Mr Cogito Reflects On The Renaissance Translation Of The Bible, The Old Testament, And Muslim Liturgical Works Into Forms Of Colloquial Belarusian

The Journal of Byelorussian Studies

Vol. VI, No. 1 [1971]

CHRISTIAN, JEWISH AND MUSLIM TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE AND KORAN IN BYELORUSSIA: 16TH-19TH CENTURIES

by P. Wexler

The period of the 16th and 17th centuries was an exciting time in the cultural history of the Byelorussian lands. The early 16th century saw the publication in Prague of Francis Skaryna's translation of the Bible into a Byelorussian recension of Church Slavonic and the translation of the Old Testament into an even more colloquial by a Jewish translator at the close of the 15th century or early 16th century. The small Tatar community in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also translated Muslim liturgical works into a form of colloquial Byelorussian...

...A comparison of the three liturgical translations by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim speakers of Byelorussian would undoubtedly contribute much to our understanding of colloquial Byelorussian and Byelorussian communal dialectology in the Byelorussian lands in the 16th-17th centuries...

Source

The Journal of Byelorussian Studies, 1965 to 1971




















Renaissance Humanist Francis Skaryna, 1490-1552

The Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London has the largest outside Belarus collection of Belarusian books, periodicals and music, as well as Belarus-related publications in different languages. The museum hosts collections of maps, manuscripts, coins, postage stamps, art and crafts of different times.

Admission free. It is advisable to make an appointment on the phone. We are a reference library; you may use our reading room and copying facilities.

Address: 37 Holden Road, London, N12 8HS. Directions. Tel/fax: (44-20) 84455358 (Fr Alexander Nadson). Email: library@skaryna org. Web site: skaryna.org

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Papers of the Conference "The role of the Belarusian diaspora in preserving and developing Belarusian culture" (2001)

Photo credit: Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London. With thanks.