MOSCOW BIBLE OF 1663: FORMATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE BOOK CORRECTION

Abstract

This article traces the forming process of the linguistic principles of Moscow Printing Yard editors, which guided them in preparing the publication of the Moscow (“First printed”) Bible of 1663 on the basis of the text of the Ostrog Bible of 1581. Results of the comparative analysis of spelling and grammatical corrections in the Psalter, the Four Gospels and in the Book of Genesis are presented. It was found out that the degree of imperative corrections made to the language of the Book of Genesis turned out to be significantly lower than in the Psalter and Gospel texts. Optional corrections of the plural dative and accusative cases of valid participle in the Book of Genesis are observed, contradictive and inconsistent corrections in functions of the letter zelo, digraph îÓ and ligature ó, è-octal and 1-decimal take place. Spelling matching of lexical homonyms язык as ‘body part, speech’ (γλώσσα) and as ‘people, tribe’ (ἔθνος) was not implemented based on the principle of antistich. It indicates the defects of correction work in relation to these linguistic elements at the very beginning of work on the Moscow Bible. An indicator that the Biblical work took place in several stages, and its criteria were developed and approved directly during the preparation of the Biblical codex for publication, is the presence of grammatical corrections in the Book of Genesis made in glosses (correction of the aorist to the perfect on second person singular), i.e. asynchronous with respect to corrections, the results which are refl ected in the main body of the text.