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medieval worlds • no. 11 • 2020
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 11 • 2020, pp. 17-59, 2020/06/30
This article traces the development of language use in the imperial chancery of Constantinople. After Emperor Justinian I permitted Greek as the official language for documents concerning the Greek-speaking areas, his successors followed this path; Greek was increasingly preferred and started to replace Latin in documents that addressed the entire empire and, in a final stage, in imperial documents directed to Western addressees. To illustrate this process, the respective documents are discussed insofar as the preserved texts allow the drawing of safe conclusions about their original language and the stages of its development. For this reason, the texts are examined with regard to the target audience and, if Latin, to chancery or local translations.
Keywords: Byzantine chancery; Latin in Byzantium; Byzantine documents; Byzantine laws; Latin documents in Byzantium