Offtopic. Budge: Coptic Biblical texts in the dialect of Upper Egypt [1912]

COPTIC

BIBLICAL TEXTS

IN THEDIALECT OF UPPER EGYPT

EDITED BY

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, M. A., LITT. D.

KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

WITH TEN PLATES

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTESS

SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

AND BY LONGMANS AND CO., 38 PATERNOSTER ROW

BERNARD QUARITCH, 11 GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET, W.

ASHER AND CO., 14 BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN

AND HENRY FROWDE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMEN CORNER, LONDON

1912

PREFACE

THE present volume contains Coptic versions of the Books of Deuteronomy, Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles, from the papyrus Codex Oriental No. 7594, and the Book of the Apocalypse from the paper manuscript, Oriental No. 6803; all of them are written in the dialect of Upper Egypt. The papyrus Codex was acquired by the Trustees in April last year, and the paper manuscript in the year 1907. The editing of the texts has been calTied out by an arrangement with my colleague Dr. L. D. Barnett, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts in the British Museum.

The texts in the papyrus Codex are of great importance, for the script in a Greek hand which comes at the end of the Acts of the Apostles proves that the volume cannot have been written later than the middle of the fourth century. Hence it is now certain that copies of some Books of the Old and New Testaments, written in Coptic, were in circulation among the Egyptian Christians early in the first half of this century; and it is legitimate to conclude that the origin of the version itself cannot be placed later than the third century. The Codex is, in fact, the oldest known copy of any translation of any considerable portion of the Greek Bible; indeed it is probably as early as any copy now in existence of any substantial part of the Bible.

In the Introduction an attempt has been made to show the relation of the Coptic texts to their Greek originals, to describe the principal variations of the Coptic version, and to indicate to which of the great Greek MSS. the texts are most akin. This work and the collations were drawn up under the advice of Dr. Kenyon, who made many friendly suggestions. I am also indebted to him for his authoritative notes on the age of the Codex, and on the value of the texts in it for textual criticism of the Septuagint and the New Testament. My thanks are due to Mr. H. I. Bell, of the Department of Manuscripts, for his description of the papyrus fragments which formed the binding of the Codex; and to the Rev. G. Horner, M.A., who placed at my disposal his transcript of the Sahidic Acts of the Apostles from an Oxford MS. of the twelfth or thirteenth century, with permission to print any part of it. How far I have availed myself of his kindness the notes to the Acts show.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.
DEPARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN AND
ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES,
BRITISH MUSEUM.
March 11th, 1912.

Author: Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934
Subject: Bible; Coptic language
Publisher: [London] : Printed by order of the Trustees : sold at the British Museum
Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
Language: Coptic; Ancient Greek
Call number: ACQ-1684
Digitizing sponsor: University of Toronto
Book contributor: Gerstein – University of Toronto
Collection: toronto

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Note: this is the second volume of the five volumes series called  ‘COPTIC TEXTS Edited with introductions and english translations.’

The volumes I, III and V can be founded in this blog, in a previously pusblished post.