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 HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES |
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HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES |
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Vol. 1, No. 2 July 1998 |
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SPECIAL ISSUE: St. Ephraim the Syrian - I |
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Issue Index Home Volume Index Editorial Board Copyright & Citing Submission Transliteration Links SyrCOM |
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BOOK REVIEW
The Old Testament in Syriac According to the Peshitta Version.
juckel@uni-muenster.de Institut fόr Neutestamentliche Textforschung University of Mόnster [1] In 1972 the first volume of the Old Testament according to the Peshitta version, prepared by the Peshitta Institute at Leiden, was published. By 1991, twelve additional volumes followed; five remain to appear1. This good progress of the edition and its expected completion in the near future enabled the general editor(s) to commence work on the concordance project which is planned to appear in six volumes. The first volume of the concordance is the volume reviewed at hand comprising the books Genesis - Deuteronomy. [2] The 2nd volume will comprise the historical books Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah; the 3rd the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Dodekapropheton, Daniel - Bel - Draco; the 4th Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Qohelet, Lamentations, Esther; the 5th the deutero-canonical and apocryphal books Judith, Susanna, Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, Epistle of Jeremiah, Epistle of Baruch, Baruch, Apocalypse of Baruch, Maccabees, III Ezra, Odes, Prayer of Manasse, Apocryphal Psalms, Psalms of Solomon; the 6th vol. will be a General Index (i.e., a summary of the vocabulary given separately in each of the concordance volumes with additional material). [3] The decision to subdivide the concordance volumes this way (and not according to segments of the Syriac alphabet) was the only possibility to produce it before the final volume of the OT Peshitta text is published. This limitation, as opposed to a single OT concordance subdivided according to the alphabet, is acceptable in light of the fast progress which the current volume experienced, in addition to the advantage of having all letters of the Syriac alphabet represented in each volume. [4] The outward appearance of this quarto volume is marvelous; its material and printing is of top quality. The size is larger than the text volumes of the OT; the beautiful Estrangela script remained the same (smaller, but not too small). There are 976 pages, mostly in two columns. Prefaces and introductory matters (ix-xxvi) are followed by the main bulk of the concordance (1 - 853), to which 3 Appendices are added: Concordance (C.) of proper names (855-871), C. of geographical names (872-877), and C. of the prefixed particles dalath, beth, lamad (878-922). At the end, one finds a Latin-Syriac (923-932) and an English-Syriac (933-942) vocabulary, a List of Hebrew words (943-976) and a List of Syriac words arranged according to their roots (968-976). [5] The structure of the layout is clear and well proportioned. In principle it follows the model of the Concordance to the Septuagint ... by E. Hatch and H.A. Redpath (Oxford 1897; reprint Graz 1975) and does not need much explanation (nevertheless, a detailed one is given in the General Introduction xi-xviii). In a heading block, the Syriac lemma (arranged in alphabetical order), its translation (Latin, English) and the corresponding Hebrew word(s) are given. Additionally, the following information is given for each lemma: its root, grammatical category (N[oun], V[verb], O[ther]), and a frequency number. The translation of the verbs is specified according to the verbal stems (labeled with Roman numerals). An index letter (a, b, c, ...) is attached to the Hebrew correspondences for reference, and a frequency number is given here as well. [6] The "text" of the Concordance is the quotation column with reference to the OT book-chapter-verse on the left and to the corresponding Hebrew word (according to Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia) to the right. The quotations are well delimited, a great part of them is more than one line. The lemma under consideration is exposed by underlining it in each verse. The quotation line provides the maximum information required as it includes variant readings from manuscripts previous to the thirteenth century, and the deviations of the printed editions of L[ee] (1823; 1979), M[osul] (1951) and U[rmia] (1852; 1954). These variants, taken from the OT Leiden edition, are placed in brackets with the Leiden sigla for the manuscript(s). If the lemma under consideration occurs only in the apparatus criticus of the edition, a full quotation including the bracketed lemma is given in the Concordance. Consequently, the frequency number of the lemma often consists of a second element indicating how many of the occurrences are recorded as a variant, e.g., 50.13 x = 13 lemmata out of 50 are variant readings in the edition. [7] As the lemmata are arranged in alphabetical order, and not by root, it was not possible to construct the quotation block by sections according to the verb stems with all its derivations (as the OT Concordance of W. Strothmann2 and the NT Concordance of G. Kiraz3 present the material). The editors decided to drop nearly all information concerning the morphological analysis of the lemmata. In the General Preface (page x) they state: "In accordance with the needs of exegetes the choice was made for a Concordance, based on similar principles as the Concordance to the Septuagint, by Hatch and Redpath, and not for a printed database. In light of this consideration the editors preferred to abstain from a too detailed analysis of the Syriac verbal forms. This analysis will be provided by the Peshitta Project Database which is in progress (...) Nevertheless, the present Concordance provides a plausible analysis of the verbal forms". [8] For verbs, at least the Syriac stem is given (labeled by a Roman numeral) on the right side of the quotation, combined with the reference letter of the Hebrew correspondence. Additionally, the stem of the corresponding Hebrew verb is provided as well (labeled by an Arabic numeral). So sub voce ' bd (on page 6) w-awbed(w) in the quotation of Nm 32:39 is labeled V5g, which means that the Syriac verb stem is Aphel with a corresponding Hebrew verb (yrsh = g) in the Hiphil. Additional information concerning the morphological analysis (tenses, gender, person) are dropped as they will be provided in the 6th concordance volume with its "general list of Syriac words, arranged according to their roots with additional information regarding modes and tenses of the verbal forms" (General Preface page ix). Probably for the nouns a similar morphological analysis will be provided in the 6th volume or by the Database Project mentioned in the introduction. [9] Although the editors' decisions are clear cut and well explained, not all scholars (especially linguists and philologists who are familiar with the Concordances of Strothmann and Kiraz) will be satisfied by the principle of abstaining from a very detailed analysis of the lemmata. They might feel unhappy to be referred to the Leiden Database and/or to the 6th volume of the Concordance (both in progress) for full information about morphological facts (e.g., if and how often the infinitive Peal of cabd one encounters in the Pentateuch). They will have to spend a considerable amount of time to check the long articles of the Concordance to answer morphological questions. If at least some elements of the database had been introduced in the current Concordance, its usefulness would have increased considerably. [10] The editors themselves give one of the main reasons why a detailed analysis of the words is difficult in many cases: The Concordance is founded upon the Leiden OT Peshitta, which itself is printed in unvocalized Estrangela and principally based on unvocalized (or only partly or even divergently vocalized) manuscripts. Therefore, the analysis, especially of the verbal forms, often remains ambiguous. In these cases, the Concordance has to rely upon the decisions of the editors of the Peshitta-text volumes. Here a question is asked: are the vocalization dots used for Estrangela script applied consistently and non-ambiguously through all the Peshitta volumes? [11] The arrangement and classification of the lemmata is said to be based on the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (1879-1883; reprint 1981). This is the reason why on p. 140 the root of bayta (house) is said to be bna, and on p. 586 sym (to place) is classified as a root mediae waw. Additionally, due to the alliance with the Thesaurus Syriacus, homonymous roots are not classified with numerals as in Brockelmann΄s Lexicon syriacum 2nd edition 1928 (reprint 1966). Thus, the root skl is given for both sukkala (intelligence) and sakla (stupid), and the root rca for racya (shepherd) and recyana (mind). This is not wrong, but imprecise. Accordingly, the List of Syriac words arranged according to their roots (968-976) is mixing the homonymous roots. This alliance made by the editors with the Thesaurus Syriacus can be accepted, but this surely will not mean to replace the Lexicon of Brockelmann as a standard for linguistic treatment of the Syriac language, a standard which recently was confirmed by the Concordances of Strothmann and Kiraz. But this view cannot put in question the editors' sound principles which gave birth to this splendid tool of study. [12] Finally some observations: A header with the lemma on the top of every page would facilitate the use of the Concordance. Cross references help to find verbs which are not in use with Peal, e.g., p. 12 ausep see ysp. There is no reference awdy which points the user to yda (p. 338). - Greek words should be added to lemmata of Greek origin, e.g., p. 7 agursa, p. 101 asota, p. 102 eskema. - For ekl (to eat) on p. 39-43, the Aphel does not occur in the header block, but in the quotations. - Passim: All seyame placed on Aleph are fused with the letter. - When prefixed with lamad, caina (eye) is always misprinted (p. 629). _______Notes
2
W. Strothmann, Konkordanz zum Syrischen Bible (Wiesbaden 1983-).
3
G. Kiraz, A Computer-Generated Concordance to the Syriac New Testament, vol. 1-6 (Leiden 1993).
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