Татяна Илиева [Tatyana Ilieva]: Антономазията като способ на номинация при литеронимите в първата славянска азбука

 

DOI 10.17846/pdjkss.2026.177-226

 

Доц. д-р Татяна Илиева, Кирило-Методиевския научен център при Българската академия на науките (Sofia, Bulgaria)

 

Antonomasia as a method of nomination in literalonyms in the first Slavic alphabet

 

Abstract

Following a brief overview of previous scholarly research on literonyms in Old Bulgarian alphabets, this study examines antonomasia as a method of naming certain letters of the Glagolitic alphabet, drawing on a comprehensive linguistic, theological-philosophical, and cultural analysis. The author uses the term antonomasia in a conventional sense, referring not to a stylistic figure of speech but to a method hypothetically employed by Constantine-Cyril (or one of his later followers) to “rename” certain Glagolitic letters. This was achieved by replacing their original letter names – which, according to the presumed text of the original acrostic work, referred to God – with either a pronoun or another word, whether a full noun or a function word. This naming method parallels the practice among Orthodox Jews of substituting the names of God with various epithets in order to avoid violating the third commandment. The primary sources for this study include alphabetical lists (abecedaries) dating from the 10th to the 15th centuries, Chernorizets Hrabar’s treatise On the Letters, Old Bulgarian hymns featuring alphabetical acrostics in canons and cycles of stichera, and Church Slavonic works belonging to the “Explanatory Alphabet” genre. The analytical section examines cases of antonomasia involving letter names, in which initial theonyms are replaced by pronouns or common nouns, in two separate chapters. The first traces the various existing views on the origins of the respective literonyms and their interpretations in the context of the alphabetical acrostic; the author then presents her own position on the matter.

 

Keywords

Glagolitic alphabet; literonyms; antonomasia; alphabetical acrostics; theonyms; Old Bulgarian
literature.

 

How to cite this article

илиева, Татяна, (2026). Антономазията като способ на номинация при литеронимите в първата славянска азбука. In: Žeňuchová Šašerina, Svetlana (ed.). Písomné dedičstvo, jazyk a kultúrna pamäť v slovanskom svete. Nitra: Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa, s. 177-226. ISBN 978-80-558-2449-9 (tlač), ISBN 978-80-558-2450-5 (online). DOI 10.17846/pdjkss.2026.177-226

 

Public License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

 

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