Original scientific paper

The 45th Oration of St Gregory of Nazianzus in the Latin Translation of Nikola Petrović

Marta Kontić orcid.org/0009-0009-4476-1737 ; Staroslavenski institut, Zagreb

Abstract

When Šime Jurić rediscovered manuscript MS G 99 in the Biblioteca comunale Augusta in Perugia, he marked a new beginning in the study of the life and work of author and scribe Nikola Petrović (1486–1568). The subject of the present paper is one of Petrović’s translations from Greek into Latin that has not yet been philologically examined. This is the 45th Oration of St Gregory of Nazianzus (4th century), entitled in Greek Εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Πάσχα and in Latin Oratio in sanctum Pascha. The edition of the text is preceded by a discussion of contexts and analysis of the translation, and identification of the Greek versions from which Petrović translated.
The 45th Oration is the last extant sermon of Gregory of Nazianzus; it was delivered in Arianzus in about 385. A large part of the text consists of skilfully interwoven scriptural references; two major sections are borrowed from Gregory’s 38th Oration. Various themes taken up in the sermon are unified by reference to a series of events related to the divine decision to guide and redeem the human race, with an emphasis on the Resurrection.
Nikola Petrović decided to use in his translation of Gregory’s 45th Oration elements of medieval Latin and the language of the Vulgate, in order to preserve the distinctive idiom of the original text, which is itself shot through with references from the Scriptures. Some of the devices that the translator used to bring his language closer to that of the Bible are the analytical and periphrastic expressions, the increased use of gerunds and the use of demonstrative pronouns as articles. Petrović’s translation often expands the compact Greek original. Identification of the Greek transcriptions used for the translation is made possible by Petrović’s letter to Abbot Crisostomo, the Benedictine from Monte Cassino who presided over the Mljet congregation. In the letter Petrović reveals that while translating he had access to three versions of the oration; he compared the basis of the translation, a printed edition (probably the Aldine of 1516) with two manuscript copies, one of which turned out to be less valuable for establishing the correct text. Some of the instances in the translation must have been caused by textual variants in the versions used by Petrović. The dating of the letter to Abbot Crisostomo place the terminus ante quem of Petrović’s translation in either 1549 or 1550.

Keywords

Nikola Petrović; Korčula; Dubrovnik; Gregory of Nazianzus; the 45th Oration of Gregory of Nazianzus; Renaissance humanism; translation; manuscript; Greek patristic literature

Hrčak ID:

321784

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/321784

Publication date:

25.10.2024.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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