Staročeské biblické prology: argumenta k listům sv. Pavla

In the oldest Czech translation of the whole Bible from the mid-14th century, the Pauline Epistles are preceded by short prefaces containing a brief summary of the given letter, the so-called Argumenta. At first, the article analyses the Argumenta included in three Bibles of the so-called first redaction and compares them with the respective prefaces, included in two 15th century collections of the Prologues, the so-called Litoměřice Prologues and St. Vitus Metropolitan Chapter Prologues. The following part of the paper studies the occurrence and character of these prefaces in the Bibles of the second redaction and their employment in the Bibles of the third redaction. The conclusion is arrived at that the Argumenta were newly translated for the collection of Prologues, and this text was taken over by the Bibles of the second redaction; in the Bibles of the third redaction, the text of the Argumenta was substantially modified or replaced by a new translation. In the Bibles compiled beyond the main evolutionary stream of the Old Czech Bible translations, the Argumenta of the Pauline Epistles were subject to more frequent changes.