Towards the History of Arabic Printing in the Orient: The First Arabic Christian Books Printed in Wallachia
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
The article examines the background of the emergence of printing in Arabic script in the Arab world in the context of its development in Western Europe and attempts of its introduction in the Ottoman Empire. The Arabic-speaking Christians of the Ottoman Empire, especially the Orthodox, who, unlike other denominations, had no support in the outside world were the most interested in the possibility of printing books in Arabic letters for their needs. The implementation of this idea became possible in the early 18th century, due to the fruitful cooperation between the hierarch of the Church of Antioch Athanasios III Dabbas, the prince of Wallachia Constantin Brâncoveanu, and the outstanding printer of Georgian origin Antim the Iberian. The introduction of Arabic printing in Wallachia made it possible to continue this work in Ottoman Syria, where Athanasios III Dabbas printed in 1706 the first book in Arabic script in the Arab world.
The paper presents a description of the first two Greek-Arabic prints published in Wallachia – the Liturgikon (1701) and the Horologion (1702), copies of which are kept at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. In order to identify the linguistic features of the Arabic liturgical texts in the Liturgikon, they were compared with a manuscript version of this book dated 1612. It was concluded that the Wallachian Liturgikon actually reproduced the texts revised by the Metropolitan of Aleppo Meletios Karma (1612–1634) with minor structural, lexical, and grammatical differences. In the printed book there is a noticeable tendency to replace the Greek vocabulary with Arabic equivalents.
The reader is offered a Ukrainian translation from Arabic of the prefaces and printer’s notes included in the first book printed for the Orthodox Arabs – the Liturgikon that appeared in 1701 in the Snagov monastery near Bucharest. These texts are the main source of information on the circumstances of the beginning of Arabic printing for the Orthodox Christians.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Antim the Iberian, Arab Christians, Athanasios III Dabbas, Constantin Brâncoveanu, Horologion, Liturgikon, old prints, Ottoman Empire, preface, printing, Wallachia
Книга Чесного Непорочного Євангелія, Світильника, що сяє й освітлює / Упор., передм. І. Осташ. Київ, 2021.
Тимошик М. С. Історія видавничої справи. Київ, 2007.
Французов С. А. Первая арабографичная книга, напечатанная в мире ислама, в собрании Института восточных рукописей РАН // Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия ІІІ: Филология. Вып. 61. 2019. DOI: 10.15382/sturni201961.104-122
Чепіга І. П. Передмови й післямови до українських стародруків як джерело вивчення історії української літературної мови // Мовознавство, 1988, № 5.
Antim Ivireanul: opera tipografică / Ed. by P. Chițulescu. Bucharest, 2016.
Bianu I., Hodoș N. Bibliografia Românească Veche (1508–1830). Vol. 1 (1508–1716). Bucharest, 1903.
Conidi E. Arabic Types in Europe and the Middle East, 1514–1924: Challenges in the Adaptation of the Arabic Script from Written to Printed Form. Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Reading, 2018.
Feodorov I. Beginnings of Arabic Printing in Ottoman Syria (1706–1711). The Romanians’ Part in Athanasius Dabbās’s Achievements // ARAM. Vol. 25, Issue 1–2. 2013.
Feodorov I. Tipar pentru creştinii arabi: Antim Ivireanul, Atanasie Dabbās şi Silvestru al Antiohiei. Brăila, 2016a.
Feodorov I. Tipărituri antimiene pentru creștinii arabi din Patriarhia Antiohiei // Artă și cultură eclezială în timpul Sfântului Ierarh Antim Ivireanul / Ed. by M.-S. Săsăujan. Bucharest, 2016b.
Ιερά μονή Βατοπαιδίου. Χειρόγραφον 1049.
Kilpatrick H. From Venice to Aleppo: Early Printing of Scripture in the Orthodox World // Chronos, 2014, No. 30. DOI:10.31377/CHR.V30I0.329 https://doi.org/10.31377/chr.v30i0.329
Kitāb al-quddāsāt al-ṯalāṯa al-ilāhiyya. Snagov, 1701.
Kitāb al-Ūrūlūğiyūn. Bucharest, 1702.
Kreiser K. Preface // The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims. Wiesbaden, 2001.
Roper G. Arabic Biblical and Liturgical Texts Printed in Europe in the 16th–18th centuries // Lucrările simpozionului internațional “Cartea. România. Europa”. Ediția a II-a – 20–24 sep-tembrie 2010. Bucharest, 2010.
Sabev O. Waiting for Godot: the Formation of Ottoman Print Culture // Historical Aspects of Printing and Publishing in Languages of the Middle East. Series: Islamic Manuscripts and Books, Vol. 4 / Ed. by G. Roper. Leiden – Boston, 2014.
Sfântul Antim Ivireanul. Scrisori / Ed. by M. Stanciu and G. Ștrempel. Bucharest, 2014.
Šayū L. Tārī fann al-ṭibā‘a fī l-Mašriq. Beirut, 1995.
Tamari I. J. Jewish Printing and Publishing Activities in the Ottoman Cities of Constantinople and Saloniki at the Dawn of Early Modern Europe // The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims. Wiesbaden, 2001.
Walbiner C. The Christians of Bilād al-Shām (Syria): Pioneers of Book-Printing in the Arab World // The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims. Wiesbaden, 2001.
Walbiner C. ‘Und um Jesu Willen, schickt sie nicht ungebunden!’ Die Bemühungen des Meletius Karma (1572–1635) um den Druck arabischer Bücher in Rom // Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage in Honour of Father Prof. Dr. Samir Khalil Samir, S. J. at the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday / Ed. by R. Ebeid and H. Teule. Leuven, 2004.
REFERENCES
Knyha Chesnoho Neporochnoho Yevanheliya, Svityl’nyka, shcho syaye y osvitlyuye (2021), Compl. by I. Ostash, Fond pam’yati Blazhennishoho Mytropolyta Volodymyra, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian and Arabic).
Tymoshyk M. S. (2007), Istoriya vydavnychoyi spravy, Nasha kul’tura i nauka, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian).
Frantsuzov S. A. (2019), “Pervaya arabografichnaya kniga, napechatannaya v mire islama, v sobranii Instituta vostochnykh rukopisey RAN”, in Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svyato-Tikhonovskogo gumanitarnogo universiteta. Seriya III: Filologiya, Issue 61, pp. 104–122. (In Russian). DOI: 10.15382/sturni201961.104-122
Chepiha I. P. (1988), “Peredmovy y pislyamovy do ukrayins’kykh starodrukiv yak dzherelo vyvchennya istoriyi ukrayins’koyi literaturnoyi movy”, Movoznavstvo, No. 5, pp. 16–25. (In Ukrainian).
Antim Ivireanul: opera tipografică (2016), P. Chițulescu (ed.), Editura Institutului Cultural Român, Bucharest.
Bianu I. and Hodoș N. (1903), Bibliografia Românească Veche (1508–1830), Vol. 1 (1508–1716), Edițiunea Academiei române, Bucharest.
Conidi E. (2018), Arabic Types in Europe and the Middle East, 1514–1924: Challenges in the Adaptation of the Arabic Script from Written to Printed Form, Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Reading, Reading.
Feodorov I. (2013), “Beginnings of Arabic Printing in Ottoman Syria (1706–1711). The Romanians’ Part in Athanasius Dabbās’s Achievements”, ARAM, Vol. 25, Issue 1–2, pp. 231–260.
Feodorov I. (2016a), Tipar pentru creştinii arabi: Antim Ivireanul, Atanasie Dabbās şi Silvestru al Antiohiei, Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei, Brăila.
Feodorov I. (2016b), “Tipărituri antimiene pentru creștinii arabi din Patriarhia Antiohiei”, in M.-S. Săsăujan (ed.), Artă și cultură eclezială în timpul Sfântului Ierarh Antim Ivireanul, Cuvântul vieții, Bucharest, pp. 150–189.
Ierά monή Vatopaidίoy [The Holy Monastery of Vatopedi], Cheirόgrafon 1049.
Kilpatrick H. (2014), “From Venice to Aleppo: Early Printing of Scripture in the Orthodox World”, Chronos, No. 30, pp. 33–61. DOI:10.31377/CHR.V30I0.329 https://doi.org/10.31377/chr.v30i0.329
Kitāb al-quddāsāt al-ṯalāṯa al-ilāhiyya (1701), Snagov. (In Arabic and Greek).
Kitāb al-Ūrūlūğiyūn (1702), Bucharest. (In Arabic and Greek).
Kreiser K. (2001), “Preface”, in The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 5–6.
Roper G. (2010), “Arabic Biblical and Liturgical Texts Printed in Europe in the 16th–18th centuries”, in Lucrările simpozionului internațional “Cartea. România. Europa”. Ediția a II-a – 20–24 septembrie 2009, Editura Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Bucharest, pp. 174–186.
Sabev O. (2014), “Waiting for Godot: the Formation of Ottoman Print Culture”, in G. Roper (ed.), Historical Aspects of Printing and Publishing in Languages of the Middle East. Series: Islamic Manuscripts and Books, 4, Brill, Leiden and Boston.
Sfântul Antim Ivireanul (2014), Scrisori, M. Stanciu and G. Ștrempel (eds), Basilica, Bucharest.
Šayū L. (1995), Tārī fann al-ṭibā‘a fī l-Mašriq, Dār al-Mašriq, Beirut. (In Arabic).
Tamari I. J. (2001), “Jewish Printing and Publishing Activities in the Ottoman Cities of Constantinople and Saloniki at the Dawn of Early Modern Europe”, in The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 9–10.
Walbiner C. (2001), “The Christians of Bilād al-Shām (Syria): Pioneers of Book-Printing in the Arab World”, in The Beginning of Printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 11–12.
Walbiner C. (2004), “ ‘Und um Jesu Willen, schickt sie nicht ungebunden!’ Die Bemühungen des Meletius Karma (1572–1635) um den Druck arabischer Bücher in Rom”, R. Ebeid and H. Teule (eds), Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage in Honour of Father Prof. Dr. Samir Khalil Samir, S. J. at the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, Peeters, Leuven, pp. 163–175.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.