Bible translations into Geʽez

Bible translations into Geʽez, an ancient South Semitic language of the Ethiopian branch, date back to the 6th century at least, making them one of the world's oldest Bible translations.[1][2]

"Ethiopic Bible" redirects here. For the canon of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches, see Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon.
Two pages from the Garima Gospels
Genesis in Geʽez

Translations of the Bible in Ge'ez, in a predecessor of the Ge'ez script which did not possess vowels, were created between the 5th and 7th century,[2] soon after the Christianization of Ethiopia in the 4th century.[3] The milestones of the modern editions were the Roman edition of the New Testament in 1548 edited by Tasfa Seyon, which is the editio princeps,[4] and the critical edition of the New Testament by Thomas P. Platt in 1830 (his edition of the Geʽez four Gospels was first published in 1826[4]).[5]

The Garima Gospels are the oldest translation of the Bible in Ge'ez and the world's earliest complete illustrated Christian manuscript.[6] Monastic tradition holds that they were composed close to the year 500,[7] a date supported by recent radiocarbon analysis; samples from Garima 2 proposed a date of c. 390–570, while counterpart dating of samples from Garima 1 proposed a date of c. 530–660.[8]

The Garima Gospels is also thought to be the oldest surviving Geʽez manuscript.[9][10]

Ge'ez Bible manuscripts existed until at least the late 17th century.[11]

In 2009, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church associated themselves with the Bible Society of Ethiopia to produce a printed version of the Bible in Ge'ez. The New Testament was released in 2017.[1]

References
  1. "A New Translation for one of the World's Oldest Scriptures". Scottish Bible Society. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  2. "Geʿez language". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  3. "African Christianity in Ethiopia". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  4. Zuurmond, Rochus (2013) [1995]. "Chapter Nine - Ethiopic version of the New Testament". In Ehrman, Bart D.; Holmes, Michael W. (eds.). The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents, volume 42 (2nd ed.). BRILL. p. 249. doi:10.1163/9789004236554. ISBN 978-90-04-23604-2.
  5. "Information and Notes". www.tau.ac.il. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  6. "Ethiopian Bible is the oldest and complete bible on earth". Ancient Origine. 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  7. Taylor, Jerome (6 July 2010). "Unearthed, the ancient texts that tell story of Christianity". The Independent.
  8. Bausi, Alessandro (5 November 2013). "Ethiopia and the Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: The Garimā Gospels in Context". Ethiopian Heritage Fund. p. 2. Archived from the original (Summary of conference proceedings) on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  9. Bailey, Martin (2010-07-14). "Discovery of earliest illustrated manuscript". Theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  10. "The Arts Newspaper June 2010 – Abuna Garima Gospels". Ethiopianheritagefund.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  11. "Ethiopic Bible". The British Library. Retrieved 2020-03-11.

Further reading
  • Piovanelli, Pierluigi. "Aksum and the Bible: Old Assumptions and New Perspectives." Aethiopica 21 (2018): 7-27. Open access
  • Mikre-Sellassie, G.A. (2000-07-01). "The Early Translation of the Bible into Ethiopic/Geez". The Bible Translator. 51 (3): 302–316. doi:10.1177/026009350005100302. ISSN 2051-6770. S2CID 162571327.
  • Bausi, Alessandro (1999). "Un nuovo studio sulla versione etiopica della Bibbia". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici (in Italian). XLIII: 5–19 – via Academia.edu.
  • Hannah, Darrell. "The Vorlage of the Ethiopic Version of the Epistula Apostolorum: Greek or Arabic?." Beyond Canon: Early Christianity and the Ethiopic Textual Tradition (2020): 97ff.
  • LEFEVRE, RENATO (1969). "Documenti e Notizie Su Tasfā Ṣeyon e la Sua Attività Romana Nel Sec. Xvi". Rassegna di Studi Etiopici (in Italian). 24: 74–133. ISSN 0390-0096. JSTOR 41299589.
  • Knibb, Michael A. 2000. Translating the Bible: The Ethiopic Version of the Old Testament, by Michael A. Knibb. The Schweich Lectures for 1995. New York: Oxford University Press for the British Academy.
  • Ullendorff, Edward, Ethiopia and the Bible: The Schweich Lectures (Oxford: British Academy, 1968) ISBN 0-19-726076-4
  • Zuurmond, Rochus. "The Ethiopic Version of the New Testament." The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis (1995): 142–56.
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