€. M, MACROBERT, Observations on the liturgical Psalter SLOVO 70 (2020)

of the wear that comes from repeated reading; the discoloration on a few fo-
lios near the end is probably due to the use of inferior parchment at that point
(pace TADIN 1953: 152).

A plausible factor in the neglect of this manuscript by potential us
as by modem scholars, is its tendency to compression: some texts appear
in abbreviated form (BADURINA STIPČEVIĆ 2006: 30-31; BADURINA
STIPČEVIĆ 2009: 10-11; BADURINA STIPČEVIĆ 2010: 47; BADURINA
STIPČEVIĆ 2016: 421), and the psalter included in the breviary is so far from
complete that its value in text-critical study has been characterized as negli-
gible (VAJS 1916: ix) or at best limited for purposes of quantitative analysis
(ŠIMIĆ 2000 : 118-120).! The presentational and textual peculiarities of the
psalter in MS 172 do, however, have implications for its intended use, and
they will therefore be the focus of the following observations.

 

 

2. ORGANIZATION OF THE PSALTER

Another shared characteristic of the liturgical compendia is that they assist
the recitation of the office hours through the week by inserting not only invi-
latoria, verses and antiphons, but also hymns and canticles at the appropriate
points in the psalter (VAJS 1910: xxxiii—xxxiv; VAJS 1948: 42; GRABAR
1984: 172-173), rather than listing them separately, as in manuscripts which
contain the breviary only (NAZOR 1977: 31; ŠIMIĆ 2014: 198-204). In MS
172 this practice is carried to the point of disrupting the order of psalms in
the psalter. So ps. 50 does not appear in sequence between pss. 50 and 52;
instead its incipit is provided for Lauds, together with those of pss. 62 and 148
and of the psalm for the day. Pss. 117 and 118 appear after ps. 120, because
Prime, Terce, Sext and None are located after Monday Vespers. Moreover,
even where the psalms are listed in the usual order, their presentation is not
uniform: they may be written out in full, or cited in alternating versicles, or
indicated by incipit only. The effect of these presentational peculiariti
be seen in the listing below.?

    

   

 

2.1. Liturgical psalter in MS 172 (omitting invitatoria,
verses and antiphons)

 

£. 188v Sunday Matins: pss. 1-8 incipits; ps. 9 in full; ps. 10 incipit; pss. 11-13
in alternation; pss. 14-16 incipits; ps. 17 in fullz pss. 18-20 incipits;

! T am grateful to Marinka Šimić for allowing me to consult her unpublished dissertation.

2 1 am much indebted to John Harper for advice on the structure of he liturgical psalter; any
errors are of course my responsibility.

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