Names, titles and descriptions of Christ in Jakub Wujek’s Postylla Minor (1590) and Mikalojus Daukša’s Postylla (1599)

The article analyzes the names, titles and descriptions of Christ in Jakub Wujek’s Postylla Minor (1590). Attention is paid to the types of names and the role they play in the process creating the text itself and its style. Also important is the role of the onomasticon in shaping the religious discourse of the epoch, the transitional stage between the Renaissance and the Baroque, which leads one to consider the assumptions of cultural onomastics. While analyzing the names of Christ in the text of the Polish preacher, an attempt is also made to trace the way they are translated into Lithuanian in Mikalojus Daukša’s Postylla (1599). The data for analysis come from the database constructed for the purpose of the study, embracing seventy sermons (the entire Postylla Minor, the 1590 edition) and the concordance of “Daukša’s Postylla” on the website seniejirastai.lt. Overall, 260 Polish and Lithuanian names have been analyzed. The description also takes into account the contexts of their use (150 manuscript pages). Based on an analysis of theonyms, two basic profiles have been distinguished of the central figure of Christ: Christ as a human and Christ as God, closely related to each other, with the former profile being the dominant one. Extensive names and descriptions in Wujek’s work draw attention to the person of Christ, increase the intellectual value of the text, and fill it with solemnity. The names perform a slightly different function in Daukša’s Lithuanian translation. Their translation is almost literal, but some regular changes can be noticed, such as reducing the length of the name, writing the titles in lower case, and omitting the adjectives that ennoble Christ. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn about a slightly different stylistic role of names in Daukša’s work, which results in the text being less solemn and more colloquial. Further research on biblical anthroponymy in the translated work of the Lithuanian preacher may corroborate this conclusion or reveal new features of Daukša’s style and his translation strategies

Art · Humanities · Linguistics · Literature · Lithuanian · Onomastics · Proper noun · History · Language and Culture · Lexicography and Language Studies · Literature, Language, and Rhetoric Studies · Philosophy