The Codex Dimonie is a collection of Aromanian-language biblical and religious texts translated from Greek. It represents the most comprehensive collection of early Aromanian texts known to date, comprising 127 loose sheets, which were probably bound in the past. The Codex Dimonie was discovered by Gustav Weigand, who subsequently published it, in 1889 in the house of the brothers Iancu and Mihail Dimonie in Ohrid ( rup, Ohãrda), then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and now in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. The Codex Dimonie has been dated as being from the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century. Its exact year of writing is unknown. It is also unknown who made the translations, although it is assumed that it was more than one person. The Codex Dimonie includes the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

, the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

and the

Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom The Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is the most celebrated divine liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. It is named after its core part, the anaphora attributed to Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople in the 5th century. History It ...

. They are translations taken from Greek-language authors such as Damaskinos Stouditis and

Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...

. These translations present several features of the Grabovean dialect of Aromanian. The variety of

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

s that are used are indicative that the language lacked literary tradition at the time. The Codex Dimonie is one of the earliest Aromanian-language works along with the also anonymous

Aromanian Missal The Aromanian Missal ( rup, Lituryieru armãnescu; ro, Liturghier aromânesc) is an anonymous Aromanian-language instructive liturgical book (missal) variously referred to as dating from the beginning, the first half, the middle and the second ...

and the publications of

Theodore Kavalliotis Theodore Anastasios Kavalliotis ( el, Θεόδωρος Αναστασίου Καβαλλιώτης; rup, Teodor Anastasie Cavalioti; sq, Theodor Kavalioti, 1718 – 11 August 1789) was a Greek Orthodox priest, teacher and a figure of the Greek E ...

Daniel Moscopolites Daniel of Moscopole or Daniil of Moscopole (1754–1825; rup, Daniil Moscopoleanu or ; el, Δανιήλ Μοσχοπολίτης, Daniil Moschopolitis), also known as Mihali Adami Hagi ( rup, Mihali Adami Hagi), was an Aromanian scholar from Mo ...

and

Constantin Ucuta Constantin Ucuta was an Aromanian academic and protopope. He was born in Moscopole, an economically powerful city and Aromanian centre at the time then part of the Ottoman Empire and now part of Albania. He migrated to Posen, in Prussia (now P ...

. The texts that make up the Codex Dimonie are notably heterogeneous, indicating that they may have been written by several different authors. The place of origin of the Codex Dimonie is unknown, but the translators of the texts that wrote it were probably from Moscopole, once a prosperous Aromanian city now in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. The main author is presumed to have been the great-uncle of the Dimonie brothers with whom Weigand found the manuscripts; he might have been an Aromanian from Moscopole, or possibly descended from an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

-speaking family from the city. The authors of the manuscripts were fluent in Greek (albeit with poor grasp on the language's orthography),

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and Albanian. The manuscripts are entirely written in Aromanian using the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

. As this alphabet does not have

grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...

s to represent several Aromanian sounds, there is a defective and inconsistent rendering of these sounds through diacritics and the combination of graphemes. The intentions of the authors of the Codex Dimonie are unknown. Considering that the manuscripts were not structured in the form of teaching material, they likely did not intend to establish a

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...

for Aromanian or spread its use as a church language. The goal of the authors would rather have been more modest, limited to the translation and dissemination of religious texts, especially

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

s, the lives of

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s and knowledge on Aromanian religious practices. __NOTOC__

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* , digitized version in Vlahoi.net {{Moscopole Aromanian manuscripts History of the Aromanians Moscopole Anonymous works 18th-century Christian texts 18th-century manuscripts 19th-century Christian texts 19th-century manuscripts Aromanian studies