Biblical Books in the Romanian Lands in the Sixteenth Century

Abstract

This book explores the emergence of Romanian as a written language through the earliest biblical translations of the Psalter and the Apostolos. Situated at the intersection of Slavic and Romanian traditions, it examines how these texts were produced, transmitted, and reshaped in the multilingual environment of the sixteenth-century Romanian lands. Drawing on both manuscript and early printed sources, the author combines philological analysis with a comparative study of Church Slavonic textual traditions. By reconstructing patterns of translation, revision, and textual affiliation, the book sheds light on the complex processes underlying the first uses of Romanian in writing. In doing so, it offers a new perspective on the relationship between language, religion, and textual culture in early modern Eastern Europe.