THE USE OF THE PARTICLE было IN THE TRANSLATION OF OVID’S Metamorphoses AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 18th CENTURY

The particle было in the analyzed translation is mostly used in meanings uncommon to Russian language in the 18th century, under the influence of the Polish original of the text. Comparing two copies of the Metamorphosestranslation shows that the later version of the text contains fewer examples of this particle in meanings specific to Polish. In the earlier version, the particle былоhas a number of features eliminated during thelater corrections: it can agree with the predicate and be used instead of the conditional form. The most interesting feature of былоis its use without correspondence to the Polish originalin some contexts. This can be evidence of the assimilation of the borrowed meanings of the particle in the use of the translator.