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Kirillin V.M. Alexander the Great’s “Argolai” and “Lenni Levi”: On the Difficulties of Translation of The Life of the Prophet Jeremiah into Russian. Studia Litterarum, 2020, vol. 5, no 3, pp. 200–235. (In Russ.)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-3-200-235

Author: V.M. Kirillin
Information about the author:

Vladimir M. Kirillin, DSc in Philology, Director of Research, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 а, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: November 04, 2020
Published: September 25, 2020
Issue: 2020 Vol. 5, №3
Department: Russian Literature
Pages: 200-235
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-3-200-235

UDK: 821.161.1.0 + 821.163.1.0
BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)4
Keywords: Gennadian Bible, Explanatory prophets, Prologue, Encyclopedia of the Souda, Slavic translations from Greek, cultural and historical context, ophiomakhs, snake fighting, serpentines, Bishop’s staff, lexical exotisms.

Abstract

This article, bearing on facts and data from ancient mythology, a novel about Alexander the Great and other Greek-Latin sources, as well as taking into account Greek and Slavic etymology, folk, and ritual customs, reveals the possible serpentine meaning of the words “Argolai” and “lenii levi.” The words are found in the Slavic translation of the Greek text The Life of the Prophet Jeremiah that was included in the 1499 copy of the Bible 1499 as a preface to the eponomous Old Testament book, but also, as it turned out, existed in collections Explanatory Prophets and Prologue. However, clarification of the cultural and historical context allowed me to suggest that these enigmatic words were related to the symbolic essence of material details of the cult objects. The article also demonstrates how these words reflect linguistic and lexical peculiarities of the activities of St. Gennady followers and the scribes at the end of the 15th century in general.

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