The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dositheos II (1669-1707), had no classical education and was largely self-taught. Yet, he is known for his important work as an author and editor and for his many exchanges with people of different backgrounds. In his various activities, his “own language”, namely Greek, was certainly the one he used most often, but it was not the only one. Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Romanian and Georgian were also part of his linguistic landscape. On the other hand, he possessed no knowledge of Latin or other Western languages. Based on Dositheos’ own account, taken from his History of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem (Bucharest 1715 [1722]), this study seeks not only to examine Dositheos’ multilingualism, but also to understand the authority he granted to the various languages, both learned and vernacular, with which he was confronted. More generally, the aim is to ask what paths a man like Dositheos might have taken to gain a place in the Republic of Letters.
Ecole pratique des hautes études, France - ORCID: 0000-0002-7398-1298
Chapter Title
Matériaux pour l’étude du plurilinguisme en contexte ottoman. Le cas de Dosithée II de Jérusalem
Authors
Vassa Kontouma
Language
French
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0646-4.12
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Cristiani orientali e Repubblica delle Lettere (XVI-XVIII sec.) / Chrétiens orientaux et République des Lettres (16e-18e s.) / Östliche Christen und die Gelehrtenrepublik (16.-18. Jh.)
Editors
Marcello Garzaniti, Vassa Kontouma, Vasilios N. Makrides
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
510
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0646-4
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0645-7
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0646-4
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0647-1
Series Title
Europe in between. Histories, cultures and languages from Central Europe to the Eurasian Steppes
Series ISSN
2975-0318
Series E-ISSN
2975-0326