medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>Catherine Gunn
>
><<since I came to medieval studies by a rather circuitous route, and am
>largely self-taught, some things remain a mystery to me - including what
>scholars mean when they refer to 'the Vulgate'.>>
>
Cate,
"The" vulgate dates to the 16th Century; it came into existence after the
Council of Trent in 1546 in response to the great polyglots that were being
published beginning in 1514 that showed the many different versions in many
languages that existed. There were more than 12,000 different versions --
complete or fragmentary -- of Jerome's base text in circulation. The
critical apparatus of the official Vatican diplomatic edition of the
Vulgate will give you an idea of the large number of variants in the
different versions. There is also the Stuttgart diplomatic edition of the
Vulgate, which many scholars prefer. The BHS (Biblia Hebraica
Stutgartensia) also has an extensive apparatus giving Greek, Syriac, Latin,
etc. variant readings for the Hebrew.
Jerome's base text was edited in the 6th century by Cassiodorus. In spite
of there being no such thing as "The" Vulgate before the 1680's, when
scholars refer to "The" vulgate, it is usually the Cassiodorus text of the
6th century that is meant. ("The" LXX did not exist either; still doesn't.)
My special area is the Psalter, which is a bit more complicated. Jerome's
first attempt is what is called "the" Romanum and was created from existing
old Latin texts. His second attempt is what was called the Gallican --
and is referred to as such in OE Psalters. The Gallican is the version we
call "the" Vulgate and, as the name suggests, is an 8th-9th century
redaction. Jerome's last version is called the Hebraicum because it was a
direct translated from a Hebrew source. Jerome's Hebraicum was translated
with the help of Paula and her women.
If you can locate a photo of a leaf from the Canterbury or Eadwine Psalter,
you will see the three Latin versions with their titles as well as two
versions in vernaculars."Gall." in a wide column is in the central
position. An OE version is written interlinearly under "Rom." and an
Anglo-Norman version under "Heb." The Rom. and the Heb. are in two narrow
columns. Each language is written in the script appropriate to its
vernacular. You will also find commentaries -- again in a different script
-- on the leaves.
Hope this helps,
Rochelle
PS: I discuss the Greek, Latin, and OE translations of the Psalms on pp
159-186 of my book.
"A scientist may not distort facts for political reasons, religious
reasons, or any other reason".
Ji Xianlin, Chinese Historian and Sanskrit specialist on the
politicalization of .DNA findings.
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