The Samaritan Version of Saadya Gaon's Translation of the Pentateuch. Critical Edition and Study of MS BL OR7562 and Related MSS
edition published: 2019-10-21Z
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Tamar Zewi, The Samaritan Version of Saadya Gaon's Translation of the Pentateuch. Critical Edition and Study of MS BL OR7562 and Related MSS, https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/MNR7NU3W, https://www.zotero.org/groups/biblia_arabica/items/MNR7NU3W, https://www.zotero.org/groups/538215/items/MNR7NU3W, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/913119089, Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2015, Biblia Arabica, This book contains an edtion and a thorough study of the Samaritan adaptation of Saadiah’s Pentateuch translation which is found in the Arabic column of MS: London, British Library, Or. 7562. The author examines the palaeographical features of the manuscript, the different changes and additions made by later hands, its orthography and linguistic characteristics, and the way the Saadian translation was modified to fit the Samaritan Pentateuch where it differs from the Masoretic Text. In order to determine the provenance of this Saadian text, the author undertakes extensive comparisons to other Pentateuch translations, with special attention to those readings of the manuscript that are not shared by other versions of the Tafsīr. For the latter, Jewish textual witnesses (such as MS: St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Evr. II C 1) as well as adaptions of the Tafsīr that were in use in among Coptic (MS: Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Or. 112) and Syriac communities (Genesis of MS: Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Or. 57 and MS: London, Britsh Library, Add. 11855) are consulted; but also Non-Saadian texts such as old Syriac Christian translations from the Peshitta (MS: Sinai, St. Catherine’s Monastery, Ar. 2 and 4) and the Samaritan translations from Shehadeh’s edition (see https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/IZFNRHBX) are taken into account. The author finds that there is a significant number of agreements between MS London and the different Syriac versions, while pointing out common readings in manuscripts of the Old Samaritan translation and some parallels to Qaraite translations as well. She concludes that the Arabic text of MS London is an eclectic recension that was influenced by all these sources. From certain scribal errors, one may deduce that the text was copied from a vorlage in Arabic script. Apart from that, parallels between the Syriac Christian versions and the Old and Revised Samaritan translation can be shown as well. In the light of her findings, the author puts forward the hypothesis that at first, a Saadian-type text was more widespread among the Samaritans than previously assumed. The source of this text was a Syriac Christian version of the Tafsīr, along with Christian translations from the Peshitta, but it had been adapted to the peculiarities of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Creating their own translation (the „Old Samaritan translation“ in the classification of Shehadeh) at a later time (with the oldest MS dated 1204 C. E.), the Samaritans were able to draw upon this text. The Old Samaritan translation, in turn, influenced the earlier Saadian text when it was used for the production of MS London (around 1300 C. E.). The edition is based on the Arabic text of MS London. Great care is taken to distinguish the later scribal interferences, such as erasures, additions, and corrections, from the original layer of the text by various graphical devices. Some leaves at the beginning and the end of the manuscript have been torn from the manuscript and restored in the 19th century with a Non-Saadian translation. Three fragments that have been identified as original leaves of the manuscript (MS: St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Sam. IIa 179; MS: St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Sam. IIa 178.2-3, MS: Manchester, John Rylands Library, Sam. 73) are edited in a separate appendix. Two more Samaritan manuscripts are known to contain a Saadian version only partially (MS: Manchester, John Rylands Library, Sam. 2; MS: Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Or. 139). The passages in question are edited in an additional appendix. For a review of this work see https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/TETNIZR6.

Zewi, Tamar. The Samaritan Version of Saadya Gaon’s Translation of the Pentateuch. Critical Edition and Study of MS BL OR7562 and Related MSS. Biblia Arabica 3. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015.