The influence of the Tarnovo School on Metropolitan Cyprian is greatly exaggerated [Review: Petrova V.D. The Language of South Slavic and East Slavic 'Weaving of Words' (in the Writings of the Scribes of the Tarnovo School and Epiphanius the Wise)]
D.G. Demidov
National Chengchi University, Taipei, 11605 Taiwan
E-mail: Demidoffs@rambler.ru
Received September 11, 2017
Abstract
The paper briefly outlines the main assessments of the linguistic situation in Moscow Rus, which is associated with the notion of the second South Slavic influence, and proves the high reliability of the conclusions. The reviewed book by V.D. Petrova is free from publicism and artistry. The discourse is emphatically scientific and academic. The Athonite and Tarnovo literary traditions have been compared. The works of Metropolitan Cyprian, Epiphany the Wise have been analyzed. The main reason for developing the new version was the change of the church statute rather than the transfer of the principles of the Tarnovo Literary School to Russia.
Similarly to B.A. Larin, V.D. Petrova considers the initial impetus for the second South Slavic influence to be the external design of manuscripts, but extends the scope of the concept of this influence and the subsequent archaization of the language in the second half of the 15th century. The language and style of the “weaving of words” of Epiphanius the Wise is not at all related to this process. Separate linguistic facts have been compared according to Chudovsky's New Testament, Evfimiy Tyrnovsky, Metropolitan Cyprian, Epiphanius the Wise, and the Athonite tradition. Accordingly, they are summarized in the table of the review.
The Tarnovo School is oriented towards Greekization according to Byzantine models. For this purpose, the ancient Slavic tradition is violated. Metropolitan Cyprian, by contrast, departs from the Greek calques and restores the ancient literary tradition of the Eastern Slavs. The tendencies of the development of the Middle Bulgarian and Russian cultures are opposite: the Byzantinization in Bulgaria and the orientation to the Old Slavonic literary heritage in Russia. There is no reason to call Cyprian an emigrant.
The book of V.D. Petrova can be attributed to the field of the historical grammar of the Russian literary language, overcoming the conventions of both external textuality, as well as the Neogrammarian School and structural history of forms. The obtained results can well be called a scientific position that far exceeds the level of the hypothesis or private opinion, and, therefore, the book will be useful to philologists, historians, culturologists, theologians, all those for whom the second South Slavic influence and the style of “weaving of words” do not constitute a special subject of research, but indirectly capture the important spheres of their scientific interests.
Keywords: second South Slavic influence, Metropolitan Cyprian, Epiphanius the Wise, Tarnovo Literary School, scientific position, B.A. Larin
References
- Larin B.A. Lectures on the History of the Russian Literary Language (10th – Middle of the 18th Centuries). Moscow, Vyssh. Shk., 1975. 327 p. (In Russian)
For citation: Demidov D.G. The influence of the Tarnovo School on Metropolitan Cyprian is greatly exaggerated [Review: Petrova V.D. The Language of South Slavic and East Slavic “Weaving of Words” (in the Writings of the Scribes of the Tarnovo School and Epiphanius the Wise)]. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2017, vol. 159, no. 5, pp. 1379–1388. (In Russian)
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