Old Church Slavonic - Research

The natural milieu for research in Old Church Slavonic is the field of Classical philology, Slavistic and Medieval Studies. In the Department there is a natural connection to research on editorial philology and textual criticism within Arabic, Latin, Classical Greek and Old Church Slavonic. Old Church Slavonic is one of the subjects represented in the Medieval Committee at the University of Gothenburg.

Medieval Studies at the Department is represented among other things by research in the subject Old Church Slavonic, with two major themes: the history of language and the history of literacy, with a total of seven projects since 2004 (4 international and 3 national), 15 publications (2004-2009), 10 invited guest researchers (Swedish and international) and the organization of three conferences, two international and one national.

The support by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (The Tercentenary Fund of the Swedish National Bank) of the national project Digitalised descriptions of Slavonic Cyrillic manuscripts and early prints in Swedish libraries and archives (2010-2012; 5 million SEK, with four participating universities led by the University of Gothenburg) is the result of a long-term effort within the Medieval Studies profile that is creating possibilities for further development of this research area at the Department of Languages and Literatures. The project is opening up new source material and developing a standard for the description of early Slavonic prints which is innovative also in an international context.

Research on Old Church Slavonic within the Department of Languages and Literatures has resulted in several different projects. The main topics for research activities, publications, seminars and conferences are:

1. Slavic history of language, especially lexicology.
2. Text edition of Old Church Slavonic sources.
3. History of writing and literacy, development of the writing tradition, and creation of a specific environment for the production of writing during the Middle Ages.
4. Descriptions of medieval manuscripts and early printed books and a database with digitalised descriptions.

More information about current and finished projects, publications, and seminars.