The Paris Abecenarium bulgaricum: Edition and early reception

The article focuses on the original publication of the Abecenarium bulgaricum in the Nouveau traité (Tassin and Toustain 1750), its German translation by Adelung (1759 – 1767) and its early reception in Slavic philology until the publication by Kopitar (1836). At the time, the Abecenarium played an important role in the discussion about the true age of the Glagolitic script and was one of the first and oldest sources to be discovered by the emerging discipline. It can be shown that the original reproduction from 1750 has been used in two typographical works, Fournier (1766) and Johnson (1824). Their source had not been identified until now. The reproductions from Nouveau traité and Kopitar are compared in detail and many small differences noted. Because the original manuscript is now missing, a faithful facsimile cannot be used for final judgement. The table from the Nouveau traité is presented here with many corrections indicated graphically. This shows how little was known at the time about the round Glagolitic script, the sound values of its letters, and their correspondences to the Croatian square Glagolica. Last but not least, the Abecenarium is presented here in a digital edition for the first time, with a few corrections made. Also, for the reproduction of the alphabet from Kopitar, a new, highresolution source was used.

The article is written in German.