Slověne = Словѣне. International Journal of Slavic Studies

1. Old Czech anděl ‘angel’: a Loanword from Old Church Slavonic or from Latin?

   The aim of this paper is to discuss the existing theories of the origin of the Old Czech word anděl ‘angel’, whose -ď- may be explained as reflecting influence from Old Church Slavonic анг҄елъ, containing a palatalised sound, or from Medieval Latin angelus [anjelus]. New supporting arguments in favour of the latter view are presented, and, in particular, further evidence of Old Czech [ď] in place of earlier [j], the possible secondary influence of antonymous Old Czech diábel/ďábel ‘devil’ in the modification of original Old Czech anjel to anděl, and the form of words for ‘angel’ in other West and western South Slavonic languages. Also considered is the possibility that the origin of anděl is to be found in a spoken Early Romance dialect.

   DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.1

2. A Witness of the Matrimonial Rituals from Old Novgorod. Inscription on a Bone from the 13th Century Excavated 2020

   In the summer of 2020, a fragment of a cow's rib with a Cyrillic inscription was found at excavations in Novgorod. The place of the find is one of the richest boyar estates in the Lyudin quarter of medieval Novgorod. The time of the document hitting the ground is the last quarter of the 13th—the first twenty years of the 14th century. The inscription is fully preserved, it contains a whole readable message. The historical and cultural value of the find lies in the content of its compact inscription: it is unique evidence of a bride-price agreement. The terminology is of value: the bride, on whose behalf the text is written, and the groom (addressee) are designated not by their own names (Christian or pre-Christian), but by the images of the ritual folklore of the wedding — kuna ‘marten’ (she) and sobol’a ‘sable’ (he). The bride-price is no less interesting. The text communicates an idea of a dialogue between the two sides of the marriage ritual. The new evidence of the matrimonial rites and the associated oral-written communication expands our understanding of this sphere of medieval culture and allows us to correct some interpretations of the few birch bark letters on the topic of marriage.

   
   

   DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.2

3. The New Testament translation by Martin Lupáč (ca. 1450): Questions of language and authorship

   The New Testament translation from the mid-15th century attributed to the Utraquist priest and diplomat Martin Lupáč represents the first phase of the 4th redaction of the Old Czech Bible translation. It served as a model for the Prague Bible (1488) — the first printed Slavic Bible.The aim of the present work is to detect specific features of Lupáč’s translation method by comparing his texts with four editions of the Old Czech Bible translation. In addition we aim to verify Lupáč’s authorship of the translation, previously attributed to him on the basis of insufficient evidence, by comparing it with two Czech texts written by him. Our results show that Lupáč’s translation contains a number of grammatical innovations that were consciously used to make the Bible content more accessible to the contemporary recipients, e.g., using iterative verbs instead of disappearing imperfect tense, using compound sentences with a finite verb instead of Latin nominal constructions. We detected vocabulary specific for the 15th century (currency, units of measurement, names of feasts), additional explanatory notes, precise translations of non-specific Latin verbs, stylistic dissimilation, and German and new bohemicized Latin loanwords. In addition, in Lupáč’s translation of the Pauline Epistles we found traces of Utraquist theology. We compare the language of two Czech tractates written by Lupáč with the New Testament translation attributed to him, but the degree of similarity is not sufficient to confirm the attribution. In conclusion, Lupáč’s New Testament is a vivid and explanatory translation with unique stylistic figures. Some innovations were so unusual that they were omitted in the Prague Bible created by Utraquists 40 years later.
   
   DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.3

4. Slavonic Quotations from Athanasius’ Orations against the Arians in Joseph Volotsky and Metropolitan Daniil

   This article identifies a set of Slavonic passages from Athanasius’ Orations against the Arians quoted by Joseph Volotsky and Metropolitan Daniil in opposition to the heresy of Judaizers. These writers are two of the three men (the third one being Zinoviy Otenskiy who is examined in a separate study) that cited Athanasius’ work as originally written in Greek and translated to Slavonic in 907 (today preserved in ten manuscripts of Russian origin). This study is aimed at exploring the significance of this fact, and it also provides a transcription and analysis of all the quotations by comparing them with the text of the Orations in all known manuscripts

   DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.4

5. Whom Are the Mice Burying? The Interpretation of the Lubok Print The Mice Are Burying the Cat

   The article is devoted to the interpretation of one of the most famous lubok prints (cheap popular prints) The Mice Are Burying the Cat, which was printed in different editions and versions from the beginning of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. The plot of this picture is under discussion. Some researchers view it as a parody of the funeral of Peter I, while others draw attention to the fact that the stylistic features of the early images and the language of captions indicate an earlier origin.

   Our analysis showed that the epithets of Kazan(Rus. казанский), of Astrakhan (Rus. астраханский) and of Siberia (Rus. сибирский) used with regard to the cat clearly refer to the title of the tsar. This points to the fact that it is a tsar's funeral that the picture parodies. The captions depicting mice reflect the entertaining laughter culture of the second half of the 17th century. It is significant that the mice are carrying buffoonery musical instruments, they are dancing, drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. The attributes of buffoonery culture and fun, which the tsar used to combat with the support of Patriarch Nikon, make it possible to bring the prototext of the popular print into correlation with a parody of Alexei Mikhailovich's funeral.

   In later pictures, the plot-forming element is constituted by the indication of the areas the mice are associated with. Changes in a number of images, as well as the introduction of new toponymy, refer the viewer and reader to the funeral of Peter I, the ceremony of which involved a procession with the coats of arms of provinces. The proposed interpretation makes it possible to reconcile the two concepts and prove that this lubok represents a caricatural funeral of the tsar. However, in older engravings the funeral procession consists of buffoons, and in the later ones, it features representatives of different parts of the empire. In the first case, the tsar is Alexei Mikhailovich, and in the second case, Peter I.

   
   

   DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2021.10.2.5