Page 311 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik II (2006), številki 3-4, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 311
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
contributed much new, as yet unwritten vocabulary to the 16th century’s lexical
store. Particularly noteworthy is terminology which was not used in the biblical
translations because it arises in a different natural, cultural or historical envi-
ronment (e.g., numerous botanical and animal names, the names of professions).
UDC 811.163.6:284.1(497.4)
811.163.6"15"
France Novak
The prefixes v- and u- in Slovene protestant writers of the 16th century
In this essay, the use of the prefixes v- and u- in Slovene literary language of
16th century protestant writers is described. The issue is a significant aspect of
the multifaceted and lively enterprise of uncovering, systematising and trans-
cribing the linguistic reality of the sounds of the Slovene language, in which
the sound v presents a particularly interesting problem. The prefix v- in these
writers has multiple meanings. It includes the present day prefixes v- and u-.
The first phase of writing the prefix v- is witnessed in Trubar’s first two
books, Catechism and Abecedarium (reading primer) from the year 1550, which
are written in Germanic script. The prefix v- is consistently written with v, while
within words Trubar represents all v-s, including prefixial v-s, by u-. The old
prefix u-, as in the verb užgati, is a residue of an older state. This model was also
accepted by other writers, especially Dalmatin (in the beginning) and Juričič.
With the acceptance in 1555 of Latin script, there was an exchange in
Trubar’s works of u- for v-, at first only in cursive script, later however also in
normal script. This exchange, which is a characteristic stage in the development
of Slovene writing, is certainly not just typographical. The pinnacle was reached
in TO 1564. Later on, Trubar returned to his old pattern, which is particularly
evident in TT 1581-82.
Krelj, however, began to use a positional variant of the prefix v- before the
initial v of the simple verb, uveneti. With this prefix he also introduced an
apostrophe. He also wrote the sound v in the middle of words or forms. In the
year 1579, Dalmatin also began to use this kind of v preceding vowels.
There were two types of difficulty with the word initial prefix v-: firstly, it
was not possible to have two successive v-s together. Trubar, in accordance with
his principles, wrote such examples with the formula vueneti, while Krelj
introduced uveneti, from DB 1584 onward, however, uveneti or u’veneti was used.
Thus the positional variant of the prefix v-, namely u-, came into being.
Secondly, the pronunciation of the prefix v- before a word initial i or vowel also
created difficulties. Trubar, and those who followed his pattern, expressed this
relation with a similar formula as before – vuiti, whereas Krelj used the inter-
mediary sound j – vjiti, usually written as v’ijti or vyti.
309
contributed much new, as yet unwritten vocabulary to the 16th century’s lexical
store. Particularly noteworthy is terminology which was not used in the biblical
translations because it arises in a different natural, cultural or historical envi-
ronment (e.g., numerous botanical and animal names, the names of professions).
UDC 811.163.6:284.1(497.4)
811.163.6"15"
France Novak
The prefixes v- and u- in Slovene protestant writers of the 16th century
In this essay, the use of the prefixes v- and u- in Slovene literary language of
16th century protestant writers is described. The issue is a significant aspect of
the multifaceted and lively enterprise of uncovering, systematising and trans-
cribing the linguistic reality of the sounds of the Slovene language, in which
the sound v presents a particularly interesting problem. The prefix v- in these
writers has multiple meanings. It includes the present day prefixes v- and u-.
The first phase of writing the prefix v- is witnessed in Trubar’s first two
books, Catechism and Abecedarium (reading primer) from the year 1550, which
are written in Germanic script. The prefix v- is consistently written with v, while
within words Trubar represents all v-s, including prefixial v-s, by u-. The old
prefix u-, as in the verb užgati, is a residue of an older state. This model was also
accepted by other writers, especially Dalmatin (in the beginning) and Juričič.
With the acceptance in 1555 of Latin script, there was an exchange in
Trubar’s works of u- for v-, at first only in cursive script, later however also in
normal script. This exchange, which is a characteristic stage in the development
of Slovene writing, is certainly not just typographical. The pinnacle was reached
in TO 1564. Later on, Trubar returned to his old pattern, which is particularly
evident in TT 1581-82.
Krelj, however, began to use a positional variant of the prefix v- before the
initial v of the simple verb, uveneti. With this prefix he also introduced an
apostrophe. He also wrote the sound v in the middle of words or forms. In the
year 1579, Dalmatin also began to use this kind of v preceding vowels.
There were two types of difficulty with the word initial prefix v-: firstly, it
was not possible to have two successive v-s together. Trubar, in accordance with
his principles, wrote such examples with the formula vueneti, while Krelj
introduced uveneti, from DB 1584 onward, however, uveneti or u’veneti was used.
Thus the positional variant of the prefix v-, namely u-, came into being.
Secondly, the pronunciation of the prefix v- before a word initial i or vowel also
created difficulties. Trubar, and those who followed his pattern, expressed this
relation with a similar formula as before – vuiti, whereas Krelj used the inter-
mediary sound j – vjiti, usually written as v’ijti or vyti.
309
