[B-Greek] Ironies of Samaria in Greek
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Thu Sep 11 13:10:14 EDT 2008
While reading some texts on Samaritans, I was reminded
that September is the season when many students start
to read lists of names as the become acquainted with the
Greek alphabet.
There are several little ironic twists with
Σαμαρεια/Σαμαρια, and ο Σαμαρειτης /Σαμαριτις.
This posting may sound like text criticism but it is, in fact,
language oriented. We need accurate textual data
in order to discuss the language data rightly. And I was
surprised myself by the ironic inconsistencies in both
UBS and WH.
Most on this list will be reading from UBS/NA where
the place is Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA
and a man is Σαμαριτης SAMARITHS.
What is left unexplained to readers is the crossing of
textual bases for such spellings. Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA
is usually preferred by several old Alexandrian texts and
later Byzantine tradition.
For example, at John 4.4, 4.5
B, p75, A, and Byzan. --
all have Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA
א, p66, C, D, W --
have Σαμαρια SAMARIA
Normally, א and p66 are not given high ratings for details,
and the UBS/NA text justly follows
Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA.
But with the word for a Samaritan man the opposite
happens:
Σαμαριτης SAMARITHS is in UBS/NA!
Luke 10:33 is a nice example:
once again, the old Alexandrian texts and Byzantine
show -ει- -EI-
Σαμαρειτης SAMAREITHS: B, p45, p75, A, Byzan.
while Σαμαριτης SAMARITHS is in א, C, D, W
The manuscripts are in the same groupings, and broadly
speaking these manuscripts are consistent throughout
the NT on these words. (I will spare your bandwidth on
this point, but it is easily checked with a concordance and
the books of Swanson on Greek NT texts.)
But our UBS/NA is not consistent.
The place is spelled Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA, -EI-
while the person is Σαμαριτης SAMARITHS. -I-
That is Irony number one.
But let's look at Westcott and Hort's venerable work.
WestcottHort consistently spell the place
Σαμαρια SAMARIA
while the man is a Σαμαρειτης SAMAREITHS.
They are exactly the opposite of UBS/NA.
Even more surprising with Westcott and Hort is the fact
that B, arguably the greatest of the old uncials, consistently
spells Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA. One suspects that their
desire to be different from the Byz tradition lead them
to prefer the א, C, D, W spelling here.
However, it is fairly clear that the various textual
traditions were consistent. If they spelled the land
Σαμαρεια SAMAREIA then they spelled the person
with ει -EI- Σαμαρειτης SAMAREITHS.
If they spelled the land with ι -I- Σαμαρια SAMARIA ,
then the person was Σαμαριτης SAMARITHS.
One or the other. -EI- or -I-.
Finally, we come back to students beginning Greek in
the Fall who will be reading names k.t.l. Can they
read these names correctly? They will probably do so
if they read Σαμαρια/Σαμαριτης
SAMARIA/SAMARITHS. The less-tight Alexandrian
spelling. But this is not the UBS/NA spelling.
If they have the tight-Alexandrian spelling, which
agrees with the Byz spelling, they need to be using
a Koine pronunciation. ει -EI- is pronounced the same
as ι -I-. Σαμαρεια/Σαμαρειτης
SAMAREIA/SAMAREITHS are pronounced the same
as Σαμαρια/Σαμαριτης SAMARIA/SAMARITHS.
Identically.
So how was the original NT spelled?
That we don't know.
For one, each author could have spelled these words
according to his own tradition.
Secondly, neither an author nor the NT as a canon has
any guarantee of being consistent on this. But the most
probable was SAMAREIA, SAMAREITHS
Σαμαρεια, Σαμαρειτης.
Ironically, this is the Byzantine tradition, the one generally
not followed by NT text critics, but the spelling also upheld
by the oldest papyri in the tightest tradition.
Hopefully the new students will be reading these smoothly,
maybe even correctly. The doubly inverted ironies of our
Greek New Testament traditions will not present a problem.
(If the pronunciation of EI as I is new for anyone, please
see the PDF on Koine pronunication at
www.biblicalulpan.org under 'courses' 'Greek demo'.
The website is currently being edited and has added new
Greek material and course dates, even January.)
ERRWSQE
Randall
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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