CONTRIBUTION TO THE LANGUAGE ANALYSIS OF KOŽIČIĆ'S GLAGOLITIC BOOKS: OD BITIJA REDOVNIČKOGA KNJIŽICE

Abstract

The last known printed work of Šimun Kožičić Benja’s printing house in Rijeka is ''Od bitija redovničkoga knjižice''. At the end of the booklet there is a colophon with the date of its completion: ''dan 27. maja miseca: leto od Krstova rojstva 1531.''. A facsimile reprint of the only preserved specimen (which is the last of the six known Glagolitic publications of Kožičić's printing house) was published in Rijeka in 2009. This publication has finally returned this valuable booklet in situ and made it available to the wider scientific and cultural community. This is also due to the fact that this facsimile edition contains the transcript of the Glagolitic text with an introduction and a glossary, written by the academician Anica Nazor, an eminent researcher and promoter of Kožičić's Glagolitic work. In the introduction, which precedes the Latin transcription of the Glagolitic text, Anica Nazor writes about the language of this booklet saying it is "strongly imbued by Church-Slavonic elements". The linguistic features of ''Od bitija redovničkoga knjižice'' are the central part of this paper, and the emphasis is on the selected phonological, morphological and lexical features. These linguistic features are observed in the context of other Kožičić's publications and the former knowledge of his literary and linguistic concept, especially in regard to his treatment of Church-Slavonic and Croatian linguistic norm. The results of the conducted analysis confirm that ''Od bitija redovničkoga knjižice'' is another outcome of Kožičić's thoroughly established literary and linguistic concept that includes explicit correlation of Church-Slavonic and Old-Croatian linguistic features.