SOME ASPECTS OF “MISCELLANY (IZBORNIK) OF 1073” PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS TRANSLATION: ETHICS

Abstract

Research article is devoted to the research of philosophical terms “Miscellany (Izbornik) of 1073” – Old Slavic handwritten book of the 11th century. In contrast to the frequently studied fragment called “philosophical treatise” (B. Peichev) as part of “Miscellany”, the author draws attention to another fragment, namely to the chapter called “Joseph of the Maccabees”, which is a translation from Greek of certain fragments of the 4 Maccabees. Since the fragment is devoted to the issue – how passions can be guided by reflection, in addition to epistemological terms, it contains a large number of ethical terms, such as “pleasure”, “suffering”, “rationality”, “courage”, “prudence”, “justice”, etc. In fact, the fragment represents the very first attempt of translation into Slavic of the Greek ethical categories such as “φρόνησις”, “ἀνδρεία”, “σωφροσύνη”, “δικαιοσύνη”, “ἡδονὴ”, “πόνος”. Using this fragment as an example, the author of the research article shows how the Christian influences were introduced by the Slavic translator into the Platonic and Aristotelian terminological matrix, which was the basis of the fragment. Further, analysis of another group of ethical terms associated with “types of passions” (“lust”, “joy”, “fear”, “sadness”, “contempt”, “blasphemy”, “greed”, “vanity”, “grumpiness“, “envy”, etc.) shows that some of the words selected by early translator, subsequently introduced into the literary Ukrainian, can be successfully used even by a modern researcher or translator. The research made shows also an active process of incorporation of ancient philosophical ideas into native culture back in the 11th century, in particular, the Greek doctrine of the four virtues (“ἀρετή”) in Plato's interpretation with Aristotle’s modifications, the idea of leading role of reflection in the human soul, the Aristotelian doctrine on the types of passions and the like. It gives us the opportunity to evaluate the presence of philosophical component in the Kyivan Rus’ culture at the earliest period of its formation and development in a different way.