Lexis Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The presence of the Church Slavic lexical elements in the Macedonian
contemporary literature is a reflection of the attitude towards the Church Slavic
tradition. The rich Church Slavic lexis that contributes to the impressive expressiveness
of the literary works (both in prose and verse), remains an inspiration, more or less,
for the contemporary Macedonian authors, thus contributing to the revival of this
archaic lexis not only in the religious texts, but also in the literary works. Among the
most eminent Macedonian poets, who wrote verses in honor and glory of St. Clement
of Ohrid (Blazhe Koneski, Mateja Matevski, Ante Popovski, Petre M. Andreevski,
Jovan Krsteski , Radovan Pavlovski), the poet Ivan Vasilevski can also be included,
since he cherishes the Church Slavic written tradition in his literary work, not only
with the thematic work on the life of St. Clement of Ohrid, but also with his rich
Church Slavic lexical fund.
The subject of our interest are the Church Slavic elements in the Ivan Vasilevski’s
poem “Azbukoslovecot” (“The Literate One”) subtitled “In Glory of St. Clement the
all wise who planted the seeds on the bare soil and touches the stars with a song.”
In this hymn for Clement the following Church Slavic lexemes can be pointed
out: беседи (narrate), глаголи (talk), одежда (robes), скрб(и) (care), слово (story),
соблазни (temptation), унижен (humble), хула (blasphemy), especially the ones that
are used as epithets for St. Clement of Ohrid: Азбукословец (The Literate One),
Великомудрец (The All Wise One), Праотец (The Forefather), Светломудрец (The
Enlighted One), Чудотворец (The Miracle Maker). The use of the compounds is also
noticeable: благоглаголи (sweet talk), благослови (bless), краснопис (calligraphy),
мироносец (the bringer of peace), празноверен (superstitious), самољубие
(narcissism), светопис (The Bible), сладострастец (hedonist), тајнопис (secret
writing), чедоморец (murderer), and from the aspect of word formation these
are especially impressive: бдение (the wake), завештание (legacy), писание
(providence), привидение (illusion), претсказание (premonition); свидетел
(witness), создател (creator) and the like.
Keywords: lexis, Church Slavic, poetic style, St. Clement of Ohrid.