Novum Instrumentum omne

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Erasmus

The Novum Instrumentum omne is the first published print of the New Testament in Greek and appeared in 1516 . The bilingual edition was published by Erasmus von Rotterdam and printed by Johann Froben in Basel .

In the right column, Erasmus had his own Latin translation set alongside the Greek text. Parallel to the Erasmus edition, another printed edition of the Greek New Testament was being prepared at the same time, volume five of the Complutensic Polyglot . Although this volume had already been printed in 1514, it did not come onto the market until 1520 as part of the six-volume complete edition.

The edition of Erasmus became the basis for most modern translations of the New Testament into national languages ​​from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

First edition

In 1512 Erasmus negotiated with Badius Ascensius in Paris about the publication of Jerome's Vulgate and a new edition of the Adagia . These did not materialize, however, and Erasmus cut off contact with Badius. At that time, Erasmus was not thinking about the Greek New Testament. It is not certain when he decided to publish an edition of the Greek New Testament, but on a visit to Basel in August 1514 he contacted Johann Froben. Many scholars believe that Froben learned of the coming Spanish polyglot and tried to forestall the Alcala project. Some researchers, however, question Froben's motivation (e.g. Bruce Metzger ), as there is no evidence to support him. Erasmus probably included the Greek text in order to prove the superiority of his Latin version.

The next meeting took place in April 1515 at Cambridge University . As a result, Erasmus came to Basel in July 1515 and began his work. He did not take any Greek manuscripts with him, but hoped to find them in Basel; he borrowed some Greek manuscripts from the Dominican monastery in Basel . In all, he used seven manuscripts that were later identified:

First page of the New Testament by Erasmus
manuscript content Dating
Minuscule 1 eap the entire NT without revelation 12th Century
Minuscule 1 rK Revelating of the Johannes 12th Century
Minuscule 2 e Gospels 12th Century
Minuscule 2 ap Acts and letters 12th Century
Minuscule 4 ap Paul's letters 15th century
Minuscule 7 p Paul's letters 12th Century
Minuscule 817 Gospels 15th century

Erasmus had borrowed the manuscripts 1 eap and 1 rK from Johannes Reuchlin . He borrowed the remaining manuscripts from the Dominican Order . It is noteworthy that he did not use the Codex Basilensis , which was located in the University of Basel and was accessible to him. Erasmus had three manuscripts of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles and four manuscripts of the Epistles of Paul available , but only one manuscript of Revelation . In every book of the New Testament he compared three manuscripts except for the last book - Revelation. Unfortunately, this manuscript was not complete; the last sheet was missing. The last six verses of the book were on this. Instead of delaying publication to look for another manuscript, he decided to translate the missing verses from the Latin Vulgate into Greek instead .

Even in other parts of Revelation and also in other books of the New Testament, Erasmus sometimes added his own Greek words based on textual material from the Vulgate. FHA Scrivener noticed that in Rev 17,4 he created a new Greek word: ακαθαρτητος (instead of τα ακαθαρτα). The word ακαθαρτητος does not exist in the Greek language. In Rev 17,8 he used καιπερ εστιν ( and yet is ) instead of και παρεσται ( and is to come ). In Acts 9: 6 the question that Paul asks during his conversation on the road to Damascus is Τρέμων τε καὶ θαμβὣν εἲπεν κιριε τί μέ θέλεις ποιῆσαι ("And trembling and astonished he said, Lord, what do you want? "), also inserted from the Vulgate.

The last page of Erasmus' New Testament (Rev 22,8-21)

Printing began on October 2, 1515 and was finished after a very short time (March 1, 1516). It was executed in a great hurry with a number of typographical errors and was entitled:

"Novum Instrumentum omne, diligent from Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum, non solum ad Graecam veritatem verum etiam ad multorum utiusq; linguae codicum eorumq; veterum simul et emendatorum fidem, postremo ad probatissimorum autorum citationem, emendationem et interpretationem, praecipue, Origenis, Chrysostomi, Cyrilli, Vulgarij, Hieronymi, Cypriani, Ambrosij, hilaryj, Augustini, una cum annotatines, quae mutidatum doceantation ,e quae mutidatum doceant. "

In this title the words Novum Instrumentum mean ... Recognitum et Emendatum translated New Testament ... revised and improved . This must refer to the Latin text of the Vulgate and not the Greek text, as no printed edition of the Greek New Testament was in circulation at the time. In his dedication to Pope Leo X , Erasmus says:

“I have perceived that the teaching that serves our salvation is to be found in a much purer and more vivid form when it is taken from the well head or actual spring rather than from ponds and rivers. And so I have revised the entire New Testament (as they call it) against the standard of the Greek original ... I have contributed some notes myself, primarily to show the reader the changes I made and why I made them, and second, to unravel and explain things that may be a little complicated, unclear or opaque. "

It is a bilingual edition. In the left column is the Greek text, while the Latin text is in the right column. Not the Greek text, but the Latin text of the Vulgate was the primary objective of this edition.

Further editions

During Erasmus' lifetime, five folio editions left the printing press, 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527 and 1535. There were also several simpler editions in smaller format and without the Greek text and without the notes, which were published in Basel, not only by Froben were.

The second edition uses the more popular term Testamentum instead of Instrumentum . In this edition Erasmus also used minuscule 3 (complete NT without revelation, from the 12th century). The text was changed in over 400 places and typographical errors corrected. Some readings that were incorrect from a later perspective were now new. This second edition became the basis for Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible, the Luther Bible .

Catholic Church

At the Council of Trent , Erasmus' writings were placed on the index , including this edition of the Bible.

"Nouum Testamentum cum duplici interpretatione D. [esiderius] Erasmi & Veteris interpretis. Harmonia item Euang. & Indice & c. "

- Index Librorum Prohibitorum : 1559

The use of this book, and with it the abandonment of the Vulgate, which has been declared authentic, could be reason enough to condemn translations.

Digitized editions

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adrian Schenker: Polyglotten , in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Vol. 27, 2000, p. 23.
  2. ^ PS Allen: The age of Erasmus. Russell & Russell, New York 1963, p. 144.
  3. ^ SP Tregelles : "It appears that Froben, the printer of Basle, wished to anticipate the edition of the Greek Testament which was (as he heard) in preparation in Spain." The Printed Text of the Greek New Testament , London 1854, p. 19 .
  4. Jump up ↑ See: Bruce M. Metzger, Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration , Oxford University Press , 2005, p. 142.
  5. ↑ WW Combs: Erasmus and the textus receptus , DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), p. 45.
  6. ↑ He used a modified handwriting of the Vulgate with the text variant libro vitae instead of ligno vitae in Rev 22,19.
  7. ^ FHA Scrivener, A plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament , Cambridge 1894, Vol. 2, p. 184.
  8. ↑ Bruce M. Metzger, Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration , Oxford University Press , 2005, p. 145.
  9. ^ "Epistle 384" in Collected Works of Erasmus . Vol. 3: Letters 222 to 223, 1516 (tr. RAB Mynors and DFS Thomson; annotated by James K. McConica; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976).
  10. ↑ Testaments Index Librorum Prohibitorum - NOV. TEST. , 1559
  11. ↑ Eberhard Zwink: Confusion about a Bible , Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, 1999

literature

Web links

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