''David's Psalter'' (original Polish title: ''Psalterz Dawidow'')The form ''Dawidow'' here is not a

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...

plural, as it would be in standard modern Polish, but the masculine singular

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...

form of a

possessive adjective Possessive determiners (from la, possessivus, translit=; grc, κτητικός / ktētikós - en. ktetic Lallu) are determiners which express possession. Some traditional grammars of English refer to them as possessive adjectives, though they do ...

, meaning "of David". Se
this
Polish-language discussion by Mirosław Bańko, of PWN. The English translation "David's Psalter" is used, among others, by Michael J. Mikoś in ''Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century'' (p. 285) and by

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

in ''The History of Polish Literature'' (p. 63). is a poetic translation into Polish of the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

, by

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. ...

, the most prominent

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

of the Polish Renaissance. It was printed in 1579 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, at the Lazarus

printing house In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. Printers can include: *Newspaper printers, often owned by newspaper publishers *Magazine printers, usually independe ...

. Kochanowski, like contemporaries in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, used a Latin translation of the

as the basis for his translation. Well versed in the ancient

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, he combined the original's biblical spirit with the literary achievements of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

authors. Kochanowski's ''David's Psalter'' won recognition from both

Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Poland, and also resonated abroad, notably in the work of Moldavian Metropolitan Dosoftei. Some of Kochanowski's renderings of the Psalms are still used in Polish

Catholic mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Chri ...

es.

Notes

References

* Michael J. Mikoś, ''Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century: a Bilingual Anthology'', Warsaw, Constans, 1999. *

, ''The History of Polish Literature'', 2nd ed., Berkeley, University of California Press, 1983. {{Poland-poet-stub 1579 works 1579 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Polish poems Psalters Polish poets