VERSIONS, GEORGIAN, GOTHIC, SLAVONIC

jor'-ji-an, goth'-ik, sla-von'-ik:

1. The Georgian Version:

Georgia is the name given to the territory extending to the East of the Black Sea, a country that has had an independent national existence of 2,000 years but is now (under the name Grusinia) a part of the trans-Caucasian domain of Russia. The language has no affinities with any of the recognized groups, but is becoming obsolete under Russian pressure. Christianity was introduced into Georgia m the 4th century, and a national conversion followed. A well-supported tradition makes the first translation of the Bible almost contemporaneous with this conversion and refers it to Mesrop (died 441; see ARMENIAN VERSIONS), but the fact is not quite certain and the beginnings of a native version may really be as much as two centuries later. The oldest manuscript extant is a Psalter of the 7th-8th centuries, and the earliest copy of the Gospels is perhaps a century later; in all, Gregory (Textkritik, 573-75) enumerates 17 Georgian manuscripts of the New Testament, but his list is not exhaustive.

The first printed Bible was produced in the ancient alphabet in Moscow in 1743 and has never been reprinted, but other edd, perhaps only of the New Testament, were issued at least in 1816 and 1818, using the nonecclesiastical alphabet. According to Conybeare (ZNTW, XI, 161-66, 232-39 (1910)) the Georgian version was first made from the Old Syriac and then later (11th century) revised from the Greek In 1910 a new edition, based on two manuscripts dated respectively 913 and 995, was begun (Quattuor Ev. versio Georgia vetus, Petersburg). The Georgian version was used by S. C. Malan, The Gospel according to John, translated from the 11 Oldest VSS, London, 1862.

2. The Gothic Version:

Ulfilas, the Arian bishop of the West Goths and the chief agent in their conversion to Christianity, was also the first translator of the Bible into Gothic, a work for which he had even to invent an alphabet. According to tradition, his translation included the entire Bible with the exception of Kings (which he thought unadapted to the already too warlike character of his converts), but there is doubt whether his work actually included more than the New Testament. Too little of the Old Testament has survived to enable a settling of this question, nor is it possible to tell how much revision the New Testament translation has undergone since Ulfilas' work.

A list of the six Gothic manuscripts is given in HDB, IV, 862, to which is to be added a bilingual Latin-Gothic manuscript containing portions of Luke 24, known as the Arsinoe Fragment (published in ZNTW, XI, 1-38 (1910) and separately (Giessen, 1910)). In all there have been preserved in the Old Testament Genesis 5 (in part); Psalm 52:2; Nehemiah 5-7 (in part), and in the New Testament the Gospels and Pauline Epistles (all incomplete), with quotations from Hebrews. The best complete edition is that of Stamm-Heyne(9) (Paderborn, 1896), but as the version is of basic importance for the history of the Germanic languages there are many editions of various portions prepared for philological purposes.

The Old Testament fragments are a translation of a text very closely allied to the Lucianic Greek (see SEPTUAGINT) and are certainly not from the Hebrew New Testament undoubtedly was made from a text of the type used in Antioch (Constantinople) in the 4th century, with very slight variations, none of which are "neutral" (von Soden classes them as of the I-type). Either in making the translation or (more probably) in a subsequent revision an Old-Latin text was used, of the type of Codex Brixianus (f), and certain Old-Latin readings are well marked. For brief lists of these peculiarities see Burkitt in Journal Theological Studies, I, 129-34 (1900), or von Soden, Schriften des New Testament, I, 1469 (1906).

3. The Slavonic Version:

It is definitely known that the first Slavonic translation of the Bible was commenced in 864 or earlier by the two brothers Cyril (died 869) and Methodius (died 885), and that the latter worked on it after the former's death. Their work was undertaken for the benefit of the Balkan Slavs, and at first only the liturgical portions (Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Psalms) were translated, but, after the completion of this, Methodius carried the translation farther to include larger portions of the Old Testament. How much of this he accomplished is obscure, but he seems not to have finished the Old Testament entirely, while almost certainly he did not translate Revelation. Uncertain also is the exact dialect used for this work; although this dialect was the basis of the present liturgical language of the Russian church, it has undergone much transformation before arriving at its final stage. At different times the translation of the Bible was revised to conform to the changes of the language, in addition to other revisional changes, and, as a result, the manuscripts (some of which go back to the 10th century) exhibit very varying types of text that have not been satisfactorily classified.

An attempt to bring the discrepant material into order was made about 1495 by Archbishop Gennadius, but he was unable to find Slavonic manuscripts that included the entire Bible and was forced to supply the deficiencies (Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and most of Jeremiah and the Apocrypha) by a new translation made from the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) This Bible of Gennadius was the basis of the first printed edition, made at Ostrog in 1581, although the liturgical portions had been printed earlier (Acts and Epistles first of all in 1564). The Ostrog edition followed Gennadius fairly closely, but Esther, Canticles, and Wisdom were new translations made from the Septuagint. The next revision was undertaken by order of Peter the Great and was performed by using the Greek (Old Testament and New Testament), although the resulting text was not printed until 1751. A slightly emended edition of 1756 is still the official Bible of the Russian church.

This Slavonic version is to be distinguished from the version in the true Russian language, begun first in 1517, revised or remade at various times, with an excellent modern translation first published complete in 1876. See , on the whole subject, especially Bebb in Church Quart. Rev., XLI, 203-25, 1895.

LITERATURE.

On all three versions see HDB, IV, 861-64, 1902, and the article "Bibelubersetzung" in PRE3, III (1897), with the important supplement in XXIII (1913).

Burton Scott Easton

The Adventures of Saint Andrew of Scotland.
... Then the valiant Champion of Christendom entered the arena, when the King, in company
with many Georgian lords, was present to behold the contest. ...
/.../kingston/the seven champions of christendom/chapter eight the adventures of.htm

The Adventures of Saint Anthony of Italy.
... Over the principal gate were these verses:". "Within this castle lives the scourge
of kings; A furious giant, whose unconquer'd power The Georgian monarch in ...
/.../kingston/the seven champions of christendom/chapter seven the adventures of.htm

The Tournament at Constantinople.
... Above his tent was a smaller pavilion in the shape of a watch-tower, in which was
seated, as spectatress of the fights, the Georgian Princess, the strong ...
/.../the seven champions of christendom/chapter twelve the tournament at.htm

Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, 1688-1750.
... The supply of evidences in what for the sake of a name may be called the Georgian
period (1750-1830), was not occasioned by any demands of controversy. ...
/.../tendencies of religious thought in.htm

Manuscripts and Books
... London, 1904. In Georgian there is a complete translation made in the
fifth century by a scribe, Jeremias of Orhai. The variant ...
/.../richardson/early christian fathers/manuscripts and books 3.htm

The General Spread of the Gospel
... The more numerous bodies of Georgian, Circassian, Mengrelian Christians, are a proverb
of reproach to the Turks themselves; not only for their deplorable ...
/.../wesley/sermons on several occasions/sermon 63 the general spread.htm

Lands at Deal
... It is now two years and almost four months since I left my native country in
order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/wesley/the journal of john wesley/lands at deal.htm

The Bible Canon from the Fourth Century to the Reformation.
... the Apocalypse. The Georgian version consisted of the books and additions
in the Greek translation from which it was made. The New ...
/.../davidson/the canon of the bible/chapter vii the bible canon.htm

Accidental Causes of Corruption.
... the Egyptian versions exhibit o'ti: also Nonnus, who lived in the Thebaid (AD410):
but all other MSS., the Latin, Peshitto, Gothic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and one ...
/.../chapter v accidental causes of.htm

Conversion of the Iberians .
... King Bacurius at Jerusalem. On the various legends of St. Nina and her
work, vide SC Malan, Hist. of Georgian Church pp. 17-33. ...
/.../chapter xxiii conversion of the iberians.htm

1. (a.) Of or pertaining to Georgia, in Asia, or to Georgia, one Of the United States.

2. (a.) of or relating to the reigns of the four Georges, kings of Great Britan; as, the Georgian era.

3. (n.) A native of, or dweller in, Georgia.

Georgian
... 2. (a.) of or relating to the reigns of the four Georges, kings of Great Britan;
as, the Georgian era. ... VERSIONS, GEORGIAN, GOTHIC, SLAVONIC. ...
/g/georgian.htm - 13k

Gothic
... lines. 5. (n.) The style described in Gothic, a., 2. Int. Standard Bible
Encyclopedia. VERSIONS, GEORGIAN, GOTHIC, SLAVONIC. jor'-ji ...
/g/gothic.htm - 13k

Slavonic
... 2. (a.) of or pertaining to the Slavs, or their language. Int. Standard
Bible Encyclopedia. VERSIONS, GEORGIAN, GOTHIC, SLAVONIC. ...
/s/slavonic.htm - 13k

Geon
Geon. Geology, Geon. Georgian . Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia GEON.
ge'-on. See GIHON (Apocrypha). Geology, Geon. Georgian . Reference Bible.
/g/geon.htm - 6k

Gephyrun

/g/gephyrun.htm - 6k

Ararat (4 Occurrences)
... This part of Armenia was inhabited by a people who spoke a language unlike any other
now known, though it may have been related to the modern Georgian. ...
/a/ararat.htm - 13k

Armenia (2 Occurrences)
... His son Ishpuinish adapted the Assyrian syllabary to his own tongue, which
bears a slight resemblance to Georgian in some points. ...
/a/armenia.htm - 21k

Versions
... It had a great missionary influence, and the Armenian and Georgian VSS, as well
as the Arabic and the Persian, owe not a little to the Syriac. ...
/v/versions.htm - 81k

Syriac (2 Occurrences)
... It had a great missionary influence, and the Armenian and Georgian VSS, as well
as the Arabic and the Persian, owe not a little to the Syriac. ...
/s/syriac.htm - 26k

Georgian

Gothic

Slavonic

Geon

Gephyrun

Ararat (4 Occurrences)

Armenia (2 Occurrences)

Versions

Syriac (2 Occurrences)

Hittites (39 Occurrences)

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