Hebraica veritas in the Brest Bible

Abstract

The Brest Bible is regarded traditionally as the first translation of the entire Scriptures from the original languages into Polish. This study assesses this claim. A cursory analysis reveals that the Brest translators generally followed the hebraica veritas. They made use of Stephanus's Latin Bible (1556/57) whose Old Testament text was the literal Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible by Santes Pagnini (Pagnino); the Vulgate text was also included. It is shown that where there are significant differences between the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible of the sixteenth century and Pagnini's version, the Brest Bible follows Pagnini. Its translators followed Pagnini in Stephanus's edition verse by verse, and also applied the latter's division into chapters and verses to the Polish text. It is, then, suggested that there is doubt whether the Brest translators translated directly from the original version, it being more likely that they availed themselves chiefly of Pagnini's Latin version.