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When Church Slavonic meets Latin. Tradition vs. innovation

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Diachronic Slavonic Syntax
This chapter is in the book Diachronic Slavonic Syntax

Abstract

This paper deals with the Church Slavonic translation of a medieval Latin compilation, Bruno’s commented Psalter (11th century), which was done in Novgorod, around the middle of the 16th century, by the well-known translator Dmitrij Gerasimov.

Some infinitive and participial constructions of the Slavonic text are here discussed and briefly compared with previous and later Church Slavonic translations from Latin. The aim is to put forward some syntactic features of the Slavonic text, which sometimes oscillates between the preservation of constructions inherited from the Church Slavonic tradition and the need of rendering in an appropriate way some peculiarities of Latin morpho-syntax. In the translation of the commentary on the Psalms one observes an increasing use of Accusativus-cuminfinitivo and participial constructions, due to the influence of the Latin model. This redistribution, or extension, of old patterns shows the particular nature of Church Slavonic syntax: at the outset departing from the local dialects, it became more flexible and permeable to syntactic calques (at the same time translation technique significantly moved toward literalism). Thus, although it was characterized by petrified forms and grammatical rules (or rather, textual fixed patters), Church Slavonic syntax still continued to experience changes and improvements due to the contact with external factors and or local dialects.

The collected material is intended as a first contribution to a broader typological investigation of syntactic constructions in Church Slavonic translations from Latin.

Abstract

This paper deals with the Church Slavonic translation of a medieval Latin compilation, Bruno’s commented Psalter (11th century), which was done in Novgorod, around the middle of the 16th century, by the well-known translator Dmitrij Gerasimov.

Some infinitive and participial constructions of the Slavonic text are here discussed and briefly compared with previous and later Church Slavonic translations from Latin. The aim is to put forward some syntactic features of the Slavonic text, which sometimes oscillates between the preservation of constructions inherited from the Church Slavonic tradition and the need of rendering in an appropriate way some peculiarities of Latin morpho-syntax. In the translation of the commentary on the Psalms one observes an increasing use of Accusativus-cuminfinitivo and participial constructions, due to the influence of the Latin model. This redistribution, or extension, of old patterns shows the particular nature of Church Slavonic syntax: at the outset departing from the local dialects, it became more flexible and permeable to syntactic calques (at the same time translation technique significantly moved toward literalism). Thus, although it was characterized by petrified forms and grammatical rules (or rather, textual fixed patters), Church Slavonic syntax still continued to experience changes and improvements due to the contact with external factors and or local dialects.

The collected material is intended as a first contribution to a broader typological investigation of syntactic constructions in Church Slavonic translations from Latin.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Glossing IX
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I: The influence of Latin on Slavonic vernaculars
  7. The paths of grammaticalization of North Slavonic connectors. An interface point of Slavonic, Greek and Latin 11
  8. The influence of Latin on the syntax of Old Polish numerals 37
  9. The influence of the Latin Vulgate on the word order of pronominal enclitics in the 1st edition of the Old Czech Bible 53
  10. The accusativus cum infinitivo in 16th–19th century Croatian texts. Contact-induced and internally motivated syntactic change 81
  11. Relative coordination. Kateri-/koteri-relatives in 18th century Slovene and Kajkavian 107
  12. Part II: The influence of Greek on Church Slavonic
  13. Blocking of syntactic constructions without Greek counterparts in Church Slavonic 133
  14. The article-like usage of the relative pronoun iže as an indicator of early Slavonic grammatical thinking 163
  15. Past tense usage in Old Russian performative formulae. A case study into the development of a written language of distance 179
  16. Part III: The influence of Latin on Church Slavonic
  17. When Church Slavonic meets Latin. Tradition vs. innovation 201
  18. Non-strict negative concord proper and languages in contact. Translating Latin into Croatian Church Slavonic and Greek into Old Church Slavonic 233
  19. Part IV: In lieu of a conclusion
  20. First attestations. An Old Church Slavonic sampler 255
  21. Index 303
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110651331-010

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Glossing IX
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I: The influence of Latin on Slavonic vernaculars
  7. The paths of grammaticalization of North Slavonic connectors. An interface point of Slavonic, Greek and Latin 11
  8. The influence of Latin on the syntax of Old Polish numerals 37
  9. The influence of the Latin Vulgate on the word order of pronominal enclitics in the 1st edition of the Old Czech Bible 53
  10. The accusativus cum infinitivo in 16th–19th century Croatian texts. Contact-induced and internally motivated syntactic change 81
  11. Relative coordination. Kateri-/koteri-relatives in 18th century Slovene and Kajkavian 107
  12. Part II: The influence of Greek on Church Slavonic
  13. Blocking of syntactic constructions without Greek counterparts in Church Slavonic 133
  14. The article-like usage of the relative pronoun iže as an indicator of early Slavonic grammatical thinking 163
  15. Past tense usage in Old Russian performative formulae. A case study into the development of a written language of distance 179
  16. Part III: The influence of Latin on Church Slavonic
  17. When Church Slavonic meets Latin. Tradition vs. innovation 201
  18. Non-strict negative concord proper and languages in contact. Translating Latin into Croatian Church Slavonic and Greek into Old Church Slavonic 233
  19. Part IV: In lieu of a conclusion
  20. First attestations. An Old Church Slavonic sampler 255
  21. Index 303
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