'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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MrMacSon
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'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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Anne Boud'hors (2016) 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights' in P. Buzi, A. Camplani & F. Contardi (eds), Coptic Society, Literature and Religion from Late Antiquity to Modern Times, Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Rome, September 17th-22nd, 2012, and Plenary Reports of the Ninth International Congress of Coptic Studies, Cairo, September 15th-19th, 2008, Volume I, Leuven, Peeters Publishers, ISBN 978-90-429-3273-9
1. INTRODUCTION

More than twenty-five years ago, I started working on the textual tradition of the Coptic Gospel of Mark. This research has resulted in several articles, editions of texts and studies which seem to have met with no reaction, probably due in part to the fact that they are written in French. The purpose of the present article is to give, in English, an idea of the challenges and progress of my work, whose ultimate goal is the realization of a new critical edition of the Sahidic text of the Gospel of Mark. An important intermediate step is the edition, now under way, of a new witness recently discovered in the library of the University of Leipzig.
Last edited by MrMacSon on Sat Apr 06, 2019 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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6. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GREEK MANUSCRIPT W

A. BOUD’HORS, 'Le caractère harmonisant des traductions de l’évangile de Marc en copte sahidique', in C.B. Amphoux and K. Elliott (eds.), Recherches textuelles sur les psaumes et les évangiles (Actes du colloque de Tbilisi, 19-20 Septembre 2007), Leiden, 2012 (appeared in 2011), p. 251-261.

This article aims to investigate the particular relationship of the Greek manuscript W (Codex Freer, Washington) and the Sahidic revised translation. This relationship is part of the answer to the question raised above: the revision was indeed made in accordance with a Greek text.
[...]
Another aim of this article was to show that the relationship with W (and also with P45, a fragmentary Greek witness of the Gospel of Mark written on papyrus) already existed in the old tradition (sa 1), although to a lesser extent. Being from Egypt, these two manuscripts could show a textual type that played a role in the first translation of Mark, besides the so-called “Alexandrian” text (Greek manuscript B)
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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7. ASSESSING THE VALUE OF NEW WITNESSES

7.1. Fragments from the White Monastery

The edition of [a] fragment kept in the Louvre provided an opportunity to show the complexity of the situation and the importance of assessing the value of the different manuscripts ... Horner’s edition was based on three manuscripts, two of them (sa 112, sa 123) having a unclear position in the textual tradition, while the third (sa 156) seems to support the old version. By contrast, the Louvre fragment, which belongs to the manuscript sa 158, seems to be a good witness of sa II and could be used as a basis for a future edition. In this chapter, sa 9 follows sa 1


7.2. The situation in the lectionaries

... This article examines the situation of sa 15L. This lectionary is clearly dependent on the old version and displays some common features with sa 9, which is not surprising since these two manuscripts come from the same scriptorium (Fayyum) and are more or less contemporaries. The old version was therefore never completely replaced by the revision and was still used in the liturgy.

7.3. The Papyrus Codex of Leipzig (Plate 1)

The papyrus codex of Leipzig is a new witness of the ancient version, although not completely dependent on it ... The affinity with sa 15L is of course interesting (see above 7.2), as is the comparison with a recently published witness of this passage, namely a wooden tablet coming from excavations in Qarara (Middle Egypt):

ⲁⲩⲱ Ⲛⲧⲉ [ⲣⲉⲥⲃⲱⲕ ⲉϩ] ⲟⲩⲛ Ⲛⲧⲉⲩ [ⲛⲟⲩ ϣⲁ ⲡⲉⲣⲟ] ⲁⲥⲁⲓⲧⲉⲓ [ⲙⲙⲟϥ ϫⲉ ϯⲟⲩ] ⲱϣ ϫⲉⲕⲁⲁ [ⲥ ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩ ⲉⲕⲉϯ] ⲛⲁ ⲓ Ⲛⲧⲁ [ⲡⲉ ⲛⲓⲱϩⲁ] ⲛⲏⲥ ⲡⲃⲁⲡ [ⲧⲓⲥⲧⲏⲥ].

This text shares with sa 1 the addition of ⲙⲙⲟϥ after ⲁⲓⲧⲉⲓ, but omits ⲉⲥϫⲱ ⲙⲙⲟⲥ. In the following sequence, it shares the word order ϫⲉⲕⲁⲥ ⲧⲉⲛⲟⲩ with sa 1, but the omission of ϩⲓϫⲛ ⲟⲩⲡⲓⲛⲁⲝ with the Leipzig codex.
.
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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8. HYPOTHESIS ON THE PLACE OF ORIGIN AND USE OF THE OLD VERSION

A. BOUD’HORS, '‘Chercher’ en copte: à propos d’une variation lexicale', in J. P. M Onferrer-Sala and A. Urban (eds.), Sacred Texts. Explorations in Lexicography (Studien zur romanischen Sprachwissenschaft und interkultu-rellen Kommunikation 57), Frankfurt, 2009, p. 15-29.

Starting from the observation of the old version using ⲕⲱⲧⲉ ⲛⲥⲁ to translate the Greek verb ζητεῖν, while the revised one uses ϣⲓⲛⲉ ⲛⲥⲁ, this article aims to show that ⲕⲱⲧⲉ ⲛⲥⲁ is more “northern”, while ϣⲓⲛⲉ ⲛⲥⲁ is more “southern”. More lexicographic studies are needed in order to know whether other variations can be explained similarly. If it proved to be the case, such “northern” coloration could be used jointly with the frequency of witnesses of the old version in the Fayyum (sa 9, sa 15L) and perhaps Middle Egypt (see the Heidelberg tablet) to put forward the hypothesis of a northern place (possibly the Fayyum itself) where this translation was made. The Gospel of Mark might give us the opportunity to look more deeply into the process of translation of a Biblical text.
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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There are several fonts that display Coptic, but for convenience say Antinoou displays the Coptic correctly.

Unfortunately, none of the several fonts that display Coptic properly are available in the editing toolbox.

DCH
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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DCHindley wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:09 pm There are several fonts that display Coptic, but for convenience say Antinoou displays the Coptic correctly.

Unfortunately, none of the several fonts that display Coptic properly are available in the editing toolbox.
Cheers DCH. I realised the font did not reproduce the characters properly (tho' after I had realigned it), but thought it was still worth including those passages.
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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and here I thought it was the redacted Mueller report
The metric to judge if one is a good exegete: the way he/she deals with Barabbas.

Who disagrees with me on this precise point is by definition an idiot.
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Re: 'The Gospel of Mark in Sahidic Coptic: new insights'

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perseusomega9 wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:01 am and here I thought it was the redacted Mueller report
I passed along your suggestion to Atty General Barr.

DCH
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