[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
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life


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