The manuscript was discovered in 1975 in the Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine. It is currently still located in the monastery. The manuscript is completely preserved, and contains 145 leaves measuring 13.5 x 11 cm and has its original binding intact.[2] The text dates back to the 11th century, [3] and was published in its entirety in 2012 by Austrian historians.[4][5]
Description
The publisher of the description of the manuscript, Ioannis Tarnanidis, called it "The Psalter of Dmitry the Altarnik" on the basis of an entry on folio 1a, where the expression ⰰⰸⱏ ⰴⱏⰿⱅⱃⱏ ⰳⱃⰵⱎⱀⰺⰽⱏ (az дъмтръ гіріні) is followed by the beginning of a word that has not been preserved in full: ⱁⰾ(...), presumably, this is the beginning of the word ol (tarnik) . The name "Dmitry" is repeated on folio 141b: az dmtryi pisakh se.[2]
The manuscript contains the Psalm of David, and contains the writings of two various scribes. The first is believed to have written the leaves: 1b-2a, 3a, 35b-141b, 142a-145b, and the second wrote the rest. Both scribes are alternating with different handwriting, and there are many unfilled pages in between that are filled with notes and prayers in Glagolitic writing.
The writing shows transitions within the Church Slavonic alphabet, as it contains orthography with ⱏ, the use of four yus, the presence of ⱋ, ⱎ, and ⱅ, and the clarification of reduced vowels with Cyrillic influence.
There are multiple notes and inserts in the manuscript in Greek, Latin, and Glagolitic. There are deuterocanonical texts, and recipes to protect against various ailments. The texts of the recipes contain unknown and little-known words and expressions that shed light on the culture of Balkan Slavs, such as: ⱍⰰⰹ (chai), ⱁⰱⱏⱃⰺⱀⱏ (obrin), ⱂⱁⰽⱃⰺⰲⱏⱀⱁ ⰾⰺⱄⱅⰲⱏⰵ (crooked foliage), ⰸⱁⰴⱏ (zod), ⱁⰿⰰⱀⱏ (Oman), ⰿⱁⱅⱏⰹⰾⰰ (mot'ila), ⱄⱅⱆⰴⰵⱀⰺⱌⰰ (jelly), and ⱍⱔⰱⱃⰵⱀⱁ (чѧbreno).[6]
According to the Bulgarian professor Boryana Velcheva, the manuscript comes from Northeastern Bulgaria, although most scholars, including the editors of the manuscript, have pointed out that the manuscript represents a collaboration between multiple scribes and was most likely produced on Sinai itself, while the scribe Demetrius came from the Adriatic coast, possibly the area of Zeta/Duklja/Hum. Among Western Balkan features, the main text of the manuscript contains characters such as "ⱓ" instead of "ⱙ", which likely points to Serbian or Croatian scribes.
Nazor, Anica (2 November 1996). "Bašćanski ostrišci iz 12. st". Vjesnik (in Croatian). Zagreb. p. 17.
Rosenschon, Ursula (1994). "Sechs Seiten medizinischer Rezepte im glagolitischen Psalter 3/N des Sinaiklosters". Byzantinoslavica (in German). 55 (2): 304–335.
Marti, Roland (1999). "Abecedaria. A Key to the Original Slavic Alphabet". Thessaloniki – Magna Moravia. pp. 175–200.
Miklas, Heinz; Gau, Melanie (2000). "Preliminary Remarks on the Old Church Slavonic Psalterium Demetrii Sinaitici". The Bible in Slavic Tradition. p. 21.
