Оn the first Russian translation of “Architecture” by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

DOI:10.30842/alp23065737173197217

Gerbetstsa E. O pervom russkom perevode «Arkhitektury» Dzhakomo Barotstsi da Vinoly. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2021. 17(3): 197–217.

This paper is devoted to the first Russian (1709) translation of the treatise Regola dellicinque ordini d’architettura [Canon of the five orders of architecture] by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. Notable for its brevity and simplicity of presentation, this treatise served as a canonical textbook for all European architects of the XVII to mid-XIX centuries. The first goal of the paper was to prove in a non-arbitrary way, on the basis of strictly linguistic arguments, that the source language for the translation was Italian. Proceeding from this conclusion, the core section of the paper provides a detailed analysis of a number of architectural terms that were used for the first time in Russian in this translation. These terms, still in use in modern Russian, undoubtedly represent direct Italian borrowings regardless of their current phonetic shape. The proposed analysis of the terms, based on the main historical and etymological dictionaries, comes up with new findings regarding the 18th century Russian vocabulary. These include the discovery of one variant of the meaning of modiyanon ‘modillion’ that was not recorded in the dictionaries, the updated chronology for some other variants (viz. the forms abaka, arkhitrava, basament and kolon appear to have entered the Russian language already as early as in 1709), and the identification of another meaning for balkon, not captured in the existing dictionaries. Since, as this paper shows, the Russian translation of the treatise will inevitably become an important focus of studies in the history of the development of Russian architectural terminology, further research is needed in this area on both the formal characteristics and semantics of each terminological unit.

Keywords

historical lexicology, the 18th century Russian, architectural terms, Italianisms, G. Barozzi da Vignola

About the author

Gherbezza E.

University of Udine (Udine, Italy)

ettore.gherbezza@uniud.it

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Keywords

historical lexicology, the 18th century Russian, architectural terms, Italianisms, G. Barozzi da Vignola