Names of fragrances, spices, and sweets in the Edited Slavonic-Russian Pentateuch from the 15 th century

Abstract

The article analyzes the glosses for the names of fragrances, spices, and sweets used at Gen 37: 25 and 43: 11 in the Slavonic-Russian Pentateuch from the 15th century, which was edited according to the Jewish sources. There are glosses nekhot (borrowed from Hebrew) for the word temyan ‘frankincense’ of the Old Church Slavonic Translation (Gen 37: 25); hypothetically Turkic loanword ambar (etymologically ‘ambergris,’ from Arabic, also this form could be mediated with perhaps Persian) for the word voniavitsa / vonialitsa ; firyak / firyatik ‘theriac’ for the word smola ‘resin’; vosk ‘wax’ for the word temyan (Gen 43: 11); and migdaly ‘almonds’ for the word orěsi ‘nuts.’ Because some of these glosses are of obvious West Russian origin (being the Ruthenian or Polish loanwords in the Church Slavonic text), the author draws a conclusion that this version of the Pentateuch appeared in the Ruthenian lands. The article also contains corresponding readings not only from the Masoretic text but from the Turkic targum which influenced on the Edited Pentateuch. The author finds the textual correspondence of the latter with the Turkic targum in these biblical passages and the conceivable borrowings from Old Western Kipchak. The important fact is also that this group of glosses is not related to religious topics but more likely reflects encyclopaedical interests of the glossators who evidently were connected to the so-called “heresy of Judaizers.”