Grecisms in the Ancient Armenian Timaeus

The article presents the results of a linguistic and traductological analysis of the ancient Armenian version of the Timaeus as preserved in the primary witnesses (chiefly, ms. V 1123, San Lazzaro, Venice), in relation with its Greek source. The author addresses three linguistic features influenced by Greek (non-Classical compound verbs, genitive absolutes and circumstantial infinitives in the instrumental case), examining their distribution and degree of correspondence with their Greek equivalents. The data suggest that the translator did not operate mechanically. He was clearly able to recognise morphological or syntactical parallelisms between Greek and Armenian elements, but did not feel compelled to apply any biunique correspondences between them. Grecisms clearly coexisted alongside more genuinely Armenian options in his linguistic competence, as they were not confined to passages in which the corresponding Greek features were attested. Once combined with the results acquired through a previous analysis focused on the semantic field of “being” and “becoming”, the new data concur in drawing the picture of a skilled translator (or team), who had a good – although by no means perfect ‒ understanding of the linguistically and philosophically complex source text, and was able to make creative use of linguistic features of different origins in order to convey its perceived meaning.