[B-Greek] John Rylands Papyrus 470 prayer to the Theotokos questions

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Aug 5 17:00:49 EDT 2007


On Aug 5, 2007, at 4:39 PM, E wrote:

> (This may not exactly be a B-Greek question, except re: "EM" for  
> "EN", but I'd
> appreciate any responses, including off-list if my wording-change  
> questions are
> out of bounds.)
>
> John Rylands Papyrus 470, viewable here:
>
> http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/insight/papyrus.htm
>
> (Use the insight browser viewer, and then search by Reference  
> Number for
> Greek  Papyrus 470, and then click on it to activate the magnify  
> and zoom
> functions.)
>
> has a prayer to the Theotokos, circa 250 A.D. The present form of  
> the prayer is
> (per the layout on the papyrus):
>
> 1 hUPO THN SHN
> 2 EUSPLAGCNIAN
> 3 KATAFEUGOMEN
> 4 QEOTOKE; TAS HMWN
> 5 IKESIAS MH PA
> 6 RIDHiS EN PERISTASEI,
> 7 ALL' EK KINDUNWN
> 8 LUTRWSAI HMAS,
> 9 MONH AGNH, MO
> 10 NH EULOGHMENH.
>
> which roughly translates (adapted per Wikipedia entry for "Sub tuum
> praesidium," the Latin version):
>
> 1 Beneath your
> 2 compassion
> 3 we take refuge
> 4 Theotokos. Our
> 5 petitions do not de-
> 6 spise in time of trouble
> 7 but from dangers
> 8 rescue us
> 9 Only Holy, On-
> 10 ly Blessed
>
> The John Rylands Papyrus looks to me like this:
>
> [  ] = gaps in papyrus
> The writer uses a lunate Sigma (i.e., "C")
>
> 1 [hU]PO [THN SHN]
> 2 EUSPL[AGCNIAN]
> 3 KA[T]AFE[UGOMEN]
> 4 QEOTOKE T[AS HMWN]
> 5 IKESIAS MH P[A]
> 6 RIDHiS EM PERISTASEI
> 7 ALL' EK KINDUNOU
> 8 RUSAI HMAS
> 9 M[O]NH A[GNH MON]
> 10 H EULO[GHMENH]
>
> Am I reading this correctly? I.e., in comparison with the Greek  
> Orthodox
> prayerbook rendering and spelling, the papyrus seems to have:
>
> 6 "EM" instead of "EN"
> 7 KINDUNOU (singular) instead of KINDUNWN
> 8 RUSAI instead of LUTRWSAI
>
> If I'm correct about 6, is the writing of "EM" for "EN" purely a  
> scribal
> error/misspelling? Or is there evidence that "EM" was sometimes  
> used for "EN"?

Assimilation of N to the P is common -- even where not written, it  
would surely be pronounced as assimilated, and probably the  
combination MP as pronounced as "mb"

Carl W. Conrad



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