Thread: Help with two words in Old Russian

Hi everybody,

I am new to this forum and I hope you can help me with this. I ran into an inscription in an 18th century manuscript that goes something like this:

насеи бомагѣ (домагѣ?) иобвиносъ (?подпинοсъ? подвинοсъ? иобвикοсъ?) смиренно[и?
Святия афтонския Горы манастир[ъ? a?
николая чудотворца въкрѣпости
корфуя архимандритъ никита

The "б"s in the first line may well be "д"s, although those below are formed in a different way. The third word is really hard to figure out, I came up with some of the possibilities. It definitely ends in -инοсъ and the second letter is "o", but the first and the fourth look pretty much the same, similar to а "п".

Also, because of the binding the last letters in the first two lines are not visible on the image so I can't figure out the precise syntax.

I know Old Church Slavonic but my Russian is rudimentary. I would expect a formula of the type "On this place I found myself, in the monastery of (name), me the sinful (name) from (name)" but I can't figure it out, any help is highly appreciated!

Thanks everybody very much in advance!

It would be a good idea to post here a photo with high resolution.

насеи бомагѣ (домагѣ?) иобвиносъ (?подпинοсъ? подвинοсъ? иобвикοсъ?) смиренно[и? - No ideas
Святия афтонския Горы манастир[ъ? a? - Saint Mount Athos' monastery
николая чудотворца въ крѣпости - of St. Nicolas the Wonder-Worker in the fortress
корфу я архимандритъ никита of Corfu I, archimandrite Nikita

Thank you so much it-ogo!! Indeed the "я" in "корфуя" is a little larger and slightly separated from the rest of the phrase and it makes sense altogether.

However I can't figure out the meaning of the phrase - is the monastery of St Nicholas in the Mount Athos or in the fortress of Corfu?

Also, does "бомага" mean something like "document" or could the word in the first line be somehow connected to the word "дом"? I looked up some dictionaries and found the word "бумага" for paper. The letter looks more like a "б" though.

I have also found the verb "подвинуть(ся)" to mean something like "move" but the ending "-осъ" doesn't look convincing. Could it perhaps be 1st sg. reflexive aorist? "I moved"?

Thanks again!

Here is the image:



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I think that the first line is in Greek.
The last word on the second line is смиренных

... бумага .... смиренных
Святыя афтонские Горы (Геры) ... (монастырь)
Николая чудотворца ... (certainly not крепости)
Корфуя (?) архимандрит Никита (?)

Originally Posted by Ramil

I think that the first line is in Greek.

+1

Николая чудотворца ... (certainly not крепости)

+1

It's hard to read.

But at least there is a Russian St.Nicolas monastery on Corfu. I am not sure what about Athos.

на сей бомагѣ побѣи насъ смиренныхъ ??

Originally Posted by chaika

на сей бомагѣ побѣи насъ смиренныхъ ??

Thanks chaika! That sounds great - what does it mean?

Originally Posted by VladimirB

Originally Posted by chaika

на сей бомагѣ побѣи насъ смиренныхъ ??

Thanks chaika! That sounds great - what does it mean?

It depends on whether побѣи had a different meaning back then.
Literally it means : On this paper beat (strike) us, the humble, (down).

the whole thing does not yet make sense to me.