Svanuri zghap’rebis uordrop’iseul targmanta okspordis universit’et’shi /სვანური ზღაპრების უორდროპისეულ თარგმანთა ხელნაწერები ოქსფორდის უნივერსიტეტში [Manuscripts of Svan Fairy Tales translated by Marjory Wardrop at the University of Oxford]

Abstract

The Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford has preserved in its collection the “Svan Fairy Tales compiled “by the Free Svan”, Kutaisi 1893“. The Svan fairy tales, rendered into Georgian by Besarion Nizharadze are truly interesting not only in terms of their plot but also from the perspective of ethnolinguistics. The diverse Svan materials translated by Sir Oliver and Marjory Wardrops have been preserved in the collection of Oriental manuscripts at the Bodleian Library up to the present day. They include the legend related to the name of Prometheus and the study entitled Transcaucasian folktales about Prometheus, translated into English by Sir Oliver Wardrop and the English translation of the Svan fairy tales by Marjory Wardrop (which remain unpublished). As Professor Gillian Evison, Chair of the Marjory Wardrop Fund stated, the above-mentioned collection contains numerous manuscripts of Georgian fairy tales, however, those of the Svan origin have not been identified yet due to the absence of scholars specializing in the Svan language at Oxford University. The English translation by Marjory Wardrop of the Svan Fairy Tales, rendered into Georgian by Besarion Nizharadze is preserved in the form of the manuscript. The text, written down from almost a century and a half ago, is represented in such cursive handwriting that is difficult to read for even modern readers of English. The manuscript has been deciphered with the help of British citizens. We would like to thank Professor George Hewitt who arranged the digital version of the manuscript containing Marjory Wardrop’s English translation of the Georgian rendering of the Svan “Amirani”, which facilitated the ethnolinguistic analysis of the fairy tale. Sir Oliver and Marjory Wardrops found Caucasian folklore and, specifically, epic poetry very attractive. In their manuscripts, phraseological expressions are what first of all capture our attention. The language of the Svan Fairy Tales is primarily of general linguistic importance, in terms of diglossic specificity, and their manuscripts containing the English translation generate even more interest through the prism of bilingualism. საკვანძო სიტყვები: სვანური ზღაპრების ინგლისური თარგმანი, ბოდლეს წიგნთსაცავი, ბესარიონ ნიჟარაძე, მარჯორი უორდროპი. Keywords: English translation of Svan fairy tales, The Bodleian Library, Besarion Nizharadze, Marjory Wardrop.