that are still missing in the Universal Character Set (UCS) of the Unicode Standard and for different reasons will probably never be included, but are nevertheless used by the paleoslavistic community. This micro-standard is meant to expand, not to replace the Unicode standard and follows the path chosen by the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI) a few years ago for the Latin script (see http://www.hit.uib.no/mufi/). Starting from the inventory of Old Cyrillic originally proposed at the conference held in Belgrade on 15–17 October 2007 (see BP), and taking in view the recommendations given by Birnbaum et al. 2008 and the MUFI-consortium, the chosen set is limited to 178 units with a specific function (characters and composites, superscript characters, modifier characters, and punctuation marks), which are located in the Private Use Area (PUA). Their positions (code points) are coordinated with MUFI. This set we will call PUA1. In the future a second set PUA2 will be proposed for a number of ligatures and paleographic variants that may not be coordinated with MUFI and are intended for special publications addressed to Slavistic readers. It is hoped that the proposed PUA encoding for Early Cyrillic Symbols, for which we choose the abbreviation CYFI, will establish itself as a sort of micro-standardization. Designers of scholarly fonts are encouraged to include these symbols according to this proposal (see code points in the appendix).


Proposal for the Transliteration of the Old Slavonic Scripts

  • Summary/Abstract

    The authors of the paper propose the elaboration of a Standard of the Old Slavonic Glagolitic Script according to the model of the Standard of the Old Slavonic Cyrillic Script, proposed at the Belgrade conference of October 2007 and adopted in June 2008 (cf.: http://www.cirilica.net or http://www.sanu.ac.rs/Cirilica/Cirilica.aspx). As a first contribution to this aim they have compiled a parallel Glagolitic-Cyrillic character table with majuscule and minuscule characters (on the line), but no superscript letters, diacritical and punctuation marks, or (specific) numbers. The primary purpose of this partial inventory is to enable the transliteration of the Old Slavonic scripts in their various spatiotemporal versions (redactions). Thus, in addition to the Glagolitic-Cyrillic set two Latin transliterations are offered: 1. the traditional one (of the "broad transliteration" type), mainly for comparison, and 2. a computerized one ("narrow transliteration" type) which takes account of the character shape and enables one-to-one transliteration from one script (writing system) into another. Of the extant ways of automated transliteration: in special systems like XSLT, via search/replace routines that can be automated via macros and via the use of different fonts specifically designed for transliteration purposes - for the time being the last, most convenient way has been chosen. Readers may find these fonts together with the keyboard layout on: http://www.cirilica.net.


Unicode U+2E2F, Cyrillic Yerik (Vertical Tilde)

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the previous volume of Scripta & e-Scripta (vol. 6, 2008), the authors published a "White Paper" concerning "Early Cyrillic Writing after Unicode 5.1", which commented upon achievements in Unicode version 5.1 as well as candidates for future inclusion and variants. The White Paper was accompanied by a large table that included, among other things, representative glyphs for each character and its assigned codepoint in Unicode 5.1. Copies of both documents were distributed to participants in the XIVth International Congress of Slavists, held in Ohrid in September 2008. In the printed version, the Unicode code point for the vertical tilde, a new addition to Unicode version 5.1, was given as U+2E3A. However, as was brought to our attention later, the vertical tilde was assigned a different code point for the final published version of the Unicode standard, v. 5.1. In the standard, the correct code point for this glyph is U+2E2F (see http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf).


Constructing Repertorium 3.0

  • Summary/Abstract

    In this paper a mechanism for transition to a new XML model for the description of Medieval manuscripts is proposed. The acceptance of the TEI P5 model in its current form without modifications was not possible due to the long tradition in electronic cataloguing in the field of Medieval Slavic studies and due to the obvious differences between the Slavic description tradition on the one hand and the description of Latin and Greek codices on the other. The proposed model is an attempt to integrate the various views in modern cataloguing in the field of Medieval studies in one single schema and to propose a solution for a more strict and intuitive representation of records both as data base stucture and as text.


Oratorio for Bulgarian Analyitsm

  • Summary/Abstract

    The lack of declensional endings is the most characteristic trait of the modern Bulgarian language and its dialects. It seems exotic on the background of the remaining Slavic languages but in the large Indo-European language family the development from synthetism to analytism is a rule of which only Slavic and Baltic languages make an exception. Some scholars define the transition from synthetism to analytism as a process of dispatching the nominal flexion, during which part of the grammatical information (syntactic) is transferred to link-words (most commonly prepositions and particles). This is why all analytic languages develop a common form after prepositions (casus generalis), partly or completely fixed word order, pronoun particles for the marking of objects. The main precondition for the common Indo-European development towards the existence of an extended prepositional-declensional use is to be found in the Indo-European protolanguage. The author proposed not only a survey of the well known hypotheses but some new arguments for the appearance and development of Bulgarian analyitsm.


Reconstructing Missing Folia in Selected Medieval Slavic Parimejniks


The Slavonic Translation of the Minor Prophets with Commentary – a Textological Approach

  • Summary/Abstract

    The paper attempts at a comparative study between Slavonic copies of Minor Prophets with commentary, covering its text in full. A list of the most important variae lectiones is arranged, where primary or secondary origin of a certain reading is supported by its Greek parallel, if available. The analysis of variant readings is preceded by a reconstruction of the history of the text before the emergence of the protographs that have started the Russian and South Slav manuscript traditions, then these two branches are compared. The further investigation comes to the conclusion, that the Russian copies should be a subject of an intensive future research, as they preserve to the greatest extent the features of the Old Bulgarian Glagolitic original. The text of the Minor Prophets with commentary found in South Slav copies shows numerous deviations from the archetype – missing text fragments, which are about half of the translation (527 of 1049 verses and their commentaries) and over 450 cases of text displacements and transpositions; omissions of single phrases and words; various mistakes made in the process of copying; incorrect changes; lexical replacements and intentional emendations. Thus one major principle in Slavonic textual criticism is once again corroborated – the earlier chronology of certain copy and/or its affiliation to the language and provenance of the original do not prove its reliability.


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.


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.


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.


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.


‘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.


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“.


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 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.


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


Morphonological Restrains on the Loss of the Weak Yers in Prefixes and Suffixes

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the article consequently have been analyzed all cases with a held weak “yer” in the prefixes “sa-“, “va-“ and “vaz-“ in the contemporary Bulgarian language. In the prefix ”sa-“ the “yer” vowel is kept not only before a following root with an initial s or z, but also before any kind of consonants, compare sabariam, sabitie, sablazan, sablicham, sabludavam, saboleznovavam, sabudia, sabuia, savet, saveshtavam, saglasna, saglasia se, sadeistvam, sajalia, sakrusha, sachinia, sashia. Before a following consonant the “yer” is always kept, compare for example saedinia, saesha, saoraja, saumeia, saorudia, saobrazia, etc. Especially significant are the cases where with one and the same morpheme structure, once the “yer” has dropped, as its phonetic position requires, and in another – it is preserved. Such cases are not scanty in the Bulgarian language, compare sbera, sbiram, sbor, but sabera, sabiram, sabor; svestia, sviast, savest; svarshen and savarshen, sgledam, sgleda and sagledam; sgrada and sagradia; sgresha and sagresha; sdruja and sadruja; sdarjam and sadarjam; skria, skrit, but sakroven, sakrovishte; spregna and saprejen; storia and satvoria. The prefix “va-“ usually loses its final yer before following verb roots with an initial consonant, as here, the very peculiarity of the newly formed consonant combination (in a number of cases in full contradiction with the inherited from proto-Slavonic structure of the syllable, compare vstapvam, vstrastiavam, vsmukvam, vsmakvam) helps the morpheme parsing of the word and the distinguishing of the prefix. The generalization of the preposition- prefix as f in the colloquial language is also an expression of the aspiration to achieve a clear morpheme structure. In the prefix “vaz-“ with exception of some Russian borrowings such as vzriv and vzvod the weak yer is always kept. The only exception in a domestic word is the verb vzema, which in Bulgarian is considered to be formed by zema and the prefix v, as we can see from its derivatives – izzema, vazzema, etc., whose fate clearly shows that the drop of the yer in vaz- leads to the breaking of the uniform morpheme vz- in the preposition v- and the initial root z- to an undesired decomposition of the word. The behaviour of the weak yer-s in the suffixes is also subject of morphological restrictions, mostly connected with the aspiration to generalize the base of the word. In some cases the holding of the weak yer brings additional grammatical information: in the suffix –aka the yer is held in a weak position, only if the substantive is a noun, compare jaltak, jaltaci and malak, malki; the countable form and the definite form of the masculine nouns also hold the weak yer, etc. The detailed analysis shows that similar to the behaviour of the root yer-s, the behaviour of the yer-s in the prefixes and suffixes is also subject mainly of morphological and morphonological regularities and in a smaller degree it simply depends on phonetical conditions.


Typological Characteristic of Genitive Case of Verb Governing in Old Bulgarian Language

Типологическая характеристика родительного падежа в древнеболгарском языке ввиду глагольного управления

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the article the typology of the genitive is analyzed in the Old-Bulgarian language through the characterization of two word classes – nouns and verbs. Studied are the binary oppositions in the use of the genitive – active nouns (denoting names of people and animals) and inactive nouns (denoting natural sites, phenomena, children and little animals, products of the human activity, etc.) and, respectively – active and inactive verbs. The conclusions are based on the thesis that predicative centers are the nouns of a certain type which have their own internal and external activity - a subject, or those which only have their own internal activity – a pseudo-subject. The formation of the semantic concepts is based on the image of a) activity (external or internal active action or state), b) inactivity (only internal action or state), c) separable-inseparable belonging and d) discretion-indiscretion. Under a detailed analysis are the grammatical determiners of the genitive and their variants. The connection between the semantics of the nouns and the respective forms of the genitive is studied. The verb control of the genitive of proved, as the cases of a genitive with different semantic groups of verbs (which mean deprivation; which mean emotional or psychic state of the subject; verbs with the negative particle –ne; transitive verbs; verbs formed are supin, etc.) are examined. The conclusion is that the genitive is a grammatical expression of pseudo-subjects and inseparably connected with them pseudo-objects.


Middle Bulgarian Fragment NBKM No 114 in the History of Old Church Slavonic Office Menaion

Среднеболгарский фрагмент НБКМ № 114 в истории переводов славянских служебных миней

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the article the history of the translations of the service minei in the Slavonic tradition by 14 Slavonic manuscripts is examined. Manuscript CMNL № 114 is analyzed, a fragment of a service menaion from the 13th century, Bulgarian by origin, where the oldest translation is presented. The comparisons with another service menaia – from the Monastery of Dechany, No 32 from the 13th – 14th century, show that the oldest translation has been subject of reediting. The presence of another independent translation is established in manuscripts No 114 CMNL, a fragment from the 13th century and No 1/5 OSL (part of the Dobriayan minei) from the 13th century, which does not coincide with the earliest translation, nor with the one that exists in the South-Slavonic menaia from the 14th-15th century by the Jerusalem regulations. Grounded is the view that every hymnographic genre (tropar, stihira, sedalen, condac and icos, canon and each separate tropar of the canon) in the structure of the service should be studied separately in the context of the history of the translations of the service menaia, which will allow us to clarify the amount of the multiple translations. The examined material shows that the advent of the latest “Athos” translation of the service menaion, based on the Jerusalem regulations, is preceded of new translations of separate services (or parts of them), done in the 13th century, without relying on those regulations. Regarding the multiple translations of one and the same text (the Service for the first-martyr Stefan has four translations), it would not be correct to talk about “first” (early) and “second” (late) translation of the service menaia (definitions of V. Jagich), as each service has its own story of the text. Enclosed is a critical edition of parts of the services for the second and third of August – condac and icos of the Service for first-martyr Stefan, as well as fragments of the canon for the Venerable Dalmat, Isakay and Favst, parallel with the Greek text, accompanied with a detail commentary.


The Slavonic Text of "Acta Thomae in India"


Omissions and Mistakes in the Slavonic Translation of the Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Kaisarios

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the article the mechanic omissions and mistakes in the text of the Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Kaisarios are analyzes on the bases of the textological examination of nine of so far eleven known Slavonic copies of the composition. It is established that in it there are three types of absences of text: 1) due to a lack of pages in the hyparchetype of part of the existing testimonies, 2) due to a physical defect in the Old-Bulgarian protograph, from which the Russian copies derive and 3) absences which occurred during the translation. Published for the first time are fragments, which were absent from the edition done by arch. Leonid. In the article some typical mistakes and new meanings are also studied, whose appearance is related to the technology of the translation. The number of the mistakes, which could not have been made if the text had been before the translator’s eyes, leads to the assumption that the translation of the Erotapokriseis was probably done through dictation, aloud pronunciation of the Greek text.


Old Slavonic Sources and Functional (Semantically) Approach to the Development of the Language System: the Case of Bulgarian Language

Древнеславянские источники и функциональный (семантический) подход к изучению развития языковой системы: на примере болгарского языка

  • Summary/Abstract

    In the article an attempt has been made to denote the range of problems, occurring at the study of the historical syntax. Discussed is a material, subject of a research, which in quantity and quality differs from the subject of the synchronic studies. First of all, the old Slavonic sources are taken into consideration, in the broad sense of the concept, containing evidence about the language of ancient epochs, among which the Bible occupies one of the central places. The author suggests analyzing representatives of the most ancient period, the mid-Bulgarian translation, translations of Bulgarian homilies of the late period, representatives of the church-Slavonic tradition and the contemporary literary language. The sources, which may be chosen for the analysis, reflect the main phases of development of the Bulgarian language; their functional (semantic) study, mainly of a representative sample of forms, realizing a concrete semantic category, would allow the achievement of the goals of the functional approach. The conclusions of such a research, from the point of view of the development of the actual forms, are not very likely to bring us any findings. Nevertheless, it is presumed that the results of this kind of analysis will help us, al least to a small degree, to get closer to the answer of the question of the functioning and development of the language.


The Infinitive in the "Life of Saint Anthony"

  • Summary/Abstract

    The use of the infinitive represents a significant peculiarity when studying the Old-Bulgarian language and especially the texts which were translated in the 9th-10th century. Of a great importance is the comparison of the infinitive constructions with the respective Greek texts. In the article for the first time are summarized the results of the study of the infinitive in the Life of saint Anthony the Great, written by Atanasius of Alexandria, translated into Old-Bulgarian in the 10th century. The translation is connected with the name of the Preslav scholar presbyter John. The purpose of the study is to establish the syntactic role and the structural peculiarities of the infinitive forms towards the Greek original, as well as to compare possible alternative forms of expression. Examined are the cases of a dependent (dynamic and declarative) and an independent infinitive. The research is part of a dissertation work on the syntax of the vitas of St. Anthony, St. John Chrysostom, St. Nifont Constansky and St. Theodor Studit, translated in the time of the First Bulgarian state.


Greek Version of Apocryphal Writing about Struggle between Archangel Michael and Satanael

Греческий вариант апокрифа о борьбе архангела Михаила и Сатанаила

  • Summary/Abstract

    Among the great number of Bogomil apocrypha there is one which tells about the struggle between Archangel Michael and Satanail, who steals his sacred garment. A. Miltenova publishes two Slavonic versions of this text in “Old-Bulgarian literature”. (Book 9, 1981, p. 98-113). The plot of this apocryph is familiar in the Bogomil circles in Bulgaria and Serbia (there is a fresco from the 14th century in the church “St. Archangel Michael” in Lesnovo, which depicts the plot of the apochryph). Apart from the Slavonic version, however, there is also an extensive Greek variant of the same text. The story has typical Bogomil features. Satanail decides to be equal to God and escapes from Heaven, taking with him the angelic garment. God orders Archangel Michael to bring the garment back. He pretends to take the side of Satanail, deceives him and steals the piece of clothing. The Greek version is famous from only one manuscript, Vatic.Gr. 1190a. 1542. Fol.882-887. The text considerably differs from the two Slavonic versions, published by A. Miltenova. The origin of the Greek variant is quite unclear. There is no direct evidence about the translation of this text from Slavic to Greek, but its Bogomil origin is obvious. Therefore, such a translation seems possible. Such being the case, this could be a unique occasion in the post Byzantine literary tradition. The Greek version is published for the first time, with a translation in Russian, brief introduction and notes.


Theoretical Model for a Formal Representation of Syntactic Frames

  • Summary/Abstract

    The article offers a formal model of description of the compulsory encirclements of the lexical units, their semantic combinability, as well as the possible formation of diathesis. The structure of the presented dictionary article contains the following units: * A title word and part of speech * Classification of the word to a respective class * Meaning descriptively including the arguments * Information on every argument separately, including the following components: – Type of phrase – Explicity of the phrase – Syntactic function – Semantic signs of each argument – Prepositions in the preposition groups – Introductory connection for the relative clause –Other comments * Information on the admissible diathesis of the respective verb in the following order: – Type of diathesis – Examples The formal model has been implemented in the computer system Syntext (Syntactic lexicon Tool) which has the following basic merits: Linguistically independent system – SynText allows the inclusion of data from different languages, as the language-specific parameters and their measures, when necessary can easily be reformulated, added, removed, etc. Dynamic system – SynText allows fast and easy administration of the linguistic markers (the parameters and their measures) and it is fully configured and modified according to the needs of the examiners. Web-based system – the main advantage of Syntext is that we can work with it under different operation systems with minimal requirements to the parameters of the user’s computer. Informative-oriented system – the system allows the execution of different kinds of checks: extraction of words from one grammatical type, extraction of words by certain criteria, extraction of words with the same grammatical characteristics, etc.


The Annotation Corpora of Text (ACT) Tool

  • Summary/Abstract

    The article presents a description of a computer application, developed by a team of authors at the Charles University in Prague, meant to support a multiaspect processing of examples of the cultural heritage in the intelligent environment of the information technologies. Provided is a possibility for the application to be used when describing and analyzing medieval manuscripts, experimented in the project of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Annotation corpora of Text (ACT, see http://prometheus.ms.mff.cuni.cz/act). The system is a linguistically-independent product for lexical and corpora processing of written texts. It has been created with the purpose to process large corpora with linguistic annotation, which mostly includes lexicographic and morphological analysis, and the syntactic and semantic information is marked on basic level. The system allows the users when working at different places, to compare the data between one another, and to keep the results regardless of the number of specialists working at the same time. A product which completely solves the problems of the linguistic analysis of medieval records with the help of computers is offered.


The Tradition of St. Eustathius Placidas in Latin

  • Summary/Abstract

    The present article is part of a dissertation work on the same topic. In the publication there is a new classification of the texts, constituting the Latin tradition of the hagiographic legend of St. Eustathius Placidas and systematization of the well-known copies of more popular hagiographic works about the saint. There are conclusions about the genealogical relations between the different versions, their distribution in chronological and spatial aspect has been traced and problems for further studies on the topic have been outlined.


Computer-Assisted Analysis and Study of the Structure of Mixed Content Miscellanies

  • Summary/Abstract

    Monuments of Slavic written heritage such as a mixed content miscellanies or a question-and-answer composition, consist of an indefinite number of textual parts (articles) arranged in an indefinite order. It is assumed that to compose a new manuscript of this type, the scribe first copied several articles from one manuscript (the first antigraph), then from another, etc. This process is reflected textually by the fact that two or more manuscripts of the same type contain the same compound articles in the same order. This study proposes a computer system that meets the philological needs of comparing a large number of manuscripts in order to establish a typology of composition and group it according to appropriate types. The system uses only open-source standards W3C (XML, XSLT, SVG) and TEI.


Interlingual Assymetry and a Linguistic Picture of the World: Understanding and Interpretating the Bible

  • Summary/Abstract

    The paper describes the interlingual asymmetry in the Bible and the Slavic translations of biblical texts. Bulgarian lexemes for ‘earth’, ‘man’, ‘Adam’, ‘blood’, ‘red’, ‘Edom’ – have no word-formation connection in the language. In Hebrew, however, these tokens are formed from a single root and based on biblical stories this paradigm is schematized, contextualized and ideologized. The development of vocabulary is reflected in the Old Slavonic translations and their understanding over the centuries.


A Fragment by St. Papias of Hierapolis in the Apocryphal Apocalypsis Ioannis

  • Summary/Abstract

    The article examines a passage from the Apocryphal Apocalypse of John the Theologian, originated probably in the 5th century in Byzantium, whose source is found in texts from the most ancient period of Christian literature. In the written sources the fragment existed in the lost work ‘Clarification of the Lord's Sentences’ by Papius of Hierapolis and in the Aversus haereses of Irenaeus of Lyons. In the course of the research, it was found that this fragment is based on a written oral tradition. an extremely ancient basis of the oral traditions that spread in Asia Minor probably even before the recording of the Gospel texts in the form in which we know them today.

    Report of the ICS Commission for Computer Processing of Medieval Slavonic Manuscripts and Early Printed Books (1998 -2003) (in Russian)


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