Saint Xynoris is a fictional Christian saint who was created through a mistranslation. The saint was inadvertently fabricated by Caesar Baronius when he mistranslated the notes of John Chrysostom while chronicling the oppression of Christians under Roman Emperor Julian.
Mistranslation and creation
In his writings on the martyrdom of Saint Juventinus and Saint Maximinus, Cardinal Caesar Baronius described a "couple" of martyrs in Antioch, which he derived from the works of Saint Chrysostom, who used the Greek word Ζεύγος (couple or pair) to describe the two. This word (which is in fact an apellative noun) was incorrectly translated by Baronius into the name new name Xynoris, leading the Cardinal to declare that a female Christian had been martyred in Antioch alongside the two men. 25 January was the feast date assigned to the saint.
Baronius' error was later discovered and corrected, but the mistake was recorded as an example of mistranslation in books such as Henry B. Wheatley's History of Human Error.
References
- ^ Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (1893). Literary Blunders: A Chapter in the "History of Human Error.". E. Stock. p. 13.
Saint Xynoris.
- "Gallica -". visualiseur.bnf.fr. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
- ^ The Academy and Literature. Academy Publishing Company. 1881.
- Robinson, George W. (1917). "Ocium Heinsii". Classical Philology. 12 (3): 307. doi:10.1086/360108. JSTOR 263343.
- ^ The Month. 1881.
- Bayle, Pierre (1741). A General Dictionary: Historical and Critical: in which a New and Accurate Translation of that of the Celebrated Mr. Bayle, with the Corrections and Observations Printed in the Late Edition at Paris, is Included; and Interspersed with Several Thousand Lives Never Before Published. The Whole Containing the History of the Most Illustrious Persons of All Ages and Nations Particularly Those of Great Britain and Ireland, Distinguished by Their Rank, Actions, Learning and Other Accomplishments. With Reflections on Such Passages of Bayle, as Seem to Favor Scepticism and the Manichee System. J. Bettenham.
- ^ Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (1893). Literary Blunders: A Chapter in the "History of Human Error.". E. Stock. p. 13.
Saint Xynoris.