Friday, July 29, 2016

Minuscule 1424 – Help: Is this a correction?

12
I could use some help.

Here is minuscule 1424 at 1 Pet 4:11, located on the CSNTM website as GA_1424_0213b.jpg. [I haven’t found a way to navigate the CSNTM without wanting to end my life, but the image is roughly 60% down, two pages before 2Pt]


My gripe is with the reading ης χορηγει.

It seems to me that the first letter of ης is the result of a correction, mostly because of its dark ink, but also because of the majuscule η that is used. The circumflex above is part of the correction, but the breathing seems original.

Which leads me to assume, if correct, that we had here originally ὡς, just as in the line above, after the comma. The omega would fit under the current eta.

Am I seeing things that are not there? And, in light of the discussion earlier in the week is this a 1424*vid, or is this all too speculative?

12 comments

  1. The ink certainly matches the other corrections on the same page. Since ως is the only other reading attested here (other than the omission) and it's attested by Byz, I think it's a safe guess. But I admit I can't make anything out under that eta.

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  2. Definitely a correction. The question is: what was erased? My first guess, based on the shape of what seems to be remains of the erased ink, is - concurring with you - an omega. A good case for some additioinal multispectral imaging of that detail. A *vid would probably need some such approach or, at least, a visual inspection.

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  3. Holding my caliper up to my screen, it looks like the distance from the left edge of the smudge beneath the corrected η to the left edge of the following σ is exactly the same as the distance from the left edge of the ω to the left edge of the following σ earlier on the same line.

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  4. "I haven’t found a way to navigate the CSNTM without wanting to end my life" Having recently navigated through well over a hundred pages in multiple manuscripts on the site, I can heartily sympathize! The most frustrating part to me is the inability to progress to the next page while in full screen mode.

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    1. Thanks for the suggestion! It is already on our list for future updates. We always like hearing about ways to make things easier and more productive for you! If you have additional suggestions, you can always submit them to us on our website or feel free to email me. Maybe we can even offer some tips to help you accomplish what you want.

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    2. Thanks! Is there a way to incorporate tagging for images that indicates that a particular verse is found on a particular page? I wouldn't be able to provide the start and stop points, but I should be able to give one or two references per image for a good part of the epistles as part of a project I am working on. If that could be of any use to you all I would be happy to share the info. Regardless of the ease of use, I'm very thankful for the work that you all are doing! :-)

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    3. Absolutely! I'll email you personally about it.

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  5. If someone is in the Chicago area, they could do an autopsy of 1424 at this spot to check it for sure. I looked at this manuscript several years ago when SBL met in Chicago. It's at the Lutheran School of Theology on the north side of the city. If I remember right, it's the oldest known complete copy of the entire NT in Greek after Sinaiticus (01).

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  6. I am not fully convinced. In the line just preceding, the abbreviation θυ is also in the same dark ink -- is that a correction as well? The same applies two lines further down in relation to the first letter of αιωνας. Also, what might look like an erasure might just be a stain on the page or bleedthrough from the other side. Without a clear indication of an Omega having been present, I would not give the supposed ως reading even a "vid" at this point.

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    1. That the θυ is a correction seems clear from the shape of the letters — both theta and upsilon are formed markedly differently by the original scribe. Also, the corrector has a shaky hand. There is a correction at the end of line 4 on the same page that looks to be his work too. But the first letter of αιωνασ looks to me pretty much like the original hand.

      As regards the ησ, the different shape of the eta seems conclusive. The original reading must have been a vowel since the breathing is original. What else could the corrector have wished to correct than ως? Conceivably (but improbably) ος.

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  7. Dirk,
    Regarding navigating First Peter in 1424 at CSNTM: try running a search for the book, chapter, and verse.

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  8. Thanks all, this is apparently a case in which only the actual manuscript will do.

    As for the CSNTM navigation issues, I am glad to have learned that the beginning of books within a manuscript is (or can be) marked relatively easily by the folk at CSNTM. A substantial step in the right direction.

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