The First Translated Texts

The chapter analyses the first Slovene – manuscript – translations from the period between the 10th and the mid-16th centuries: Brižinski spomeniki [Freising monu­ments], Celovški/Rateški rokopis [Celovec/Rateče manuscript], Starogorski rokopis [Stara Gora manuscript], Stiški rokopis [Stična manuscript], Slovenski načrt za pridigo [Slovene sketch for a sermon] are all religious texts, Černjejski [Černjeja manuscript] and Kranjski rokopis [Kranj manuscript] are administrative texts, while two plurilingual poems by Oswald von Wolkenstein and Auerspergov rokopis [Auersperg manuscript] represent literary texts. The source texts of the first Slovene translations include reconstructed supposed German (and Latin) confession, sermon, and prayer formulas, which were translated, complemented, and copied, as in the case of Brižinski spomeniki, Celovški/ Rateški and Starogorski rokopis, and a part of Stiški rokopis; the source text of Slovenski načrt za pridigo is more difficult to determine. In the two plurilingual poems by Oswald von Wolkenstein the Slovene verses represent translations of parallel German verses, the source text of the Easter poem “Naš gospud je od smrti vstal” [Our Lord has risen from the death] in Stiški rokopis is the German poem “Christ is erstanden” [Christ has risen], the Slovene judge’s precept in Kranjski rokopis has a parallel German text; in a part of Černjejski rokopis Slovene records are accompanied by Italian and Latin source texts. Parts of Černjejski and Kranjski rokopis are without foreign-language source texts. The interlingual/intercultural character of these texts is highlighted by foreign-language elements and – at least in a part of translated texts – by their supposed foreign-language authors (copyists, translators). The earliest Slovene translations point to the needs and importance of the Slovene population in a specific geographical area, as well as to the role of Slovene language in liturgy, administration, and literature in the Middle Ages.