Bible translations into Geʽez

"Ethiopic Bible" redirects here. For the canon of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches, see Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon.

Bible translations into Geʽez, an ancient Ethio-Semitic language, date back to the 6th century at least, making them one of the world's oldest Bible translations.[1][2]

Translations of the Bible in Geʽez, in a predecessor of the Geʽez script which did not possess vowels, were created between the 5th and 7th century,[2] soon after the Christianization of Ethiopia in the 4th century.[3] This took place in a period of time alongside which other canonical and liturgical texts were being translated into Geʽez, as is indicated by the Aksumite Collection.[4][5]

The Garima Gospels are the oldest translation of the Bible in Geʽez and the world's earliest complete illustrated Christian manuscript.[6] Monastic tradition holds that they were composed close to the year 500,[7] a date supported by recent radiocarbon analysis; samples from Garima 2 proposed a date of c. 390–570, while counterpart dating of samples from Garima 1 proposed a date of c. 530–660.[8] The Garima Gospels is also thought to be the oldest surviving Geʽez manuscript.[9][10]

The milestones of the modern editions were the Roman edition of the New Testament in 1548 edited by Tasfa Seyon, which is the editio princeps,[11] and the critical edition of the New Testament by Thomas P. Platt in 1830 (his edition of the Geʽez four Gospels was first published in 1826[11]).[12]

Biblical manuscripts in Geʽez existed until at least the late 17th century.[13]

In 2009, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church associated themselves with the Bible Society of Ethiopia to produce a printed version of the Bible in Geʽez. The New Testament was released in 2017.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "A New Translation for one of the World's Oldest Scriptures". Scottish Bible Society. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  2. ^ a b "Geʿez language". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  3. ^ "African Christianity in Ethiopia". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  4. ^ Bausi, Alessandro; Brita, Antonella; Marco Di Bella; Nosnitsin, Denis; Rabin, Ira; Sarris, Nikolas (2020). "The Aksumite Collection or Codex Σ (Sinodos of Qǝfrǝyā, MS C3-IV-71/C3-IV-73, Ethio-SPaRe UM-039): Codicological and Palaeographical Observations. With a Note on Material Analysis of Inks". Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin. 6: 127–171. doi:10.25592/uhhfdm.8470.
  5. ^ Hatke, Georg (2022). "Religious Ideology in the Gəʿəz Epigraphic Corpus from Yemen". Rocznik Orientalistyczny. 75 (2): 73. ISSN 0080-3545.
  6. ^ "Ethiopian Bible is the oldest and complete bible on earth". Ancient Origine. 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  7. ^ Taylor, Jerome (6 July 2010). "Unearthed, the ancient texts that tell story of Christianity". The Independent.
  8. ^ Bausi, Alessandro (5 November 2013). "Ethiopia and the Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: The Garimā Gospels in Context". Ethiopian Heritage Fund. p. 2. Archived from the original (Summary of conference proceedings) on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  9. ^ Bailey, Martin (2010-07-14). "Discovery of earliest illustrated manuscript". Theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  10. ^ "The Arts Newspaper June 2010 – Abuna Garima Gospels". Ethiopianheritagefund.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  11. ^ a b Zuurmond, Rochus (2013) [1995]. "Chapter Nine - Ethiopic version of the New Testament". In Ehrman, Bart D.; Holmes, Michael W. (eds.). The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents, volume 42 (2nd ed.). BRILL. p. 249. doi:10.1163/9789004236554. ISBN 978-90-04-23604-2.
  12. ^ "Information and Notes". www.tau.ac.il. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  13. ^ "Ethiopic Bible". The British Library. Retrieved 2020-03-11.

Further reading

  • Piovanelli, Pierluigi. "Aksum and the Bible: Old Assumptions and New Perspectives." Aethiopica 21 (2018): 7-27. Open access
  • Mikre-Sellassie, G.A. (2000-07-01). "The Early Translation of the Bible into Ethiopic/Geez". The Bible Translator. 51 (3): 302–316. doi:10.1177/026009350005100302. ISSN 2051-6770. S2CID 162571327.
  • Bausi, Alessandro (1999). "Un nuovo studio sulla versione etiopica della Bibbia". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici (in Italian). XLIII: 5–19 – via Academia.edu.
  • Hannah, Darrell. "The Vorlage of the Ethiopic Version of the Epistula Apostolorum: Greek or Arabic?." Beyond Canon: Early Christianity and the Ethiopic Textual Tradition (2020): 97ff.
  • LEFEVRE, RENATO (1969). "Documenti e Notizie Su Tasfā Ṣeyon e la Sua Attività Romana Nel Sec. Xvi". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici (in Italian). 24: 74–133. ISSN 0390-0096. JSTOR 41299589.
  • Knibb, Michael A. 2000. Translating the Bible: The Ethiopic Version of the Old Testament, by Michael A. Knibb. The Schweich Lectures for 1995. New York: Oxford University Press for the British Academy.
  • Ullendorff, Edward, Ethiopia and the Bible: The Schweich Lectures (Oxford: British Academy, 1968) ISBN 0-19-726076-4
  • Zuurmond, Rochus. "The Ethiopic Version of the New Testament." The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis (1995): 142–56.
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