| Abstrakt: |
It was established recently that four sermons by Ēlias Mēniatēs - On Apostolic Vocation, Praise to the Deipara, Eulogy on the Dormition of the Deipara and Eulogy on the Nativity of the Deipara - in an early modern Bulgarian translation, made directly from the Greek most probably around the 1720s, were incorporated anonymously into three handwritten miscellanies of the so-called Fourth group of Bulgarian vernacular damaskins. It was clearly a challenge to translate these exquisite rhetorical texts at a time when writing in the vernacular was only coming into being. The article discusses textual and linguistic aspects of the translation and its significance in the context of Bulgarian culture. It also sheds light on the translator's views on proper Bulgarian written language, as far as they were reflected in his work, and on his innovative use of quotation marks and brackets. The emphasis on Virgin Mary makes it possible to narrow down the search for the Northeast Bulgarian highland location of the culture centre, which produced the prototypes of the texts included in the Fourth group of Bulgarian vernacular damaskins, to parish churches and monasteries devoted to the Mother of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
