Author: D. E. Afinogenov (Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Pages\n 18–25

Summary\n: The word шеломя that occurs twice in the Lay of Igor’s Host should be spelled шоломя as lectio difficilior. Its actual meaning reveals itself from the analysis of the contexts provided by the Ipatiev Chronicle and the Slavonic translation of the Life of Euthymius the Great by Cyril of Scythopolis (BHG 647), where it renders the Greek κοιλάς, meaning dry riverbed or wadi. Therefore it appears to designate a high steep bank of a river or lake, possibly the slope of a ravine. The Slavonic version in question is certainly pre-Mongol and displays some features of the South-Eastern dialect of the Old Russian. Therefore it should be dated to the 11th or 12th c. Some details may point at the eye-witness experience of the Laura of St Euthymius, which would explain the exotic шоломя for κοιλάς, usually rendered as юдоль or оудоль. The translator thus seems to have been a native of South-East Rus. The word шоломя apparently went out of use in the 13th c., so late copyists had difficulties with understanding and spelling it. In particular, the spelling шеломя may have been influenced by the word шелом (helmet) which occurs several times in the same part of the text.

Keywords\n: The Lay of Igor’s Host, the Life of Euthymius the Great, шеломя, шоломя.

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