Traditional compounds in the Slavic Areopagitica in the 18^th century copies: The family of words with the derivational element начал- - ‘begin’ in translations of the treatise “On the Divine Hierarchy”

   This paper is a part of the scientific project “Tell about God, Speak with God: The Language of Christian Mysticism in Russia – between Russian and Church Slavonic”, which is investigating three translations of the 18^th century treatise “About the Divine Hierarchy” by Dionysius the Areopagite: 1) the manuscript of the State Historical Museum, Symon Collection No. 5, translated by Paisiy Velichkovskiy, 2) the manuscript of the Russian State Library, Museum Collection (F. 178) No. 1345, unknown translator, 3) the edition of 1786, translated by Moisey Gumilevskiy.

   The aim of our research is to analyze traditional compounds with the derivational element “начал-” ‘begin’ in three translations and define their role in the translators’ dialogue with God. The research results clarify that each of the three texts of Slavic Areopagitica contributes to the family of words with the stem word “началo” - ‘beginning’.

   The number of compound words in the family of words prevails, which is typical of religious texts. In his translation,elichkovskiy used nine compound words, which are not used by Gumilevskiy and the unknown translator, but they have five – six other compounds. In the manuscript by the unknown author there are less compound words with the stem “начал-” than in other translations. The presence of words that distinguish these translations and complement not only the investigated family of words but also the linguistic and religious world-image may be connected with the translators’ art of coining new words, or the linguistic features of Greek texts used by them in their work.

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