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Croatian Translation of Biblical Passages in Medieval Performative Texts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2017
Abstract
This article will examine the Croatian translations of the biblical parts of medieval Latin performative texts (sermons, dialogues) which were translated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and written in Glagolitic script. The Croatian translators were acquainted with the parts of Scripture which were read during the liturgy. Their knowledge of the Bible was evident in the addition of archaisms typical for Glagolitic liturgical books written in Croatian Church Slavonic. Often the quotations from Scripture were adjusted to the narrator's (or preacher's) voice in different ways, by changing the grammar of the Latin text as well as by shortening or expanding the quotations. Research has shown that one of the main goals of the translators in changing biblical quotations was to improve the performative characteristics of translation, so that the translated text could be orally performed.
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References
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36 PL 159, 281b.
37 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 93v.
38 PL 159, 277a.
39 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 89v.
40 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 31v.
41 ‘Disipul B’, fol. 6d.
42 PL 159, 273c.
43 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 86v.
44 PL 159, 282c.
45 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 95r.
46 PL 159, 284a.
47 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 96r.
48 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 211r.
49 Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, VIa 95, ‘Disipul C’, fol. 51v.
50 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 35v.
51 ‘Disipul B’, fol. 8d.
52 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 89r.
53 ‘Disipul A’, fol. 52d.
54 PL 159, 278d.
55 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 91v.
56 PL 159, 285c.
57 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 97v.
58 PL 159, 277a.
59 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 89v.
60 PL 159, 274a.
61 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 87r.
62 PL 159, 283d.
63 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 95v.
64 PL 159, 275b.
65 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 88r.
66 PL 159, 280c.
67 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 93r.
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72 Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, IVa 99, ‘Blagdanar popa Andrije’, fol. 10v.
73 Peregrinus, Sermones, ‘De Innocentibus’.
74 ‘Blagdanar popa Andrije’, fol. 14r.
75 In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century manuscripts, az is most often used when God is speaking. Otherwise, most of the time, ê or ja are used: Damjanović, Stjepan, Tragom jezika hrvatskih glagoljaša (Zagreb, 1984), 126;Google Scholar Hercigonja, Eduard, Nad iskonom hrvatske knjige (Zagreb, 1983), 405.Google Scholar This means that, as Mihaljević observed: ‘God speaks Croatian Church Slavonic, while human beings speak Croatian’: ‘Položaj crkvenoslavenskga jezika’, 232.
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81 ‘Disipul C’, fol. 172r.
82 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 263v.
83 ‘Disipul B’, fol. 139a.
84 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 49v.
85 ‘Disipul B’, fol. 180a.
86 Herolt, Sermones Discipuli, 179r.
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89 PL 159, 286a.
90 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 97v.
91 PL 159, 281b.
92 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 93v.
93 PL 159, 280a.
94 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fol. 92v.
95 PL 159, 285c.
96 ‘Žgombićev zbornik’, fols 96v–97r.