The Christianization of Judith: Considering the Hieronymian Translation of Liber Iudith and Jerome’s Christianizing Agenda

I will consider Jerome’s translation using gendered analysis while considering carefully how hints of his own preoccupations and Christianizing agendas can be found within. In Liber Iudith, Jerome gives a night’s work to a text illustrating the story of the Hebrew widow Judith single-handedly overcoming the seemingly unassailable Assyrians. Comparing Jerome’s translation to the earlier Septuagint text, a number of significant departures can be located. These departures demonstrate Jerome’s conception of proper Christian widowhood, related too to his qualms with femininity. The Hieronymian changes then appear to be both culturally-motivated and implemented in response to the demands of an increasingly Christian world.[1] [1] K. F. B. Fletcher, “Hyginus’ Fabulae: Toward a Roman Mytholography,” in Writing Myth: Mythography in the Ancient World, ed. S. Trzaskoma and R. Scott Smith (Leuven: Peeters, 2013), 135; although Fletcher applies this theoretical approach to the first-century BCE author Hyginus, the framework can also be applied to Jerome’s translation of the Latin Vulgate

Francesco Zorzi Veneto - De harmonia mundi totius cantica tria (Venezia, 1525) - Teorie musicali e kabbalah

The work presents the results of the research project whose aim is to investigate the connection between the Renaissance music theory and the mathematical science; it takes into particular account the testimonies produced and collected in Veneto. In particular, the focus of the research is the link between the harmonic proportions, the numerology and the cabalistic symbolism contained in the treaty “Deh armonia mundi totius” by Francesco Zorzi, published in Venice, in 1525. The first section is focused on the work of Zorzi and on its musical sources, which have been identified through the perusing of “De harmonia mundi totius”. The analysis allowed to highlight a number of similarities and differences, which existed in the Venetian area in the16th Century, between the numerological system used by the traditional theory of music proportions and the Kabbalah. It has been verified how the numbers, used by the western culture to describe the tones and the tunes, can find symbolic and religious confirmations in the esoteric and mystical Hebraic teachings. So strong are these connections that they might provide the explanation for the universal order – in the duplex dimension of microcosm and macrocosm – and, therefore, stress the relation between music and the creative power of God. The passages of the treaty in which music is considered under this perspective are gathered in a specific appendix in which they are given both in Latin – the original language – and in Italian. The second section analyses the massive quantity of musical references, which can be found in “De harmonia mundi totius”, and which were examined by musicologists, but never with systematic criteria. Since Zorzi developed the theory of universal harmony from a philosophical, scientific and musical point of view, it has been of vital importance to determine the analogy with the Platonic and Pythagorean tradition. Particular attention has been paid to the fact that the position of the planets, the balance between the four elements (fire, water, air and earth), the numerical series, the geometrical figures and the bond between microcosm and macrocosm, appear to be following the same musical proportions. Moreover, the section describes the changes from the traditional musical theory to a new musical scale that followed a peculiar system of numerical series. Such is the originality of the relation between the cabalistic numerology and the musical proportions that the thesis analyses the connection established by the Kabbalah between every letter or word and the numerology. From the musicological point of view, De harmonia mundi totius is important because it offers many references to exoteric works such as Corpus Hemeticus, by Ermete Trismegito, De vita, by Ficino, and other texts connected with the cabalistic literature or the Bible tradition. As far as it is concerned, the iconographic elements from the Medieval tradition, such as the comparison between the mythological figures of the Muses and the Cherubs and Seraphs, can be studied following a new point of view. The investigation of the planets through musical scales, as far as the description of the “City of Light” through the musical concept of Apocalypse, were common at that time. Zorzi, though, crossed the boundaries and to explain these phenomena through a set of precise proportions connected one more time with the Kabbalah. The final section focuses on the correspondence between Zorzi’s theory and those of the distinguished Renaissance theorists, Franchino Garuffio and Gioseffo Zarlino. In particular, the section describes the analogies and the variances in treating the concepts of harmony and proportion. The research has been conducted through the constant consultation of the vast bibliography dedicated to Zorzi’s treaty and, from a musicological point of view, it has privileged the aspects concerning the musical repertoire and the executive praxis that characterised the period between the 15th and the 16th Century. As far as the connection between musical numerology and Kabbalah is concerned, the work aims to decode the complex system of calculations and iconographic correspondences, full of wisdom and even magical references, which represent the cornerstone of Francesco Zorzi’s theoretical system. The achieved results lead to the reevaluation of Zorzi’s figure as a music theorist. In fact, even though, from a certain point of view, De harmonia mundi totius aligns with the ancient and Medieval theories on consonances, it is evident that the author will is that of laying the foundations for the experimentation on the polyphonic language

Palący oddechem wąż („serpens flatu adurens”) św. Hieronima

Przedmiotem artykułu jest pojawiający się w starym Testamencie w tłumaczeniu św. Hieronima wzmianka o „wężu palącym oddechem” serpens flatu adurens (Pwt 8,14). Wąż ten obok innych wymienionych jadowitych stworzeń miał zagrażać Izraelitom podczas wędrówki po pustyni. W artykule podjęto próbę odpowiedzi w oparciu o realia świata starożytnego (literaturę z tego okresu), jaki konkretnie wąż kryje się pod tym niezwykłym opisem. Św. Hieronim w swym przekładzie wymienia różne gatunki węży znanych w świecie grecko- rzymskim jako ekwiwalenty hebrajskich nazw. Okazuje się, że analizowane w artykule określenie węża, Hieronim zaczerpnął z Symmacha. Sam Symmach opierał się na komentarzu rabinackim i popełnił błąd przy tłumaczeniu tekstu hebrajskiego. Pomyłka ta jednak była do zaakceptowania przez Hieronima w odniesieniu do bazyliszka W przekonaniu starożytnych wąż ten oprócz innych śmiercionośnych właściwości miał moc palenia wszystkiego dookoła. Hieronim wprowadził do Biblii bazyliszka z nazwy 7 razy (w Septuagincie wąż ten pojawia się tylko 2 razy). Omawiany przypadek byłby 8 miejscem przywołania bazyliszka w Hieronimowym tłumaczeniu Biblii

The state of facts of robbing of a grave in early medieval German laws

In the present paper we analyse the state of facts of robbing of a grave in German folk laws. We pay special regard to the issue to what extent the impacts of Roman law and the Church and primarily German customary law can be demonstrated in the system of state of facts and sanctions of specific laws. This investigation requires the analysis of the legal source base as well as some examination in the history of language, which allows a comparative analysis of the issue and helps to highlight the various layers of the norms of German folk laws by the example of this state of facts

Participles in the "Didactic Gospel" of Meletij Smotryc’kyj

In the course of his missionary activities, in his Didactic Gospel (Evanhelije Učytel’noe = UE), Meletij Smotryc’kyj aimed to present Biblical texts and their commentaries in a more vernacular, not so much Church Slavonic language in order that readers could more easily become familiar with the views of Orthodox authors. Based on the material of the first ten Biblical readings in the order of UE, the article identifies all participle constructions in the Greek source text and compares them with their translation equivalents in different Bible translations: UE, Ostrog Bible, Ukrainian Bible translation of Kulyš, and Russian Synodal translation.  The article poses the question of whether it is possible to make conclusions about the closeness of each translation towards a more vernacular way of speaking by showing a numerical comparison of all instances, when the translations are in full morphological equivalence with the Greek source. Considering not only morphological equivalence with the Greek construction but adding grammatical tense of the participle as a second parameter for comparison, then the translations will differ more significantly. Change of tense, of course, is inevitable if the target language does not exhibit an equivalent for aorist, but still, it is a question if the translation of an aorist participle results in a preterit participle (mostly aspectually perfective) or in a present participle (aspectually imperfective).  The article is not concerned with linguistic problems of verbal aspect in different Slavic languages but seeks to find out which conclusions about the translation technique could be drawn from comparing numerical correspondences in the realm of morphological equivalence. The material shows that the numerical comparison of instances of morphological adequacy in different Slavic translations permits conclusions about the literal character of the translation but does not allow the stylistic characteristics to be judged.В рамке миссионерской активности Мелетий Смотрицкий захотел в своем Учительном Евангелии (УЕ) предложить библейские тексты с толкованием в народном, не-церковнославянском языке, чтобы читатели легче смогли познакомиться со взглядами православных авторов. На материале первых десятых библейских в порядке УЕ статья идентифицирует в исходном греческом тексте все конструкции с глагольными причастиями и сравнивает их переводческие эквиваленты в разных переводах Библии: УЕ, Острожская Библия, украинский перевод Кулиша и русский Синодальный перевод.  B cтатьe поставлен вопрос, можно ли оценить близость языка переводов к более разговорным выражениям при помощи числового сравнения всех случаев где данные переводы показывают полное морфологическое соответсвие с Греческим оригиналом? Если соблюдается не только морфологическое соответсвие перевода с греческой конструкцией, но и глагольное время употребляемого причастия как второй параметр сравнения, тогда переводы покажут значимые различия. Конечно, глагольное время обязательно сменяется, если в языке переводе уже не найдется эквивалент аориста, но все-таки спрашивается, если Греческий аорист переводится причастием прошедшего времени (прежде всего совершенного вида) или причастием настоящего времени (несовершенного вида).  Статья не занимается лингвистической проблематикой видовой системы в различных языках, но спрашивает какие выводы можно сделать на материале числовых сравнений в области морфологической эквивалентности. Языковый материал показывает, что численные данные анализа морфологических эквивалентов в различных славянских переводах позволяют обсудить общую дословность данного перевода, но не позволяют обсудить стилистические особенности