# Old Church Slavonic words in modern Slavic languages



## lavverats

Hello to all of you!
I was reading the Bitola Inscription (1015 – 1018) written in Old Church Slavonic and was thinking of how many words have been kept since this period in modern Bulgarian. I found out that despite the case endings I am able to understand about 90 % of the text and what is more, the majority of words are still in use in modern Bulgarian, in one form or another.
Going on further I decided to check if it refers to other Slavic languages. So, my questions to other Slavic friends are: Are you able to understand this text and if so, to which extent? Are there any words from the text that are still in use in your modern languages?
Here is the text in Old Church Slavonic:
† Въ лѣто Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃Г ҃ отъ створенїа мира обнови сѧ съ градь зидаемъ и дѣлаемъ Їѡаном самодрьжъцемъ блъгарьскомь и помощїѫ и молїтвамї прѣс ҃тыѧ влад ҃чицѧ нашеѧ Б ҃чѧ ї въз()стѫпенїе І ҃В ҃ ı връховънюю ап ҃лъсъ же градь дѣлань бысть на ѹбѣжище и на сп҃сенѥ ї на жизнь бльгаромъ начѧть же бысть градь сь Битола м ҃ца окто ҃вра въ К ҃. Конъчѣ же сѧ м ҃ца ... исходѧща съ самодрьжъць быстъ бльгарїнь родомь ѹнѹкъ Николы же ї Риѱимиѧ благовѣрьнѹ сынь Арона Самоила же брата сѫща ц ҃рѣ самодрьжавьнаго іаже ı разбїсте въ Щїпонѣ грьчьскѫ воїскѫ ц ҃рѣ Васїлїа кде же взѧто бы злато ... фоѧ съжев ... ц҃рь разбїенъ бы ц҃рѣмь Васїлїемь Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃В ҃ г. лтѣ оть створенїѧ мира ... їѹ съп() лѣтѹ семѹ и сходѧщѹ
In English:
In the year 6523 (1015) since the creation of the world, this fortress, built and made by Ivan, Tsar of Bulgaria, was renewed with the help and the prayers of Our Most Holy Lady and through the intercession of her twelve supreme Apostles. The fortress was built as a haven and _for the salvation of the lives of the_ Bulgarians. The work on the fortress of Bitola commenced on the twentieth day of October and ended on the [...] _This Tsar was_ Bulgarian _by birth_, grandson of the pious Nikola and Ripsimia, son of Aaron, who was brother of Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria, the two who routed the Greek army of Emperor Basil II at Stipone where gold was taken [...] and in [...] this Tsar was defeated by Emperor Basil in 6522 (1014) since the creation of the world in Klyutch and died at the end of the summer.
Some examples in modern Bulgarian /from the first two rows only/:
Лято – summer, but not year /година/
От – since, from, of, etc.
Сътворение – creation (rarely used but still in use)
Мир – peace, but not world (свят)
Обновявам се – renew
Град – city, town but not fortress /крепост, укрепен град/
Зидам /verb/, зидан /adjective/ - build, built
Делаем – it does not exist in modern Bulgarian, but its derivative ‘дело /work, act …/’ is still in use.
Самодържец – autocrat, still in use, especially in history and historical novels
Помощ - help, assistance, aid
Молитва – prayer
Пресвета владичица наша Богородица – Our Most Holy Lady (the Virgin Mary),
etc.
Regards


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## Athaulf

lavverats said:


> Hello to all of you!
> I was reading the Bitola Inscription (1015 – 1018) written in Old Church Slavonic and was thinking of how many words have been kept since this period in modern Bulgarian. I found out that despite the case endings I am able to understand about 90 % of the text and what is more, the majority of words are still in use in modern Bulgarian, in one form or another.
> Going on further I decided to check if it refers to other Slavic languages. So, my questions to other Slavic friends are: Are you able to understand this text and if so, to which extent? Are there any words from the text that are still in use in your modern languages?


OK, let's try.  Note however that I'm familiar only with the modern Serbian and Russian Cyrillic and the fact that _ѣ_ is yat, so many vowel symbols are unknown to me. Also, I see that the text contains ligatures, which makes it additionally difficult to decipher. As for the linguistic background, I speak  only Croatian and some beginner-level Russian. 

First, let me try going through the text without looking at your translation:




> † Въ лѣто Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃Г ҃ отъ створенїа мира...


In the year [?] since the creation of the world...


> обнови сѧ съ градь зидаемъ и дѣлаемъ Їѡаном самодрьжъцемъ блъгарьскомь


I think it says  that renovation or rebuilding of a city was undertaken by "Ivan, Bulgarian Autocrat."



> и помощїѫ и молїтвамї прѣс ҃тыѧ влад ҃чицѧ нашеѧ Б ҃чѧ


Something about help and prayers by "our vladika" (is this the same title as in the Serbian Orthodox Church?), whose name is obscured by the ligature.



> ї въз()стѫпенїе І ҃В ҃ ı връховънюю ап ҃лъсъ


I think I recognize the Croatian word _vrhovni_ "supreme", but I don't understand. I might perhaps have a clue if the words were spelled in full. 



> же градь дѣлань бысть на ѹбѣжище и на сп҃сенѥ ї на жизнь бльгаромъ


Probably something along the lines of "that the the city may be a refuge and contribute towards the salvation and life of the Bulgarians". 



> начѧть же бысть градь сь Битола м ҃ца окто ҃вра въ К ҃. Конъчѣ же сѧ м ҃ца ...


This one says when the construction was started (in October) and completed (left unspecified). 



> исходѧща съ самодрьжъць быстъ бльгарїнь родомь ѹнѹкъ Николы же ї Риѱимиѧ благовѣрьнѹ сынь Арона Самоила же брата сѫща ц ҃рѣ іаже ı разбїсте въ Щїпонѣ грьчьскѫ воїскѫ ц ҃рѣ Васїлїа кде же взѧто бы злато


Tells us that the above mentioned autocrat was Bulgarian, born as the grandson of Nikola and Ri(?)imie, and the faithful (?) son of Aron Samuilo, who was the brother of [can't decpiher], Emperor Autocrat who destroyed the Greek army of Emperor Basil at Shipon (?), where the gold was taken. 



> ... фоѧ съжев ...


Beats me. 



> ц҃рь разбїенъ бы ц҃рѣмь Васїлїемь Ѕ ҃Ф ҃К ҃В ҃ г. лтѣ оть створенїѧ мира ...


The Emperor was destroyed (defeated?) by Emperor Basil in the year [?] since the creation of the world. 




> їѹ съп() лѣтѹ семѹ и сходѧщѹ


Something about some year, but I don't get it.



> In English:
> In the year 6523 (1015) since the creation of the world, this fortress, built and made by Ivan, Tsar of Bulgaria, was renewed with the help and the prayers of Our Most Holy Lady and through the intercession of her twelve supreme Apostles. The fortress was built as a haven and _for the salvation of the lives of the_ Bulgarians. The work on the fortress of Bitola commenced on the twentieth day of October and ended on the [...] _This Tsar was_ Bulgarian _by birth_, grandson of the pious Nikola and Ripsimia, son of Aaron, who was brother of Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria, the two who routed the Greek army of Emperor Basil II at Stipone where gold was taken [...] and in [...] this Tsar was defeated by Emperor Basil in 6522 (1014) since the creation of the world in Klyutch and died at the end of the summer.


Oops.. I totally blew it when I interpreted _влад ҃чицѧ_ as "vladika".  Still, if now I realize that the ligature starting with _Б_ is probably something similar to _bogorodica_, which is still the standard Croatian word for the title "Mother of God", so I would probably get it if the text was spelled in full. Ditto for the Twelve Apostles.

Another interesting point: I interpreted _Арона Самоила же брата сѫща ц ҃рѣ самодрьжавьнаго_ as "Aron Samuilo, brother of the Emperor Autocrat" instead of "Aron, brother of the Emperor Autocrat Samuilo". I suppose we can count this as syntactic ambiguity of the original text, rather than true lack of comprehension. 


Most of the vocabulary in the text is easily recognizable from modern Croatian. The only words I understood based on Russian, but not Croatian are _мир_ ("peace", but not "world" in Croatian), _начѧть_, _же_, and _жизнь_, although there are occasional words that I didn't understand at all, some of them because of ligatures. 

Here are some modern Croatian words that are nearly identical to the ones in the above text:

ljeto - _year_ (poetic, normally _summer_)
od - preposition _from_, _by_, _since_
i - _and_
stvorenje - _creation_ (also _creature_)
obnoviti - _to renovate_,_ to restore_
grad - _city
_zidati - _to build_, _to lay bricks_
delati - _to work, to do_ (Kajkavian dialectal, but _djelo_ "deed, act" exists in the standard language too)
samodržavlje - _autocracy_ (used mainly historically for Russian emperors)
pomoć - _help_, _aid_
molitva - _prayer_
Bogorodica - _Mother of God
_vrhovni - _supreme_
apostol - _apostle_
ubježište - _refuge_ (rare)
на - preposition _on_, _onto_, _for_
mjesec - _month_ (also _Moon_)
konac - _end
_rod - _kin_, _tribe_, _descent_
unuk - _grandson
_sin - _son_
брат - _brother_
car - _emperor_
razbiti -  _to break_, _to destroy_
vojska - _army_
gdje - _where_
uzeti - _to take _
zlato - _gold_


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## Maroseika

Thу text is absolutely clear to me (except numerals, of course) and I found only 2 words unknown to me in the modern Russian: фоѧ съжев


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## Darina

lavverats said:


> Hello to all of you!
> Some examples in modern Bulgarian /from the first two rows only/:
> Лято – summer, but not year /година/
> От – since, from, of, etc.
> Сътворение – creation (rarely used but still in use)
> Мир – peace, but not world (свят)
> Обновявам се – renew
> Град – city, town but not fortress /крепост, укрепен град/
> Зидам /verb/, зидан /adjective/ - build, built
> Делаем – it does not exist in modern Bulgarian, but its derivative ‘дело /work, act …/’ is still in use.
> Самодържец – autocrat, still in use, especially in history and historical novels
> Помощ - help, assistance, aid
> Молитва – prayer
> Пресвета владичица наша Богородица – Our Most Holy Lady (the Virgin Mary),
> etc.
> Regards


 
The word "лето", meaning "year" is still in use: for example малолетен, пълнолетен, многолетен...

Град did not mean only fortress, but also town, buliding (today градеж, from градя) wall (today ограда).


"Thу text is absolutely clear to me (except numerals, of course) and I found only 2 words unknown to me in the modern Russian: фоѧ съжев "

Bacause these are no words but parts of words. The inscription is damaged. See:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/bg/b/b7/Bitolski_nadpis.jpg


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## Athaulf

Darina said:


> "Thу text is absolutely clear to me (except numerals, of course) and I found only 2 words unknown to me in the modern Russian: фоѧ съжев "
> Bacause these are no words but parts of words. The inscription is damaged.



It's not just because of the damage to the inscription, but also because of ligatures. I doubt that anyone who hasn't studied Old Cyrillic orthography would be able to figure out what the abbreviation *прѣс ҃тыѧ Б ҃чѧ* means, even though these words spelled in full would probably be clear to most modern Slavic speakers (e.g. Croatian _presveta Bogorodica_). 



> See:
> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/bg/b/b7/Bitolski_nadpis.jpg


A reconstructed copy of the original inscription can be found on this page. Amazingly, I can actually read most of the text even in the original.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Interestingly enough, *grad* in the sense of "castle" or "fortress" and *leto* in the sense of "year" both still survive in Slovenian*. I believe that Slovenian is the only South Slavic language that has retained both of these meanings.

* BTW, "city" is *mesto *and "summer" is *poletje *in Slovenian.


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## Kanes

TriglavNationalPark said:


> Interestingly enough, *grad* in the sense of "castle" or "fortress" and *leto* in the sense of "year" both still survive in Slovenian*. I believe that Slovenian is the only South Slavic language that has retained both of these meanings.


 
In Bulgarian as well, grad is basicly a root for building, _gradish = to build, ograda = a wall... _and you can aways see_ liato_ used for a year in books....


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## WannaBeMe

Well I understand it as much as you, lavverats, but only becouse I can read Churchslavonic. If you want to know how much words are understandable to other "normal" poeple you should transcript the letters like this:

" v' lěto 6523 ot' stvorenija mira obnovi sę s' grad' zidaem' i dělaem' Ioanom samodr'ž'cem' bl'garskom' i pomoščijǫ i molitvami  prěsvetyę vladičicę našę B҃čę i v'zstǫpenije 12 vr'hov'njuju apostol's'  že  grad' dělan' byst' na uběžište i na spasenije i na žizn'  bl'garom' načęt' že byst' grad' s' Bitola měseca oktovra v' 12. Kon'čě že sę měseca...ishodęšta s' samodr'ž'c' byst' bl'garin' rodom' unuk'  Nikoly že i Rifimię blagověrnu syn' Arona Samoila že brata sǫšta carě  sǫšta carě  samodr'žav'nago jaže 2 razbiste v' štiponě gr'č'skǫ vojskǫ carě Vasilija kde že vzęto by zlato...foę s'žev...car' razbien' by carěm' Vasiliem'  6522 lětě ot' stvoreniję mira...iu s'p()lětu semu i shodęšču "

I hope I could help


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## Ruskoyazichniy

I cant believe how much I can understand of that text, I used to think that Russian was very remote from protoslavic but I was mistaken


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## nosuchid

1) the meaning of most of the words is clearly recognisable for a present-day speaker of Bulgarian even at a single glance (even words like лето/лято and мир, which in today's everyday usage have different meanings, are still perfectly well recognisable for modern speakers of Bulgarian with their original Old Church Slavonic meanings due to their numerous derivatives present in modern Bulgarian, such as: ЛЕТопис (historiography, literally: 'a description of the (course of the) years'), дългоЛЕТие (longevity, literally: '(a life of) long years'), МИРоглед (Weltanschauung, 'a perspective on the world', 'a world view') МИРянин (layman, 'one who belongs to the world', 'a worldly person' as contrasted with the One, and his followers, who do not belong to this world ("I am not of this world" John 8:23).

2) the grammar of the text poses considerable difficulties to a speaker of present-day Bulgarian. This is, of course, due to the complete loss of noun declension in modern Bulgarian. Speakers of modern Bulgarian have lost almost completely (and quite irreversibly, I should say) their 'sense' of grammatical cases and they seem strange and unfamiliar to them. Bulgarian has undergone a massive transformation from being the very source and heart of Old Church Slavonic to a language so remote from it for the simple reason of the latter being a highly inflected synthetic language using morphological change (inlection) to indicate syntactic interrelations within the sentence to a fairly analytic language dropping noun declension entirely and relying on preposition constructions to do the job.
I think any speaker of modern-day Russian would find the Old Church Slavonic text easier to understand than a speaker of modern Bulgarian, because Russian  has not undergone such drastic changes in grammar.


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## WannaBeMe

nosuchid said:


> I think any speaker of modern-day Russian would find the Old Church Slavonic text easier to understand than a speaker of modern Bulgarian, because Russian has not undergone such drastic changes in grammar.


 
Yes but Russians have also difficulties with Aorist and Imperfect and Bulgarians not. But Serbian still has both the old past tenses and the declensions. The only problem for Serbians could be Locative, becouse they have replaced it with dative thus it has the same form and possibly with the first person singular  (-M instead of -U).

The language whith most preserved grammar is Lausitz Serbian (Sorbian). It has Aorist and Imperfect, Dual, Declensions etc. but the word-stams has taken an another shape and they are not so similar to OCS as Bulgarian and Russian or even Serbian and Slovak.


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## TriglavNationalPark

WannaBeMe said:


> The language whith most preserved grammar is Lausitz Serbian (Sorbian). It has Aorist and Imperfect, Dual, Declensions etc. but the word-stams has taken an another shape and they are not so similar to OCS as Bulgarian and Russian or even Serbian and Slovak.


 
Slovenian also has comparatively well-preserved grammar, including not just full declensions, but also such "archaic" features as the supine and the dual.


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## WannaBeMe

Yes of course Triglav, I am sometimes jealous that my language hasn´t preserve so much  as yours


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## TriglavNationalPark

WannaBeMe said:


> Yes of course Triglav, I am sometimes jealous that my language hasn´t preserve so much as yours


 
But you guys still have the vocative, for example. We don't!


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