Oana UȚĂ 

HIC SUNT... MONSTRI:  CREATURI FANTASTICE ŞI REPREZENTĂRILE LOR  ÎN TEXTELE ROMÂNEŞTI DIN EPOCA VECHE  

(SECOLELE AL XVI‐LEA – AL XVIII‐LEA) 

 

HIC SUNT... MONSTRI:  CREATURI FANTASTICE ŞI REPREZENTĂRILE LOR  ÎN TEXTELE ROMÂNEŞTI DIN EPOCA VECHE  (SECOLELE AL XVI‐LEA – AL XVIII‐LEA) 

 

Autor: Oana UȚĂ Conducător ştiințific: Acad. Grigore BRÂNCUŞ 

  Lucrare  realizată  în  cadrul proiectului  „Valorificarea  identităților  culturale  în procesele  globale”,  cofinanțat  din  Fondul  Social  European  prin  Programul Operațional Sectorial Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane 2007 – 2013, contractul de finanțare nr. POSDRU/89/1.5/S/59758. Titlurile şi drepturile de proprietate intelectuală şi industrială asupra rezul‐tatelor  obținute  în  cadrul  stagiului  de  cercetare  postdoctorală  aparțin Academiei Române.     

Punctele de vedere exprimate în lucrare aparțin autorului şi nu angajează  Comisia Europeană şi Academia Română, beneficiara proiectului. 

 Exemplar gratuit. Comercializarea în țară şi străinătate este interzisă.  

Reproducerea, fie şi parțială şi pe orice suport, este posibilă numai cu acordul prealabil  al Academiei Române. 

 ISBN 978‐973‐167‐180‐2         Depozit legal: Trim. II 2013 

Oana UȚĂ   

 

 

Hic sunt... monstri: Creaturi fantastice  

şi reprezentările lor în textele româneşti din epoca veche (secolele al XVI-lea – al XVIII-lea)

 

  

 

 

 

 

Editura Muzeului Național al Literaturii Române 

Colecția AULA MAGNA 

 

5

CUPRINS

(ÎN LOC DE) ARGUMENT .................................................................................. 7

„SICUT SIRENES<‛ sau despre TRANSLATIO STUDII

în textele lui DIMITRIE CANTEMIR ................................................................ 11

Corpus ........................................................................................................................... 37

Dicționare ...................................................................................................................... 39

Bibliografie .................................................................................................................... 41

UN MONSTRU DEGHIZAT: LILIACUL

(sau despre metamorfozele unui GENUS AVIUM) ........................................ 45

Corpus ........................................................................................................................... 97

Bibliografie .................................................................................................................. 101

ONOCENTAURII: DISCURS DESPRE CREATURA LINGUISTICA

(sau despre cum centaurii au putut fi luaţi drept maimuţe) ....................... 106

Corpus ......................................................................................................................... 143

Bibliografie .................................................................................................................. 145

INTERMEZZO: CARTEA LUI IOV sau despre tipuri succesive de

INTERPRETATIO HERMENEUTICA: de la şacali la sirene şi bălauri ..... 149

Corpus ......................................................................................................................... 171

Bibliografie .................................................................................................................. 174

MONSTRUOSUL ÎNTRUPAT sau DESPRE IEPURELE CU DOUĂ

CAPETE............................................................................................................... 178

Corpus ......................................................................................................................... 207

Bibliografie .................................................................................................................. 210

CONCLUZII ....................................................................................................... 213

ADDENDA ......................................................................................................... 220

Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 220

Summary ..................................................................................................................... 222

220

ADDENDA

Abstract

In ancient times monsters are mentioned equally in the Bible, in the works of the Church Fathers and in popular texts, being a structural part of

specific topoi which enjoyed a large circulation in the European culture and

in the Romanian one through various sources.

The monsters described in the Romanian imaginary can be traced to

various traditions, either scholar or popular. One of the scholar traditions is

set by the Bible. During the Hellenistic age, translators of the Septuagint would adapt the Hebrew text to a different cultural space then the one

described in the original, resulting in an interpretatio graeca of the biblical

message. Translatio studii conceived by the translators of the Septuagint would favour the transfer of the monsters from the Greek mythology to the

biblical text. Sirens and centaurs would creep in the Septuagint, being a

proof that the translation was focused on the reader, whose cultural background had been impregnated with such creatures.

The presence of hybrid mythological creatures in the Bible could not

be fully explained by linguistic reasons, as the Hebrew text does not mention sirens or centaurs. Compared to the original, the Greek translation

is false as regards the original references. Although it is not bona fide to the

references instantiated by the Hebrew text, the Septuagint maintains, however, the sense of the original.

Being familiar with the Septuagint and the translations made by

Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus, Hieronymus held on to most of the mythological creatures in the Latin version of the Bible. In this latter

version the monsters would proliferate compared to the Greek version, as

in the Vulgate, alongside sirens and centaurs are attested the lamiae.

The two versions (Latin and Greek) of the Holy Scriptures were

known in the Romanian space, where, as the Bible is translated, various

hybrid creatures would make their appearance. The Romanian translators

221

would limit themselves to borrow as such the original terminology,

without any other alterations to the sacred texts. Sirens, onocentaurs and lamiae would finally populate the Romanian bibles, as the translators

genuinely followed the Greek-Latin pattern of the original text. From the

Greek or Latin versions to the Romanian ones, some of the monsters became mere nomina nuda or linguistic creatures, which were kept in

translation only because they had been mentioned in the original text.

Unlike the Septuagint or the Vulgate, the Romanian translations of the Bible are not focused on the reader, who in order to understand the sacred

text would have needed a cultural encyclopaedia already accessible to a

reader from the Greek or Latin space.

222

Summary

FOREWORD ........................................................................................................... 7

‚SICUT SIRENES‛ OR ON TRANSLATIO STUDII IN DIMITRIE CANTEMIR’S WORKS .............................................................. 11

Primary Sources and Dictionaries ................................................................................. 37

Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 41

A MONSTER IN DISGUISE: THE BAT OR ON THE METAMOPHOSIS OF A GENUS AVIUM ....................................................... 45

Primary Sources ............................................................................................................. 97

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 101

ONOCENTAURS: DISCOURSE ON THE CREATURA LINGUISTICA (OR ON HOW THE CENTAURS COULD BE SEEN AS APES) ........................................................................................... 106

Primary Sources ........................................................................................................... 143

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 145

INTERMEZZO: THE BOOK OF JOB OR ON THE SUCCESIVE TYPES OF INTERPRETATIO HERMENEUTICA: FROM JACKALS TO SIRENS AND DRAGONS .......................................................................... 149

Primary Sources ........................................................................................................... 171

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 174

THE MONSTROUS EMBODIED OR ON THE DOUBLE HEADED RABBIT ............................................................................................. 178

Primary Sources ........................................................................................................... 207

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 210

CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................. 213

ADDENDA ......................................................................................................... 220

Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 220

Summary ..................................................................................................................... 222

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Editura Muzeului Național al Literaturii Române 

CNCS PN ‐ II ‐ ACRED ‐ ED ‐ 2012 – 0374 Coperta colecției: AULA MAGNA 

Machetare, tehnoredactare şi prezentare grafică:  Ortansa CIUTACU, Nicolae LOGIN Logistică editorială şi diseminare:  Ovidiu SÎRBU, Radu AMAN 

 Traducerea sumarului şi sintezei, corectură şi bun de tipar  

asigurate de autor  

ISBN 978‐973‐167‐180‐2                   Apărut trim. II 2013