Martin Rösel and Translation Culture (LXX 6)

For general orientation to this series of posts see here.

Martin Rösel, ‘Schreiber, Übersetzer, Theologen. Die Septuaginta als Dokument der Schrift-, Lese- und Übersetzungskulturen des Judentums’ in Die Septuaginta - Texte, Kontexte, Lebenswelten: Internationale Fachtagung veranstaltet von Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), Wuppertal 20.-23. Juli 2006 (ed Martin Karrer & Wolfgang Kraus; WUNT 219; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 83-102.

Rösel surveys the evidence and understanding of translation and bilingualism in the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical sources in pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic times. He further investigates the social environment within which the Greek translation arose, highlighting the complexity of having multiple translations, revisions and geographical locations to consider.

Rösel takes a balanced view being sympathetic to a library or museum provenance by learned translators, but without excluding the possibility that the translators also moved in "synagogal" circles from where many common words such as διαθήκη for ברית, νόμος for תורה and δικαιοσύνη for צדקה arose. He also argues for the existence of word-lists or concordances used in the translation task (94-95).

--
Μυρτώ Θεοχάρους

ecclesiologia.blogspot.com

Interview with Maurice Robinson

Bob Hayton of the KJV Only Debate Blog tells me there is a three part interview with Maurice Robinson being posted this week.

Here is the link to the first part of the interview.

Here is the link that by Wednesday will show all three parts of the interview.

Bob also told me that it was in the comments on this blog that he and Maurice met up and from that planned this interview – everything we blog makes circles on the water.

Byzantine Reader's Edition Is Out!

I am pleased to announce that a new GNT reader's edition is out: The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers: Byzantine Textform by Maurice A. Robinson, William G. Pierpont and John Jeffrey Dobson has been published by VTR Publications. ISBN 978-3-941750-24-1

From the preface written by Dodson:

The very existence of other “Reader’s Editions” of the Greek New Testament has demonstrated the usefulness of this approach. This of course raises the question: Why, then, is another Reader’s Edition needed for the Greek New Testament, and what more can it offer? First, The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers: Byzantine Textform is the only Reader’s Edition that is based upon the Byzantine Textform (which agrees some ninety-four percent of the time with other Greek New Testament editions). Further, it is the only Reader’s Edition that offers Greek-to-English definitions for every word in the Greek New Testament, as well as parsing information for every verbal form therein. This includes footnoted coverage for uncommon words, along with coverage in the appendices for words commonly committed to memory during the first year of study (words occurring fifty times or more).

Also of significance, The Greek New Testament For Beginning Readers: Byzantine Textformis the only Reader’s Edition that resides in the public domain, thus providing complete flexibility in academic and educational environments regarding how the text and lexical/parsing data are quoted and utilized. Finally, this edition combines some of the best features of other editions: a readable font similar to that used in modern beginning Greek grammars, English section headings that divide the text into recognizable, less intimidating segments, and word frequency counts to help readers decide which vocabulary words deserve further memorization.

Apparently, the US/Canada list price is lower ($35) than the European Euro price, with further discounts through Amazon or other outlets.

Sinai Arabic 154 and Paris arabe 6725

Sinai Arabic 154, from the 9th century, containing Acts and the Catholic Epistles, has been published by Margaret Dunlop GIBSON (Studia Sinaitica VII, 1899). Mrs GIBSON's publication could not include Acts 7:49b-9:30, because 6 folios were lacking when she was staying in the Sinai monastery.

In Oriens Christianus 12-14 (1925), p. 218, Georg GRAF mentions that these 6 folios had been seen in Cairo, together with some other pieces of Arabic Christian manuscripts, by H. Dr. GROTE (who died in 1919). But, GRAF adds, "über der jetzigen Verbleib der Mehrzahl dieser Fragmente ist mir nichts bekannt" (see also GRAF's Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, p. 173).

When examining a microfilm of Paris arabe 6725 at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, I located the images of the 6 lacking folios of Sinai Arabic 154. The kind of Arabic writing found in this manuscript made it difficult to read for me. With the help of two friends, Jean VALENTIN and Mohammed Wali AIT, who know Arabic better than I, I undertook to make a French translation of these Arabic folios. For text-critical purposes, this translation is as litteral as possible. I can send this translation by E-mail on simple request to any reader of this blog. Perhaps one day I will publish the Arabic text ?

An increased knowledge of the text of Acts in Sinai 154 can be important to help us understand the textual history of the Syriac Apostolos. Sinai 154 was translated from a Syriac Apostolos. But at many places, the Arabic translation shows that its Syriac Vorlage must have been different from the Peshitta.

Paris arabe 6725 gave me another surprise. In another part of the microfilm, I found images of another fragmentary Arabic translation of the Acts of the Apostles (9:15-13:?), also from the 9th century, and from a Syriac Vorlage. This translation is sometimes close to the one published by Erpenius from a later manuscript (12th century), but sometimes it goes its own way. So we now have, including Sinai Arabic 151, at least three different translations of Acts, all made from the Syriac in the 9th century, if not earlier.

Much remain to be studied about the Arabic Apostolos. As far as I know, at the present time nobody is able to say even how many Arabic translations were made (there were also translations from Greek, from Coptic, and from Latin). A whole field of investigations for younger searchers ...

Carlson on Galatians in Swanson

Stephen Carlson has posted a helpful series of errata lists for Swanson's work on Galatians:

Galatians in P46

Galatians in B

Galatians in 01

Galatians in A

Galatians in C

Galatians in D

Galatians in 1424

One fairly consistent issue seems to be Swanson's treatment of corrections, which leaves something to be desired in terms of clarity and accuracy.

complutensis 1 and 2

Complutensis 1 and 2 are two important early manuscripts of the Spanish Vulgate. They were nearly utterly destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. But, good news ! A film had been made of both manuscripts. From this film, a microfilm was made, and acquired by EMML in Minnesota. This acquisition seems to have been forgotten, and recently someone "rediscovered" it in a vault in St John's Institute in Collegeville. You need not go to Sinai to find this kind of event, it can happen even in the US ! It seems that from this microfilm digital images are soon to be made, and that they will be made available for the academic worldwide research.

Sources: St John's Institute; also an article in "he Medievalist".