Naming and Written Representation of Persons in Late Medieval Documents Based on a Bilingual Document Dated October 19, 1404
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2022.01.137Keywords:
naming, nobles, administration, document, Latin language, Ruthenian languageAbstract
The objective of the article. This article uses the text of a unique bi-lingual document, demonstrates the strategies of naming and written representation of people who gathered on October 19, 1404 in Medyka near Peremyshl (now – Przemyśl) to resolve a land dispute between the King Władysław II Jagiełło on the one hand, and Jadwiga Pilecka and her daughter Elżbieta Granowska, on the other. The definitions of 42 persons, their names, nicknames, and surnames are presented in two language versions of this document – Latin and Ruthenian.
The applied methodology consists of comparative, prosopographic, linguistic and anthropological research methods to outline and analyze the names, nicknames, and surnames of the parties of the dispute (litigation).
Scientific novelty. For the first time, the author uses such a bilingual document to present ways of identifying persons mentioned in public legal bills of the second half of the 14th – first half of the 15th century coming from Ukrainian lands.
Conclusions. The article uses numerous examples, documents and historical dictionaries, to show the dependence of the use of the form of a name, an optional nickname, and a surname on a certain written tradition in the definition of persons. The stability of the Latin form of the document and the clarity of the representation of persons in it are clearly visible, especially when it comes to district and castles officials. The Ruthenian version of the document shows a completely different approach to the written representation of persons. The Ruthenian-speaking scrivener identified local Ruthenians and those who had lived here for a long time quite well. However, when it comes to the crown nobility accompanying the King during this trip to the Ruthenian lands, he shortened or tried to adapt their names, nicknames, and surnames to the Ruthenian alphabet and relied on own preferences choosing the form of representation for people, or ignored them. In general, this bilingual document demonstrates completely different ways of defining and representing people who lived at that time in Latin and Ruthenian written cultures.
References
Gasiorowski, A. (2015). Itinerarium króla Władysława Jagiełły 1386–1434. Wyd. 2. Warszawa: Instytut Historii PAN. [In Polish].
Jurek, T. (1998). Obce rycerstwo na Śląsku do połowy XIV w. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk. [In Polish].
Kurtyka, J. etc. (ed). (1990). Urzędnicy małopolscy XII–XV w.: Spisy. Wrocław: Ossolineum. [In Polish].
Moldovan, A. (2000). Piat novonaidennykh ukrainskikh gramot kontsa XIV – nachala XV w. Lingvisticheskoe istochnikovedenie i istoria russkogo yazyka, 261–276. Moskva. [In Russian, Ruthenian].
Sperka, S. (2011). Zarys migracji rycerstwa śląskiego na ziemie Rusi koronnej w okresie panowania Władysława Jagiełły. Kniazha doba: istoriia i kultura, 5, 221–229. [In Polish].
Sułkowska-Kuraś, I., Kuraś, S. (Comps.) (1974). Zbiór dokumentów Małopolskich, VI. Wrocław; Warszawa; Kraków; Gdańsk: Zakład Narodowe imienia Ossolińskich. [In Polish, Latin].
