16 Century Macedonian Lexicon Found at the Vatican

On Sunday October 27th, 2013 the CMHS held a lecture at the East York Civic Centre. A 16th century Macedonian lexicon that was found at the Vatican archives was presented by professor Joseph Schallert a Slavic linguist from the University of Toronto and professor Kosta Peev (author of Lexicon of Macedonian Dialects of SE Aegean Macedonia). Lecture notes and documents of the event are presented below.

A 16th century old Lexicon was discovered at the Archivum Secretum Vaticanum, the secret Vatican Library in the late 1940’s.
It is written using the Greek alphabet and it was thought for some time that it was a Greek language. However it could not be deciphered using Greek, and when read out it was discovered that the Language is Macedonian relating to the Old Kostur Dialect from the Aegean / Greek occupied Macedonia. Two University professors Ciro Giannelli, Andre Vaillant have written a book on the subject dated 1954 “Un Lexique Macedonien Du XVI Siecle.

Odyssey Belchevsky Director of Cultural Events:

This book presents solid proof amongst many others that the Macedonian Language had existed for many centuries prior to the creation of the Modern independent State of Macedonia. The initiative and inspiration for this important event came from our Honorable President of Macedonia, Mr.George Ivanov. During his visit to Canada earlier this year, He personally delivered to the Canadian Macedonian Historical Society a copy of the book based on the Vatican sources form 1954 “Un Lexique Macedonien Du XVI Siecle. We are grateful and proud as Macedonians and Canadians of Macedonian Heritage to have this book in our Society Library.

Click to View: Lecture Notes