მეტყველების წრის ზმნები ოთხთავის ქართულ ვერსიებში/ The Verbs of Saying in the Georgian Versions of the Four Gospels

Abstract

The texts of the Gospels are characterized by the usage of one or two verbs and verbals (participles) of saying (verba dicendi) before the direct speech. This phenomenon is a Hebraism, peculiar of the Books of the Old Testament (in this case, we even find three forms of saying). Under the influence of Septuagint Greek, this phenomenon is also found in the New Testament (Blass et al., 1961). In such cases, the pleonastically used second form is the verb λέγω (“to say”) in the aorist or participle λέγων (present, active, nominative), which follow certain verbs of saying (as in the Septuagint): ἀποκρίνομαι “to answer“, κράζω “to cry out“, ἐπερωτάω “to ask“, λαλέω “to speak“ a.o. Out of the above-mentioned Greek verbs of saying: a) One can be a finite verb, and the other – a participle (ἀπεκρίνατο λέγων] miugo q`ovelta da eţq`oda [Lk. 3:16 CODERPsBTLF mGMhScI] “answered, saying”; b) Both forms can be finite (καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπαν] hķitxes mas da hrques [Jn. 1:25 CAdODERPsBTLAFmGihvSclwtHIK…] “asked him, and said“; c) Both forms can be participles (κράζοντες καὶ λέγοντες...] γaγadebdes da iţq`odes [Matt. 9:27 CDERPFGHIK…] “crying out, and saying”. In the old Georgian translation of the Septuagint (preserved in the Bibles of Oshki (978-979) and Jerusalem (11th c.)) λέγων participle is given in the form of a finite verb, which is more natural for Georgian. In the Gelati Catenae Bible (12th-13th cc.), where there is a precise, word for word translation, λέγων is translated by a participle (Tsikhelashvili, 2022). However, in the Georgian manuscripts of versions of the Holy Gospels of both the Pre-Athonite period and those of George the Hagiorite, both forms of saying are represented by finite forms of the verbs. Rendering of participles of this group by means of finite verbs is due to the fact that since the version/edition of George the Hagiorite (the so-called Georgian Vulgate, the middle of the 11th century), there have not been any new versions of the Gospels. Further elaboration of the text of the Gospels in the Hellenophile period is found only in exegetic works and is not aimed at the creation of new versions of the Gospels. Yet, it is interesting to observe the language of the Kimen (the text of the Gospels) of the ultra-Hellenophile style Georgian translation of the explanations by Theophylact of Bulgaria regarding the Holy Gospels according to St.Luke and St.John. As it was expected, the participle λέγων, used pleonastically in the Greek original text, like other participles, are rendered in the text by means of participles (albeit not always), whereas the old versions of the Gospels use finite verbs in the same places: Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ἄγγελος εἶπεν αὐτῷ] miugo angelozman man da hrqua [Lk. 1:19 CRPMFmGScltHIK…]. man]-CF. cf. da mimgebelman angelozman hrqua mas “angel answering said”; κέκραγεν λέγων] γaγad-q`o da tqua: [Jn. 1:15 CAdODERPsBTLAFmGHIK…]. γaγaţ-q`o CFHIK. cf. γaγadebda, meţq`ueli “cried, saying”. Under the influence of the Biblical Greek, one and the same language phenomenon is found in Greek christian literature and its Georgian translations, as well as in the original Georgian hagiography (da utxra sp`arsman man parulad da hrqua: [St.ShuSh. 14:20-21] “and the Persian told him secretly and said”; miuges da hrques mšobelta matta: [Kol. 185:3] “their parents answered them and said”.