A Slavonic-bulgarian history

The translation of A Slavonic-Bulgarian History (Zogr. 43) follows the Modern Bulgarian rendition of the Zographou manuscript, done by Dimitar Peev. This richly annotated translation was published by the Athonite Holy Monastery of Zographou in 2013, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the composition of A Slavonic-Bulgarian History. It is accompanied by a facsimile edition of the Zographou Draft of 1762, which I have also occasionally consulted, in the hope of forming a better idea of St. Paisius’s original idiom.

Throughout this translation, I have opted for Slavonic as against Slavic (the form generally preferred by British scholarship), for Paisius as against the Bulgarian form Paisii, and for Hilandar as against the Bulgarian Hilendar.

For the purposes of a greater authenticity, I have chosen to preserve the Modern Bulgarian translator’s additions in square brackets, in cases where the Bulgarian version needed better cohesion, while accommodating them to the English text. Their close reproduction serves to suggest the obsolete character of Paisius’s syntax. I have also avoided domesticating the original syntax to the Anglophone reader, facing the challenge of its greater “foreignisation”.

In terms of lexical choice, I have adopted the overall strategy of drawing from the poetic resources of the target language, including its historically grounded alliterative tendencies. This is especially true of the passages which articulate Paisius’s passionate defense of the Bulgarian people and tongue.

A major lexical conundrum to tackle was related to the History’s most popular phrase неразумний и юроде, which has become proverbial in its Bulgarian context. Eventually, I have chosen idiot and imbecile over the literal unreasonable and freakish one. In this, I have been motivated by the Greek and Late Latin etymology of idiot, “ignorant,” but also “failing to be engaged in the public sphere.” Furthermore, idiot and imbecile at least partly evokes, through the assonance, the proverbial ring of the phrase in Bulgarian.

The rendition of the personal names and the toponyms follows the strategies of the Bulgarian translation: it preserves Paisius’s specific usage of the Biblical, legendary, and historical names. The actual names are given in the footnotes. The foliation of the manuscript autograph is given in the margin opposite the text. The missing folia are reproduced according to the first known Kotel copy of the History.

Translated
By Evgenia Pancheva