Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/914

* OLD CHURCH SLAVIC LANGUAGE. r8o OLDENBURG. closely to the c-liaraeteristic rcpresfututions of the Judo-Cieiuianic sound-system which mark the Slavic languages (q.v.). Tile inllection of Old Church Slavic is full ami in many eases primitive in type. The noun has three numbers, singular, plural, and dual; seven cases, nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, and inslnunental : and three systems of declension, nominal, pronominal, and compound. There are six nominal declensions, according as the stems end in -o, -(/, -i, -u, -u, or a consonant. As in other Indo-Germanic languages, the pronominal declension was originally entirely dill'crcnt from the nominal, although transfers from one system of inllection to the other are not infrequent. The compound inflection, pecu- liar to the Slavic and Scandinavian languages, is formed by adding the pronoun i to an ad- jective or a participle, both parts of which are then declined, as dobra, 'of good (man)', yego 'of him,' dobrayego, 'of the good (man).' The jnoeess, therefore, is precisely analogous to the Scandinavian article suffixed to a noun, as Old Icelandic horp.s-tns, 'of the shield.' The com- parative of the adjective is formed by -y'ls, -vyis. as kripiiku, 'stnmg,' krrpyii ; dohru, 'good,' dohrCi ; and the superlative is either the com- parative used with superlative force, or is formed by prefixing nai- to the comparative, as vaiKii'pyii, 'strongest.' The verb in Old Chiirch .Slavic, as in other languages of this group, is either perfective, expressive of a completed ac- tion, or iniperfcAive, denoting either a continuous (durative) or interru]ited (iterative) acticm. . durative verb Ijeconies perfective if a preposition is prefi.xed (as nestl. "to carry,' but iziiesti, 'to carry out'), while inider like conditions an itera- tive verb becomes durative, or more rarely itera- tive-perfective. Only two of the original tenses are retained, present and aorist, and only two moods, indicative and imperative, the latter be- ing originally an optative. The Tndo-Germanic middle voice has tieen lost, like the future and perfect tenses, while of the original passive only the present and perfect participles (as rcdoniii, rrdciiu. from rc.ili, 'to conduct') remain. In addition (o the active infinitive there is a supine corresponding precisely to that found in Latin (as Latin dntiim. Old Church Slavic dalii. fnmi dare, dali, 'to give'). The aorist. inherited from the Pre-Tndo-Cermanic period, is formed either with or without .?, the latter class steadily in- creasing at the expense of the former. The im- perfect is specifically a Slavic formation, being made apparently by adding to a datival (or pos- sibly loeatival) infinitive an augmented imperfect of the root '/■<■ 'to be.' as yidriivhii. rrdfrhii, from rrsli, 'to conduct.' The future and perfect, like the pluperfect, future 7)erfect, passive, and con- ditional, are periphrastic in formation, alfhough the future is often expressed by the present, and the passive by a reflexive made by the active with the reflexive pronoun .if. 'himself (as otil trhe hrlstili He, 'to be baptized by thee' more rarely hf nnptiann. 'it was written'). Tn syntax the most noteworthy features are the use of the genitive instead of the accusative after negative verl)s. and after transitive verbs in the ease of proper names, a nsa^e which prnbably arose from the desire to avoid the ambiguity resulting from the identity of form of the nominative and neeusative singular of mnsculir»e nouns: the use of the dative as an absolute case, and the use of the predicative dative after verbs of becoming (as i siroloyii dOti.ili ne btidclu, 'and the child shall not become an orphan'). (Jld Cluirch Slavic is written in two alphabets, called (jlagolitic and Cyrillic. (.See tiLiVciouT.s.; Cykii.lic Au'iiAniiT. ) The literature, which is of considerable extent, and consists altogether of translations, is entirely religious. liesides the Bible, there are versions of the Kuchologium, homilies, legends of the saints, and certain apoc- ryphal books. Consult: Schleicher, I'ormcnlclire dvr kirchcn- slavischeit, Hprache (Bonn, 1852) ; Ziljski, IJzajcmna slocnica (Prague, 18G5) ; Chodzka, (liuiiiiiiaire paU'osldiv (I'aris, 18Ut)) ; Leskicn, llandbuch der altbuUjurischen (allhirtlicn- slinvisclien) Sprache (3d ed., Weimar, 189S) ; Vondri'ik, Altkirchcnslaunsche Grammatik (Ber- lin, 1000) ; Wiedemann, lieitriige zur allbiil- garischcn Conjugation (Saint Petersburg, ISSti) ; .Meillet, liecherches sur I'emploi du ginilif-accu- sutif en vieux-slave (Paris, 1897); !Miklosich, Lexicon Lingiice Hlovcnicw Vctcris Dialecti (Vienna, 18.50). OLD COLONY. The name given to the terri- tory of 1lic I'lyinouth Colony in Massachusetts, and later extended to the whole State. OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, The. A novel by Charles Dickens (1840). It appeared first as a serial in a weekly publication, Muntcr Hum- phrcy's Clock, but was published independently. The keeper of the shop and his grandchild. Little Nell, are driven by poverty to a wandering life, and nu'et kind friends, among them Mrs. .larley and the schoolmaster, with whom tlwy find their last refuge. Little Xell dies before help reaches them. Other prominent characters are the hideous dwarf. Quilp. Sally Bra-;s and her brother, Dick Swiveller, and the Marchioness. OLD DOMINION. Virginia. .See St.tes, Poi'ii.AH .ami:s of. OLDENBERG, rd'dai-berK. Herm.xx (1854 — ). . (iernum Orientalist and philologist. He was born in Hamburg, and was educated at Giit- tingen and Berlin. Upon graduation at the latter university he became i)rivat-doccnt there. and later professor extraordinarius. He was called to Kiel in l.SSn as professor of Sanskrit and comparative pbilologv. He has published The Dipui-iiiiisn (187!i);" The Vinai/a Piliikiim (ISTns:)); The riicninOlhu (1883): "Vinava Texts," in Max Miiller, t<<wrcd Hooks of Ihc East (1881-85); liuddha, srin Lchen, seine Lehrc und srinc Oc- nicindc (1881; 2d ed. 1890: trans. 1882): Die llymuen des Rigveda (1888): Die Iteligion des Veda (1894) : aiid "Vedic Hvnms Translated." in M:iN Miillrr. burred Hooks of the East (1.897). OLDENBURG, Ml'dcn-boorK. A grand dticliy of the (iennan Empire, composed of the Dudiy of Oldenburg and the two principalities of Birken- feld (q.v.) and I,iil)eck. The Duchy of Olden- burg, which constitutes the bulk of the State, is bcuuided by the North Sea on the north, by the Prussian Province of Hanover and the State of P.remen on the east, ami by Hanover on the south and west (Map: Germany. C 2). Total area. 2479 square miles. The Duchy of Olden- burg forms a part of the northwestern plain of (Jermany. It is low and marshy along the coast where it has to be protected from the sea. while the interior, somewhat higher, is mostly sandy and