Tim Evans wrote:- 1. D(05) Is D1 a group of documents, or a single document?
2. D(06) Is D1 the same group? or a different group, why do they have different dates?
3. If they are groups of documents, how many are there in these groups?
3. Why is there a separate D(05) and D(06)?
1. D/05 is Codex Bezae, a Greek-Latin diglot from the 5th century once owned by Theodore Beza. It is a leading member of the so-called "Western" text, an early but non-strict branch of the textual tradition. It contains the Gospels and Acts and Catholic epistles (with lacunae). A number of scribes and correctors have worked on the text. D* designates the original scribe, D1, the first corrector, D2 the second corrector, etc. So what we have is a series of texts in one manuscript.
2. D/06 is Codex Claromontanus, a Greek-Latin diglot from the 6th century. It is also a leading member of the so-called "Western" text. It contains the epistles of Paul, with some gaps. D* designates the original scribe, and D1, D2 etc. the later correctors. The corrections of D1 and D2 are so extensive that the resulting text is Byzantine.
3. They are two manuscripts of different parts of the NT, with different correctors.
3. They were always separate; the problem is why they share the same siglum 'D'. This is a little complicated to explain. The use of 'D' siglum goes back to Wettstein, who employed a different set of sigla for the different parts of the NT (Gospels, Paul, Praxapostolos = Acts + Catholics, and Revelation), and reused the same sigla (letters and numbers), with the result that the same manuscripts can have different sigla in different parts of the NT and the same sigla in different parts can refer to different manuscripts. Sometimes, to distinguish one siglum from another, the letter 'e', 'p', 'a', or 'r' was appended. So D/05 may be referred to De or Da, and D/06 as Dp. This system was very confusing and reformed by Caspar Gregory, who gave all NT manuscripts the same consistent number. Thus Codex Bezae is 05, and Codex Claromontanus is 06.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia