Pine-cones for moss: a late Byzantine/early modern Greek version of ATU 1525E, Thieves steal from one another
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Tommaso Braccini
Abstract
Two Greek authors, Georgios Sphrantzes (fifteenth century) and Makarios Melissourgos-Melissenos (sixteenth century) refer to a variant of the type ATU 1525E, Thieves steal from one another. It is the oldest known version, and it is remarkably close to the variants later attested in Georgia and the Balkans (an area that clearly shows the features of the Byzantine cultural heritage). The comparison also makes it possible to clarify and confirm the meaning of an obscure word used in the oldest version, that of Sphrantzes, where pine-cones (koukoutzella) and moss are at the center of the exchange.
Zusammenfassung
Zwei griechische Autoren, Georgios Sphrantzes (sechzehntes Jahrhundert) und Makarios Melissourgos-Melissenos (siebzehntes Jahrhundert) beziehen sich auf ATU 1525E, Thieves steal from one another. Dieses ist die älteste bekannte Version dieses Typs und ist inhaltlich eng verwandt mit einer Variante die später in Georgien und dem Balkan belegt wurde (was eine enge Beziehung zu byzantinischer Kulturgeschichte belegt). Dieser Vergleich ermöglicht es, die Bedeutung eines obskuren Begriffes zu entschlüsseln, der in der älteste Version benutzt wird: Sphrantzes waren Pinienzapfen (koukoutzella). Die Zapfen und Moos bilden den Kern dieser Tauschgeschichte.
Note
Special thanks are owed to Gemma Storti and Valeria Flavia Lovato for their help with my English; I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. All remaining errors and inaccuracies remain, of course, my own.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- Titelseiten
- Editorial
- Articles
- Legends of Lace: Commerce and Ideology in Narratives of Women’s Domestic Craft Production
- The untold subgenre
- Internationale Märchen in Namibia. Bewahren und anpassen
- Between Form and Content: Narrative Typology, Metafiction and Ideology in The Thousand and One Nights
- On the Processes of Narrative Reworking in Spanish Gitano Tradition: Imagological Self-Representation
- A Sixteenth-Century Swedish Chronicler and his King on Folktales and Ballads
- Pine-cones for moss: a late Byzantine/early modern Greek version of ATU 1525E, Thieves steal from one another
- Justice Model in Latin American Folklore
- Reviews
- Reviews
- Submitted Books
- Submitted Books
