Beersheba or Well of the Oath? To the Problem of Place Names in the Old Bulgarian Translation of the Old Testament Books

Abstract

The paper deals with the ways of translating the Hebrew Beersheba in the text of Septuagint – Βηρσαβεέ and φρέαρ τοῦ ὅρκου and respectively their Old Bulgarian correspondences. It is pointed out that the reason for such a choice is related to the ways in which the toponyms are functioning in the biblical text. Often, they are not more than names given to certain places but sometimes they have a more far-reaching meaning. This is particularly true when they receive a function in aetiological context that offers a short explanation of the name. Besides, the place names are often used with a double entendre – on the one hand, the author uses them as toponyms and on the other he aims to explain or characterize the specific nature of the place. The discussed Old Bulgarian names of ancient Beersheba once again raise the question of the identification of certain word groups as lexical units. Attention is drawn to other multi-word nominations for places used in various Old Testament books. Most of them, apparently, appeared in the process of Septuagint translating and are a result of word creation of the Old Bulgarian translators of the Biblical books.