Studi Slavistici XXII (2025) Special Issue
Special issue

The Transmission of the Old Church Slavonic Translation of the Books of the Kingdoms: Problems and Prospects of Research

PDF (German)
  • Alessandro Maria Bruni
Alessandro Maria Bruni
University of Naples "L'Orientale"
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/Studi_Slavis-18129

Published 2025-12-12

Keywords

  • Old Church Slavonic,
  • Slavonic Manuscripts,
  • Translations of the Bible,
  • Books of the Kingdoms,
  • Textual Transmission

Copyright (c) 2025 Alessandro Maria Bruni

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The present study offers fresh insights into the transmission of the complete, non-liturgical Old Church Slavonic translation of the Books of the Kingdoms (1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible). It addresses several challenging issues of palaeographic-codicological and textual character. The author first reassesses the extent of the manuscript corpus by detecting a series of hitherto untraced testimonies. Second, he demonstrates the need to reconsider the current hypothesis of a Glagolitic origin of the tradition and examines the problem of establishing the original segmentation and layout of the text. Third, he focuses on significant methodological shortcomings of previous research into textual criticism. Finally, he emphasises the importance of investigating relevant grammatical and syntactic archaisms in greater depth, with particular attention to periphrastic constructions. As a result, a new approach to this tradition is put forward, overturning previous understandings of its transmission and enabling new research prospects to be envisaged.
PDF (German)

References

  1. Bentein 2016: K. Bentein, Verbal Periphrasis in Ancient Greek: Have- and Be-Constructions, Oxford 2016.
  2. Biblija 1988: Biblїа, sirěč(ь) knigy Vetchago i Novago Zavěta po jazyku slovensku [Ostrožskaja Biblija. Fototipičeskoe pereizdanie teksta s izdanija 1581 g.], Moskva 1988.
  3. Björck 1940: R.G. Björck, En didaskon: die periphrastischen Konstruktionen im Griechischen, Uppsala 1940.
  4. Brookе et al, 1927: A.E. Brooke, N. McLean, H.St.J. Thackeray (eds). The Old Testament in Greek, ii: The Later Historical Books. Part 1: i and ii Samuel, Cambridge 1927.
  5. Brookе et al. 1930: A.E. Brooke, N. McLean, H. St. J. Thackeray (eds). The Old Testament in Greek, ii: The Later Historical Books. Part 2: i and ii Kings, Cambridge 1930.
  6. Bruni 2016a: A.M. Bruni, 1.4.10: Old Church Slavonic Translations, in: A. Lange, E. Tov (eds.), Textual History of the Bible: The Hebrew Bible, 1b: Pentateuch, Former and Latter prophets, Leiden 2016, pp. 393-408.
  7. Bruni 2016b: A.M. Bruni, 3-5.2.7: Old Church Slavonic Translations, in: A. Lange, E. Tov (eds.), Textual History of the Bible: The Hebrew Bible, 1b: Pentateuch, Former and Latter prophets, Leiden 2016, pp. 436-445.
  8. Bruni 2019: A.M. Bruni, The Second Church Slavonic Translation of 1-4 Kingdoms: A Witness to the Proto-Lucianic Text, “Textus: A Journal on Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible”, xxviii, 2019, pp. 21-44.
  9. Bruni 2024: A.M. Bruni, A Rediscovered Codex of the Old Church Slavonic Translation of the Books of the Kingdoms, “Palaeobulgarica”, xlviii, 2024, 2, pp. 3-16.
  10. Dunkov 1995a: D. Dunkov (Hrsg.), Die Methodbibel, v. Die Bücher der Könige: Das erste Buch Samuel, Salzburg 1995 (= Die slavischen Sprachen, 42).
  11. Dunkov 1995b: D. Dunkov (Hrsg.), Die Methodbibel, vi. Die Bücher der Könige: Das zweite Buch Samuel, Salzburg 1995 (= Die slavischen Sprachen, 45).
  12. Dunkov 1996a: D. Dunkov (Hrsg.), Die Methodbibel, vii. Die Bücher der Könige: Das erste Buch der Könige, Salzburg 1996 (= Die slavischen Sprachen, 47).
  13. Dunkov 1996b: D. Dunkov (Hrsg.), Die Methodbibel, viii. Die Bücher der Könige: Das zweite Buch der Könige, Salzburg 1996 (= Die slavischen Sprachen, 48).
  14. Gorskij, Nevostruev 1855: А.V. Gorskij, K.I. Nevostruev, Opisanie slavjanskich rukopisej Мoskovskoj Sinodal’noj biblioteki. Otdel pervyj. Svjaščennoe Pisanie, Moskva 1855.
  15. Issatschenko 1980: A. Issatschenko, Geschichte der russischen Sprache, i: Von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts, Heidelberg 1980.
  16. Jacimirskij 1905: А.I. Jacimirskij, Slavjanskie i russkie rukopisi rumynskich bibliotek, Sankt-Peterburg 1905.
  17. Karskij 1979: Е.F. Karskij, Slavjanskaja kirillovskaja paleografija. Otv.red. akad. V.I. Borkovskij, 2-е izd. faksimil’noe, Moskva 1979.
  18. Kul’bakin 1901: S.M. Kul’bakin, Otčet otdeleniju russkogo jazyka i slovesnosti imperatorskoj Akademii nauk o zanjatijach v knigochraniliščach Moskvy i Peterburga s 25-go sentjabrja po 23-’e dekabrja 1898 g., “Sbornik Otdelenija russkogo jazyka i slovesnosti imperatorskoj Akademii nauk”, lxix, 1901, 3, pp. 21-54.
  19. Mathiesen 1983: R. Mathiesen, Handlist of Manuscripts Containing Church Slavonic Translations of the Old Testament, “Polata knigopisnaja”, vii, 1983, pp. 3-48.
  20. Michajlov 1912: А.V. Michajlov, Opyt izučenija teksta knigi Bytija proroka Moiseja v drevne-slavjanskom perevode, i: Parimejnyj tekst, Varšava 1912.
  21. Mošin 1970: V. A. Mošin, Stari rukopisi Srba u Hrvatskoj od xiii do xx stoljeća, Zagreb 1970.
  22. Mošin 1971: V. Mošin, Ćirilski rukopisi Povijesnog muzeja Hrvatske i Kopitareve zbirke: Ćirilski rukopisi u Povijesnom muzeju Hrvatske. Kopitareva zbirka slovenskih rukopisa i Cojsov ćirilski odlomak u Ljubljani, Beograd 1971.
  23. Muraoka 2016: T. Muraoka, A Syntax of Septuagint Greek, Leuven 2016.
  24. Nikolova 1994: S. Nikolova, Za naj-starija bălgarski srednovekoven răkopis na Starija Zavet, “Starobălgarska literatura”, xxviii-xxix, 1994, pp. 110-118.
  25. Nikolova 1995: S. Nikolova, K istorii teksta Knig Carstv v slavjanskoj pis’mennosti, in: W. Moskovich, S. Nikolova, M. Taube (eds.), The Holy Land and the Manuscript Legacy of Slavs, Jerusalem-Sofia, 1995, pп. 54-68 (= “Jews and Slavs”, iii).
  26. Nikolova 1996: S. Nikolova, Za dva neproučeni srednobălgarski răkopisa ot xv v., sădăržašti starozavetni knigi, “Ricerche slavistiche”, xliii, 1996, pp. 5-35.
  27. Panaitescu 1959: P.P. Panaitescu, Manuscrisele slave din Biblioteca Academiei rpr. 1, Bucureşti 1959.
  28. Plungjan 2021: V.А. Plungjan, Byl li v slavjanskich jazykach progressiv?, in: A.A. Pičchadze i dr. (red.), Slova, konstrukcii i teksty v istorii russkoj pis’mennosti: Sbornik statej k 70-letiju akademika A.M. Moldovana, Moskva-Sant-Peterburg 2021, pp. 19-30.
  29. Růžička 1964: R. Růžička, Das syntaktische System der altslavischen Partizipien und sein Verhältnis zum Griechischen, Berlin 1964 (= Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Slawistik, 27).
  30. Slavova 2011: Т. Slavova, Părva i vtora kniga Carstva v săstava na Archivnija chronograf (predvaritelni nabljudenia), “Palaeobulgarica”, xxxv, 2001, 1, pp. 3-16.
  31. Slavova 2022: Т. Slavova, Starozavetni knigi v slavjanskata răkopisna tradicija, Sofija 2022.
  32. Sobolevskij 1900: А.I. Sobolevskij, Cerkovno-slavjanskie teksty moravskogo proischoždenija, “Russkij filologičeskij vestnik”, xliii, 1900, pp. 150-217.
  33. Thomson 1998: F.J. Thomson, The Slavonic Translation of the Old Testament. In: J. Krašovec (ed.), The Interpretation of the Bible: The International Symposium in Slovenia, Sheffield 1998, pp. 605-920 (= “Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series”, 189).
  34. Totomanova-Paneva 2019: М. Totomanova-Paneva, Knigi Carstva v slavjanskata chronografska tradicija, Sofija 2019 (= “Kirilo-Metodievski studii”, xxvii).
  35. Večerka 1993: R. Večerka, Altkirchenslavische (altbulgarische) Syntax, ii. Die Innere Satzstruktur, Freiburg i. Br. 1993.
  36. Worth 1985: D.S. Worth, Mirror Reversals in Novgorod Paleography, in: B. Stolz, I.R. Titunik, L. Doležel (eds.), Language and Literary Theory. In Honor of Ladislav Matejka, Ann Arbor 1985 (= “Papers of Slavic Philology”, v), pp. 215-222.
  37. Uspenskij 2002: B.А. Uspenskij, Istorija russkogo literaturnogo jazyka (xi-xvii vv.), izdanie tret’e, ispravlennoe i dopolnennoe, Moskva 2002.
  38. Žitenëva 2003: А.М. Žitenëva, Zerkal’nye načertanija v kirilličeskich istočnikach x-xv vv., dissertacija na soiskanie učenoj stepeni kandidata istoričeskich nauk, Moskva 2003.
  39. Živov 2017: V.M. Živov, Istorija jazyka russkoj pis’mennosti, i, Moskva 2017.