The Function Words in the Field of Choice of Slavic Writers: notes on the preposition прѣзъ

Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova
Institute for Bulgarian Language, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria

Abstract

The article analyzes some data for the use of the preposition прѣзъ in two juridical texts, related to the South of Slavs, namely: the Procheiros nomos from the Southern Slavonic Kormchaya book with commentaries according to its Ilovitsa copy from 1262, and the earliest preserved Nomocanon in the Bulgarian manuscript repositories – Ms. Slav. № 1160 from the Church Historical and Archive Institute to the Saint Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, dated from the 60–80 years of the 14th century. The main goal is to reveal its semantic and functional characteristics by using examples of clear contextualization and from one and the same genre. It is known that this preposition has not been recorded in the classical Old Bulgarian (Old Slavonic) manuscripts from 10th–11th centuries. During this period its equivalent preposition is чрѣсъ. Provided are comparisons with other translated Slavonic juridical texts.

Keywords: през, juridical discourse, function words in medieval Bulgarian language