Ethiopic Didascalia

Platt historical English notes, source page 163

NOTES. dO(D : (DOO : I do not know. It is possible that the translators may have confounded a^aros with ^aros, a "shrub" or "bush," which is elsewhere translated by OS : and 00^' : and tlie passage being thus unintelligible to begin with, successive transcribers may have made it worse. P. 37. 1. 9. JS<5.1»J^ : ^fl'h : See the remark in the Preface to this work, on the meaning of the word ^f|*h : P. 39. 1. 10. yrihtlP • MS. JPrAirtO). : This word is not uncommon; and Ludolf does not appear to have found it any where written with a final (D- I have therefore con- sidered this an error, and corrected it. P. 40. 1. 5. Here we find in the Greek Constitutions a long quotation from the Prophet Ezekiel, containing above half of the 34th chapter of his Prophecy. Instead of which, in the Ethiopic Version, we have only the latter end of the quotation, and that in a mutilated state, joined on to some words of our Saviour s from St. John's Gospel, as though He had spoken to the people these words of Ezekiel also. From all this, much confusion arises. I have translated the Etliiopic as closely as I could, obtaining assistance from the Greek Text ; of which it is clearly intended, throughout, to be a translation ; though it is here, as in many other places, a very imperfect and obscure one. Ibid.l. 6. oq^^YlA : n^hTTT : (DfllO : Literally, " between ram and ewe." But the passage has no reference to judging between male and female ; and it seems clear that two clauses in the Greek Text have been thrown confusedly into one. In the Greek it stands, 'iSov eya Kptvu dva /xecrov Tzpo^arov etg Ttpofiarov, Koi Kpiov irpos Kptov. P. 42. penult. H?v.lr*V : ?im*\ll* : This seems to have been originally written in the MS. H?».lr'l : Wm^^lh : but some corrector has altered it to H?».lr>l : HiMh = ^m^^lh : In neither case is the construction at all clear. H.^^lll• : cannot, I think, be used in reference to a plural noun. I have ventured to write Y*Y : for Y*i • P. 43. 1. 9, (D A^ : ft.*fi<J. : We have here the substantive with its pronominal affix in the status constructus or accusative case ; while that affixed to the adjective is in the status ahsolutus or nominative ; and immediately after, two or three other substantives in apposition with fl)A^ : are in the nomipative. Such irregularities are of frequent occurrence. Whether they are merely the result of ignorance or carelessness, or may admit of explanation, it is often difficult to say. Ludolf appears to have met with them frequently in the MSS. that he used. See his Grammar, lib. VI. cap. 2. § 13. De enallage staiiLs absoluti pro constructo. P. 44. ult. ?krhK : stat. constr. UJAfl't' : stat. absol. See the note immediately pre- ceding, on p. 43. 1. 9. and also Lud. Gr. ^Ethiop. Lib. vi. cap. 1. §. 2. n. 4. p. 129. P. 47. L 7, 8. on.P ■• im.J^'^ : and -nH-l : 'lni.?ii' : See above, on p. 43. 1. 9. Ibid. 1. 12. Xfiao : >»°IH.?ii'flrfi.C : SL&jtih : ty^'VYxi : The Greek is, Kai^Qeo<: SiKci^Ei Toiig ap-aprdvovras, Koi ii:t<TTpe<povTa£, TTapairXr/a-ioii ku) (te Kpiveiv. I have followed this sense in the version. We might otherwise translate ^AjY'iii ' "absolveth," In the whole context, however, the word «^''l'th : is used for "judge." 1. 9. HJRiS.'t'rh : AVTA- : AHJ^* : a)A:}T>» :