Dva srpska pisma ugarskog kralja Jovana Zapolje iz XVI veka: tekst i filološki komentar

Abstract

The paper introduces the manuscripts and photographic recordings of two Serbian letters by the Hungarian King John Szapolyai from the year 1537 (the first one being addressed to Mehmed Jahijapašić, a Sanjak-bey from Smederevo, and the second one to his depute, Ferhat), as well as the overview of their most significant graphic, orthographic, and linguistic features. The most important results of the investigation can be summarized as follows: а) the graphic and orthographic system of both letters represents a mixture of Raška (the usage of ligatures and Resava orthographic traditions (the usage of <ї>, <ъ> and diacritic accent marks), b) both letters are written in Serbian with the elements of Serbian Church Slavonic minimally present, most frequently in formulaic segments of the letters, c) the Serbian language of the letters was most probably based on the South-Eastern Serbian dialect of the 16th century (serving as the basis for further development of contemporary KosovoResavian and Prizren-South Morava varieties), which could be supported by the detected examples of /а/ (</ә/), consistent ekavian forms, one instance of the use of a general case and the suffix -hmo in the 1st person plural of the aorist tense.