TASKS AND PERSPECTIVES OF THE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS OF THE ŠIMUN KOŽIČIĆ BENJA'S GLAGOLITIC PUBLICATIONS (ALONGSIDE THE CRITICAL EDITION OF MISAL HRUACKI)

Abstract

The purpose of this text is to demonstrate the strategies employed while preparing the critical edition of Misal hruacki by Šimun Kožičić Benja. The paper identifies the basic problems of critical approach to the language of the Croatian Glagolitic texts of the 16th century, as well as the difficulties caused by Kožičić Benja's distinct authorial approach to editing a Biblical text. In our research we have been able to identify some of his intentions: a distinct orientation towards a literal alignment of the text and the Vulgate, a steady ratio of Church Slavonic and Croatian forms and words, as well as the concern for intelligibility. The analysis has clearly shown that the content of Posveta to Toma Niger from the Knižica odь žitiê actually refers to the translation of liturgical texts, Misal in particular. Kožičić's interventions are also interpreted as a deviation from the tripartite articulation of the Croatian language in Glagolitic texts which was in use from the second half of the 14th century. In conclusion, Kožičić identified the function of his „Croatian language“ with the function of Latin (on the other side of the cultural pole) and the emphasis on the Croatian dimension found in the title by no means implies the primacy of the elements of the Croatian language in comparison to the Church Slavonic.