Gr. ἀπὸ βάρεων ἐλεφαντίνων în vechile versiuni românești ale Psaltirii
Gr. ἀπὸ βάρεων ἐλεφαντίνων in the Old Romanian Versions of the Psalter

Summary/Abstract: It is generally acknowledged that the Psalter was first translated into Romanian from Church-Slavonic at the beginning of the 16th century or the end of the previous one. Being copied, the text was revised following various Church-Slavonic sources. The few copies that survived in the 16th century preserve several renderings of the phrase corresponding to Gr. ἀπὸ βάρεων ἐλεφαντίνων from Ps. 44: 9, equivalent to different readings in the Slavonic sources. These variants do not result from a particular or erroneous interpretation of the Greek text in translation, but come from different Greek readings (investigated by MacRobert 1998). The Romanian versions from the 16th century and a few from the following one translate the variant Slv. тѧжесть – τὸ βάρος ‘weight’ (păsoniu, păsare, later replaced by greutate, greime), which proves their descendence from a common source. Other 17th century versions of the text (Psalters or books of Psalms) translate the variant варь – ἡ βᾶρις ‘house, palace, tower’ (case, turnuri).The etymology and meaning of the word păsoniu ‘weight’ (cf. vb. a împăsoia ‘to weight’) must be established in correlation with the other Romanian versions of the Psalter and their sources. This single occurrence of păsoniu (derived from the inherited word păs) proves that it was already rare in the 16th century, as evidenced by its following disappearance and the corrupted form pasăre ‘bird’ from Coresi’s Psalters.

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