Tag Archives: nomina sacra

Where Swanson is Correct

I have pointed out lately a few places where Reuben Swanson’s apparatus has been incorrect, so now I will be fair and point out a place where I think Swanson is correct and the NA28 apparatus is not.

In Matthew chapter 22 verse 30 there is a variant where most manuscripts say “are like the angels of God in heaven,” but some mss. say only “are like the angels in heaven.” (As does the parallel passage in Mark 12:25.) It is the difference between:
ὡς ἀγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ εν ουρανῶ εισιν and
ὡς ἀγγελοι εν ουρανῶ εισιν.

Swanson’s apparatus says the original reading of Codex E (07) did not have the words τοῦ θεοῦ “of God” and then a corrector (possibly the original scribe himself) rubbed out the original writing and added those words. The NA28 apparatus, however, does not indicate that the manuscript has been corrected there. I think Swanson is right here. Here is a snip of the manuscript:

Note that in the second half of the second line, the words ΤΟΥ ΘY̅ ƐΝ ΟY̅ΝW̅ ƐΙCΙΝ are smaller and fainter than all the other letters. This means the scribe had to shrink the rest of the words on the line in order to fit ΤΟΥ ΘY̅ in the line without having to correct the next line as well. As long as we are here, if you have not seen “nomina sacra” before, here we have two of them. The genitive form of the word θΕΟΣ, ΘΕΟΥ is shortened to ΘY̅ with a line above it. And the dative form for the word for heaven, ΟΥΡΑΝΟΣ, ΟΥΡΑΝW, is shortened to ΟY̅ΝW̅ with two overlines. These are called “nomina sacra” and they did this also for the words Jesus, Christ, David, Holy Spirit, and sometimes for Jerusalem and other words.

Majuscule Uncial Robinson-Pierpont GNT

Robinson-Pierpont 2017 Greek New Testament in Majuscule / Uncial script

I have created and uploaded an edition of the Robinson-Pierpont 2017 Greek New Testament, Byzantine Textform, in all-majuscule letters (some say uncial letters).  This document is available for download in both “.docx” format and in PDF.  The PDF is 1.7 MB, 567 pages.

This document was created by David Robert Palmer to be a public domain document, in both “.docx” format and in PDF.  The Robinson-Pierpont Greek text is also free to use without permission.  For this document, I give you permission to to copy, paste, and / or re-format as you wish.  Only except that these documents are “locked” against changes in order to preserve the original formatting, and I ask that you leave them locked.  This means that if you want to edit or re-format the Microsoft® Word 2007 “.docx” document of the RP majuscule text, you can do so, but you will have to first “save as” a copy to your hard drive under another file name; in which copy you can then make changes.  Proper display of the “.docx” document may require that you install the KoineGreek.ttf font from Alan Bunning; the documents contain a download link for that font on the cover page.  This font was chosen because it renders the Greek majuscule / uncial letter Sigma as C, which is what is found in the early Greek New Testament manuscripts.  Be advised that the KoineGreek.ttf font renders a regular lower case letter into a capital Greek letter automatically.  If you wish to use some other font, you can do that, but you will probably first have to convert the base letters to upper case.

Nomina Sacra are used for the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and vocative of κυριος, and the nom., acc. gen., dat. of θεος, Ἰησους, χριστος, and πνευμα..  It is possible that when the find/replace operations for these NS were conducted, some other word was accidentally changed which happened to contain these words.  This happened with vocative κυριε for example, but I believe I found them all and corrected them.

Download links (free) for the two documents: The PDF of the 2017 RP uncial text.  The Microsoft® Word 2007 “.docx” file of the Robinson-Pierpont majuscule text.

Robinson-Pierpont Greek New Testament, Byzantine textform in Uncial / Majuscule script

Robinson-Pierpont GNT in Majuscule

 

Please share this post about the Robinson-Pierpont 2017 GNT in Uncial / Majuscule font.

Majuscule Epistle of Jude

The Epistle of Jude in Majuscule

I have just created and uploaded the Epistle of Jude in majuscule font, similar to what New Testament manuscripts looked like in the 3rd century.  The Greek New Testament text is the Robinson-Pierpont 2017 text.  Thanks to Alan Bunning for the KoineGreek majuscule font.

If you are particularly interested in the Epistle of Jude, see also my Swanson-style chart of the Epistle of Jude in 62 manuscripts and 12 GNT editions.

Epistle of Jude in majuscule

The Epistle of Jude in majuscule

Please share this post about the Epistle of Jude in majuscule.