ANALYZING WOMEN’S SPEECH IN THE OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC TRANSLATION OF THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL AND KINGS.

At key points of the narrative of the books of Samuel and Kings there are larger passages of women’s speech marked by a high degree of rhetorical skill and eloquence. The Old Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian) translation of these biblical books is characterized by many archaic features, therefore the article aims at exploring the metaphrastic choices of the early Slavonic scribes when translating the speech of women. The examples, drawn from the chronographic redaction of the texts as registered in the Jewish Chronograph, are discussed within the framework of different speech situations. Focusing on the words of Hannah, Abigail, Michal, Tamar, Jezebel and Bathsheba, the study identifies several simple women’s speech markers and traces them out in the Slavonic translation. At some points the specific translation choices have contributed to a subtler depiction of the characters and there are several examples where the translation creates new meaning and adds to the rhetorical power of their words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]