Translation and circulation of Romanian and Slavonic biblical books in the Romanian lands: a textual analysis of the sixteenth century Apostolos and Psalter texts

Thesis

This thesis is concerned with the early rise of old Romanian as a written language, as represented by the textual traditions of biblical books translated from Church Slavonic. My primary sources are limited to sixteenth-century manuscript and printed books of the Apostolos and Psalter texts in Romanian and the relevant primary sources of the Slavonic tradition. In answering the questions of why and how the earliest Romanian writings appear, I argue that the philological study of the source tradition of the texts, that is, the Slavonic tradition, as well as of the textual varieties identified in the Romanian primary sources, can help us understand better the way in which Romanian came to be used as a literary language.

After a brief Introduction to the sources and method of philological analysis, Chapter one investigates the history of book production and circulation in the Romanian lands between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and gives some essential historical context to the cultural dynamics defining the voivodeships of Moldavia, Wallachia, and the principality of Transylvania at the time.

Chapters two and three analyse in depth the textual traditions of the Psalter text first, and then that of the Apostolos: each chapter identifies the source tradition of the respective text and provides an affiliation diagram of the Romanian sources.

Chapter four explores the translation and revision techniques employed in rendering and subsequently altering the text of the Apostolos and the Psalter.

The Conclusions draw together the information from the previous chapters and survey the prospects for further avenues of investigation.

Authors: Burlacu, C

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-erej81xna
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English, Old Romanian, and Church Slavonic
• Keywords: church Slavonic; comparative philology; Old Romanian; bible translation; Psalter; Apostolos