Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31820/f.37.2.7
The Language of Gašpar Vnučić’s Prayer Book from 1568
Sanja Zubčić
; Sveučilište u Rijeci, Filozofski fakultet
Abstract
This paper presents the basic linguistic features of a manuscript prayer book from 1568, compiled by the Grobnik priest Gašpar Vnučić. The manuscript is of the miscellanea type and is written in cursive Glagolitic script. The paper provides information on the discovery of the manuscript and its subsequent history, based on literature and archival materials, and summarises current knowledge about the language of the manuscript. As the manuscript contains hybrid content, its language is not uniform but varies depending on the type of text, the source from which it was copied, and even the scribe himself. The paper highlights individual text units and presents the content of the manuscript.
The central part of this paper examines the writing system, phonological, and morphological features of the language in Gašpar Vnučić’s Prayer Book. The focus in on selected linguistic features, particularly those that differ between Croatian Church Slavonic and contemporary Chakavian.
The analysis has established that the text is essentially Chakavian, but contains numerous features of Croatian Church Slavonic, which served either as elements for creating a higher literary and artistic style at the level of individual lexemes, or were adopted from liturgical templates in a more or less unchanged form at the text level. Elements of the two languages are closely intertwined and alternate throughout the text, which confirms that, at that time, these two languages were not perceived as distinct, but rather as higher and lower varieties of a single language.
Keywords
Croatian Church Slavonic; Chakavian dialect; Prayer Book of Gašpar Vnučić; 1568, Grobnik
Hrčak ID:
342897
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2025.
Visits: 809 *