On the graphic adaptation of proper names in the first Romanian translation of the Septuagint (Ms. 45)

Among the difficulties that have always challenged the translators of the Bible one can mention the adaptation of proper names in each idiom. Certain biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian when the first translations of fragments belonging to the Old and the New Testaments were performed. However, most biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian for the first time in the translation of the Septuagint performed by Nicolae Spătarul (Milescu) in the second half of the 17th century and preserved in a manuscript copy (the Romanian manuscript no. 45) from the same century. The main source of this translation was an edition of the Septuagint issued in Frankfurt in 1597. In accordance with the spirit of literalism in Bible translation in that period, the main tendency of translators and reviewers was to preserve, as much as possible, the original form of proper names as they appeared in the source-text, attempting, at the same time, to integrate them in the formal system (graphy, declension) of the Romanian language. Starting from the formal particularities of the names in the source-text, we aim at describing certain aspects related to the graphic principles that the transposition of proper names from the Greek source into Ms. 45 was based upon.


Introduction
The transposition of proper names from one language into another can be achieved through a number of main procedures: translation (replacing the textual material from the source-language with the textual equivalent in the target language, for example: Gr. Φάραγξ Βότρυος -Valea Strugurelui 1 ), transliteration and transcription (the adaptation of a name form in the source-language to the graphic and morphologic system of the target-language) 2 . The study of formal adaptation to the Romanian language system of proper names written in another alphabet (different from the Latin alphabet) supposes two main research directions: 1) graphic adaptation: the transposition through transliteration (the replacement of each grapheme from a graphic system by another grapheme belonging to a different graphic system) or through phonetic transcription of proper names from one alphabet into the other 3 ; 2) morphologic adaptation: the participation of proper names in gender, number, case and determination oppositions in the Romanian language (Ichim-Tomescu, 1978, p. 237).
When describing the way Hebrew proper names were adapted in the Septuagint, specialists emphasized the diversity of existing transliterations and transcriptions for the denomination of individual realities, especially people and places. Such a perspective, applied by Moatti-Fine (1996, p. 69-73) to the study of Iosua (Rom. Iisus Navi), a book containing extended lists of proper names, indicates that several factors are responsible for the numerous versions of toponyms: 1) the difficulty to read and to identify most place names in the Hebrew text; 2) the alternation between translation and transliteration in the case of composed descriptive toponyms; sometimes, both forms are present, for example: ϕάραγγα Ἀχώρ -valea Ahor (Ies, 7, 24) ‡ ; 3) the existence of several formal versions of the same name, for example: Hebrew 'apēkāh ("cetatea lui Iuda" [ Judas' fortress]) is transposed in Greek in the form Phakoua (Ies,15,53) in Codex Vaticanus or Aphaka in Codex Alexandrinus (Moatti-Fine, 1996, p. 73); among other aspects, this phenomenon was explained by the existence of several traditions regarding the vocalization of the Hebrew text (Krašovec, 2010, p. 89); 4) the coexistence of the Hellenized forms and the forms which were not adapted to the Greek language system; see point 2).
Some biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian when the first translations of fragments belonging to the Old and the New Testaments were performed: Evangheliarul slavo-român (1551-1553), Palia de la Orăștie (1581-1582), Codicele Bratul (1559-1560), etc. Thus, research regarding Palia de la Orăștie (1581-1582), a text comprising the translation from Hungarian and Latin into Romanian of the first two books of the Pentateuch, reveal the absence of a unitary system in the transposition of proper names into Romanian, a situation which could be explained by the different degree in which those names were known (the ones that were known and the ones that were often used were used in a unique form), their relevance within the text, the use of multiple sources, the principle of non-altering the source-text by translation, the knowledge of the translation tehniques, etc. (Pamfil, 1982;Gafton, 2007). Most biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian for the first time in the translation of the Septuagint performed by Nicolae Spătarul (Milescu) in the second half of the 17 th century and preserved in a manuscript copy (Ms. 45) 4 at the Romanian Academy Library in Cluj. The main source of this translation was an edition of the Septuagint issued in Frankfurt in 1597 (sept. 1597) 5 . Besides this edition, a number of other sources 6 were used, among which an edition of the Greek text printed in London in 1653 (sept. 1653), which was used only up to the book 1 Paralipomenon, as shown in the foreword of the manuscript (Cuvîntu înainte cătră cititori, p. 909 /2 ): Iară și noi, pre lîngă izvodul lui Necoláie, am mai alăturat și alte izvoade grecești, pren care izvoade fost-au unul carele au fost tipărit la Englitéra, ci și acesta nu să potriviia cu cel de la Frangofort; pentru căci pren bogate locuri adăogea și pren bogate locuri lipsiia, nu veniia cu cestalalt; pentru acêea, lipsele nu s-au socotit, iar adaosele s-au pus, precum vom face doslușirea mai jos cu însemnări. Și așa am venit cu acela izvod pînă la Paralipómenon dentîi.
[We have added to Necoláie's text/source some other Greek texts/sources, among which there was one printed in England, which was different from the one printed in Frankfurt; there were, in many instances, differences between them, information that was either missing or fragments where much more was said; the two versions did not match; this is why we did not take the missing parts into account and we added the further information, as we shall explain below in our notes. And we have used that text/source (printed in England) up to the book Paralipómenon I.] ‡ See the order of the books in sept. 1597 and the abbreviation used for the books of the New English Translation of the Septuagint (nets). 4 Regarding the paternity of the revised copy of Ms. 45, see Cândea (1979, p. 106-128), Onu (1984), Andriescu (1988, p. 17-25), and Ursu (2002, p. 7-133). 5 It refers to the Aldine version, revised according to editions issued in Complutense, Antwerp, Strasbourg, and Rome (Copinger, 2002, p. 94). 6 Among others, it refers to a Slavonic translation of the Bible (ostr.) and a Latin version (vulg.).
The literality of the translation from Ms. 45, which implies a tendency towards the preservation of the original forms from the source-text, the different graphic forms, the coexistence of two different alphabets, as well as the translator's attempt to adapt the biblical onomastics to the Romanian language, are some of the aspects that have contributed to the degree of integration of biblical proper names from Greek into Romanian. Starting from the formal particularities of proper names in the Greek text 7 , we will limit our approach to describing a series of aspects related to the graphic adaptation of proper names in Ms. 45. In literal translation, where the morphological forms of proper names as they appear in the original are often preserved, some specifications regarding the declension of proper names from the Greek source-text (sept. 1597) are mandatory for the proper understanding of certain graphic forms as they appear in the Romanian version.

Formal particularities of proper names in the Septuagint
A general characteristic of the onomastics in the Septuagint is the fact that, besides some Hebrew proper names ending in a vowel, usually adapted to the morphological system of the Greek language, there are a high number of proper names ending in a consonant, which are transliterated and consequently not declined in Greek (Γαλαάδ, Ἀρϕαξάδ, Ἐλείμ, Ἐνώχ, Ἰσραήλ 8 , etc.).

Names of places (toponyms) and nations (ethnonyms)
a) As far as toponyms are concerned, in the Septuagint the forms transcribed from Hebrew coexist with the Hellenized ones (see Thackeray, 1909, p. 166;Moatti-Fine, 1996, p. 71 Greek translators were actually familiar with the biblical geography, and consequently with the Greek correspondents of the proper names for places and nations, for example: Rom. Etiopia for Cuș, Capadochia for Caftor, Gavlon for Golan, Mesopotamia and Siria for Aram. In Ms. 45, these are usually preserved as in the Greek source. b) As regards proper names ending in -α, besides the names of countries declined according to the 1 st declension (e.g. Γάζα, Σαμαρεία) and the names of towns usually declined according to the 2 nd declension for neuter nouns in the plural (e.g. Γάλγαλα, -ων, -οις; Σίκιμα, -ων), in the Septuagint there are also indeclinable proper names denominating places, for example: Φασγά, Βετουλουά, Βοσορρά, etc. The same situation occurs for the names ending in -η, which occur either inflected (e.g. acc. Μαμβρήν, Νινευήν), or uninflected (e.g. Μαμβρή, Νινευή) (Thackeray, 1909, p. 162 and 167 In Ms. 45, some ethnonyms are used to indicate the country. This procedure consists of "using the name of a people, in singular or plural, in order to indicate the country inhabited by that people" (Arvinte, 1988, p. 49

Graphic particularities of proper names in Ms. 45
Beyond the obvious effort to adapt the proper names from the Frankfurt Septuagint (1597) into Ms. 45, we recognize the preference displayed by the Romanian translator / revisers for rendering the original as accurately as possible, as well as their attempt to coherently apply a system of transliteration and transcription from Greek into the Romanian language written in Cyrillic script.  (Savu, 2011, p. 95); we rather think this is a tendency to preserve the original form. Certain biblical proper names used at the same time or prior to the first Romanian translations of the texts used in religious service, that is to say texts that were already known (Gafton, 2007, p. 86), are rendered in only one form, while others occur in several versions, which might be explained by the possible discontinuities in the source-text, as well as by the continuous attempt of the translator to adapt the form of these names to the Romanian language system. Thus, the unadapted form often occurs besides the adapted one, as in: Ἄλκιμος -Alchimos (1Makk, 7, 5), but Ἄλκιμος -Alchim (1Makk, 7, 21 and passim).

The attempt to consequently apply a system of transliteration and transcription of proper names from
Greek into the Romanian language written in Cyrillic script A language notes the sounds of another language from the perspective of its own phonetic-graphic correspondences (Agafonov et al., 2006, p. 629). Consequently, the formal adaptation of biblical proper names from the Greek language into Cyrillic Romanian must be discussed from two perspectives: the translation perspective, concerning the transposition of proper names from the Greek language / alphabet (sept. 1597) into the Romanian language written in the Cyrillic alphabet (Ms. 45), and also the interpretative transcription from Cyrillic (Ms. 45) into Latin script.

a) Initial capital letter
In Romanian, the initial capital letter is the graphic mark of proper names. However, the analysis of the old Romanian biblical texts reveals that the initial capital letter is not necessarily a constant characteristic of proper names (see po, bb, micu, etc.). According to the model of the Septuagint printed in Frankfurt (1597), proper names are not usually marked by the initial capital letter in Ms. 45; the exception is provided by the first two biblical books, Genesis and Exodus. In some instances, however, even within the same fragment (ex. Num, 1, 5-10), the proper names are either marked or unmarked by initial capital letter.

d) Stress
The issue regarding the stress of proper names denominating countries in Romanian was extensively treated by Arvinte (2008, p. 110-124). The author has demonstrated, by means of edifying examples, the existence of two ways of placing the stress in proper names of countries ending in -ia in the old period of the Romanian language: α) when the stress falls on the penultimate syllable (e.g. Asía, Chilichía, Machedonía, Persía, Rusía, Siría), the proper name can be included in the Greek denominative system, which was used in the Romanian language between the 17 th century and the beginning of the 19 th century, when the circulation of the Greek printings was very well represented in the Romanian countries; β) when the stress falls on the ante-penultimate syllable (e.g. Arávia, Capadóchia, Gália, Grécia, Machidónia, Tráchia), this reflects the Latin denomination system of scholarly origin "that was constituted for longer than four centuries of Romanian culture, nowadays being predominant in the educated language" (Arvinte, 2008, p. 113). In old literary Romanian there used to be a competition between the two modes of placing the stress. The stress is generally not marked in the case of proper names containing superscript letters, as in: Ἐννώμ e' nΣ m -Enom (Ies,18,16), Vithaemec -vi®aeme kÃ (Ies,19,27), Themanon -®emanΣ nÃ (1Suppl, 1, 45), Telmon -ñe lÃ mΣ nÃ (1Suppl,9,17), Ναββαβδιών -na vÃ va vÃ dïΣ nÃ -Navvavdion (1Suppl, 5, 19).
As we are dealing with a manuscript, some proper names (wrongly transposed or recreated according to other editions) are corrected in the text according to sept. 1597, above the line, or inside the line, by giving the entire version between square brackets 13 , as in the case of Vethará⌊va⌋ (Ies, 15, 6), or ⌊Si⌋hem (Ies, 17, 2). Others are corrected on the side of the text, for example: for Sovothé (2Rgns, 21, 18) the correction x (h) is indicated on the side of the text, above the letter ® (th), pointing to the form Sovohé, cf. Gr. Σοβοχαί (sept. 1597).
Sporadically, in Ms. 45, some prepositions left untranslated in Romanian were attached to the proper name: the form e kÃ ve®lΣmΣ nÃ (3Esd, 5, 31) renders the Greek sequence ἐκ Βεθλωμών ("from Vethlomon"), an error which is signalled on the side of the text by a red sign [ ͝ ], which marks the separate translation of the Greek peposition, i.e. den [from].

f ) The system of transliteration and transcription of proper names from Greek (sept. 1597) into Romanian (Ms. 45)
Starting from a proper names index of Ms. 45, Table 1 indicates the specific rules for the graphic transposition of proper names from Greek into the Romanian language written in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.

Conclusions
The graphic form of proper names in Ms. 45, with some minor exceptions (transliteration / transcription errors, certain cases of standardization, etc.), their form in the main source-text, the Septuagint printed in Frankfurt (1597); the secondary sources were not considered in this respect. Some forms are corrected in the text according to the London version (1653) of the Greek text, used by the reviser of the translation provided by Nicolae Spătarul (Milescu) up to the book 1 Paralipomenon.
The main source-text displays, in turn, numerous inconsistencies regarding the form of proper names, mainly caused by the literal translation practice, which has generally imposed the preservation of the Hebrew form of proper names and only sporadically allowed their adaptation to the morphological system of the Greek language. In Ms. 45, some anomalous forms from the source-text (multiple graphic versions of the same name and different denomination modalities of the same individual) are preserved. The attempts to standardize certain forms as well as the transcription errors from the Greek into the Cyrillic alphabet are rare. Moreover, beyond the existence of several Cyrillic signs used to render the same Greek sign, we can still emphasize the translator's / reviser's attempt to consequently apply a set of transliteration and transcription norms in the proper names transposition from the Greek into the Romanian language (according to the Reuchlinian pronunciation). The systematic study of the integration of Greek biblical proper names into the Romanian declension will complete the perspective upon the formal specificity of proper names in the first Romanian translation of the Septuagint (Ms. 45).