Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

OLD LATIN VERSIONS

A Latin textual tradition of the Bible that preceded Jerome’s Vulgate. It is unclear whether the Old Latin proceeded from one original or from several independent translations, but as various Roman provinces altered texts in their own ways, they differed more and more from the earliest text and from one another. Two forms, African and European, are prominent, with slight provincial variations, such as in Spain and Ireland.

The African texts of the 5th and 6th centuries are practically identical with quotations in Cyprian (Codex Bobbiensis, copied in North Africa ca. 400; Fleury Palimpsest, 5th century) or Augustine.

The unity of European texts is shown by their agreement in readings unlike that of the African text; the texts show agreement with Novatian in the mid-3rd century (Codex Vercellensis, copied in northern Italy before 370) and Lucifer of Cagliari (d. 371, Sardinia). All other European manuscripts of the Gospels agree with Codex Veronensis (5th or 6th century) more than with each other; Veronensis may represent the type of text Jerome used as the basis of the Vulgate. In the Epistles, Codex Claromontanus agrees closely with Lucifer of Cagliari; Codex Boernerianus agrees frequently with Ambrosiaster (ca. 375, Rome). Speculum exhibits in the Catholic Epistles a Spanish form of the African text, agreeing with quotations in Priscillian (d. 385). Whether the text on the northern side of the Mediterranean arose independently or as a development of the African text is uncertain.

Even after the appearance of Jerome’s Vulgate, many kept to the Old Latin text. Codex Colbertinus (12th century, France) reflects traces of African readings in a European text contaminated at places by the Vulgate. Codex Gigas (13th century, Bohemia) agrees with Lucifer of Cagliari, particularly in Acts and Revelation.

Carroll D. Osburn

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

OLD LATIN VERSIONS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)