Abstract:
Two Old Russian graffiti inscriptions are examined in the present paper. The first
one, dating back to the late 13th–early 14th centuries, is located on one of the walls
of the Savior Transfiguration Church in the St. Euphrosyne convent in Polotsk,
Belarus. It reads Marъkova žana dobra ‘Mark’s wife is good.’ The second graffito was
inscribed on a knife handle excavated in Drohiczyn, Eastern Poland (Old Russian
Dorogyčinъ), and dates to the end of the 11th through the 12th centuries. The
inscription reads Ežьkovъ nožь a iže i ukradetь proklętъ . . . ‘Ezhko’s knife. Whoever
steals it, be cursed . . .’ Although both inscriptions have been published, the
present study adds more in-depth paleographic and linguistic commentary and
suggests corrected readings. The laudatory inscription from Polotsk is particularly
interesting because it contains an early example of a spelling reflecting yakanye, a
trait of Belarusian phonetics, whereas the interest of the Drohiczyn inscription lies
in its unusual paleographic features.
