Introduction to Old Church Slavonic

Pavia Summer School 2026

Thomas Olander

Figure 1: Zographensis 5r. From expositions.nlr.ru.

Front matter

Preamble

Parts of this text were translated from Danish to English by Matthew Scarborough in 2023.

The synchronic descriptions draw heavily on Vaillant (1964). Other parts have been adapted from Andersen & Olander (forthcoming).

Slavic forms and meanings are largely taken from Derksen (2008).

Aim of the course

The course gives an introduction to the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family through the lens of its oldest documented representative, Old Church Slavonic (OCS). In Session 1 we become familiar the Slavic language group and discuss its internal structure and its relationship to the other Indo-European branches. We take a look at the alphabets used for writing OCS and get an overview of the scholarly literature needed for the study of the history of the Slavic languages. In Session 2 we become acquainted with the phonological system of OCS and discuss its historical background, from PIE over Proto-Balto-Slavic, Proto-Slavic and Common Slavic. Session 3 and 4 give overviews of the OCS nominal and verbal systems and their historical background. All sessions include OCS reading samples illustrating OCS itself and the historical processes that contributed to shaping Slavic.

Overview

Session 1 (Monday, 7 September 2026): Slavic and OCS

  1. The Slavic languages 1.1
  2. Proto-Slavic and Common Slavic 1.2
  3. Slavic and the other Indo-European branches 1.3
  4. Old Church Slavonic 1.4
  5. Old Church Slavonic text reading 1: Matthew 5.11 10.2

Session 2 (Wednesday, 9 September 2026): The sounds of OCS

  1. OCS phonology 2
  2. History of the OCS phonological system 3
  3. Old Church Slavonic reading 2: Matthew 5.12 10.3

Session 3 (Friday, 11 September 2026): The grammar of OCS: nouns

  1. The OCS nominal system 4
  2. History of the OCS nominal system 5
  3. Old Church Slavonic reading 3: Matthew 5.13 10.4

Session 4 (Saturday, 12 September 2026): The grammar of OCS: verbs

  1. The OCS verbal system 6
  2. History of the OCS verbal system 7
  3. Indeclinable words 8.1, word formation 8.2, syntax 8.3
  4. Old Church Slavonic reading 4: Matthew 5.14 10.5

Appendix