[B-Greek] Remark on textual critics

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Mar 19 23:47:08 EST 2003


>
> At 7:17 PM +0300 3/19/03, Iver Larsen wrote:
> >Translators tend to translate in such a way that the translation makes
> >sense, because they assume the original text made sense. Textual
> critics are
> >not bound but such a principle. They tend to prefer the readings
> that make
> >the least sense. This principle is called "the harder reading principle".
>
> I don't know whether this comment was offered, as we say, "tongue in
> cheek," but I do think it misrepresents what the textual critics
> are up to.
> While this is really NOT a forum for discussion of textual criticism, I do
> feel it only fair to point out that the "lectio difficilior" principle has
> more to do with a sense that a difficult reading is more likely to have
> been emended to be more readily intelligible than vice versa. It's hardly
> the case, I think, that textual critics are out to produce a text
> where the
> least intelligible variants are the only ones that are acceptable or that
> they "tend" to be so.

Yes, my statement was hyperbolic in order to try to make a point. You are
quite right about the intent and background for the lectio difficilior
principle, and I agree with the reasons behind the principle. The problem,
as I see it, is more that the various textual principles are not balanced
properly by internal evidence and the possibility of accidental changes by
copyists. The lectio difficilior principle rests solely on the unprovable
assumption that changes made by copyists were deliberate. I am sure they
often are, but sometimes they are not.

Since we do not discuss textual criticism as such on this list, I cannot say
more.

My comment was in a response to the question why English versions often do
not translate the NA or UBS text that they presumably base their translation
on. One possible answer is that they want to make sense out of a Greek
reading that does not make good sense and can hardly be original. In many
cases, the better reading is found among the alternatives given in the
apparatus. And in my experience, this is especially the case in 1 John.

Iver Larsen



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