# The Scheian Psalter, line by line: Psalm 23 and Psalms 1–8 in sixteenth-century Romanian A Romanian psalter written by hand in the sixteenth century, sixteen centimetres tall, opens the psalm English readers know as Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd”, with the words below; in the manuscript it is Psalm 22. The 345 lines of that psalm and of Psalms 1–8 can be read here as they were written, with the scribe's hand above every line. Touch a word for its meaning; every verse has an English rendering. > Domnul paște-me și de nemică nu me lasă (Page 67 of the manuscript, lines 16 and 17: “The Lord shepherds me and lets me lack nothing.”) Page 68 of the manuscript: Psalm 22, from pășĭure, “pasture”, to meseréré, “mercy”. Photolithograph from Ion Bianu's edition of 1889, made in the cartography workshop of the Romanian Army's General Staff. In the manuscript the titles and initials are red; the edition printed them black. Touch a line to see how it reads. The Scheian Psalter contains the Psalms in Romanian and is among the oldest Romanian texts that survive. Romanian is a Romance language, and until the 1860s it was mostly written in Cyrillic letters, as on the page above. The manuscript is kept in the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest as ms. rom. 449. It was named by its first editor, Ion Bianu, after the library at Scheia of the collector D. C. Sturdza-Scheianul, which became the Academy's property in 1884; before that, by Sturdza's account, the manuscript had belonged to the writer Gheorghe Asachi. Bianu thought the psalter was written “in the year 1482 or in 1485”, and put 1482 in the title of his edition. The manuscript's paper, however, is later. In 1984 Alexandru Mareș examined its watermarks: the two that also occur on dated papers could have been in use together only between 1573 and 1578, and that is the dating used today. The manuscript is a copy, most probably made in the north of the old principality of Moldavia, of an older translation from Church Slavonic, the language of Orthodox worship; the psalters printed by Coresi descend, through revisions, from the same translation. Bianu, the Academy's librarian, published it in 1889 with every page photographed and, on the facing page, transcribed in Latin letters, line for line. In the margin he noted the words in which the Slavo-Romanian Psalter differs: a book printed by the deacon Coresi at Brașov, in Transylvania, in 1577, in which each passage of Church Slavonic is followed by its Romanian translation. Below are Psalm 22, which Bibles translated from the Hebrew number 23, and Psalms 1–8, which in the manuscript form the first “sitting” (kathisma), the first of the twenty parts in which the Eastern Church reads the Psalter. They are 345 lines on 24 pages of the manuscript. ## How the Romanian of the psalter sounds Six things to know before reading, each with examples from these psalms. - **mere, tire, lura, pârâ**: An n between two vowels becomes r: today's mine (“me”), tine (“you”), luna (“the moon”), până (“until”). The change is called rhotacism, and the Scheian Psalter, the Codex of Voroneț and the Voroneț and Hurmuzaki psalters are known by it as the rhotacising texts. Forms with n also occur on the same pages: mene, tine. - **dzuoa, dzile, audzi, Dumnedzău**: Dz where Romanian now has z: ziua (“the day”), zile (“days”), auzi (“you hear”), Dumnezeu (“God”). Bianu prints the sound as a d with a cedilla; the eased reading here writes dz. - **calé, lége, mérge, vrémia**: The letter é stands for the Cyrillic ѣ and is usually read “ea”: calea (“the way”), legea (“the law”), merge (“goes”, then said mearge), vremea (“the time”). - **se nu cănva, se așu face**: Se stands for today's să (“that”, “let”) and sometimes for “if”: “lest ever”; “if I should do”. - **limbile, dracul, lemnul**: Familiar words with another meaning: limbile, “the tongues”, are the nations; dracul, today “the devil”, is the enemy; lemnul, “the wood”, is the tree. The word list explains each. - **Înrai[n]te · oamenii† · la***: The signs used here. Square brackets hold letters Bianu supplied. The dagger marks a word the scribe wrote wrongly and Bianu corrected; touch it to see what the manuscript has. The asterisk points to a note about the Psalter of 1577. ## Psalm 22 (23) and Psalms 1–8, on the manuscript's lines Each line below is a line of the manuscript, with its number on the page. Above it is the line as the scribe wrote it, without spaces between words, cut from the photolithograph of the 1889 edition. Beneath is Bianu's transcription; words break at the end of a line where they break in the manuscript. Touch a word for its meaning and for the verse in English; words explained in the list are underlined with dots. The small figures between words are verse numbers. Where a line carries the label “1577”, the words beside it are those of the Psalter printed by Coresi, as Bianu noted them: upright letters are words the two texts share or Bianu's own remarks, sloping letters are Coresi's words. ### Psalm 22 (23): XXII. Căntecul lu Davidŭ. 22. A song of David. 67.16 Domnul paște-me și de nemi- 67.17 că nu me lasă; În locu de 68.1 pășiure acie me băgă; în [1577: *la* apâ] 68.2 aapă răposată sătu- [1577: răpausŭ] 68.3 ră-me. Sufletul mieu în- 68.4 toarse; derése-me spre 68.5 cărare dereptate de- 68.6 reptu numele său. Se 68.7 mérseru pre mijlocu [1577: Să așŭ mérge] 68.8 de umbra morției în- 68.9 fricu-me de reu, că tu [1577: *nu mâ temŭ* de rău] 68.10 cu mere ești; toiagul tău 68.11 și fuștele tău, iale me [1577: *acélé* mâ] 68.12 măngăiară. Gotovit-ai [1577: *Gătit ai*] 68.13 între mere masă, ainte 68.14 dodeiaște-mi; uns-ai 68.15 cu untu capul mieu și 68.16 scafa ta ce me adăpă, [1577: și *păharulŭ tăŭ* ce] 68.17 cătu țirut. Și meseré- [1577: și *mila*] 69.1 ré ta gonéște-me în to- 69.2 te dzilele viațeei mé- [1577: toate *zile*] 69.3 le, și se întru în casa Domnului 69.4 în lungi dzile. - Psalm 22:1: The Lord shepherds me and lets me lack nothing. - Psalm 22:2: In a place of pasture, there he set me; by still water he gave me my fill. - Psalm 22:3: He turned my soul back; he guided me onto the path of righteousness, for his name's sake. - Psalm 22:4: Should I walk through the midst of the shadow of death, I am afraid of evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they have comforted me. - Psalm 22:5: You have prepared a table before me, in the face of him who troubles me; you have anointed my head with oil, and your cup, which gives me drink: how strong it is! - Psalm 22:6: And your mercy follows me all the days of my life, that I may enter the house of the Lord for long days. ### Psalm 1: I. Căntecul 1. David, prophet and king. A song. The first sitting. Song 1. 1.3 Ferice bărbat ce nu 1.4 mérge la sfatul 1.5 necuraților, și 1.6 pre calé pâcâto- 1.7 șilor nu stâ, și 1.8 la șederile pierdzâto- 1.9 rilor nu șéde. Ce în 1.10 légia Domnului învațâ- 2.1 se dzuoa și noaptia. 2.2 Și hi-va ca lemnul râsă- 2.3 dit lăngâ eșitul ape- 2.4 e[i], ce rodul său dă în 2.5 vrémia sa, și frun- 2.6 dza lui nu cade, și toa- 2.7 tâ cătâ se face do- 2.8 spéște, No așa, necu- 2.9 raților, no așa, ce 2.10 ca pulberia ce o măto- 2.11 râ văntul deîn fața 2.12 pâmăntului. Derep- 2.13 tu acia nu vuru învie ne- 2.14 curații la giudeț, nece [1577: * (lipsescc)] 2.15 pâcâtoșii în sfa- [1577: *greșiții întru*] 2.16 tul derepților. Că 2.17 ști Domnul calé derepți- [1577: *stie*] 3.1 lor, și calé necu- 3.2 raților piere. [1577: *peri-va.*] - Psalm 1:1: Happy is the man who does not go to the counsel of the ungodly, does not stand on the path of sinners and does not sit where the destroyers sit. - Psalm 1:2: But with the law of the Lord he occupies himself day and night. - Psalm 1:3: And he shall be like the tree planted by the outflow of the water, which gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not fall, and all that is done thrives. - Psalm 1:4: Not so the ungodly, not so: they are like the dust that the wind sweeps from the face of the earth. - Psalm 1:5: Therefore the ungodly shall not rise at the judgement, nor sinners in the council of the righteous. - Psalm 1:6: For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly perishes. ### Psalm 2: II. În sfrășit Căntecul lui David, Prorocie în Hristos și kemâ lim’bile. 2. For the end. A song of David, a prophecy of Christ and the calling of the nations. 3.6 Derep-ce încetirâ-se [1577: *rănjirâ*] 3.7 limbile și oamenii învâ- [1577: oamenii *grăirâ în de-* · *șertŭ ?*] 3.8 țăndu-se deșârtâ 3.9 lor? Înrai[n]te stâ- 3.10 turâ înpârații pâ- 3.11 măntului, și boia- [1577: și *domnii*] 3.12 rii adurarâ-se înpre- [1577: *depreunâ* spre] 3.13 unâ spre Domnul și la [1577: și *pre*] 3.14 Hristosul lui. Să rupem le- 3.15 gâtorile lor și le- [1577: și *să*] 3.16 pâdâm de la noi giugul 3.17 lor. Vietoriul la ceriu- [1577: *Cela ce vie în cerĭu*] 4.1 re râde-ș de ei, și Domnul [1577: și *Dumneḑ’u*] 4.2 bate-ș giuc de ei. Atu- [1577: *rŭde-șŭ* de eĭ.] 4.3 nce grâi-va cătrâ în- [1577: cătrâ *ei cu* măniĭa] 4.4 nșii în mănia sa, și 4.5 cu urgia sa smen- [1577: *spamânta-va* ei] 4.6 téște ei. E eu pu- [1577: * (lipsesce)] 4.7 su sâmtu de la densu [1577: săntŭ *înparatu de elu* · *spre Sionu*] 4.8 pri-a Sionului mâgu- 4.9 râ sfăntâ a lui. Spu- [1577: *Sa vestescu porânci*] 4.10 niu dzisele Domnului : Domnu- 4.11 l dzise cătrâ mene : 4.12 Fiiul mieu ești tu, eu 4.13 astâdzi nâscuiu-te. 4.14 Cére dela mene și da-ți- 4.15 voiu limbile ocinele ta- [1577: *parté ta* și] 4.16 le, și ținuturile [1577: *ținéré ta semenia*] 4.17 tale în sfrășitul 5.1 pâmăntului. Paște-i [1577: *Paște-veri* ei cu *toĭagŭ*] 5.2 cu fuște de fieru, a [1577: *și ca uîn* vasŭ dc] 5.3 vas de lut frănge-i. [1577: lutŭ *zdrobi-veri ei*] 5.4 Și acmu înpârații, 5.5 înțelégeți, învă- 5.6 țați-vâ toți giude- 5.7 câtorii pâmăntu- 5.8 lui. Lucrați Domnului [1577: *Slujiți*] 5.9 cu fricâ, și bucu- 5.10 rați-vâ lui cu cutre- 5.11 muri. Luoați învă- 5.12 țâturâ, se nu cănva 5.13 mănie-se Domnul și veți [1577: și *peri-veți*] 5.14 pere den calé dereptu- [1577: *deîn* calé] 5.15 lui. Căndu în[ci]nde-se-va 5.16 curundu urgiia lui, [1577: *de srăgŭ* urgiĭa] 5.17 fericedz toți nedejdu- [1577: *ferecați* toți *ceĭa ce se* · *nădăjdu-*] 6.1 i spre îns. [1577: *escŭ pre elŭ.*] - Psalm 2:1: Why were the nations stirred up, and why did the peoples ponder empty things? - Psalm 2:2: The kings of the earth took their stand and the nobles gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. - Psalm 2:3: Let us break their bonds and cast their yoke from us. - Psalm 2:4: He who lives in the heavens laughs at them, and the Lord mocks them. - Psalm 2:5: Then he will speak to them in his anger, and with his wrath he troubles them. - Psalm 2:6: But I am set by him upon Zion, his holy mountain. - Psalm 2:7: I tell what the Lord has said. The Lord said to me: You are my son; today I have begotten you. - Psalm 2:8: Ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and your holdings to the ends of the earth. - Psalm 2:9: Shepherd them with a rod of iron; break them like a vessel of clay. - Psalm 2:10: And now, kings, understand; be instructed, all you judges of the earth. - Psalm 2:11: Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in him with trembling. - Psalm 2:12: Take instruction, lest the Lord grow angry and you perish from the path of the righteous one. - Psalm 2:13: When his wrath is quickly kindled, happy are all who put their hope in him. ### Psalm 3: III. Căntecul lui David căndu fugiĭa de fața lui Avesalom fiĭul său. 3. A song of David, when he fled from the face of Absalom his son. 6.5 Doamne, ce se mulțirâ 6.6 dodeitorii miei? 6.7 Mulți scularâ-se spre [1577: *se scularâ* spre] 6.8 mene. Mulți grâi- [1577: *grăescŭ*] 6.9 râ sufletului mieu: 6.10 Nu e măntuire lui [1577: Nu *ĭaste spaseniĭa* lui] 6.11 dela Dumnedzăul lui. E tu [1577: *deîn* · * (lipsesce)] 6.12 Doamne, agiutoriul mieu é [1577: *folositorĭulŭ* mieu] 6.13 ști, măriia mia și în- [1577: *slava* mé, și] 6.14 rălțaria capului mieu. [1577: *înalță capul mieu.*] 6.15 Cu glasul mieu cătrâ 6.16 Domnul chiemu, și audzi- [1577: *striguĭu,* și] 6.17 -mâ dem pâdure sfăn- [1577: deîn *mâgura*] 7.1 tâ a sa. E eu adu- [1577: a *lui.* · * (lipsesce)] 7.2 rmiiu și durmiiu, [1577: și *ațipiĭu*] 7.3 sculaiu-mâ că Domnul [1577: *sculaĭu* că *Dumnezeu*] 7.4 agiută-mi. Nu mâ [1577: *folosi*-mi] 7.5 temu de nturéreci [1577: de *mii*] 7.6 de oameni ce cadu 7.7 pre giurul mieu. Învie [1577: *în* prejurulŭ mieu. · *Scoalâ*] 7.8 Doamne, măntoiaște-mâ [1577: *spăséște*-mâ] 7.9 Dumnedzăul mieu. Că 7.10 tu vătâmaș toți 7.11 vrâjbitorii miei [1577: *ceĭu ce vrăjbescŭ mie*] 7.12 în deșertu, dinții 7.13 pâcâtoșilor fră- [1577: *greșițilorŭ zdrobit-ai*] 7.14 mt-ai. A Domnului iaste 7.15 măntuiria, și spre [1577: *spaseniĭa* și *pre*] 7.16 oamenii tăi blagoslovenie 7.17 ta. - Psalm 3:2: Lord, why have those who trouble me multiplied? Many have risen against me. - Psalm 3:3: Many have said to my soul: There is no salvation for him from his God. - Psalm 3:4: But you, Lord, are my helper, my glory and the lifting up of my head. - Psalm 3:5: With my voice I call to the Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain. - Psalm 3:6: As for me, I fell asleep and slept; I rose up, for the Lord helps me. - Psalm 3:7: I am not afraid of the tens of thousands of people who fall upon me from every side. Arise, Lord, save me, my God. - Psalm 3:8: For you have struck all who are my enemies without cause; you have broken the teeth of sinners. - Psalm 3:9: Salvation is the Lord's, and your blessing is upon your people. ### Psalm 4: IV. Slav. În sfrășit. Căntaré lui David. 4. Glory. For the end. A song of David. 8.2 Căndu chemaiu audzi- 8.3 mâ Dumnedzăul dereptâ- 8.4 ției miale; în scră- [1577: *întru scrăbâ*] 8.5 bi tinsu-mi-ai, Mi- 8.6 luiaște-mâ, ascultâ [1577: *și* ascultâ] 8.7 rugâciuné mia. Fi- 8.8 ii oamenilor, pârâ 8.9 căndu greu enimo- [1577: *cu* grcu *mânioși*] 8.10 și? Derep-ce iubiți 8.11 deșerturile și so- [1577: *deșertŭ* și] 8.12 cotiți menciuni? 8.13 Și se știți că minurâ [1577: că *mări*] 8.14 Domnul pré cuviosul [1577: pré *podobnicului*] 8.15 său. Domnul audzi-mâ 8.16 căndu chemaiu cătrâ 8.17 însu. Măniiați-vâ 9.1 și nu greșiți, e ce [1577: *și* grăiți] 9.2 grâiți în enimile [1577: *într’*ânimile] 9.3 voastre la stratu- [1577: vo. . *și în paturile*] 9.4 rile voastre milusti- 9.5 viți-vâ. Giunghiiați 9.6 cumăndare deréptâ, [1577: *jrătvâ*] 9.7 și nedejduiți la Domnul. [1577: și *opovăiți în*] 9.8 Mulți grâirâ: cine i- 9.9 véște nuao dulciața? 9.10 Sămnâ-se spre noi lu- 9.11 mina fațeei tale Doamne, 9.12 dat-ai veselie în enima [1577: *întru inema*] 9.13 mia. De rodul grâu- 9.14 lui, vinul și untul să- 9.15 u mulți-se-va. În pace [1577: untulŭ *înmulți-se.*] 9.16 depreunâ adurmiiu 9.17 și râpaus. Că tu [1577: și *răposaĭu*] 10.1 Doamne unul pre nedéjde [1577: *spre upovăințâ*] 10.2 sălâșluitu-mi-ai. - Psalm 4:2: When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me; in times of trouble you made room for me. Have mercy on me, hear my prayer. - Psalm 4:3: Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love empty things and seek after lies? - Psalm 4:4: And know that the Lord has made his holy one wonderful. The Lord heard me when I called to him. - Psalm 4:5: Be angry and do not sin; and for what you say in your hearts, be contrite upon your beds. - Psalm 4:6: Offer a righteous sacrifice and put your hope in the Lord. Many have said: Who shows us good things? - Psalm 4:7: The light of your face has been set as a sign upon us, Lord; you have put gladness in my heart. - Psalm 4:8: From the fruit of the wheat, their wine and their oil shall be multiplied. - Psalm 4:9: In peace, at once, I fell asleep and I rest. - Psalm 4:10: For you, Lord, you alone have made me dwell in hope. ### Psalm 5: V. În sfrășit Căntecul lui [David] 5. For the end. A song of David. 10.4 Graiurele méle soco- 10.5 téște Doamne, înțelé- 10.6 ge chemaré mia. Ia men- [1577: Ĭa *aminte*] 10.7 te glasul rugâciune- 10.8 ei méle, înpâratul 10.9 mieu și Dumnedzăul mieu. 10.10 Că cătrâ tire ruga- [1577: * (lipsesce)] 10.11 iu-mâ, Doamne, demânéța, 10.12 audzi glasul mieu. De- 10.13 mâréța sta-voiu rai- 10.14 ntia ta și vădzu, că 10.15 Dumnedzău nu va fârâ- [1577: D. . *ce* nu va] 10.16 lége tu ești. Nu a- 10.17 propie-se de tire hă- [1577: Nu se apropie de] 11.1 clianii, nice voru hi [1577: vorŭ *fi* călcâtorii *de* · lége] 11.2 în lége călcâtorii 11.3 raintia ochilor tăi. [1577: *între* okii tăi.] 11.4 Urâș toți fâcâto- 11.5 rii fărâ lége, pier- 11.6 dzi toți grâitorii 11.7 menciuni. Bârbatul [1577: *mincinoși.* · *Bărbatŭ*] 11.8 cruntu și hăclianu 11.9 spurcăciune-i Domnului. [1577: *nu agoniséște* Do.] 11.10 E eu mulția milusti- [1577: *Ìarâ* cu *în* mulțiĭa · *mesereriei* talc în-] 11.11 neei tale întraiu în ca- [1577: tra-*voĭu* în] 11.12 sa ta, închiru-mâ că- 11.13 trâ beséreca sfăntâ 11.14 a ta în frica ta. Doamne, 11.15 plécă-mâ la derepta- [1577: *în* derep.] 11.16 tia ta, dereptu vră- 11.17 jmașii miei, derége 12.1 între tine calé mia. 12.2 Că nu iaste în rostul 12.3 lor dédevăru, în e- [1577: * (lipsésce)] 12.4 nima lor deșertu. [1577: *deșartâ*] 12.5 Mormăntu deșchis 12.6 grumadzul lor, limbi- [1577: , *cu* limbile *înșelâ-* · *cĭune.*] 12.7 le sale se șălarâ. Giu- 12.8 decâ lor Dumnedzău; se [1577: lorŭ *Zeulŭ*] 12.9 cadzâ den cugetele [1577: *de* cuge. . .] 12.10 sale, dupâ multâ [1577: dupâ *multulŭ*] 12.11 necurâție lor lépe- [1577: necurâție lépezi, că] 12.12 dzi ei, că măniiarâ-te 12.13 Doamne. Și veselirâ-se to- 12.14 ți nedejduirâ-se spre ti- [1577: *upovăindŭ în*] 12.15 ne, în véci bucura-se- [1577: *vécŭ*] 12.16 -voru, și hi-veri în- 12.17 tru ei; și se laud[â] [1577: *într’ânșii*] 13.1 cu tire iubindu nume- 13.2 le tău. Că tu blagoslovești 13.3 derepții Doamne, că cu arma [1577: *dereptulŭ*] 13.4 în bunâ voe curunat-ai 13.5 noi. - Psalm 5:2: Give heed to my words, Lord; understand my cry. - Psalm 5:3: Attend to the voice of my prayer, my king and my God. - Psalm 5:4: For to you I have prayed, Lord; in the morning you hear my voice. - Psalm 5:5: In the morning I will stand before you and I see, for you are a God who does not want lawlessness. - Psalm 5:6: The deceitful do not come near you, nor shall those who break the law be before your eyes. - Psalm 5:7: You have hated all who do lawlessness; you destroy all who speak lies. - Psalm 5:8: The man of blood and deceit is an abomination to the Lord. - Psalm 5:9: But I, through the abundance of your mercy, have entered your house; I bow towards your holy temple, in fear of you. - Psalm 5:10: Lord, lead me in your righteousness, because of my enemies; make my way straight before you. - Psalm 5:11: For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is empty. Their throat is an open grave; their tongues have deceived. - Psalm 5:12: Judge them, O God; let them fall by their own designs; for their great ungodliness cast them out, for they have angered you, Lord. - Psalm 5:13: And all who have hoped in you have rejoiced; they shall be glad for ever, and you shall be among them; and those who love your name glory in you. - Psalm 5:14: For you bless the righteous, Lord; as with a weapon, with your good will you have crowned us. ### Psalm 6: VI. În sfrășit căntăriei Căntecul [lui] David. 6. For the end, of the singing. A song of David. 13.7 Doamne nu cu urgiia ta obli- 13.8 ci mene, nice cu măniia 13.9 ta pedepsi mene. Milu- 13.10 iaste-mâ Doamne, că slabu săm- 13.11 tu; vendecă-mâ Doamne, că 13.12 smentirâ-sâ oasele mé- 13.13 le. Și sufletul mieu 13.14 spâmăntă-se foarte; [1577: *urburâ*-se] 13.15 și tu Doamne, pâră căndu? 13.16 Întoarce Doamne, izbâvé- 13.17 ște sufletul mieu; măn- [1577: *spăséște*-mâ] 14.1 tuiaște-mâ dereptu 14.2 mila ta. Că nu e de 14.3 în morte a pomeni ti- 14.4 re: în iadu cine ispove- [1577: ispovedi-*ți*-se-va ție?] 14.5 di-se-va ție? [U]steniiu în 14.6 suspinile méle, și 14.7 lau în toate nopți 14.8 stratul mieu; cu la- 14.9 crâmile méle așternu- 14.10 tul mieu udă-se. Sme- [1577: micu *udŭ*] 14.11 nti-se de urgie ochiul 14.12 mieu; vechiiu în toa- [1577: în *toți*] 14.13 te vrăjmașii miei. 14.14 Delungați-vâ dela me- 14.15 ne toți lucrâtorii [1577: *făcâtorii*] 14.16 fărâ lége, că audzi 14.17 Domnul plăngeriei méle. [1577: Do. . *rugâcĭuné me.*] 15.1 Audzi Domnul ruga mia, prii- 15.2 mi. De se sfiiascâ-se [1577: Dc *să* sc sfiascâ și *să se*] 15.3 și sme[n]téscâ-se to- [1577: smintéscâ toți] 15.4 ți vrăjmașii miei; în- 15.5 ntoarcâ-se și ruși- [1577: și *să se rușineze*] 15.6 nédzi-se forte curu- 15.7 ndu. - Psalm 6:2: Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your anger. - Psalm 6:3: Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled. - Psalm 6:4: And my soul is greatly afraid; and you, Lord, how long? - Psalm 6:5: Turn back, Lord, deliver my soul; save me for your mercy's sake. - Psalm 6:6: For in death there is no remembering you; in hell, who will confess to you? - Psalm 6:7: I have grown weary with my sighing; every night I wash my bed; with my tears my bedding is wet. - Psalm 6:8: My eye is troubled from anger; I have grown old among all my enemies. - Psalm 6:9: Go far from me, all you workers of lawlessness, for the Lord has heard my weeping. - Psalm 6:10: The Lord has heard my plea; he has received it. - Psalm 6:11: Let all my enemies be ashamed and troubled; let them turn back and be put to shame very soon. ### Psalm 7: VII. Slav. Căntecul lui Davidŭ ce el cănta Domnului. 7. Glory. A song of David, which he sang to the Lord. 15.9 Doamne Dumnedzăul mieu, spre ti- 15.10 re nedejduescu, măn- [1577: *upovăescŭ, spăséște-mâ*] 15.11 tuiaște-mâ de toți 15.12 gonitorii miei, izbă- [1577: *și* izbăvéștc-mă] 15.13 véște-mâ. Se nu căndva [1577: *De* nu] 15.14 râpascâ ca leul sufle- [1577: *să* răpéscâ] 15.15 tul mieu, nefiindu a se 15.16 izbăvi nice a se măntui. [1577: a se *ispăsi*] 15.17 Doamne Dumnedzăul mieu, se așu fa- 16.1 ce ciasta, sau se iaste 16.2 nedreptate în măna 16.3 mia; sau se așu îm- 16.4 prumuta se-m dai mie ră- [1577: *dereptŭ rău* să-mi dai · *rău,*] 16.5 u, se cadzu amù de vră- [1577: *de să* cazŭ] 16.6 jmașul mieu în de[șe]rtu. 16.7 De se măre amu dracul 16.8 sufletul mieu, și se 16.9 agiungâ, și se calce în 16.10 pâmăntu viața mia, 16.11 și măriia mia în țâră- [1577: *și slava* mé] 16.12 [n]â bagâ. Învie Doamne, cu 16.13 măniia ta, râdică- 16.14 -te în sfrășitul dracilor [1577: în *cumplitulŭ*] 16.15 tăi; și scoală-te Doamne 16.16 Dumnedzăul mieu cu gice- [1577: cu *zisa*] 16.17 ré ce ai dzis. Și săbor [1577: și *zborŭ*] 17.1 de oameni încu[n]giură- 17.2 -te. Și de acia pre sus [1577: * (lipsesce)] 17.3 întoarseră-se. Domnul giu- 17.4 decâ oamenii; giude- [1577: *oamenilorŭ*] 17.5 că-mi Doamne dopâ derep- 17.6 taté mia, și fărâ 17.7 râul mieu pre mene. Se [1577: mieu *mie,*] 17.8 se sfrășascâ râul pâ- [1577: Să se *cumple*] 17.9 cătoșilor, ispră- [1577: *și* ispră. . .] 17.10 véște dereptul, ispi- 17.11 titoriu în enimile [1577: * (lipsesce)] 17.12 și zgâurele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dumnedzău giu- [1577: zg..., *Dumnezeu de-* · *reptŭ,*—11. *Ajuto-* · *rĭulŭ mieu de Dum-*] 17.13 [de]cătoriu dereptu și ta- [1577: *nezeu, spăsitorĭul* · *derepții cu inema.*] 17.14 re și în lungu răbdâ- 17.15 toriu, și nu mănie adu- [1577: și *nemânie*] 17.16 ce în toate dzile. Se nu [1577: în *toatâ zi.*] 17.17 vâ întoarsetu, arma [1577: vâ *veți* întoarce,] 18.1 sa va ascuți; arcul său 18.2 încordâ și gâtă elu. [1577: și *găti*] 18.3 Și întrânsu gâtă va- [1577: *găti*] 18.4 sele morției, săgé- 18.5 tele sale ardzătoa- 18.6 re face. Adecâ mai ma- [1577: *féce*] 18.7 re nedereptate; înce- 18.8 pu durére și féce fă- [1577: * (lipsesce)] 18.9 râ lége. Pârău ră- 18.10 mâ și săpâ, și că- 18.11 dzu în groapâ ce face. [1577: ce *féce*] 18.12 Întoarse-se duréria 18.13 lui spre capul lui și 18.14 spre créștetul lui ne- 18.15 dereptatia lui dești- [1577: *deștinse.*] 18.16 nge. Ispovedescu-mâ 18.17 Domnului dupâ derepta- 19.1 tia lui, și căntu nu- 19.2 mele Domnului de susu. - Psalm 7:2: Lord my God, in you I hope; save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me. - Psalm 7:3: Lest he seize my soul like a lion, with no one to deliver and no one to save. - Psalm 7:4: Lord my God, if I should do this, or if there is injustice in my hand, - Psalm 7:5: or if I should repay with evil those who give me evil, then let me fall before my enemy, in vain. - Psalm 7:6: Then let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, let him trample my life into the ground and lay my glory in the dust. - Psalm 7:7: Arise, Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up to the borders of your enemies; and rise, Lord my God, by the decree that you have spoken. - Psalm 7:8: And a gathering of peoples surrounds you. And for this they have turned back to the height. - Psalm 7:9: The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness and according to my innocence. - Psalm 7:10: Let the evil of sinners come to an end; set the righteous one straight, you who try hearts and reins… - Psalm 7:11: A verse the copyist left out. In the Psalter of 1577 it says: My help is from God, who saves the upright in heart. - Psalm 7:12: God is a righteous, strong and patient judge, and he does not bring anger every day. - Psalm 7:13: If you do not turn back, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready. - Psalm 7:14: And in it he has made ready the instruments of death; he makes his arrows burn. - Psalm 7:15: Behold, a greater injustice: he conceived pain and brought forth lawlessness. - Psalm 7:16: He scraped out a ditch and dug it, and fell into the pit that he makes. - Psalm 7:17: His pain has turned back upon his own head, and his injustice comes down upon the top of his head. - Psalm 7:18: I give praise to the Lord according to his righteousness, and I sing the name of the Lord on high. ### Psalm 8: VIII. In sfrășit Căntecul lui David. [8]. For the end. A song of David. 19.4 Doamne Domnul nostru, că ciu- 19.5 datu e numele tău 19.6 pestre tot pâmăntul! [1577: *pre* totŭ] 19.7 Că se luo mare cuviin- [1577: mare *frŭmséțé* ta] 19.8 țâ a ta pre asuprâ de [1577: pre *mai susŭ* de] 19.9 ceriu. Diîn rostul 19.10 tirereiloru și sugă- [1577: *tinerilorŭ* și] 19.11 toriloru sfrășit-a- [1577: sugâtori sfr..] 19.12 i laudă; dereptu dra- 19.13 cii tăi spărseși dra- 19.14 cul și vrăjmașul. Că 19.15 vădzu ceriul lucrul dége- 19.16 teloru tale, lura și 19.17 stélele ci-ai tu urdzi- 20.1 tu. Ce iaste omul că 20.2 pomeniș elu? sau fiiul 20.3 omului că cerceți e- 20.4 lu? Înmicșiurat-ai [1577: *-au*] 20.5 elu cu nișchitu ceva 20.6 de îngeri, cu slavă 20.7 și cu cinste curura- 20.8 t-ai elu. Pus-ai elu 20.9 spre lucrul măriloru 20.10 tale; Toate supus-a- 20.11 i suptu picioarele lui, 20.12 oile și boi toți, și 20.13 încă vita cămpiloru. [1577: încâ *și*] 20.14 Pasările ceriului, și pe- 20.15 știi mariei, ce înblă că- 20.16 rarile mariei. Doamne Domnul 20.17 nostru, că miruratu e 21.1 numele tău prespre tot 21.2 pămăntul. - Psalm 8:2: Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name over all the earth! For your majesty has been lifted up above the heavens. - Psalm 8:3: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise; because of your enemies you have broken the foe and the adversary. - Psalm 8:4: For I see the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established. - Psalm 8:5: What is man, that you remember him? Or the son of man, that you visit him? - Psalm 8:6: You made him a little less than the angels; with glory and honour you crowned him. - Psalm 8:7: You set him over the work of your hands; - Psalm 8:8: you put all things under his feet: the sheep and all the oxen, and the beasts of the field as well, - Psalm 8:9: the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, that travel the paths of the sea. - Psalm 8:10: Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name over all the earth! ## How much of the old text can be read without help The nine psalms have 1,140 words. The list below has 169 entries; the words it explains, in all their forms, occur 393 times in the text. ## The same psalm in other words: the manuscript and the print of 1577 In the margins Bianu noted the words in which the Slavo-Romanian Psalter printed by Coresi at Brașov in 1577 differs from the manuscript. The two are not separate translations: scholars hold them to be copies of one translation from Church Slavonic, corrected along the way. So the differences show which words were changed from one copy to the next. For the nine psalms Bianu's notes fill 153 lines in the margins. Most concern the same word in another form, the order of the words, or an added or omitted word. That leaves 35 pairs of different words standing in the same place of the same verse; some recur. Which of the two words is still in use today? The answer is mixed. In 18 pairs of the 35, only the word printed in 1577 is in use today: mă tem (“I fear”), not înfricu-me; paharul (“the cup”), not scafa; toiag (“staff”), not fuște; mila (“mercy”), not meseréré. In 7 pairs the manuscript's word is the one that lasted: mântuire (“salvation”), not spăsenie; nădăjduiți (“hope”), not opovăiți; păcătoșii (“the sinners”), not greșiții. In 6 both are in use, and in 4 neither. Nor does the origin of the words divide the two texts. Of the words that went out of use, 5 of the manuscript's and 5 of the print's are Slavic loans: a gotovi (“to prepare”) and ocină (“inheritance”) on one side, spăsenie (“salvation”) and a upovăi (“to hope”) on the other. The manuscript also has words inherited from Latin that Romanian has since lost in this meaning, such as fuște (“staff”, Latin fustis) and strat (“bed”, Latin stratum). The count covers nine of the 151 psalms and rests on Bianu's notes, not on a new comparison of the two texts. In 12 pairs, marked with a circle in the table, the dictionaries allow another classification. | In the manuscript | In Coresi, 1577 | Meaning | In use today | |---|---|---|---| | înfricu-me (Psalm 22:4) | mâ temŭ | to be afraid | the word of 1577 | | Gotovit-ai (Psalm 22:5) | Gătit ai | to prepare (a table) | the word of 1577 ° | | scafa (Psalm 22:5) | păharulŭ | cup | the word of 1577 ° | | meseréré (Psalm 22:6) | mila | mercy | the word of 1577 | | pâcâtoșii (Psalm 1:5) | greșiții | sinners | the manuscript's word | | încetirâ-se (Psalm 2:1) | rănjirâ | to rage | neither ° | | învâțăndu-se (Psalm 2:1) | grăirâ | to ponder, to speak | neither | | boĭarii (Psalm 2:2) | domnii | rulers, princes | the word of 1577 ° | | Domnul (Psalm 2:4) | Dumneḑ’u | the lord, god | both | | smen’téște (Psalm 2:5) | spamânta-va | to trouble, to terrify | neither ° | | Spunĭu (Psalm 2:7) | vestescu | to tell, to declare | both | | ḑisele (Psalm 2:7) | porânci | what was said, decree | the word of 1577 ° | | ocinele (Psalm 2:8) | parté | inheritance, portion | the word of 1577 ° | | fuște (Psalm 2:9) | toĭagŭ | rod, staff | the word of 1577 | | frănge-i (Psalm 2:9) | zdrobi-veri | to break, to shatter | both | | Lucrați (Psalm 2:11) | Slujiți | to serve | the word of 1577 | | curundu (Psalm 2:13) | de srăgŭ | quickly | the manuscript's word | | măn’tuire (Psalm 3:3) | spaseniĭa | salvation, to save | the manuscript's word ° | | agĭutorĭul (Psalm 3:4) | folositorĭulŭ | helper, protector | both ° | | măriĭa (Psalm 3:4) | slava | glory | the word of 1577 ° | | kiemu (Psalm 3:5) | striguĭu | to call, to cry | both | | pâdure (Psalm 3:5) | mâgura | mountain | the word of 1577 | | durmiĭu (Psalm 3:6) | ațipiĭu | to sleep | both | | ’nturéreci (Psalm 3:7) | mii | tens of thousands, thousands | the word of 1577 | | Învie (Psalm 3:7) | Scoalâ | to arise | the word of 1577 | | minurâ (Psalm 4:4) | mări | to make wonderful, magnify | the word of 1577 | | cuviosul (Psalm 4:4) | podobnicului | the devout one | the manuscript's word | | straturile (Psalm 4:5) | paturile | beds | the word of 1577 | | cumăndare (Psalm 4:6) | jrătvâ | sacrifice | the word of 1577 | | nedejduiți (Psalm 4:6) | opovăiți | to hope, hope | the manuscript's word | | milustineei (Psalm 5:9) | mesereriei | mercy | neither | | Dumneḑău (Psalm 5:12) | Zeulŭ | god | the manuscript's word | | lucrâtorii (Psalm 6:9) | făcâtorii | workers, doers (of lawlessness) | the word of 1577 ° | | sfrășitul (Psalm 7:7) | cumplitulŭ | end, bounds | the manuscript's word | | cuviin’țâ (Psalm 8:2) | frŭmséțé | majesty, beauty | the word of 1577 ° | A pair is two different words standing in the same place of the same verse; the same pair is counted once. Differences of form or sound (hi and fi, “to be”; tirerilorŭ and tinerilorŭ, “of the young”) are not counted, nor are words that only one of the texts has, nor pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. “In use today” means that the dictionaries gathered on dexonline.ro give the word with the meaning it has in the psalm and without the label obsolete, regional or popular (the dictionaries' word for folk speech). A circle (°) marks a borderline pair; what the dictionaries say about each word, and why it was placed where it is, is in the JSON file below. ## The 169 words explained In alphabetical order, ignoring the marks above the letters. Meanings and origins are those given by the dictionaries of Romanian (DEX is the standard explanatory dictionary; “the Academy's dictionary” is its Micul dicționar academic; “popular” is their label for folk speech); where the dictionaries disagree or do not have the word, the entry says so. - **aapă**: water (Apă, “water”, from Latin aqua; here written with a double a.) - **acie**: in Psalm 22:2, there; “dereptu acia”, “de acia”: therefore, for this (In Psalm 22:2 it is the adverb that Candrea's dictionary explains as “here, on the spot”; Ciorănescu derives aci, “here”, from Latin *eccum hic. The sense “there” and the sense in dereptu acia follow from the context.) - **acmu**: now (A form of acum, “now”, which Scriban gives as old and Șăineanu as archaic; according to Ciorănescu, the regular outcome of Latin *eccum modo.) - **adecâ**: behold, look (Today's adică, “that is”; the old sense “behold” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary and by Ciorănescu. The origin is disputed: the Academy's dictionary and DEX give it as unknown, Ciorănescu starts from Latin adaeque, Scriban from ad id quod.) - **adurarâ**: they gathered (A aduna, “to gather”, from Latin adunare, with n turned to r.) - **adurmiiu**: I fell asleep; “durmiiu” means I slept (A adormi, “to fall asleep”, and a dormi, “to sleep”, with u for o; from Latin addormire and dormire. The Academy's dictionary gives the Scheian Psalter as the first attestation of a adormi.) - **agiutoriul**: the helper, the help; “agiută-mi” means helps me (Ajutor, “help”, and a ajuta, “to help”, with gi where today's Romanian has j; from Latin adjutorium and adjutare.) - **ainte**: before, in the face of (Candrea's dictionary explains it as “before, earlier” and derives it from Latin abante; Scriban refers to înainte, “before”.) - **amu**: then (Today amu is a popular word for “now”; the Academy's dictionary also gives the sense “then” as popular. From acum according to that dictionary; DEX derives it from Latin ad-modo.) - **arma**: weapon; in Psalm 7:13, a sword (From Latin arma. The Academy's dictionary gives the Scheian Psalter as its first attestation. That Psalm 7:13 means a sword follows from the context.) - **băgă**: to put, to set down (Today a băga mostly means “to thrust in”; Ciorănescu also gives the sense “to put, to set”. The origin is uncertain: the Academy's dictionary compares modern Greek βάζω, “to put”, and Ciorănescu proposes Latin bigare.) - **beséreca**: church; here, the temple (An old form of biserică, “church”, from Latin basilica; Scriban gives it as old and surviving in Transylvania. The sense “temple” follows from the context.) - **blagoslovești**: to bless; “blagoslovenie” means blessing (From Church Slavonic blagosloviti. DEX labels it old and colloquial.) - **boiarii**: the chiefs, the leaders (Today's boier, “boyar, nobleman”; the Academy's dictionary gives the form boiar as old and popular and records the sense “chief”. From Church Slavonic boljarinŭ according to DEX.) - **calé**: the way (Calea, “the way”: é stands for ea.) - **cătrâ**: to, towards (An old form of către, “towards”, from Latin contra.) - **ce**: after a negation, “but”; elsewhere “what, which” (The old form of ci, “but”: Scriban and Șăineanu give it as old, and DEX derives ci from ce. From Latin quid according to Scriban.) - **chemaiu**: to call out to someone, to cry for help; “chemaré” means cry (From Latin clamare. The Academy's dictionary gives “to shout (loudly)” as the first sense and notes that in the old language the verb, sometimes followed by către, “to”, meant to ask someone to come to one's aid.) - **ciasta**: this, this thing (Aceasta, “this”, without its initial a; Ciorănescu notes the variant cest. From Latin ecce-ista according to the Academy's dictionary; Ciorănescu starts from *eccum istum.) - **ciudatu**: wonderful, to be marvelled at (Today ciudat means “strange”; the Academy's dictionary gives the sense “miraculous” as old. From Bulgarian čudat, “wonderful”, according to that dictionary and DEX; Candrea's dictionary derives it from ciudă.) - **cruntu**: bloodthirsty, one who sheds blood (From Latin cruentus. The old sense “bloodstained” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary and DEX; today crunt mostly means “cruel, fierce”.) - **cumăndare**: sacrifice, offering (From a comânda, an old verb: “to offer sacrifices” and “to hold the funeral feast for someone”, according to the Academy's dictionary. Ciorănescu gives comândare as old, meaning “sacrifice”, and starts from Latin commendare, Vulgar Latin commandare.) - **curunat**: crowned; “curunat” and “cururat” have n turned to r (A cununa once meant “to crown” (Scriban, the Academy's dictionary); today it means “to marry”. From Latin coronare.) - **curundu**: quickly, soon (An old and popular form of curând, “soon”, from Latin currendo.) - **cuviințâ**: “mare cuviințâ”: majesty (Today's cuviință, “decorum”. The Academy's dictionary also records the sense “majesty”. From Latin convenientia according to DEX; Scriban derives it from a se cuveni, “to be fitting”.) - **cuviosul**: the holy one, the devout man (The Academy's dictionary also records the sense “holy”; today it mostly means “pious, devout”. From a se cuveni, “to be fitting”, with the suffix -os, according to that dictionary and DEX; Candrea's dictionary starts from a Latin *conveniosus.) - **dédevăru**: truth (Adevăr, “truth”, from Latin verum, probably through a compound of the type *ad de verum (Ciorănescu). Here with an initial d: de-adevăr.) - **delungați**: go far away, depart (A (se) delunga, an old verb: “to move away”, in Scriban and in Candrea's dictionary. Candrea derives it from Latin de-longare; Scriban from lung, “long”.) - **demâréța**: in the morning (Dimineața, “in the morning”; in demâréța, n has turned to r. From Latin mane according to Ciorănescu; demâneață is the regular outcome, found in the 16th and 17th centuries and later changed to dimineață.) - **den**: from, out of; likewise “dem”, “deîn”, “diîn” (The Academy's dictionary notes the variants den, deîn, diîn of din, which is made of de + în.) - **depreunâ**: at the same time, at once; “înpreunâ” means together (An old form of împreună, “together”, in Scriban; Ciorănescu finds it in the 16th and 17th centuries. According to DEX, împreună comes from în + preună. The sense “at the same time” is in the Academy's dictionary.) - **derége**: to make straight, to guide (Today's a drege, “to mend”. The Academy's dictionary gives the sense “to guide, to direct” as old; Candrea's dictionary illustrates it with a passage from the Scheian Psalter. From Latin dirigere.) - **dereptate**: righteousness, justice; “dereptul” means the righteous one (The Academy's dictionary gives dereptate as an old and regional form of dreptate, “justice”, from drept, “right, just”, with the suffix -(ăt)ate; drept comes from Latin directus.) - **dereptu**: for, because of; “derep-ce” means why (Today's drept, from Latin directus; Ciorănescu starts from the form *derectus and gives derept as an old variant. He also labels as old its use as a preposition meaning “for”.) - **deșertu**: empty, vain; “în deșertu” means in vain, without cause (The same word as today: deșert, “empty, vain”; în deșert, “in vain”. From Latin desertus.) - **deștinge**: comes down, descends (A deștinge, “to come down”, from Latin descendere. Ciorănescu gives it as old, of the 16th and 17th centuries.) - **dodeitorii**: those who trouble me; “dodeiaște” means troubles (A dodei, an old verb: “to upset” (the Academy's dictionary), “to trouble, to disquiet, to press hard” (Candrea's dictionary). From Church Slavonic dodějati according to Candrea.) - **dospéște**: thrives, prospers (Today a dospi is said of dough, “to rise”. The Academy's dictionary gives, as old and rare, the senses “to come”, “to have the upper hand”, “to prevail”. From Slavic dospĕti, “to ripen”, according to Ciorănescu; DEX derives it from Serbian dospeti.) - **dracul**: the enemy, the foe; “dracii” are the enemies (Today's drac, “devil”, from Latin draco, “serpent, dragon”. The dictionaries consulted give only “devil”; that an enemy is meant follows from the psalm, where dracul stands beside vrăjmașul, “the foe”.) - **dulciața**: good things (From dulce, “sweet”, with the suffix -eață. The Academy's dictionary also gives the old senses “wealth”, “riches”; Candrea's dictionary has the plural dulceți as “good things (to eat)”.) - **dzile**: days; “dzuoa” means by day (Dz where today's Romanian has z: zi, zile.) - **e**: opening a clause, “and, but”; elsewhere it is the verb “is” (The sense “and, but” follows from the context; as the short form of este, “is”, the word is the same as today.) - **enima**: the heart; “enimile” means the hearts (Inimă, “heart”, with e for the initial i; the Academy's dictionary gives the form enimă as old. From Latin anima.) - **enimoși**: “greu enimoși”: heavy of heart (From inimă, “heart”, with the suffix -os, according to the Academy's dictionary and DEX; Șăineanu derives it from Latin animosus. The Academy's dictionary has greu inimos as old and rare, meaning “angry”; in the verse the sense is “heavy of heart”.) - **eșitul**: the outflow of the water, the spring (Ieșit, a noun from a ieși, “to go out”, which Șăineanu derives from Latin exire; the Academy's dictionary gives the noun as rare, meaning “a going out”. Scriban notes the old form es for ies. That a spring is meant follows from the context.) - **fârâlége**: lawlessness (Today's fărădelege, from fără + de + lege, “without law”, after Church Slavonic bezakonije. The Academy's dictionary gives the form fărăleage as old and rare.) - **ferice**: happy, blessed; “fericedz” is the plural (From Latin felix, -icis. The Academy's dictionary gives it as old, today poetic; the usual word is fericit.) - **frănge**: to break, to crush; “frămt-ai” means you have crushed (A frânge, “to break”, from Latin frangere. The Academy's dictionary lists frămtu as an old participle, for frânt, “broken”.) - **fuște**: rod, staff (An old word: “club”, “staff” (the Academy's dictionary). From Latin fustis.) - **gâtă**: has made ready (A găti, here in the form a găta; the Academy's dictionary gives the sense “to make ready” as old and popular. From gata, “ready”.) - **giceré**: decree, spoken word (Today's zicere, “saying”, from a zice, “to say”; Scriban and the Academy's dictionary give the form with gi as old, and the latter records the old sense “command”. It also gives the Scheian Psalter as the word's first attestation.) - **giuc**: “bate-ș giuc” means he mocks, makes sport of (Joc, “game”, with gi for j and u for o; from Latin jocus. A-și bate joc means “to mock”.) - **giudecâ**: to judge; “giudecâtorii” means the judges (A judeca, “to judge”, from Latin judicare, with gi where today's Romanian has j. The Academy's dictionary gives the Scheian Psalter as the first attestation of a judeca and of judecător, “judge”.) - **giudeț**: judgement (Today județ is an administrative county; the Academy's dictionary gives the sense “judgement” as old. From Latin judicium; gi stands for j.) - **giunghiiați**: sacrifice, offer up (A junghia, today mostly a înjunghia, “to stab”, from Latin jugulare; gi stands for j. Ciorănescu also gives the sense “to sacrifice”.) - **giurul**: “pre giurul mieu”: round about me (Today's jur, as in în jur, “around”, with gi for j. Most dictionaries derive it from Latin gyrus; Ciorănescu considers the origin uncertain.) - **gonitorii**: the persecutors; in Psalm 22:6, “gonéște-me” means follows me (From Church Slavonic goniti. The Academy's dictionary gives “to chase” as the first sense and “to persecute” as an old one.) - **gotovit**: you have prepared (A gotovi, “to prepare”, from Church Slavonic gotoviti. The Academy's dictionary gives it as old and rare.) - **grâirâ**: they said, they spoke; “graiurele” means the words (According to the Academy's dictionary and DEX, grai comes from a grăi, “to speak”, a verb from Serbian (grájati); Scriban derives it directly from Church Slavonic graĭ. The Academy's dictionary gives the sense “word” as old and notes the form graiure.) - **grumadzul**: the throat (Today's grumaz, “neck, nape”; the sense “throat” is given as rare by the Academy's dictionary and as old by Șăineanu. The origin is disputed: the Academy's dictionary and DEX compare Albanian, Ciorănescu starts from Latin gruma. Dz stands for z.) - **hăclianu**: deceitful, wicked (DEX gives hiclean as an old variant of viclean, “cunning, deceitful”, from Hungarian hitlen; the Academy's dictionary also notes the variant hăclean, as regional. DEX gives the sense “wicked, cruel” as popular.) - **hi**: to be: “hi-va” means will be (Fi, “to be”, with h for f; the Academy's dictionary and Scriban give the form hi as popular. From Latin fieri according to Șăineanu.) - **iale**: they (Today's ele, “they” (feminine). The Academy's dictionary notes the pronunciations iel, ia for el, ea, “he, she”; according to the same dictionary, ea comes from Latin illa.) - **iaste**: is (An old form of este, “is”; the Academy's dictionary lists it among the old forms of a fi, “to be”.) - **împrumuta**: here: to pay back (evil), to repay (From împrumut, “loan”, according to the Academy's dictionary and CADE; DEX gives Latin *impromutare or împrumut. The dictionaries consulted do not give it the sense “to repay”, which the psalm requires here; today it means “to lend, to borrow”.) - **înblă**: go about, travel (An old form of a umbla, “to walk, to go”, from Latin ambulare; the Academy's dictionary gives the variant in îm- as old and regional.) - **începu**: conceived (A începe, “to begin”, from Latin incipere. The old sense “to conceive” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary; according to Ciorănescu it shows a confusion between Latin incipere and concipere.) - **încetirâ-se**: banded together in revolt; according to Scriban, murmured (A se înceti, from în + ceată, “band, troop”. The Academy's dictionary gives the Scheian Psalter as its first attestation, with the senses “to join someone's band” and “to unite in a revolt”; Scriban quotes this very verse.) - **închiru-mâ**: I bow down, I worship (A închina, “to bow”, from Latin inclinare, with n turned to r.) - **încinde**: to be kindled (The old form of a încinge, “to kindle, to catch fire”, from Latin incendere (Șăineanu, Scriban, Ciorănescu).) - **înfricu-me**: I am afraid (A (se) înfrica, from în- + frică, “fear”; old and popular according to the Academy's dictionary. Today's verb is a se înfricoșa, “to take fright”.) - **înpârații**: emperors; in the Psalms, kings (From Latin imperator.) - **înrălțaria**: the lifting up: the one who lifts up my head (Înălțare, from a înălța, “to raise” (Latin *inaltiare), with n turned to nr. The Academy's dictionary gives the Scheian Psalter as the word's first attestation.) - **îns**: him, them: “spre îns” means in him; “de la densu”, by him (Îns, from Latin ipsus (= ipse), “himself”; hence dânsul (de + însul) and într-însul. According to Ciorănescu, its use as a personal pronoun after prepositions is old.) - **între**: before, in front of: “între tine” means before you (The Academy's dictionary has an old între, “in front of”, from Latin ante, distinct from today's între, “between” (Latin inter). According to Ciorănescu the two were confused, and the sense “in someone's presence” was in use until the seventeenth century.) - **învațâse**: to school oneself, to practise; in Psalm 2:1, to ponder (A învăța, “to learn, to teach”, from Latin *invitiare. Its first sense in the dictionaries is “to accustom (oneself), to train”; the sense “to ponder” is not in those consulted.) - **învie**: to rise, to arise; “Învie, Doamne” means Arise, Lord (A învia, “to come back to life”, in its old form a învie. The dictionaries have it as “to rise from the dead”; the Psalter of 1577 has Scoalâ, “Arise”, at the same place. Origin: în- + Latin vivere according to the Academy's dictionary and Ciorănescu; în + viu, “alive”, according to DEX.) - **ispititoriu**: the one who searches, who tries (From a ispiti, from Church Slavonic ispytati. The Academy's dictionary gives the sense “to examine closely, to search” as old; today a ispiti means “to tempt”.) - **ispovedescu**: to confess; in Psalm 7:18, to give praise, to thank (Today's a (se) spovedi, “to confess”; Ciorănescu gives the variants with i- as old. According to Scriban, from the older ispovedesc, “I confess, I declare”, from Church Slavonic ispovĭedati, “to declare”. The sense “to give praise” follows from the context.) - **isprăvéște**: set straight (Today a isprăvi means “to finish”. The Academy's dictionary and Scriban give the sense “to set right, to correct” as old. From Church Slavonic ispraviti, “to set right”.) - **ivéște**: shows, brings to light (Today's a se ivi, “to appear”. With an object, “to bring to light, to show”, it is given as old by the Academy's dictionary and by Ciorănescu. From Church Slavonic javiti, “to show”.) - **izbăvéște**: to deliver, to rescue (From Church Slavonic izbaviti. DEX gives it as popular: to save from a danger.) - **lau**: I wash, I drench (A la, “to wash”, from Latin lavare. The Academy's dictionary gives it as old and popular and notes the old sense “to wet”. According to Ciorănescu, it seems to have lost ground to a spăla from the 16th century on.) - **legâtorile**: the bonds (From a lega, “to bind”, with the suffix -tor. The Academy's dictionary has legătoare as a thing with which something is bound; Scriban: a cord, rope or chain that keeps something tied.) - **lemnul**: the tree (From Latin lignum; today lemn means “wood”. The Academy's dictionary gives the sense “tree” as old and rare; according to Ciorănescu it is also found in late Latin.) - **lépedzi**: to cast off, to drive out: cast them out, drive them away (A lepăda, “to cast off”. The origin is disputed: Ciorănescu and Scriban trace it to Latin lapidare, the Academy's dictionary gives that only as probable, and Șăineanu calls the origin unknown.) - **limbile**: the nations, the peoples; in Psalm 5:11, tongues (From Latin lingua; today limbă means “tongue, language”. The sense “people, nation” is given as old by Ciorănescu and as old and popular by Scriban.) - **lucrați**: serve; “lucrâtorii fărâ lége” are the workers of lawlessness (Today's a lucra, “to work”. From Latin lucrare, “to gain”, according to Ciorănescu; Candrea's dictionary starts from lucubrare. The dictionaries consulted do not have the sense “to serve”; the Psalter of 1577 has Slujiți, “Serve”, at the same place.) - **luo**: “se luo”: was lifted up; “luoați” means take (A lua, “to take”, from Latin levare, “to raise” (Scriban). The Academy's dictionary gives the sense “to move upwards” as old, and “to lift up” as old and rare.) - **lura**: the moon (Luna, “the moon”, from Latin luna, with n turned to r.) - **mâgurâ**: mountain (Today's măgură, a large isolated hill; by extension, a mountain (DEX). The origin is disputed: the Academy's dictionary and DEX compare Albanian (magulë in DEX), Ciorănescu considers it an expressive creation, Scriban starts from a Gepid word.) - **măntuiaște**: to save, to deliver; “măntuiria” is salvation (A mântui, “to save”, from Hungarian (menteni according to DEX and Ciorănescu; ment according to the Academy's dictionary). The Academy's dictionary marks the sense “to save from a danger” as old and popular.) - **măre**: let him pursue (A mâna, “to drive”, with n turned to r. Ciorănescu gives the sense “to pursue” as old. From Latin minari, “to threaten”.) - **măriia**: glory (DEX labels it old and derives it from mare, “great”, with the suffix -ie; the Academy's dictionary starts from mări + -ie and records the sense “glory” as a church term. It is the word in Măria Sa, a form of address for a ruler.) - **măriloru**: of the hands; “măna” means the hand (Mână, “hand”, from Latin manus; in măriloru, n has turned to r.) - **mătorâ**: sweeps away (A mătura, “to sweep”, from mătură, “broom”. The Academy's dictionary gives, of wind or water, the senses “to clear out of the way” and “to carry along”.) - **menciuni**: lies (Minciuni, “lies”, with e for i: the Academy's dictionary and Scriban give the form menciună as old. From Latin mentio, -onis according to the Academy's dictionary and DEX; Scriban derives it from a minți, “to lie”.) - **mene**: me; likewise “mere”, with n turned to r (Mine, “me”: the Academy's dictionary gives mene as an old form; in mere, n has turned to r. According to Ciorănescu, from Latin me, in a compound that is not fully clear.) - **mente**: “ia mente”: give heed (Minte, “mind”, from Latin mens, -tis; the Academy's dictionary gives the form mente as old. Aminte, as in a lua aminte, “to take heed”, comes from minte.) - **mérseru**: “se mérseru” means if I should walk (An old form of the verb a merge, “to go”, from Latin mergere, “to sink”; se here means “if”.) - **meseréré**: mercy (Scriban has it as a 16th-century word, “mercy”, from Latin miserere, “to have pity”.) - **miluiaște**: to have mercy: “miluiaște-mâ” means have mercy on me (A milui, “to have mercy on”, from Church Slavonic milovati.) - **milustineei**: mercy (Today milostenie means “alms”; DEX gives the sense “mercy” as old, the Academy's dictionary as old and popular. From Church Slavonic milostinija.) - **milustiviți**: humble yourselves, be contrite (Today's a se milostivi, “to take pity”, from milostiv, a Church Slavonic word. The Academy's dictionary gives, as old and rare, the sense “to humble oneself”.) - **minurâ**: made wonderful; “miruratu” means wonderful (A minuna, from minune, “wonder”, with n turned to r. The Academy's dictionary gives as old the sense “to make wonderful”, with God as the subject.) - **mulția**: the abundance, the multitude (Mulție, from mult, “much”, with the suffix -ie; the Academy's dictionary and Scriban give it as old, meaning “multitude”.) - **necurații**: the ungodly; “necurâție” is wickedness (From ne-, “un-”, + curat, “clean”. The Academy's dictionary records the old senses “one who does not believe in God” and “sinner”; today the word mostly means “dirty”.) - **nedejdui**: to hope, to put one's trust; “nedéjde” is hope (Today's a nădăjdui, “to hope”, from nădejde, “hope”, a Slavic word (nadežda). The old construction with spre or la, as here, is recorded by the Academy's dictionary.) - **nemică**: nothing (The old form of nimic, “nothing”, from Latin ne mica, “not a crumb”.) - **nice**: nor, neither (Old forms of nici, “nor”, from Latin neque.) - **nișchitu**: a little: “cu nișchitu ceva” means by a little (An old word (neșcât), from Latin nescio quantus, “I know not how much”. According to Scriban, its diminutive nișchițel gave today's nițel, “a little”.) - **no**: not, no (An old form of nu, “not”, from Latin non.) - **nturéreci**: tens of thousands, a countless host (Today's întuneric, “darkness”, from Latin tenebricus, with n turned to r. The old sense “a very great number” is in the Academy's dictionary; Scriban also gives “ten thousand” and explains it by Church Slavonic tĭma.) - **nuao**: to us, for us (An old form of nouă, “to us”, the dative of noi, “we”; from Latin nobis according to Ciorănescu.) - **oblici**: to rebuke (From Church Slavonic obličiti. The Academy's dictionary gives as old the senses “to prove”, “to rebuke” and “to punish”.) - **ocinele**: inheritance, ancestral land (Ocină, “inherited land”, from Church Slavonic otĭčina. An old word: Scriban glosses it “inheritance” and “ancestral estate”.) - **pâdure**: here, the mountain: “from his holy mountain” (Pădure, “forest”, from Vulgar Latin padulem (for paludem, “marsh”). The Academy's dictionary also gives it an old sense, “a large hill or mountain”; the Psalter of 1577 has mâgura, “the hill, the mountain”, at the same place.) - **pârâ**: until: “pârâ căndu” means how long (Până, “until”, with n turned to r; probably from Latin paene ad.) - **pârău**: here: a pit, a ditch (Today's pârâu, “brook”. The Academy's dictionary also has the sense “ditch cut by water”, but not “pit”. The origin is disputed: most dictionaries point to Albanian përrua, Ciorănescu to Slavic (Bulgarian) poroj.) - **pășiure**: pasture (Pășune, “pasture”, from Latin pastio, -onis, with n turned to r.) - **pedepsi**: to chasten, to discipline (From Greek: modern Greek epédepsa, the aorist of pedévo, according to DEX; medieval Greek according to Ciorănescu. The old sense “to teach, to instruct, to discipline” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary and by Ciorănescu; today it means “to punish”.) - **pestre**: over, upon (Old forms of peste, “over”: the Academy's dictionary gives it as pre + spre, and Ciorănescu traces it to Latin per super, directly or through pre spre.) - **pierdzâtorilor**: the destroyers, those who lead others to ruin (From a pierde, “to lose, to destroy”, with the suffix -ător; dz stands for z. The Academy's dictionary has the old church sense “leading to damnation and the loss of eternal life”.) - **piere**: to perish; “pierdzi” means you destroy (A pieri, “to perish”, from Latin perire, and a pierde, “to lose”, from Latin perdere. The Academy's dictionary records for a pierde the church sense “to kill, to destroy”.) - **plécă**: here: to guide, to lead (A pleca, from Latin plicare, “to bend”. The dictionaries consulted have it as “to bend, to bow” and “to set off”; the sense “to guide”, which the psalm requires here, is not in them.) - **pre**: on, upon; “pre nedéjde” means in hope (The old form of pe, “on”. From Latin per according to Scriban and Șăineanu; the Academy's dictionary gives super and per.) - **pulberia**: dust (Pulbere, “dust, powder”, from Latin pulvis, -veris.) - **raintia**: before, in the presence of; “înrainte stâturâ” means they stood forth (Old forms of înainte, “before”, with r or nr in place of n; from Latin *in ab ante.) - **rămâ**: scraped out, dug (A râma, “to root, to grub”, from Latin rimare. The Academy's dictionary gives first the sense “to dig (the ground)”; today it is said mostly of pigs rooting.) - **râpascâ**: seize, snatch away (A răpi, “to seize”, from Latin rapire (= rapere).) - **râpaus**: I rest; “aapă răposată” is water of rest, still water (Today's a răposa, from Latin repausare. The old sense “to rest” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary and by Ciorănescu; today the verb means “to die”.) - **rostul**: the mouth (From Latin rostrum, “beak”. “Mouth” is the old sense (Ciorănescu; old and regional in the Academy's dictionary); today rost mostly means “sense, order”.) - **săbor**: assembly, gathering (Today's sobor, from Church Slavonic sŭborŭ. The old sense “a crowd of people gathered together” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary; today it mostly means a gathering of clergy.) - **șălarâ**: they deceived (Today's a înșela, “to deceive”; here without în-. The origin is disputed: the Academy's dictionary separates it from a înșela “to saddle” and derives it from Church Slavonic (мъшелъ); DEX, CADE and Șăineanu tie it to șa, “saddle”, Latin in-sellare.) - **sălâșluitu**: you have settled me, made me dwell (A sălășlui, “to dwell, to settle”, from Hungarian szállásolni.) - **sămnâ-se**: has been marked, set as a sign (An old form of a semna, which used to mean “to mark” (the Academy's dictionary, Scriban); today it means “to sign”. The Academy's dictionary derives it from semn, “sign”; Scriban from semn or Latin signare; Șăineanu from signare.) - **sâmtu**: I am (An old form of sunt, “I am”, from a fi, “to be”; the Academy's dictionary lists it among the old forms.) - **scafa**: the cup (Scafă, “bowl, cup”, from Greek (modern Greek skáfi according to DEX). “Cup” is the old sense, recorded by the Academy's dictionary and by Ciorănescu; Scriban refers to the Scheian Psalter.) - **scrăbi**: troubles, distress (Today's scârbă, from Church Slavonic skrŭbĭ. The old sense was “sorrow, trouble, torment” (the Academy's dictionary, Ciorănescu); today the word means “disgust”.) - **se**: mostly să, “that, to”; in Psalms 7:4–5 and 22:4, “if”; otherwise reflexive (The old form of să, from Latin si, “if”. “If” is the old sense; according to Ciorănescu it died out in the seventeenth century.) - **șederile**: the places where they sit, the assembly (Ședere, from a ședea, “to sit” (Latin sedere). The Academy's dictionary gives as old the senses “place reserved for someone to sit” and “sitting, session”.) - **sfiiascâ-se**: let them be ashamed (A se sfii, from Church Slavonic svĕniti sę. Today it means “to hold back out of shyness or fear”; the Academy's dictionary also has the sense “to be afraid”.) - **sfrășit**: “sfrășit-ai” means you have perfected; “sfrășitul” is the end, the edge (Today's a sfârși, “to end”, and sfârșit, “end”, Church Slavonic words. The Academy's dictionary has the old sense “to accomplish” for the verb and “accomplished, perfect” for the adjective; Scriban gives sfârșitul pământului, “the end of the earth”.) - **smenti**: to trouble, to be troubled (The old form of a sminti, from Church Slavonic sŭmensti (DEX). “To trouble” is the first sense in Ciorănescu and Scriban, and Șăineanu gives it as old; today the verb mostly means “to drive mad”.) - **socotéște**: in Psalm 5:2, to give heed; in Psalm 4:3, to seek (A socoti, today “to reckon”. The Academy's dictionary has the senses “to take into account” and “to seek”. The origin is disputed: Latin *succutere in that dictionary, Hungarian szokotálni in Scriban and Șăineanu; Ciorănescu calls it uncertain.) - **spărseși**: you destroyed, you broke (A sparge, “to break”, from Latin spargere, “to scatter”. Scriban and Ciorănescu also have the senses “to destroy, to wipe out”.) - **spre**: upon, over; with “to hope”, in; in Psalms 2:2 and 3:2, against (From Latin super (the Academy's dictionary, Ciorănescu); Scriban starts from supra. Scriban gives as old the senses “on, above” and “against”, and the construction am nădejde spre Dumnezeu, “I hope in God”. Today spre means “towards”.) - **spurcăciune**: an abomination (From a spurca, “to defile”, with the suffix -ăciune, according to the Academy's dictionary and DEX; Scriban traces it to Latin spurcatio, -onis. The Academy's dictionary has the figurative sense “a deed against religious or moral precepts”.) - **stratul**: bed (From Latin stratum. “Bed, bedding” is the old sense (Scriban; old and regional in the Academy's dictionary); today strat mostly means “layer”.) - **sugătoriloru**: sucklings, babes at the breast (From a suge, “to suck”, with the suffix -ător. In the sense “suckling” it is old and popular, according to the Academy's dictionary.) - **tinsu**: you stretched out, you made room (A tinde, today “to tend”, from Latin tendere. In the sense “to stretch out” it is old and popular, according to the Academy's dictionary; today's word is a întinde.) - **ținuturile**: possession, holdings (Ținut, from a ține, “to hold” (Latin tenere). The Academy's dictionary has the old senses “right to dispose of something” and “dominion”; Șăineanu: “possession and land possessed”. Today it means “region”.) - **tire**: you (as object or after a preposition) (Tine, with n turned to r.) - **tirereiloru**: infants, little children (Tinerel, from tânăr, “young”, with the suffix -el, and with n turned to r. The old sense “child” is recorded by the Academy's dictionary.) - **țirut**: strong, mighty (Ținut, an adjective from a ține, “to hold” (Latin tenere), with n turned to r. The Academy's dictionary gives it, as old and rare, the sense “strong”.) - **toiagul**: staff (From Church Slavonic tojagŭ. According to Scriban the Slavonic word comes from Turkish (toĭaka); Ciorănescu too says it seems an oriental word.) - **untu**: oil (From Latin unctum. Scriban, Șăineanu and CADE also have the sense “oil” (unt de migdale, “almond oil”); hence untdelemn, olive oil. Today unt means “butter”.) - **urdzitu**: you have founded, made (A urzi, “to warp, to weave”, from Latin ordire (= ordiri); dz stands for z. Scriban gives “to found” as an old sense and Ciorănescu has “to create, to make”; today the verb belongs to weaving and to plotting.) - **urgiia**: wrath (From Vulgar Latin *orgia (the Academy's dictionary), itself, according to Scriban and Ciorănescu, from Greek orgé, “fury”. The Academy's dictionary marks the sense “violent anger” as old and popular.) - **usteniiu**: I have grown weary (Today's a osteni, “to tire”; the Academy's dictionary lists the form in us- as old and regional. That dictionary and DEX derive it from Church Slavonic (ustanon); Ciorănescu calls the origin doubtful but probably Slavic.) - **vasele**: vessels; in Psalm 7:14, “vasele morției” are the instruments of death (From Latin vasum. The dictionaries consulted do not give it the sense “instrument, tool” that the psalm requires here.) - **vătâmaș**: you have struck, wounded (A vătăma, “to harm”, from Latin victimare, “to sacrifice”. The dictionaries have it as “to wound, to harm the body”; Ciorănescu notes that in Aromanian, the Romance language of the southern Balkans closest to Romanian, it means “to kill”.) - **vechiiu**: I have grown old (The verb a vechi, “to grow old”, old and regional according to the Academy's dictionary; from vechi, “old”, Latin veclus (vetulus). Today's verb is a se învechi, said mostly of things.) - **vendecă**: heal (A vindeca, “to heal”, from Latin vindicare, “to avenge”; the Academy's dictionary gives the form in ven- as old.) - **vietoriul**: he who lives, who dwells (in the heavens) (From a via, “to live” (rare today), with the suffix -tor. The Academy's dictionary gives this very place in the Scheian Psalter as its first attestation and notes that vietoriul la ceruri means God.) - **voe**: “bunâ voe” means good will, favour (Voie, “will”, from Church Slavonic volĭa. Ciorănescu also has the old sense “favour”.) - **vrâjbitorii**: those who are my enemies (From a vrăjbi, a verb made from vrajbă, “enmity”, a Church Slavonic word (vražĭda). Scriban gives the verb as “to be an enemy to” and refers to the Scheian Psalter; in Ciorănescu (în)vrăjbitor is “instigator”.) - **vuru**: will: “nu vuru învie” means they will not rise (An old form of vor, “they will”, from a vrea, “to want”, Latin volere.) - **zgâurele**: the inward parts (in the verse: the reins, the kidneys) (Zgău, an old word: “belly, entrails” (Scriban, referring to the Scheian Psalter), “womb” (the Academy's dictionary). Origin: unknown according to the Academy's dictionary and DEX; Latin cavum according to Ciorănescu.) ## A book sixteen centimetres tall, written by two copyists or by three In Bianu's description the manuscript is a small paper volume, 16 centimetres tall and 11 wide, with 16 or 17 lines to a page. It is made of 33 quires (gatherings of folded sheets), numbered in Cyrillic numerals. Bianu found it bound between two wooden boards that had once been covered in leather; by 1916, Candrea notes, it had been rebound. By Bianu's account two leaves at the beginning and the last leaf of quire 31 are lost. Candrea counts 265 leaves, or 530 pages; the edition of 1889 reproduces them all. In the manuscript the titles, the initials of the psalms, a letter here and there and nearly all the stops between sentences are written in red (cinnabar). The photolithograph of 1889, made at the size of the original in the cartography workshop of the Army's General Staff, printed them all black: printing in two colours, Bianu writes, would have cost “much time and very great expense”. That is why the scribe's lines on this page are black from end to end. The psalms are numbered as in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which the Eastern Church follows and which has 151 psalms. There Psalms 9 and 10 of the Hebrew Bible are one psalm, so from Psalm 10 on nearly every number is one lower. That is why “The Lord is my shepherd” is Psalm 22 here and Psalm 23 in Bibles translated from the Hebrew. The verses are not numbered in the manuscript: the numbers are Bianu's. In Psalms 3–8 the first numbered verse is 2: in the Septuagint's numbering, verse 1 is the title. What the manuscript does mark is the sittings. Above Psalm 1 Bianu prints Ședére întăĭa, “first sitting” (the scribe had written întăâ), and after Psalm 8, on page 21, Ședéré II. The abbreviation Slav. in the titles of Psalms 4, 7 and 9 falls where the three parts of the first sitting end: Psalms 1–3, 4–6 and 7–8. In most Byzantine psalters the end of each such part was marked with the word for “glory”, slavă in Romanian. ### How many copyists: the place on page 19 Bianu saw two parts in the manuscript: quires 1–12, that is pages 1–196, written “in the same manner and by the same hand”, and quires 13–33, in a slightly smaller script, “either by another hand, or by the same one after a rather long interruption”. In 1916 I.-A. Candrea, following Al. Procopovici (1908), counted three copyists: the first, he held, wrote pages 1–19 and stopped in line 9, at the word cerĭu, “heaven”; the second went on to the foot of page 196; the third wrote the rest. The division into three was repeated for seventy years. In 1986 Ion Gheție compared fifteen features of the handwriting, found fourteen alike in the first two parts and came back to two copyists: one as far as page 196, another from there on. On page 19, he writes, “graphically, no discontinuity can be observed”. After the first twenty pages some features of language and spelling change, and Gheție explains them by a second exemplar: the beginning would have been copied from another manuscript of the same translation. No study taking up the question after 1986 was found. The place Candrea named falls in Psalm 8, between verses 2 and 3; the lines are below. The size of the letters and the distance between the lines stay the same. One small difference can be seen all the same: in lines 10 and 11 the u at the end of tirereiloru, “of infants”, and sugătoriloru, “of sucklings”, is written with a v-shaped letter (ѵ), whereas in the lines above and on the page before it is written ꙋ or оу. Gheție has this form in his table too: for the copyist of the first 196 pages, the letter у “sometimes has the form ѵ”. One letter in two lines does not prove a change of copyist. Page 19 of the manuscript, lines 6–12. The red line stands above line 9; the place Candrea named in 1916 comes after its first word, cerĭu, “heaven”. Gheție, in 1986, saw the same hand here. ### What the scribe wrote and what Bianu corrected: 17 places Where he judged that the scribe had got a letter wrong, Bianu put the corrected form in the text and printed the manuscript's own form at the foot of the page, with the faulty letter in italics. The nine psalms have 17 such places, one of them in the heading of the first sitting. The scribe's line above each transcription shows the uncorrected form. - întă*â* → întăĭa (p. 1, heading of the sitting) - lé*ț*ĭa. → légĭa (p. 1, l. 10) - oameni*e* → oamenii (p. 3, l. 7) - H-s sul → Hristosul (p. 3, l. 14) - mări*â* → măriĭa (p. 6, l. 13; in the print the note's figure stands in line 12) - durmi*â* → durmiĭu (p. 7, l. 2) - Fini → Fiii (p. 8, l. 8) - enimoș*ŭ* → enimoșĭ (p. 8, l. 10) - cuvi*ĭusŭ* *s*ul → cuviosul (p. 8, l. 14) - grâ*în*lui → grâului (p. 9, l. 14) - *c*ierḑi → pierḑi (p. 11, l. 6) - Mărmăntu → Mormăntu (p. 12, l. 5) - smen’tirâ-s*ĭa* → smen’tirâ-sâ (p. 13, l. 12) - lu*g*râtorii → lucrâtorii (p. 14, l. 15) - su*n*ătorioru → sugătoriloru (p. 19, l. 11) - *p*aí → č-ai (p. 19, l. 17) - că *cĭŭ* ceți → cerceți (p. 20, l. 3) ## Where the early Romanian psalters can be read The Scheian Psalter has two scholarly editions, of 1889 and of 1916, and the related psalters have been edited as well. What is harder to find out is where they can be read online. The table shows the addresses that answered on 9 October 2026 and those that no longer do. - **The Scheian Psalter** (copy of 1573–1578, dated by its watermarks (Al. Mareș, 1984); Romanian Academy Library, ms. rom. 449). Ion Bianu, Bucharest, 1889 (facsimile and transcription, with the variants of Coresi 1577); I.-A. Candrea, Bucharest, 1916 (critical edition, two volumes). ● [Bianu's 1889 edition, complete: the Bucharest Metropolitan Library scan, PDF and text](https://archive.org/details/psaltirea-scheiana) ● [The record of the same edition in the Bucharest Digital Library (the source of the scan above)](http://digitool.bibmet.ro:8881/R?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=921279&silo_library=GEN01) ● [Bianu's 1889 edition, Google scan (another copy)](https://books.google.com/books?id=mFMpAAAAYAAJ) ● [Bianu's 1889 edition, a second Google scan](https://books.google.com/books?id=IKayj7tdgN8C) ◐ [The HathiTrust record of Bianu's 1889 edition (the Harvard copy)](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100502280) ◐ [The HathiTrust viewer for the same copy](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnr4gq) ○ The manuscript's record on Medievalia, with a gallery of 534 photographs; the domain no longer answers (checked 9 October 2026). Last capture of the record: 3 August 2021; sibling records have captures up to 10 June 2023. - **The Voroneț Psalter** (copy of 1551–1558, dated by its watermarks (Al. Mareș, 1984); Slavonic and Romanian, fragmentary; Romanian Academy Library, ms. rom. 693). G. Giuglea, in “Revista pentru istorie, archeologie și filologie”, XI (1910), pp. 444 ff.; C. Gălușcă, Slavisch-rumänisches Psalterbruchstück, Halle, 1913; Monumenta linguae Dacoromanorum. Psaltirea Voronețeană. Psaltirea “Ciobanu” (A.-M. Gînsac, C. Burlacu, I. Camară, I.-M. Felea, D. Moscal, M. Ungureanu), Iași, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Press. ● [“Revista pentru istorie, archeologie și filologie”, the run scanned at the Iași University Library; Giuglea's edition begins in vol. 11 (1910), part 2, on p. 444](https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/4420) ● [C. Gălușcă, Slavisch-rumänisches Psalterbruchstück, part I: the introduction (Halle, 1913), 92 page images](https://archive.org/details/IA41544701_0014) ○ The manuscript's record on Medievalia; the domain no longer answers (checked 9 October 2026). Last capture: 10 June 2023. - **The Hurmuzaki Psalter** (copy dated by its watermarks to the first decade of the sixteenth century or the last of the fifteenth (Al. Mareș, 2000, as reported by Eugen Pavel, 2022); Romanian Academy Library, ms. rom. 3077). C. Ciuchindel, 1979; Ion Gheție and Mirela Teodorescu, Bucharest, Editura Academiei Române, 2005 (two volumes, with facsimile). ○ The manuscript's record on Medievalia; the domain no longer answers (checked 9 October 2026). Last capture: 10 June 2023. - **Coresi, the Slavo-Romanian Psalter, 1577** (printed at Brașov, 1577; Romanian Academy Library, CRV 19 and CRV 78). B. P. Hasdeu, Bucharest, 1881 (the Romanian text, in Cyrillic and transcribed, with facsimile pages); Stela Toma, Bucharest, Editura Academiei, 1976. ● [Hasdeu's 1881 edition, complete: Google's scan of the Oxford copy, 518 page images, PDF and text](https://archive.org/details/psaltireapublro00unkngoog) ● [Hasdeu's 1881 edition, a second scan (uploaded in 2016), PDF with text](https://archive.org/details/PsaltireaPublicatRommnesceLa1577DeDiaconuluCoresi.Volumul1) ● [Hasdeu's 1881 edition on Google Books (the source of the first scan)](https://books.google.com/books?id=MicBAAAAQAAJ) ◐ [The HathiTrust record of Hasdeu's 1881 edition; The Online Books Page describes it as US access only](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000849060) - **Dosoftei, metropolitan of Moldavia: the Psalter in verse, 1673** (printed at Uniev, 1673). Ion Bianu, Bucharest, 1887 (from the original manuscript and from the edition of 1673); N. A. Ursu, Iași, 1974. ● [Bianu's 1887 edition, complete: Google's scan of the University of California copy, 605 page images](https://archive.org/details/dosofteimitropo00dosogoog) ● [Bianu's 1887 edition at the “Carol I” University Library, Bucharest (Restitutio), PDF, marked public domain](https://restitutio.bcub.ro/items/psaltirea-in-versuri-biblia-vt) ● [Bianu's 1887 edition on Google Books (the source of the archive.org scan)](https://books.google.com/books?id=OmRtAAAAIAAJ) - **Gh. Ghibănescu, Glossary of the Scheian Psalter, 1902** (Iași, Tipografia Dacia, 1902; 188 pages). Offprint from the journal Viitorul. ● [Scan at the “Carol I” University Library, Bucharest (Restitutio), PDF, marked public domain](https://restitutio.bcub.ro/items/glosarul-psaltirei-scheiane) ● [Scan at the “Mihai Eminescu” University Library, Iași](https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/26861) - **I.-A. Candrea, The Scheian Psalter compared with the other psalters, vol. I, 1916** (Bucharest, Socec, 1916; vol. I: the Introduction (CCXXXVIII pp. and plates)). Vol. II (the text and the glossaries) was not found online. ● [Vol. I, colour PDF with text (58 MB), “Octavian Goga” County Library, Cluj, through Culturalia](https://resource.culturalia.ro/public/2001/01/01/_CJ-BJOG_2019_09%20septembrie%202019_BJC-Zotea-Adriana-2019-09__gen/00536-544308-BJC-Psaltirea%20Scheiana-Candrea-1916.pdf) ● [Vol. I at the “Mihai Eminescu” University Library, Iași](https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/49872) - **roPSALT: re-evaluating the sixteenth-century Romanian psalters** (a project of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 2021–2023). A corpus aligned verse by verse: Hurmuzaki, Scheian, Voroneț, Ciobanu, Coresi 1570, 1577 and 1589, beside two Latin versions. ● [The project page: the list of psalters, the team, the publications](https://scriptadacoromanica.ro/bin/view/roPsalt/) ● [The corpus page, with the XML archive for download](https://scriptadacoromanica.ro/bin/view/roPsalt/Corpus/) ● [The project repository: one XML file per psalm; last change 6 December 2023](https://github.com/mmoruz/RoPsalt) Every address was opened on 9 October 2026. A full circle is an address that answers anyone; a half circle is one that opens only in a browser; an empty circle is one that no longer answers. ## Where the text comes from and how it was checked The text comes from Ion Bianu's edition (Bucharest, 1889), not directly from the manuscript. Bianu printed the psalter page by page: the photolithograph of each page and, facing it, its transcription in Latin letters on the same lines. The scribe's lines above the transcription are cut from the photolithograph; every piece of ink was given to its own line, so that letters written above a line are not cut in half. The second volume, with the study promised in the preface, never appeared. In 1916 Candrea wrote that the edition, “apart from a few small oversights in the transcription of the text”, was made “with great care”. In a few places the scan of the 1889 edition shows a wrong letter, usually a c for an e: a letter wrongly set or faintly printed, which the black-and-white image cannot settle. There the eased reading gives the word whole and the word's explanation shows what the scan has. There are 7 such places in the lines and 7 in the notes on the Psalter of 1577. The transcription was read from the 300-dpi scan of the volume. Every page was transcribed twice, independently, then checked a third time against the image, line by line, with the manuscript page beside it. In 302 of the 345 lines the two transcriptions were identical and the check changed nothing. In the other 43, the differences, nearly all in the marks above the letters, were settled on the image. The 153 lines of notes on the Psalter of 1577 and the 17 footnotes were transcribed and checked in the same way. A fourth reading of eight pages, by eye and by measurements on the image, found one letter to correct in 120 lines. The state of every line is in the data files. Bianu keeps the manuscript's lines, with one departure: where a verse begins in the middle of a line, he starts a new one. Here those halves have been joined again, and the number of lines of every page has been compared with the number of lines found on the photolithograph: 17 on every page but the first. The eased reading is derived from Bianu's transcription by a few fixed rules. The ŭ at the end of words, which stands for the Cyrillic ь and was not sounded, is dropped; ĭ and ì become i; ḑ becomes dz; ǧ and č are written gi and ci; k before e and i is written ch; the apostrophe, by which Bianu renders a mark the scribe put above the line between two consonants (sometimes the consonant itself is written above), is dropped. É, ă and â stay, although the last two only record which letter stands in the manuscript (ъ or ѫ), not how the word was said. The button “Show Bianu's signs” brings the text back exactly as printed. The verse numbers are Bianu's, after Jager's edition of the Septuagint (Paris, 1839). In five places the print of 1889 has the wrong figure or none; there the number has been corrected or supplied here, and the data files show what is printed. The English rendering and the one in today's Romanian are not from the edition: they were made now. They say what the manuscript says, not the usual text of the Psalms: where the scribe left out a word or a verse, so do they, with a note. Some limits. The text is that of the 1889 edition, Bianu's choices included; the manuscript itself was not seen. The differences from the print of 1577 are those Bianu noted; the two texts were not compared afresh. Nine psalms of 151 are here. Of Candrea's critical edition (1916) only the introduction was read: the second volume, with the text, was not found online. The roPSALT corpus of the University of Iași, which sets the early psalters verse beside verse, was not used as text, because it is published without a licence; its address is in the register above. ### Files to download The nine psalms can be downloaded whole: the lines with their verification state, the verses, the words, the notes on the Psalter of 1577 and the register of addresses. The TEI file keeps the pages, the lines, the letters Bianu supplied, his corrections with the manuscript's form beside them, the notes of 1577 and the place on page 19 where Candrea saw the copyist change, recorded as his opinion. The JSON file also has the word pairs, with the dictionary extracts each classification rests on. The files are free to reuse (CC0), with SHA-256 sums beside them. - [The nine psalms (JSON)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-psalmii-1-8-22.json) - [The psalms in TEI XML](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-psalmii-1-8-22.tei.xml) - [The lines (CSV)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-randuri.csv) - [The verses (CSV)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-versete.csv) - [The words (CSV)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-cuvinte.csv) - [The notes of 1577 (CSV)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltirea-scheiana-coresi-1577.csv) - [Register of the early psalters (JSON)](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/psaltiri-vechi-registru.json) - [SHA-256 sums](https://mariuscomper.uk/scheiana-rand-cu-rand/data/SHA256SUMS.txt) ## Sources - Ion Bianu (ed.), Psaltirea Scheiană (1482). Mss. 449 B.A.R., vol. I: the text in facsimile and transcription, with the variants of Coresi (1577), Bucharest, Tipografia Carol Göbl, 1889. The source of the photolithographs, the transcription, the notes on the Psalter of 1577 and the description of the manuscript (preface, pp. VII–XVIII). https://archive.org/details/psaltirea-scheiana - I.-A. Candrea, Psaltirea Scheiană comparată cu celelalte psaltiri din sec. XVI și XVII traduse din slavonește, vol. I, Bucharest, Socec, 1916: the three copyists (p. XXVIII), the binding and the number of leaves (p. XV), his judgement of Bianu's edition (p. XLIII). https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/49872 - Al. Mareș, “Datarea Psaltirilor Scheiană și Voronețeană”, Limba română XXXIII (1984), no. 3, pp. 191–198: the dating by watermarks, 1573–1578 (p. 197). https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/6435 - Ion Gheție, “Copiștii Psaltirii Scheiene”, Limba română XXXV (1986), no. 1, pp. 32–36: two copyists, no change of hand on page 19. https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/6734 - Ion Gheție, “A existat un izvor latin al psaltirilor românești din secolul al XVI-lea?”, Limba română XXXI (1982), no. 2, p. 185: the verses are not numbered in the manuscript. https://dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/123456789/6318 - Eugen Pavel, “Psaltirea în limba română. Modele și izvoare”, Limba română LXXI (2022), nos. 1–2, pp. 191–210: the single translation from Church Slavonic, where the copy was made, the numbering of the psalms. https://lingv.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LR1-2-2022-UNIT-1.pdf - Iosif Camară, “Cele mai vechi Psaltiri românești și redacțiile Psaltirii slavone”, Caietele Sextil Pușcariu V (2021): the two groups of versions. https://csp.inst-puscariu.ro/pdf/CSP%20V/0006%20-%20Camara.pdf - Georgi R. Parpulov, Toward a History of Byzantine Psalters, ca. 850–1350 AD, Plovdiv, 2014, pp. 54–55: the twenty sittings (kathismata) and how Byzantine psalters mark them. https://archive.org/details/ByzPsalters - Orthodox Church in America, “The Division of the Psalter into Kathismas”: the division of the first sitting into Psalms 1–3, 4–6 and 7–8. https://www.oca.org/liturgics/outlines/the-division-of-the-psalter-into-kathismas - The dictionaries of Romanian gathered on dexonline.ro (DEX ’09, the Academy's Micul dicționar academic, Ciorănescu, Șăineanu, Scriban, Candrea–Adamescu), read on 9 October 2026: the meanings, usage labels and origins in the word list and in the table of pairs. https://dexonline.ro/