“Složilъ esmь grьčьskyi nomocanonъ”


2021. № 1 (41), 277-282

Alexandr M. Moldovan
Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
(Moscow, Russia)
alexandr.moldovan@gmail.ru

Abstract:

The paper considers various interpretations and translations of the problematic phrase
(cited above in the title) from the protocol of the Church Statute of Yaroslav the Wise. Previous
attempts to explicate it based on different meanings of the verb složilъ are linguistically
inconclusive and do not agree with historical facts. The problem may be solved by assuming
that grьčьskyi is not an adjective but an adverb pertaining to the vast group of Old Russian
(Slavonic) unprefixed adverbs ending with -ьsky and derived from a nominal stem. Yaroslav’s
words then mean: ‘I have composed [what] they call Nomocanon in Greek’. He is saying that
he has composed a juridical compendium, the Greek term for which is “Nomocanon”.