Scribal Errors Research Articles

Afterbirth and rebirth in 4 Maccabees’ portrait of (wo)manly courage

In 4 Maccabees’ skillfully woven tale of seven brother martyrs and their mother, a rather puzzling phrase appears in the emotionally-charged scene of the mother looking upon the mutilated corpses of her seven sons. The graphic description—burned flesh, severed hands, scalped heads, corpses upon corpses—includes, in most editions of the text, a side reference to the place filled with many spectators because of the children’s torments (4 Macc 15:20; NRSVue). These editions and translations reflect an ancient scribal emendation to the Greek text of Codex Sinaiticus that reads χόριον (afterbirth) as χορίδιον/χωρίδιον/χωρίον (place). What is surprising about this emendation is that it disrupts the focus of the encomium—the mother’s exemplary courage despite seeing the extreme mutilation of her children—whereas the earlier reading, afterbirth, is an apt description of the corpses within the context of the scene and complements the portrayal of the mother’s role throughout the book. This article considers how the erasure of afterbirth in 4 Macc 15:20 obscures the significance of the birthing metaphor in 4 Maccabees’ portrayal of the mother’s role, particularly as it relates to the image of her rebirthing (ἀνατίκτω) her sons into immortality (4 Macc 16:13). Far from a scribal error in need of emendation, afterbirth in 4 Macc 15:20 is a key feature of the birth imagery, which functions in concert with the masculinization of the mother to paint a portrait of her as the embodiment of both masculine and feminine ideals, the ultimate example of Torah piety, and a generative force of immortality.

THE BELLICOSE BISHOP Of THE BATTLE OF NEVILLE’S CROSS, 1346

This article attempts to identify the anonymous Franciscan bishop who, according to the Lanercost Chronicle, participated at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, Durham, against the invading Scots, on 17 October 1346. The Franciscan ‘Matthew episcopus Manchensis’, previously suggested to be the bishop in question, is shown to derive from a scribal error, but even the corrected Matthew bishop Organchensis was probably not the prelate in question. Rather, it is argued, another Durham suffragan, frater Richard bishop of Bisaccia, may have been in the man at Neville’s Cross.

Biblical Gilgal: A Common Place Name or a Cult Site near Jericho?

An analysis of the biblical references mentioning the place name Gilgal indicates that they all denote a single site—namely, the cult site located east of Jericho. References to Gilgal that seemingly allude to other sites resulted either from scribal errors or from scholarly misinterpretation of the biblical text. Moreover, gilgal as a noun for a kind of settlement never appears in the Bible. Hence, the plural form gilgals sometimes used by archaeologists to designate elliptical or round sites enclosed by a massive or narrow stone wall are misleading and should best be abandoned. On the contrary, Gilgal was the exclusive name of a major Israelite cult centre located near the main road that passed from Jericho to Transjordan. The cult site operated in the pre-monarchical and monarchical periods, but ceased to function in the late monarchical period, possibly during the reign of King Josiah.

"Birds Do It, Bees Do It": Avian Variance in Two Italian Witnesses of Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amour

Abstract: This article examines the implications of a textual variant found in two Italian witnesses of Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amour that transforms the section on bees and song into one about birds and song. These witnesses are not entirely unique, as the bees are eliminated from nearly half of the surviving manuscripts of the Bestiaire in clearly intentional ways. The high concentration of variants to the bee section in this manuscript tradition destabilizes any authority that might be attributed to the dominant bee text and highlights a tension between Richard's claims about bees and the views of his readers. The specific textual features of the two Italian manuscripts on which I focus, Morgan Library, M. 459 and Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plutei, LXXVI. 7n, make plain the ways in which bees were not an intuitive example in a discussion of song. Despite ample textual clues that the passage is about bees, as found in the most-used version of the text, the creators of these Italian witnesses assumed it had to be about birds because birds sing and bees do not. The variations found in these manuscripts also make an explicit interpretation of the text, clearing up an ambiguity regarding the application of the bees to the lover's situation. These variations make it plain that the bees-turned-birds represent the lover who is drawn in by his lady's song. Rather than representing scribal errors or corruptions, these variants give insights into the life of the text, illustrating how it was received, understood, and transmitted over time.

Pericope of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21–28) in a Byzantine Lectionary of the 12th c. from the IOM RAS Collection

The article describes a liturgical note in the Lectionary D 227 from the IOM RAS collection. The manuscript has an interesting variant reading: instead of the conjunction (for, because) we found the numeral (fifty-four). It can be assumed that the variant is not only a scribal error. It is possible that the original manuscript was corrupt at this point and the scribe instead of the conjunction used the numeral denoting the number of weeks of the liturgical year. The article explains the reason for such use.

Analisis intertekstual Roma 9:33 Suatu Pendekatan Memori Semantik Pada Teologi Paulus

Romans 9:33 is known as a very complicated verse with Old Testament intertextual quotations from Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 in splits and crosses. The use of allusions as key words such as "Zion" and "stone" requires analytical methods and specific rules so as not to be biased in semantic interpretation. Even the change of “disturbed” (Isa 28:16 KJV) to “be ashamed” (Rom 9:33 KJV) has meaning. The inerrancy of the Scriptures can be questioned if it is called just a variation or a scribal error, because there is no scribal doubtness in the textual critics. The research aims to prove Paul's historical canonical semantic intertextual writing technique in Romans 9:33 as a key verse explaining theology justified by faith to the Roman plural congregation. Qualitative research through canonical intertextual analysis is carried out using a semantic historical memory approach through multidisciplinary discourses such as cognitive psychology and architectural archeology. The results of the study show that Romans 9:33 was written using the synchronic multiple contexts semantic memory method which is capable of explaining with precision the theology justified by faith, both to the Jewish and non-Jewish congregations in Rome. The result in this study also provides new afirmation of the dynamics of intertextuality poststructuralism in a canonical context for modern hermeneutics.

George Kiraz and Sabine Schmidtke, eds. Scribal Habits in Near Eastern Manuscript Traditions

George Kiraz and Sabine Schmidtke, eds. <i>Scribal Habits in Near Eastern Manuscript Traditions</i>

A scribal error in the Gnomon: A proposed correction to BGU V 1210

This article proposes a correction to line 242 of papyrus BGU V 1210, the Gnomon of the Idios Logos. Substituting the accusative for the dative οὐικαρίοις, the vicarii of imperial slaves become objects of the infinitive κθᾶσται rather than the group to which the prohibition to buy things apply. Thus, instead of reading lines 241 and 242 separately, as it has traditionally been done, the two lines must be read together as two parts of a set of regulations. They limit the actions of imperial slaves, that is the Kαισαριανοῖ of line 241, who are barred from buying goods auctioned off by the fiscus, purchasing vicarii, and marrying freedwomen. Read together, the two lines can be interpreted as a measure limiting imperial slaves’ opportunities to increase their peculium by either taking advantage of the confiscation of private property by the fiscus or buying vicarii.

Richard Rolle: On Lamentations. A Critical Edition with Translation and Commentary. Edited by Michael Van Dussen

Richard Rolle, the early fourteenth-century hermit and mystic, is often regarded as the founding father of English medieval mysticism, particularly of works written in the vernacular. However, most of Rolle’s works were written in Latin. Interest in the Latin works, particularly in the biblical commentaries that form over half of Rolle’s output, has been developing over the last 20 years or so, but needs modern critical editions of these works to flourish. This edition of Rolle’s commentary on Lamentations is therefore welcome. The author tells us that there are four extant manuscripts: two in Oxford (in the Bodleian Library and in Corpus Christi College), one in Dublin, and, perhaps surprisingly, one in Prague. Van Dussen has also drawn on the first printed edition, published in Cologne in 1536, which appears to have come from a fifth manuscript. The variations are not extreme, arising largely from the usual scribal errors, omissions, and occasional expansions. Looking at the textual notes, the variations do not suggest any deliberate slanting of the text, which is interesting given that Van Dussen goes on to situate its circulation in the context of Reformation religious controversy.

“Rede hit sofft”: John Audelay's Practice of Care

“Rede hit sofft”: John Audelay's Practice of Care

“Акалака” (akālaka): лексичний фантом у буддійському гібридному санскриті

Franklin Edgerton’s work on Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) was groundbreaking for its time. With his grammar, dictionary, and reader, published in 1953, he made a strong case for his claim that “BHS is not Sanskrit”. But following their publication, both the grammar and the dictionary were subject to heated debates by scholars of Buddhist texts; some accused Edgerton of being too accepting of words and grammatical forms that were merely scribal errors or borrowings from contemporary vernacular languages, since many of the text editions that he used were based on only a handful of manuscripts, or even on a single fragment. This article will take up the BHS entry on the word “akālaka” and show that all three references cited for it&nbsp;– from the Divyāvadāna, the Mahāvastu, and the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra&nbsp;– are unreliable. Parallels in other Sanskrit as well as Pali texts reveal that the word is merely the result of scribal error, on the one hand, and mistaken emendations by editors of critical texts, on the other. When these errors were compounded, the word became codified by Edgerton as a dictionary entry&nbsp;– with what seemed like evidence from multiple sources&nbsp;– and was cited by later scholars. This case study raises a number of interesting questions about lexicography, especially of such “hybrid” languages&nbsp;– how can we reliably separate mistakes from “genuine” readings? What does it even mean for a word to be “genuine” or “false”, and how might we re-imagine dictionaries to take into account the uncertainties inherent in their source material?

A New Transcription and Assessment of 4Q9 (4QGenesisj)

Abstract This article presents a new transcription of 4Q9 on the basis of the new photographs and the identification of four more fragments. The irregular hand and the scribal errors indicate that the scribe was not very skilled. Orthographically and morphologically the text is very close to the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Recensional Traces in Codex Vaticanus in the Light of Papyrus 967

Abstract This article focuses on some readings of the book of Esther in Codex Vaticanus (4th century CE), unanimously regarded as the best witness of the Old Greek text. A first comparison is made with the text of 𝔓 967 (3rd century CE), a special papyrus within the Greek textual tradition. All the relevant differences between the two are considered. Once scribal error is excluded, attention is directed to possible parallel readings with the Masoretic Text in order to ascertain whether these readings show traces of a revision of the text of Codex Vaticanus (B) towards MT.

A Note Clarifying the Date of the Last Will and Testament of Richard FitzAlan, earl of Arundel (d. 1397)

In the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for the Appellant lord, Richard FitzAlan (1346–1397), fourth earl of Arundel and ninth earl of Surrey, the biographer asserts that the earl’s will, later proved at the court of his brother, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, was dated 4 March 1393 (emphasis mine).1 There is, however, some contention around this date due to what is likely a scribal error in the still-unedited and -unpublished register of Archbishop Arundel: early in the will, the scribe has either misidentified the regnal year or has miscopied the calendar date. The text opens: En noun de piere du fitz et de seint espririt Amen. Jeo Richard counte darundell et de Surrey le quart jour de Mars, lan del incarnation nostre seignour ihu crist mill ccc quatre vintz et douze, et lan du regne le Roy Richard seconde seszime en moun chastel philipp en bone et seine memorie face mon testament (In the name of [the] Father, [the] Son, and [the] Holy Spirit, Amen. I, Richard, earl of Arundel and of Surrey, [on] the fourth day of March, the year of the incarnation of our Saviour Jesus Christ [one] thousand three hundred ninety-two, and the sixteenth year of the reign of the king Richard II, at my castle Philipp, in good and healthy mind, make my testament).2

Abbatissae uenerabili Heanfled agnominatae

The unique Anglo-Saxon woman’s name Heanfled (S904, c. 1002 AD) is generally interpreted as a scribal error for Eanfled (or Eadfled, or Heahfled). Although the hypothesis has been dismissed in the older literature, the possibility stands that the form handed down is correct, and Heanfled might represent a (Christian) proper name in its own right, deliberately created or shaped according to the rules presiding over the formation of Germanic dithematic anthroponyms.

The Long Journey of the Magi: Re-assessing ‘Liturgical Drama’ for Epiphany from Nevers

Scholars have long been puzzled by the ‘liturgical drama’ representing the journey of the magi in the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Nouv. acq. lat. 1235; many analyses have interpreted the confusing aspects of the material as scribal errors. Through a close reading of the material, this paper argues that it is possible — and even reasonable — to understand all details of the scribal work as accurate and valid. Doing so offers a broader understanding of how such biblical narratives and representations were incorporated into the liturgical practices of Nevers.

The Bearded Lady of Giza: Appropriation, Conspiracy, and Veiled Protest in the Pyramid Texts of Unas

We report here a thus far unrecognized, unusual hieroglyphic icon, ostensibly created by a scribal error on the north wall of the Sarcophagus Chamber inside the pyramid of the late Fifth Dynasty, ancient Egyptian King Unas. We present hieroglyphic, textual evidence that what looks like an accident of hieroglyph carving into the limestone wall instead appears to be an intentional, albeit veiled, reference to the couchant lion goddess Mehit with a bent rod above her back, an iconic symbol of the royal writers’ and archivists’ guild at the dawn of Egyptian civilization. While this combination of lioness and rod appears in sealings and title records from the first four dynasties of ancient Egypt, it disappeared from the known record after Fourth Dynasty King Khafre, more than a century before the time of King Unas. Thus, its reappearance, and ostensibly intentional placement within the earliest known version of the Pyramid Texts in Unas’ pyramid prompted us to search for further evidence why this may have been done. Scanning the Pyramid Texts for other veiled references, we show that invocating what was, by then, the archaic lioness cult of Mehit was part of a wider subtext apparently embedded by the texts’ composer into Unas’ hieroglyphic afterlife utterances using ancient Egyptian phonetic invocations called Heka Magic. We define and apply four criteria to amplify detection of veiled composer intent and reconstruct the theme of this subtext as a lament by the composer at the desecration of a preexisting lioness statue at Giza into the Great Sphinx, the expungement of the cult associated with Mehit, and the side-lining of the older cult of Thoth-Moon, both in favor of a new cult of the Sun dedicated to Re and Atum. We identify what may have been at issue in the mind of the composer, i.e., a fundamental violation of prevailing convention by the royal house during the Fourth Dynasty in re-carving the statue of a female lion goddess into the likeness of a living king wearing the divine beard, as if he was a living god-king. We conclude that by the time of King Unas, there must have been an influential faction at the royal court that opposed the cults of Atum and Re, the Sphinx, and above all, the claim of the royal rulers to divinity while still living. We suggest that this cadre of dissent against the state-ordained cult of the living Sun god kings must have been willing to risk their lives and conspire to sabotage the royal funerary corpus of texts with a veiled record of this opposition and its pretext that we have reconstructed. As evidence, we present our prime suspect to have masterminded this conspiracy to subvert the Pyramid Texts. We thus offer a novel explanation for the absence of explicit references to the Great Sphinx in the Old Kingdom for over a thousand years after its creation and provide new written evidence that this statue was remodeled from an older lioness monument.

The Old EnglishLife of Saint Mary of Egyptand London, British Library, Cotton Julius E.vii: A Textual Study

AbstractThis article highlights the textual distinctiveness of the Old EnglishLife of Saint Mary of Egyptin its manuscript context in British Library, Cotton Julius E.vii. The Cotton Julius version of theLifeis distinctive in the sheer number of scribal errors it contains but also in the purposeful changes to the original translation evident in it. Consideration of scribal performance across the manuscript and comparison with texts ofSaint Mary of Egyptextant elsewhere lead to the conclusion that the purposeful changes in the Cotton Julius witness have probably been inherited from an exemplar, while the number of errors is likely due to the pressure under which the scribe was working in adding this text at a late stage of the manuscript’s composition. Despite its distinctive features, there is no evidence to contradict the recently argued contention that this version ofSaint Mary of Egypt, along with the second half of the immediately preceding item in the manuscript, theLegend of the Seven Sleepers, was copied by the main scribe of Cotton Julius rather than being delegated to a colleague: althoughSeven Sleepersalso seems to have been copied under pressure,Saint Mary of Egyptstands apart from it in broadly the same ways as it does from the rest of the manuscript.

The Transmission of the Samaritan Pentateuch Group: A New Perspective

Abstract This paper explores the transmission process of SP and the texts from which it developed. It evaluates the reliability of the transmission by means of an examination of variants attested in MT and SP attributable to graphic similarity between letters. The paper shows that if one focuses on variants that originated solely in graphic similarity between letters, SP contains primary readings in an equal number of instances as MT. These findings are consistent with the lack of evidence for scribal errors in the pre-Samaritan scrolls. Both indicate that the texts in the Samaritan and pre-Samaritan traditions were carefully transmitted.

Ahd. slecko m. ‚Schnecke‘

Abstract Under the forms listed for the lemma Old High German snecko m. ‚snail‘ also a variant ‹ slecco › is mentioned. The ‑l‑ must then be the result either of a scribal error, a dissimilation or an assimilation. However, there is in Dutch a word for snail that also shows ‑l‑, Middle Dutch slecke (f.). It is argued here that Old High German slecko is a separate lemma that corresponds to Middle Dutch slecke.