The Book of Psalms (1848) — the first experience of Bible translation into Ossetic

Abstract

The history of translations of the Holy Scripture and liturgical texts into the Ossetic language has not yet become a subject of systematic study, although the formation of the national intelligentsia is closely connected with this process, as well as the development of standards of the literary language. The aim of this paper is to study the historical context in which the Book of Psalms was translated and published in 1848, becoming the first complete Bible book in Ossetic, as well as to determine its significance in the history of Ossetian literature. Analysis of documentary materials (such as letters of the translator Grigory Mzhedlov, reviews written by Academician Anders Sjögren) and comparison of the published translation with the Hebrew original and other versions give a clue to the principles of translator’s work. An attempt is made to analyze advantages and drawbacks of the translation, as well as the level of its reception and its influence on the further activities of Ossetian national intelligentsia. The translation of the Books of Psalms is considered to be an important step as the first experience in the practical implementation of language norms recorded in the classical grammar of Anders Sjögren, which laid the foundation for the scientific study and teaching of Ossetic language; but the Book of Psalms became obsolete very quickly — due to the appearance of the first generation of the Ossetian intelligentsia and the beginning of systematic collective work on creating the corpus of Church books in Ossetic. Nevertheless, the influence of the 1848 translation can be clearly seen in further Ossetic church translations and should not be underestimated. The study of the development of the literary Ossetic language, the formation of religious terminology is impossible without a serious study of translations of the 19th century, including the earliest of them — the Book of Psalms translated by Grigory Mzhedlov.