“OLD AND GREY, HARD AS A MULE I DID WORK FOR MANY YEARS”: HOW PRINCE ANDREY KURBSKY LEARNT LATIN

Abstract

In this article, the author discusses the topic of how Prince Andrey Kurbsky learnt the Latin language, based on his comments and memoirs. The subject of Andrey Kurbsky’s translation activities is a frequently discussed issue not only among Russian historians but also among their foreign colleagues. Before Andrey Kurbsky could start translating books, he needed to learn Latin. In our opinion, this process is worthy of independent research, because before that historians and linguists paid attention to the result of this activity, i.e., to the translations themselves than to the moments of learning the Latin language. The study is based on Kurbsky’s remarks left in his forewords and personal correspondence, which allows us to look at the situation through the eyes of the prince. The author aims to research the period associated with learning Latin, as well as to find out whether there have been certain trends in this process.