Before Jerome of Stridon produced his revised Latin version of the Christian Bible in about 400 CE, the version that remains in use today, a Latin edition by translators unknown had existed and had been in wide use. The Great Stemma, the world's oldest network diagram, is product of that culture.
My new reconstruction of the Great Stemma appeared several weeks ago, initially in an English translation. Hot off the press today is an update containing the Vetus Latina or Old Biblical Latin text.
Seeing the chart reconstructed to the original shape is amazing enough. Seeing it in its original language from the time before Jerome adds to the verisimilitude. We don't know exactly when the Great Stemma was made. It was certainly before 427 CE. If it was not made before 400, its ignorance of Jerome's work is in no way surprising. It took centuries for the Jerome Bible to establish itself.
Flipping text upside-down and making it land dead centre in every circle or roundel were among the challenges in the initial reconstruction. One of my difficulties this time round was squeezing these Vetus Latina labels, which mostly take the stereotypical form of "Salomon filius David" (Solomon son of David), into the roundels.
It helped to adopt a condensed/narrow font (CSS: font-family: "Arial Narrow", "Helvetica Condensed", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;), but many of the labels still burst the confines of the circles. In a handwritten chart, you used to be able to vary the text size or squeeze it close together, or split words in unconventional ways. With modern, regularized, typographical text, that is hardly possible, and I did not want to make the text any smaller or it would not have given the impression the chart used to make, so I have allowed labels to spill when they are too long. Tell me what you think.
Showing posts with label Vetus Latina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vetus Latina. Show all posts
2016-10-23
2015-05-15
Dominic's Fiddle
When the Frauenkirche in Dresden was raised in 2005 from the rubble, the few blackened stones left after the February 1945 fire-bombing were proudly incorporated amidst the new sandstone for all to see (2008 picture below). But when an Irish scribe named Dominic interspersed the "wrong" Latin text in a Vulgate bible, he doubtless hoped nobody would notice.
Working between 600 and 800 CE at a monastery in the godless wastes of North Italy, Dominic had been assigned to write out a bible now known as the Codex Ottobonianus and digitized a few days ago by Digita Vaticana. You can see Ott. lat. 66 here.
The model he was copying from must have been torn or partly illegible. Resourcefully, Dominic copied the missing bits from an Old Latin bible in his library that dated back to before the 400 CE translation by Jerome of Sidon. Naturally, he does not draw any attention to the places where he has woven in the obsolete phrasing, but after this fiddle, his autograph on folio 112v, "Pray for me, Dominic the Priest" (orate pro me Dominico Prbitero), must have been tinged with a heartfelt hope that he would never be caught:
In the end, the truth did come out. The codex is a godsend for those interested in what Latin Christians read before Jerome came along. Like the sooty stones in the Frauenkirche, its scattered old phrases are now prized as links to the far past.
In the science of Vetus Latina scripture, the Codex Ottobonianus is designated Beuron number 102 among the rare surviving witnesses to the Old Latin Genesis (see my list of Beuron numbers) and has been exhaustively analysed by biblical scholars. But it is also a key source for Jerome's text. Now everyone can see this valued book with ease.
Here is what Bonifatius Fischer's Vetus Latina edition of Genesis (Freiburg, 1950) has to say about the codex, which I am adding here since it is lacking in the BAV online bibliography:
Working between 600 and 800 CE at a monastery in the godless wastes of North Italy, Dominic had been assigned to write out a bible now known as the Codex Ottobonianus and digitized a few days ago by Digita Vaticana. You can see Ott. lat. 66 here.
The model he was copying from must have been torn or partly illegible. Resourcefully, Dominic copied the missing bits from an Old Latin bible in his library that dated back to before the 400 CE translation by Jerome of Sidon. Naturally, he does not draw any attention to the places where he has woven in the obsolete phrasing, but after this fiddle, his autograph on folio 112v, "Pray for me, Dominic the Priest" (orate pro me Dominico Prbitero), must have been tinged with a heartfelt hope that he would never be caught:
In the end, the truth did come out. The codex is a godsend for those interested in what Latin Christians read before Jerome came along. Like the sooty stones in the Frauenkirche, its scattered old phrases are now prized as links to the far past.
In the science of Vetus Latina scripture, the Codex Ottobonianus is designated Beuron number 102 among the rare surviving witnesses to the Old Latin Genesis (see my list of Beuron numbers) and has been exhaustively analysed by biblical scholars. But it is also a key source for Jerome's text. Now everyone can see this valued book with ease.
Here is what Bonifatius Fischer's Vetus Latina edition of Genesis (Freiburg, 1950) has to say about the codex, which I am adding here since it is lacking in the BAV online bibliography:
296 ff; 32,5 x 27,5 cm; 2 Kolumnen zu 31 Zeilen; Unziale des 7./8. Jh. "Written apparently in North Italy. The scribe Dominicus signs on fol. 112v: ORATE PRO ME DOMINICO PRBITERO SCRIPTORE. The occurrence of the Insular symbol for 'autem', the use of red dots with the capitals, and the type of figures in the illustrations suggest some Insular centre in Italy." (E.A. Lowe).Of the principle Genesis source, cod. 403 at Lyons, France, almost nothing is online. A future project on this blog is to survey Vetus Latina material that has been digitized so far.
Die Hs enthielt den Heptateuch oder Oktateuch in Vulgata, heute bricht sie bei Jdc 13,20 ab; außerdem fehlt zwischen fol. 6 und 7 ein Blatt mit Gn 6,9-7,11. In den Vulgata-Text sind immer wieder Stücke aus der Vetus Latina eingesprengt, und zwar:
Andere Textstücke fehlen in der Hs einfach. Um eine solche Lücke auszufüllen, sind die Blätter 66 67 und 68 mit Vulgata-Text (Ex 4,19-6,27) nachträglich eingefügt worden. Weiterhin zeigen einige Fehler der Hs, daß die Vorlage der Hs alt war und noch Scriptura continua hatte: iaridesi statt iair id est, hi est amecum statt hic sta mecum, uidis eas statt ut discas usw.
- Gn 37,27-35;
- 38,6-11;
- 41,1-4. 14-21;
- 46,15-17. 30;
- 48,13-14. 20-Schluß von Gn;
- Ex 10,13-15;
- 11,7-10;
- 15,1-2;
- 16,16-17,10;
- 19,13. 22-24;
- 20,17-18;
- 22,30-27,5;
- 29,44-45.
Wir gehen also wohl nicht fehl mit der Annahme, daß die alte Vorlage der Hs teilweise unleserlich war, wohl auch ganze Blätter verloren hatte. Der Schreiber half sich, indem er die Lücken mit einem ihm zu Gebote stehenden altlateinischen Text von Gn und Ex ausfüllte; zu Lv scheint er einen solchen altlateinischen Text nicht mehr gehabt zu haben; deshalb sind dort die Lücken geblieben. In Gn 37,33-35 entstand ein merkwürdiges Gemisch aus Vulgata und Vetus Latina, da der Kopist hier die in seiner Vorlage noch lesbaren Wörter aus der Vulgata übernahm und den Rest aus seiner altlateinischen Bibel ergänzte.
Die Hs ist in der neuen römischen Vulgata-Ausgabe als einer der drei Hauptzeugen unter dem Sigel O benützt.
2014-04-30
The Old Latin
Readers of this blog will recall that the names of many biblical characters in the Great Stemma are spelled in the fashion of the earliest Latin bibles, rather than in the forms prescribed by Jerome of Stridon in his Vulgate retranslation of the fifth century. I noted in my Studia Patristica paper that the original names in the diagram would seem to have been immune to Jerome's influence (although one must be cautious in guessing why) and that this was especially emphasized by Yolanta Zaluska:
A recent article by Philip Burton (all references below) points to a possible way forward. Certain ordinary Greek words can be and were translated in alternative ways in Latin: Burton compares how those words are handled by Vetus Latina translators in seven cases and shows the results in a "distance chart of agreements" (page 187). He mentions that he gave a paper in 2008 offering hundreds of such comparisons. It might be useful for a future scholar to employ Burton's method to compare names in the Great Stemma manuscript.
Many other difficulties remain. Not only is it hard to distinguish Vetus Latina variants from bizarre scribal errors. We also simply don't know in many cases what the Vetus Latina text actually said.
Very little of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, two books that are of central importance to the Great Stemma, even survive. Natalio Fernández Marcos, the great Spanish biblical scholar, estimates in Scribes and Translators (page 44) that 90 per cent of what we know of the Vetus Latina version of 1-2 Kings derives from just three very fragmentary sources - the Opuscula of Lucifer of Cagliari, a Naples palimpsest and marginal glosses to several Spanish bibles.
In addition, the manuscript tradition for more substantial sections of the Vetus Latina is not entirely reliable either. As Burton has pointed out, even the question of whether there was just one translation or many remains a moot point in current scholarship. Even the tradition of the Vulgate, often thought of as fixed, retains uncertainties in its transmission. So it will never be possible to take all 540 of the Great Stemma names and fix what proportion have Vetus Latina origins beyond any doubt.
In the past two weeks I have returned to the issue because I need to summarize this matter concisely in my planned book. Among the results: on my website, there is a new tabulation of Vetus Latina reconstructions of the 14 names of women in 1-2 Kings where each name is traced back to the Septuagint. The extreme corruption in the graphic organization of these names in the Great Stemma makes the passage an especially good pointer to the primitive Vetus Latina forms.
In addition, I have done a little more checking of how five of the most salient changes fared in the Vulgate tradition, checking the names usage in the 1926-1995 Biblia Sacra iuxta Latinam Vulgatam versionem where the manuscripts are compared. I was surprised to find how often the Vetus Latina forms crept back into the text, particularly in Spain.
The last of these cases is particularly interesting. Jerome preserved Bersabee as the name of the city in the southern desert in Genesis 22 (see a discussion by Rico), but there can be no doubt whatever that he desired to suppress Bersabee as the name of Solomon's mother and amend this to Bethsabee. Yet it re-infected "his" text soon enough. The Bersabee witnesses are: Madrid RAH 2, Burgo 2, Milan Biblioteca
Ambrosiana B48, Vat. lat. 10510 (2nd Bovino Bible), Paris 15467, Mazarine 5 (all Bersabee), Madrid Mus. Arch. 485 (Bersabeȩ) and Madrid Bib. Nat. A2 (Bersabȩȩ).
Among the other instances, it is notable that Malaleel even crept back into early printings of the Vulgate before it was expunged.
This exercise has tested and confirmed the hypothesis that most Vetus Latina forms of the biblical names turn up in the Great Stemma, sometimes in quite bizarre transformations. For Zucam, the variety of readings in the diagram include Zugat and Zucat. It remains difficult to imagine any process by which the Great Stemma could have been drafted using a mixed supply of Vetus Latina and Vulgate forms of the names. The hypothesis that it was drawn up with the aid of a Vetus Latina bible and was fitfully altered later to match Jerome's spellings is the only one sustainable in the court of common sense.
Among the examples she isolates is Chor (Gen. 36:22), from the personal name Chorri in the Septuagint and Vetus Latina, which Jerome had amended to Horrei. Zaluska also detected the Vetus Latina name of a Horrite chief – Ucan – which Jerome had suppressed, as well as another name, Chat, which had arisen through scribal error in the Great Stemma’s transmission. Both names continued to be reproduced in the Great Stemma into the high medieval period although they were no longer current in the Genesis narrative.I have undertaken various attempts to quantify just how many of the 540 names are present in the diagram in their Vetus Latina forms. Two years ago I wrote a long blog post on a statistical project to distinguish the variants and seek salient points in the data. The effort was rather inconclusive, partly because my methods were rather basic ones.
A recent article by Philip Burton (all references below) points to a possible way forward. Certain ordinary Greek words can be and were translated in alternative ways in Latin: Burton compares how those words are handled by Vetus Latina translators in seven cases and shows the results in a "distance chart of agreements" (page 187). He mentions that he gave a paper in 2008 offering hundreds of such comparisons. It might be useful for a future scholar to employ Burton's method to compare names in the Great Stemma manuscript.
Many other difficulties remain. Not only is it hard to distinguish Vetus Latina variants from bizarre scribal errors. We also simply don't know in many cases what the Vetus Latina text actually said.
Very little of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, two books that are of central importance to the Great Stemma, even survive. Natalio Fernández Marcos, the great Spanish biblical scholar, estimates in Scribes and Translators (page 44) that 90 per cent of what we know of the Vetus Latina version of 1-2 Kings derives from just three very fragmentary sources - the Opuscula of Lucifer of Cagliari, a Naples palimpsest and marginal glosses to several Spanish bibles.
In addition, the manuscript tradition for more substantial sections of the Vetus Latina is not entirely reliable either. As Burton has pointed out, even the question of whether there was just one translation or many remains a moot point in current scholarship. Even the tradition of the Vulgate, often thought of as fixed, retains uncertainties in its transmission. So it will never be possible to take all 540 of the Great Stemma names and fix what proportion have Vetus Latina origins beyond any doubt.
In the past two weeks I have returned to the issue because I need to summarize this matter concisely in my planned book. Among the results: on my website, there is a new tabulation of Vetus Latina reconstructions of the 14 names of women in 1-2 Kings where each name is traced back to the Septuagint. The extreme corruption in the graphic organization of these names in the Great Stemma makes the passage an especially good pointer to the primitive Vetus Latina forms.
In addition, I have done a little more checking of how five of the most salient changes fared in the Vulgate tradition, checking the names usage in the 1926-1995 Biblia Sacra iuxta Latinam Vulgatam versionem where the manuscripts are compared. I was surprised to find how often the Vetus Latina forms crept back into the text, particularly in Spain.
| Septuagint | Vetus Latina | Vulgate | Ref. | Changes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| μαλελεηλ | Maleleel | Malalehel | Gen 5:12, 5:15 | e to a, insert h | Printed Vulgates 1530-1592 employed the VL form |
| φαλεκ | Phalech | Faleg | Gen 10:25 | ch (k) to g | Faleg in largest number of witnesses, but Falech, Falec, Falleg, Phaleg, Phaleg (first printed Vulgates), Phalech also recorded |
| χορρι | Chorri | Horrei | Gen 36:22 | from ch (χ) to h | Horrei in largest number of witnesses, but Horraei, Orrei, Hori (first printed Vulgates), Horri and Orri also recorded |
| ζουκαμ | Zucam | Zevan | Gen 36:27 | middle consonant from c (g) to v (b) | Zeuan in largest number of witnesses, but Zeban, Zeuam, Zefan, Zephan, Zenan, Zauan (first printed Vulgates), Euan also recorded |
| βηρσαβεε | Bersabee | Bethsabee | 2Sam 11:3, 12:24 | second consonant from r to th | Bethsabee in most witnesses, but Bethsabȩȩ, Bethsabe, Betsabee, Betsabeȩ, Bersabee (6 witnesses), Bersabeȩ, Bersabȩȩ and Bersabe also recorded |
Among the other instances, it is notable that Malaleel even crept back into early printings of the Vulgate before it was expunged.
This exercise has tested and confirmed the hypothesis that most Vetus Latina forms of the biblical names turn up in the Great Stemma, sometimes in quite bizarre transformations. For Zucam, the variety of readings in the diagram include Zugat and Zucat. It remains difficult to imagine any process by which the Great Stemma could have been drafted using a mixed supply of Vetus Latina and Vulgate forms of the names. The hypothesis that it was drawn up with the aid of a Vetus Latina bible and was fitfully altered later to match Jerome's spellings is the only one sustainable in the court of common sense.
Burton, Philip. “The Latin Version of the New Testament.” In The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis, edited by Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes. 2nd ed. Brill, 2012. Google Books
Fernández Marcos, Natalio. Scribes and Translators: Septuagint and Old Latin in the Books of Kings. Vetus Testamentum / Supplements. Brill, 1994. Google Books
Moreno Hernández, Antonio. Las glosas marginales de Vetus Latina en las Biblias Vulgatas Españolas: 1-2 Reyes. Textos y estudios “Cardenal Cisneros.” Madrid: Editorial CSIC, 1992. Google Books
Rico, Christophe. “La Traduction Du Sens Littéral Chez Saint Jérôme.” In Le Sens Littéral des Ecritures, edited by Olivier-Thomas Venard, 171–218. Collection Lectio Divina, Hors Série. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2009. Academia.edu.
2012-01-22
Vetus Names
In her publication on the Great Stemma in 1984, Yolanta Zaluska asserted that all the existing recensions contained a mixture of Vetus Latina and Vulgate names:
The assessments are subjective, which is to say I judged the different spellings and rated how closely they resembled the Vetus Latina orthography (which is based on the Septuagint Greek). The scoring system offers a continuum between forms that show no influence from Jerome and forms that could only be corruptions of Jerome's orthography. This is not highly scientific, but it is a start. Here are the numerical values I employed:
Lé fond commun de la Vieille Latine est sensible dans tous les témoins consultés, mais à des degrés variés. Il est indiscutable que la Vulgate a été utilisée à plusieurs reprises tantôt pour corriger les lignées, tantôt pour compléter les textes explicatifs.She characterized these differences as follows:
Recension α: ... texte mixte, en général très corrompu, disposé toujours sur quatorze tables; à partir d'Abraham (table VI), n'a presque pas été retouché sur la Vulgate.Zaluska never presented any statistical data or analysis to back up these characterizations, so I have done some sampling of my own. Below is a tabulation containing a rough scoring of 39 Genesis names from the period down to Abraham. I have included a recension, Epsilon, that Zaluska left out of account. I have not included Zaluska's Sigma in this survey.
Recension β: ... texte corrigé d'après la Vulgate, néanmoins dans l'ensemble assez corrompu, et fortement interpolé, en grande partie, semble-t-il, à l'aide des Etymologies d'Isidore; peut être commodément désigné comme une recension longue.
Recension σ transmise par le Beatus de Saint-Sever (S), apparaissant pour l'essentiel comme un texte de type α corrigé d'après la Vulgate, mais fournissant quand même des textes qui lui sont propres ...
Recension γ: ... texte ne montrant que des retouches occasionnelles d'après la Vulgate; partie caractéristique à la page des Juges; plusieurs omissions.
Recension δ: ... Le premier texte (Bible de San Millán de la Cogolla, Madrid) est probablement celui qui reflète le plus fidèlement la tradition de la Vieille Latine; le texte de [Bible de Calahorra] en revanche suit généralement la Vulgate, à partir d'Abraham; des interpolations communes dans la première partie du texte.
The assessments are subjective, which is to say I judged the different spellings and rated how closely they resembled the Vetus Latina orthography (which is based on the Septuagint Greek). The scoring system offers a continuum between forms that show no influence from Jerome and forms that could only be corruptions of Jerome's orthography. This is not highly scientific, but it is a start. Here are the numerical values I employed:
- -2 signifies an obviously LXX/Vetus form, but with extreme scribal deformation;
- -1 is the pure LXX/Vetus type;
- 0 means a name containing a consonant or vowel that uncertainly suggests the LXX/Vetus type;
- +1 a name of Vulgate type;
- +2 signified variants that are very unlike the Vetus but do resemble the Vulgate type
The columns, from left to right, represent Epsilon, Delta, Gamma, Alpha, Beta; the last three columns comprise Fischer's form of the Vetus name, the Clementine Vulgate form and the Stuttgart Vulgate form.
It will be clear to the readers from both the table and from the graph that there is no obvious consistency in the way that medieval editors revised the five recensions. The variants swerve wildly to both sides. In this sample of names from Genesis, the data does not seem to support Zaluska's conclusion that Gamma contains "occasional retouchings" drawn from the Vulgate," whereas Delta is the "most faithful" to the Vetus Latina. If anything, Gamma is more faithful.
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Gamer | Gomer | Gomer |
| 1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Iuvan | Iavan | Javan |
| -2 | -2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Thobel | Tubal | Thubal |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | Cham | Ham | Ham |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Mestrem | Mesraim | Mesraim |
| 1 | 1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | Evilat | Hevila | Hevila |
| -1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Sabacatha | Sabatacha | Sabatacha | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Iudadan | Dadan | Dadan |
| 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | -1 | Nebroth | Nemrod | Nemrod |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Labiim | Laabim | Laabim |
| 1 | 1 | -2 | 1 | -2 | Neptabiim | Nepthuim | Nephthuim |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Patrosin | Phetrusim | Phetrusim |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Caslonin | Cesluim | Chasluim |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Captorim | Capthurim | |
| 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Chetteum | Ettheum | Hethæum |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Euveum | Eveum | Hevæum |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Aruceum | Araceum | Aracæum |
| 2 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Asenneum | Sineum | Sinæum |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Samareum | Samariten | Samaræum |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Aelam | Elam | Ælam |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Arfaxat | Arfaxad | Arphaxad |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Obs | Us | Us |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ul | Hul | Hul |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Gather | Gether | Gether |
| -2 | -2 | -2 | 0 | 0 | Mosoch | Mes | Mes |
| -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Helmodat | Helmodad | Elmodad |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Odorrem | Aduram | Adoram |
| 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Ezel | Uzal | Uzal |
| 1 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Gebal | Ebal | Ebal |
| 1 | 1 | -2 | 1 | 1 | Abimeel | Abimahel | Abimaël |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Ufir | Ophir | Ophir |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Evilat | Evila | Hevila |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Falec | Faleg | Phaleg |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Ragau | Reu | Reu |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Seruch | Sarug | Sarug |
| 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Nachor | Nahor | Nahor |
| -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | Thara | Thare | Thare |
| 1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | 1 | Nachor | Nahor | Nahor |
| 1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | Sarra | Sarai | Sarai |
This list has been filtered to only comprise 39 names in Genesis where there seems to be a distinction between the Vetus Latina and Vulgate forms.
Now it is striking that none of the five recensions above consistently follows the Vetus Latina type, which would be indicated by one of the columns consisting mostly of scores of -2 or -1.
Now it is striking that none of the five recensions above consistently follows the Vetus Latina type, which would be indicated by one of the columns consisting mostly of scores of -2 or -1.
When transcribing the manuscripts, my impression was that the concentration of Vetus Latina names was highest in Delta, but in this scoring, Delta has a median value of +0.3. In fact it is Gamma which is closest to the Vetus, with a median score of -0.2 . As for the rest, the medians are Epsilon +0.4, Alpha +0.5 and Beta +0.5.
I have converted the table to a graph below. If anyone can think of a more expressive graph, I would be glad to hear advice on how this could be presented in line with current methods.
What can we say about the names from those parts of biblical history subsequent to Genesis?
We cannot expect to find any differences in the names from Christ back to the Exile, because these names only existed in the Greek manuscripts of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and no Hebrew evidence for them exists. Jerome of Stridon did not alter their Latin transcriptions, so these names are invariant between the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate.
As for the names from the Exile back to Saul, we also cannot expect to find much significant variation. We do not yet possess scholarly editions of the Vetus Latina text of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings and 2 Kings (they will take several more decades to arrive). To fill the gap, I have instead collated the Septuagint forms, which were of course the basis for the Vetus Latina. The reader can construe the likely Latin transcriptions, and compare these to the Stuttgart Vulgate forms. The following selection shows that Jerome left the bulk of the pre-existing Latin forms pretty well unchanged.
| Αχινααμ | Ahinoem | 1Sa | 25:43, 2 Sa 3:2 |
| Αβιγαιας | Abigail | 1Sa | 25:42, 2Sa 3:3 |
| Μααχα | Maacha | 2Sa | 3:3 |
| Αγγιθ | Aggith | 1Ch | 3:2, 2Sa 3:4 |
| Αβιταλ | Abital | 2Sa | 3:4 |
| Αιγλα | Agla | 2Sa | 3:5 |
| Βηρσαβεε | Bethsabee | 2Sa | 11:3 |
| Αμνων | Amnon | 2Sa | 3:2 |
| Δαλουια | Chelaab | 2Sa | 3:2, 1Ch 3:1 |
| Αβεσσαλωμ | Absalom | 2Sa | 3:3 |
| Ορνια | Adonias | 2Ch | 3:4 |
| Σαφατια | Safathia | 1Ch | 3:3, 2Sa 3:4 |
| Ιεθερααμ | Iethraam | 2Sa | 3:5 |
| Θημαρ | Thamar | 2Sa | 13:1 |
| Ιβααρ | Ibaar | 1Ch | 3:6, 14:5, 2Sa 5:15 |
| Ελισαε | Elisama A | 1Ch | 14:5, 3:6, 2Sa 5:16 |
| Ελιφαλετ | Eliphalet / Helifeleth | 1Ch | 3:6, 14:5, 2Sa 5:16 |
| Ναγε | Noge | 1Ch | 3:7, 14:5 |
| Ναφαγ | Napheg / Nepheg | 1Ch | 3:7, 14:5, 2Sa 5:15 |
| Ιανουε / Ιανουου | Iaphie | 1Ch | 3:7, 14:5, 2Sa 5:15 |
| Ελισαμα / Ελισαμαε | Elisama B | 1Ch | 3:8, 14:5 |
| Ελιαδα | Helida / Heliade | 1Ch | 3:8, 14:5, 2Sa 5:16 |
| Ελιφαλετ | Eliphalet / Helisua | 1Ch | 3:8, 14:5, 2Sa 5:15 |
| Σαμμους | Samua | 2Sa | 5:14 |
| Σωβαβ | Sobab | 2Sa | 5:14 |
| Σαλωμων | Salomon | Mt | 1:6, 2Sa 5:14 |
| Ιεροβοαμ / Ναβατ | Hieroboam | 1Kgs | 11:26 |
| Ναδαβ | Nadab | 1Kgs | 15:25 |
| Βαασα / Αχια | Baasa filius Ahia | 1Kgs | 15:33 |
| Ηλα | Hela filius Baasa | 1Kgs | 16:8-16 |
| Ζαμβρι | Zamri | 1Kgs | 16:9 |
| Θαμνι / Γωναθ | Thebni filium Gineth | 1Kgs | 16:21 |
| Αχααβ / Αμβρι· | Ahab filius Amri | 1Kgs | 16:29 |
| Ιεζαβελ | Hiezabel | 1Kgs | 16:31 |
| Οχοζιας | Ohozias | 1Kgs | 22:40 |
| Ιωραμ / Αχααβ | Ioram filius Ahab | 2Kgs | 3:1, 1Kgs 22:50 |
| Ιου / Ναμεσσι | Hieu filius Namsi | 1Kgs | 19:16, 2Chr 22:7 |
| Ιωαχας | Ioachaz | 2Kgs | 10:35 |
| Ιωας | Ioas filius Ioachaz | 2Kgs | 13:10 |
| Ιεροβοαμ | Hieroboam | 2Kgs | 13:13 |
| Ζαχαριας | Zaccharias filius Hieroboam | 2Kgs | 15:8 |
| Σελλουμ / Ιαβις | Sellum filius Iabes | 2Kgs | 15:13 |
| Μαναημ / Γαδδι | Manahem filius Gaddi | 2Kgs | 15:14 |
| Φακεϊας | Phaceia filius Manahem | 2Kgs | 15:23 |
| Φακεε / Ρομελιου | Phacee filius Romeliae | 2Kgs | 15:25 |
| Ωσηε / Ηλα | Osee filius Hela | 2Kgs | 17:1 |
As luck would have it, where differences do occur in the above list, it is not always easy to see a pattern in the Great Stemma's uptake of the forms. First of all we find certain odd distortions. The first Elisama, for example, appears not as Elisae, but as Elisbe. Secondly, some of the variations completely contradict Zaluska's generalizations: Zambri with a B appears in three recensions (Epsilon, Alpha, Beta), but has been "corrected" to Jerome's Zamri without a B in Delta and Gamma, which are normally the most conservative texts.
Zaluska's assertion that the balance in Alpha swung, after Abraham, to almost pure Vetus Latina forms is therefore interesting and provocative, but needs to be treated with a certain amount of caution. My guess is that her generalization was in fact largely argued from her very perceptive analysis of the Horrite names in Genesis 36. I wrote a survey of these in 2010 where I tabulated the names and provided the proof that is missing from her article, though implied. The differences among the Horrite names between Alpha and Beta are especially striking and this section of the collation is crucial in proving that the Great Stemma is indeed drawn from a Vetus Latina tradition.
I have not yet studied the Vetus/Vulgate distribution of the names making up the Twelve Tribes of Israel: it would be interesting to follow this up at a later time.
In conclusion, I would say this. The Great Stemma and the Liber Genealogus were clearly originally written in a time and place where Jerome's Vulgate was not available and were then haphazardly modified by medieval editors. But the process of modification was not as simple or as linear as Zaluska suggests, and her conclusions are too sweeping. The Great Stemma manuscripts are anything but unambiguous evidence for the onomastics of the Vetus Latina. Bonifatius Fischer was correct to collate the Great Stemma from four Spanish bibles as a somewhat compromised source, while treating it with the greatest of caution.
Footnote: there is a further discussion of this issue a couple of years later: http://macrotypography.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-old-latin.html
Footnote: there is a further discussion of this issue a couple of years later: http://macrotypography.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-old-latin.html
2011-02-16
The Vetus Latina Hispana of Ayuso
In 1953, Teófilo Ayuso Marazuela published the first volume of his Vetus Latina Hispana. It was an ambitious project, presumably with government funding, to recover the bible texts that circulated in Iberia before the introduction of Jerome's Vulgate. It was in direct rivalry with the Vetus Latina that was being reconstructed at the Abbey of Beuron in Germany, and it was awarded a prize (marked on the title page) in the name of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
Ayuso devised his own numbering system for the codices and other manuscripts he used. The numbers seem to have fallen completely out of use, but are still essential in reading scholarly Spanish articles of the period, in particular Ayuso's own writing, about biblical manuscripts. Since the numbers seem to be nowhere on the internet, I am tabulating them online in the hope they can be of service to modern scholars.
The left column comprises the VLH or Ayuso numbers themselves, followed by the abbreviations commonly used and the sequence numbers for each manuscript of the same provenance. For example, Leg2 or Legionense2 is the Codex gothicus. Burgense1 is the Burgos Bible, also called Biblia de San Pedro de Cardena. The last column lists the (1953) locations of the manuscripts.
You are welcome to copy my list and reproduce it as you wish, though a credit would be appreciated. As far as I can assess, the list in the book can no longer be subject to copyright, and in any case I have modified it to present it here on the web.
There is one peculiarity, perhaps a lapse in attention by Ayuso. Pages 25-6 (IV. Lista de codices espanoles o de origen hispanico estudiados, numeros y siglas correspondientes) list 203 sources only, while pages 347-83 (Los manuscritos bíblicos espanoles) contain a list that is one element longer (204). The extra item in the latter list comes at position number 113, Escurialense5, which is inexplicably missed from the summary table, so that every item below it is displaced by one position when the two lists are compared. In the above tabulation, I have followed the numbering on pages 347-83, since this seems to be correct. Perhaps there is an errata page, or a handwritten correction, in a copy in a Spanish library, and I would be grateful to anyone willing to check this. But there is no such correction in the Hamburg State Library copy, which is kept in the city's Bergedorf stack and does not seem to have been much used down the years.
[A later note:] Ayuso's earlier articles use quite different sigla, including A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, 7-8. These are apparently the items in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid (lines 64-69 above). A2 for example is the Bible of San Juan de la Peña, and these are listed in the print catalog (Tomo 1) here. His earlier "Bu" is the Burgos Bible in line 25, as noted above. Ayuso renumbered the León bibles, since 3 Legionense in line 23 is a lost one, whereas the Leg3 he had referred to in 1943 was clearly the Second León Bible which is very much in continued existence. In line 12, 2 Oventense is the lost Gospel Book of Justus which I discuss in another post.
Ayuso devised his own numbering system for the codices and other manuscripts he used. The numbers seem to have fallen completely out of use, but are still essential in reading scholarly Spanish articles of the period, in particular Ayuso's own writing, about biblical manuscripts. Since the numbers seem to be nowhere on the internet, I am tabulating them online in the hope they can be of service to modern scholars.
The left column comprises the VLH or Ayuso numbers themselves, followed by the abbreviations commonly used and the sequence numbers for each manuscript of the same provenance. For example, Leg2 or Legionense2 is the Codex gothicus. Burgense1 is the Burgos Bible, also called Biblia de San Pedro de Cardena. The last column lists the (1953) locations of the manuscripts.
| 1 | Guelf | Vaticano -Guelferbitano | Vaticano | |
| 2 | Tur | Turonense | Paris | |
| 3 | Fragm. To | Fragmentos toledanos | Toledo | |
| 4 | Freís | Fragmentos de Freising | München | |
| 5 | Palimps | Palimpsesto de León | León | |
| 6 | Ottob | Ottoboniano | Vaticano | |
| 7 | Lugd | 1 | Lugdunense | Lyon |
| 8 | Lugd | 2 | Lugdunense | Paris |
| 9 | Escu | 1 | Eseurialense | El Escorial |
| 10 | Ov | 1 | Ovetense (Desaparecido) | Oviedo |
| 11 | Luxeuil | Leccionario de Luxeuil | Paris | |
| 12 | Ov | 2 | Ovetense (Desaparecido) | Oviedo. Escorial |
| 13 | Cav | Cavense | Cava | |
| 14 | Cav dpdo | Cavense duplicado | Vaticano | |
| 15 | To | 1 | Toledano | Madrid |
| 16 | To dpdo | Toledano duplicado | Vaticano | |
| 17 | Co | 1 | Complutense | Madrid |
| 18 | Co | 2 | Complutense | Madrid |
| 19 | Leg | 1 | Legionense | León |
| 20 | On | Oniense | Salamanca | |
| 21 | Leg | 2 | Legionense | León |
| 22 | Leg dpdo | Legionense duplicado | Vaticano | |
| 23 | Leg | 3 | Legionense supuesto (Desaparecido) | León |
| 24 | Emil | 1 | Emilianense | Madrid |
| 25 | Burg | 1 | Burgense | Burgos |
| 26 | Valv | Valvanerense (Desaparecido) | Escorial | |
| 27 | To | 2 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 28 | Pin | Pinatense | Madrid | |
| 29 | Moz | Breviario Mozárabe | Madrid | |
| 30 | Psalt | 1 | Salterio | Madrid |
| 31 | Psalt | 2 | Salterio | Madrid |
| 32 | Psalt | 3 | Salterio | Madrid |
| 33 | Psalt | 4 | Salterio | London |
| 34 | Psalt | 5 | Salterio | Nogent-sur-Marne |
| 35 | Psalt | 6 | Salterio | Escorial |
| 36 | Psalt | 7 | Salterio | Madrid |
| 37 | Psalt | 8 | Salterio | Santiago |
| 38 | Cant | Liber Canticorum | Madrid | |
| 39 | Com | 1 | Liber Commicus | Toledo |
| 40 | Com | 2 | Liber Commicus | París |
| 41 | Com | 3 | Liber Commicus | León |
| 42 | Com | 4 | Liber Commicus | Madrid |
| 43 | Seg | 1 | Seguntino | Sigüenza |
| 44 | Esc | 2 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 45 | Tolos | 1 | Tolosano | Toulouse |
| 46 | Tolos | 2 | Tolosano | Toulouse |
| 46* | Esc | Escurialense Misceláneo (not a bible) | El Escorial | |
| 47 | Lugd | 3 | Lugdunense | Lyon |
| 48 | Teod | Teodulfiano | Paris | |
| 49 | Anic | Aniciense | Le Puy | |
| 50 | Bern | Bernense | Bern | |
| 51 | Hub | Hubertiano | London | |
| 52 | Sang | Sangermanense | Paris | |
| 53 | Sang | Sangermanense | Paris | |
| 54 | Sang | Sangermanense | Paris | |
| 55 | Riq | Saint Riquier | Paris | |
| 56 | Laud | Laudiano | Oxford | |
| 57 | Mon | Monacense | München | |
| 58 | Aur | Aureo | Escorial | |
| 59 | Cas | 1 | Casinense | Monte Cassino |
| 60 | Cas | 2 | Casinense | Monte Cassino |
| 61 | Cas | 3 | Casinense | Monte Cassino |
| 62 | Cas | 4 | Casinense | Monte Cassino |
| 63 | To | 3 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 64 | Matr | 2 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 65 | Matr | 3 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 66 | Matr | 4 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 67 | Matr | 5 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 68 | Matr | 6 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 69 | Matr | 7 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 70 | Matr | 8 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 71 | Purp | Purpúreo (Desaparacido) | Urgel | |
| 72 | Urg | Urgelense | Urgel | |
| 73 | Rip | Ripollense | Vaticano | |
| 74 | Roa | Rodense | Paris | |
| 75 | Vic | 1 | Vicense | Vich |
| 76 | Vic | 2 | Vicense | Vich |
| 77 | Vic | 3 | Vicense | Vich |
| 78 | Vic | 4 | Vicense | Vich |
| 79 | Par | 1 | Parisiense | Paris |
| 80 | Par | 2 | Parisiense | Paris |
| 81 | Par | 3 | Parisiense | Paris |
| 82 | Esc | 3 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 83 | Mall | Malloricense | Palma | |
| 84 | Leg | 3 | Legionense | León |
| 85 | Leg | 4 | Legionense | León |
| 86 | Leg | 5 | Legionense | León |
| 87 | Leg | 6 | Legionense | León |
| 88 | Leg | 7 | Legionense | León |
| 89 | Osc | Oscense | Madrid | |
| 90 | Matr | 9 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 91 | Burg | 2 | Burgense | Burgos |
| 92 | Burg | 3 | Burgense | Burgos |
| 93 | Cal | Calagurritano | Calahorra | |
| 94 | Emil | 2 | Emilianense | Madrid |
| 95 | Ler | llerdense | Lérida | |
| 96 | Co | 2 | Complutenses | Madrid |
| 97 | Av | Avilense | Madrid | |
| 98 | Esc | 4 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 99 | Alf | Alfonsino (Desaparacido) | Barcelona? | |
| 100 | Avig | Avignoniense (Desaparcido) | Avignon? | |
| 101 | Barc | 1 | Barcinonense | Barcelona |
| 102 | Barc | 2 | Barcinonense | Barcelona |
| 103 | Barc | 3 | Barcinonense | Barcelona |
| 104 | Barc | 4 | Barcinonense | Barcelona |
| 105 | Barc | 5 | Barcinonense | Barcelona |
| 106 | Bil | 1 | Bilbilitano | Calatayud |
| 107 | Bil | 2 | Bilbilitano | Calatayud |
| 108 | Burg | 4 | Burgense | Burgos |
| 109 | Burg | 5 | Burgense | Burgos |
| 110 | Cal | Calagurritano | Calahorra | |
| 111 | Conc | Concentainense | Concentaina | |
| 112 | Dar | Darocense | Daroca | |
| 113 | Esc | 5 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 114 | Esc | 6 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 115 | Esc | 7 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 116 | Esc | 8 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 117 | Esc | 9 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 118 | Esc | 10 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 119 | Esc | 11 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 120 | Esc | 12 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 121 | Esc | 13 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 122 | Esc | 14 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 123 | Esc | 15 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 124 | Esc | 16 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 125 | Esc | 17 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 126 | Esc | 18 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 127 | Esc | 19 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 128 | Esc | 20 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 129 | Esc | 21 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 130 | Esc | 22 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 131 | Esc | 23 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 132 | Esc | 24 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 133 | Esc | 25 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 134 | Esc | 26 | Escurialense | El Escorial |
| 135 | Hisp | Hispalense | Sevilla | |
| 136 | Mall | 2 | Malloricense | Palma |
| 137 | Mall | 3 | Malloricense | Palma |
| 138 | Matr | 10 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 139 | Matr | 11 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 140 | Matr | 12 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 141 | Matr | 13 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 142 | Matr | 14 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 143 | Matr | 15 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 144 | Matr | 16 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 145 | Matr | 17 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 146 | Matr | 18 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 147 | Matr | 19 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 148 | Matr | 20 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 149 | Matr | 21 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 150 | Matr | 22 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 151 | Matr | 23 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 152 | Matr | 24 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 153 | Matr | 25 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 154 | Matr | 26 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 155 | Matr | 27 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 156 | Matr | 28 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 157 | Matr | 29 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 158 | Matr | 30 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 159 | Matr | 31 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 160 | Matr | 32 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 161 | Matr | 33 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 162 | Matr | 34 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 163 | Matr | 35 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 164 | Matr | 36 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 165 | Matr | 37 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 166 | Matr | 38 | Matritense | Madrid |
| 167 | Oxorm | Oxomense | Burgo de Osma | |
| 168 | Par | 4 | Parisiense | Paris |
| 169 | Plas | 1 | Plasentino | Plasencia |
| 170 | Plas | 2 | Plasentino | Plasencia |
| 171 | Salm | Salmanticense | Salamanca | |
| 172 | Segov | Segoviense | Segovia | |
| 173 | Segunt | Seguntino | Sigüenza | |
| 174 | Ser | Serenense | Villanueva de la Serena | |
| 175 | Sor | Soriano | Soria | |
| 176 | Tar | Tarraconense | Tarragona | |
| 177 | Tir | Tirasonense | Tarazona | |
| 178 | To | 4 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 179 | To | 5 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 180 | To | 6 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 181 | To | 7 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 182 | To | 8 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 183 | To | 9 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 184 | To | 10 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 185 | To | 11 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 186 | To | 12 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 187 | To | 13 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 188 | To | 14 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 189 | To | 15 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 190 | To | 16 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 191 | To | 17 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 192 | To | 18 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 193 | To | 19 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 194 | To | 20 | Toledano | Toledo |
| 195 | Urg | 2 | Urgelitano | Urgel |
| 196 | Urg | 3 | Urgelitano | Urgel |
| 197 | Valent | 1 | Valentino | Valencia |
| 198 | Valent | 2 | Valentino | Valencia |
| 199 | Valent | 3 | Valentino | Valencia |
| 200 | Valent | 4 | Valentino | Valencia |
| 201 | Valv | 2 | Valvanerense | Valvanera |
| 202 | Vat | Vaticano | Vaticano | |
| 203 | Zar | 1 | Zaragozano | Zaragoza |
| 204 | Zar | 2 | Zaragozano | Zaragoza |
You are welcome to copy my list and reproduce it as you wish, though a credit would be appreciated. As far as I can assess, the list in the book can no longer be subject to copyright, and in any case I have modified it to present it here on the web.
There is one peculiarity, perhaps a lapse in attention by Ayuso. Pages 25-6 (IV. Lista de codices espanoles o de origen hispanico estudiados, numeros y siglas correspondientes) list 203 sources only, while pages 347-83 (Los manuscritos bíblicos espanoles) contain a list that is one element longer (204). The extra item in the latter list comes at position number 113, Escurialense5, which is inexplicably missed from the summary table, so that every item below it is displaced by one position when the two lists are compared. In the above tabulation, I have followed the numbering on pages 347-83, since this seems to be correct. Perhaps there is an errata page, or a handwritten correction, in a copy in a Spanish library, and I would be grateful to anyone willing to check this. But there is no such correction in the Hamburg State Library copy, which is kept in the city's Bergedorf stack and does not seem to have been much used down the years.
[A later note:] Ayuso's earlier articles use quite different sigla, including A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, 7-8. These are apparently the items in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid (lines 64-69 above). A2 for example is the Bible of San Juan de la Peña, and these are listed in the print catalog (Tomo 1) here. His earlier "Bu" is the Burgos Bible in line 25, as noted above. Ayuso renumbered the León bibles, since 3 Legionense in line 23 is a lost one, whereas the Leg3 he had referred to in 1943 was clearly the Second León Bible which is very much in continued existence. In line 12, 2 Oventense is the lost Gospel Book of Justus which I discuss in another post.
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