The Old Slavonic Translation of Proverbs Attributed to Menander: Understanding Slavonic Wisdom Tradition Through Some Biblical Key-Words
The Old Slavonic Translation of Proverbs Attributed to Menander: Understanding Slavonic Wisdom Tradition Through Some Biblical Key-Words

Summary/Abstract: In previous studies, the Old Slavic translations of the aphorisms attributed to Menander, an Attic playwright of the 4th c. BC have been used primarily as evidence for reconstructing lost or incompletely transmitted verses; in other words, the texts have been treated as if they were subsidiary to putative Greek sources. This approach is problematic, inter alia, because the Slavic verses are not always translations of an authentic Menander. Often, they are demonstrably free adaptations or even Christianizations of post-Attic Greek sources (filtered through Byzantine compilations); in many other cases, where no plausible Greek text is known, the sayings may have been reminiscences of non-Menandrean sources or even non-Greek in origin. Moreover, viewing the Slavic texts chiefly or solely as ancillary to the Greek neglects the very reason why they were translated, copied, and circulated in the Slavic milieu, that is, their enduring meaning in medieval Orthodox culture.значение в средновековната православна култура.

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