Tsypkin, Denis Olegovich. Old Russian metnoye pismo

Created Date

For citation: Tsypkin, Denis Olegovich. Old Russian metnoye pismo, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2019. № 1. Pp. 124-135. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.109

Title of the article Old Russian metnoye pismo
Authors Tsypkin, Denis Olegovich — Ph. D., Associate Professor, St. Petersburg State University, St.-Petersburg, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., OrcID  0000-0002-8207-8551, Researcher ID O-9965-2014, Scopus ID 6505664137, SPIN-cod 8079-2820 
In the section  Disputatio / Discussion
Year 2019 Issue  1 Pages  124-135
Type of article RAR Index UDK; BBK UDK 930.2:003.072;  BBK 63.2 Index DOI  https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.109
Abstract

The research is prepared with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant № 16-01-00210.

The author discusses the classification of types of writing in the views of professional Russian scribes of the 16th–17th centuries. This classification included two basic types of professional writing: ustav or knizhnoe pis’mo (book writing) and skoropis’. There was also a certain kind of scrittura usuale termed “metnоe pis’mo” by the Russian bookmen. Ustav (“knizhnoe pis’mo”), skoropis’ and metnоe pis’mo were proper professional terms used in specialized books for calligraphers, in manuals and schoolbooks. The term “metnоe pis’mo” appears in the 1570ies – 1580ies. The terms “ustav” and “skoropis’” are attested in Western Russian documents from the 1540ies. In Muscovy the term “skoropis’” referring to the type of writing already existed by the 1570ies, but it may have appeared as early as the 1550ies. The term “ustav” is first encountered in a document dated to 1614.
As far as the term “poluustav” is concerned, it is attested from the 1630ies and later. However, it did not mean a special type of writing. As may be proved by the contextual analysis, this term had different occasional usages. In the 17th century muscovite scribal milieu poluustav was a general term designating all forms of writing not properly coinciding with ustav. In some cases it meant some kind of nonconformity to the professional book writing (“knizhnoe pis’mo”) in function or in quality. In other cases it meant just writing in smaller scale in comparison to other manuscripts made in proper ustav.

Keywords Old Russian writing, metnоe pis’mo, scrittura usuale, ustav, poluustav, skoropis’, paleography, the study of historical writing
Full text version of the article. Article language  Russian
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Tags: DISPUTATIO / DISCUSSION, paleography, Old Russian writing, study of historical writing, interdisciplinary studies