The Two Syriac Manuscripts in the Rare Books Collection of the Ohio State
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The Two Syriac Manuscripts in the Rare Books Collection of The Ohio State University’s Thompson Library Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Christopher K. Mezger, B.A. Graduate Program in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures The Ohio State University 2018 Thesis Committee Sam Meier, Advisor Hadi Jorati 1 Copyrighted by Christopher K. Mezger 2018 2 Abstract The Rare Books Collection at the Ohio State University’s Thompson Library contains two Syriac manuscripts, neither of which has been extensively investigated or properly identified until now. There is no record of where they came from or how they came to be at Ohio State. Both manuscripts are written in the East Syriac script. The larger, Ms. B, is a collection of East Syriac Christian liturgy, including the Psalms, a variety of hymns, and excerpts from the Ḥudrā, the yearly cycle of feast and fast days. Two smaller texts have been inserted into the codex of Ms. B. One, inside the front cover, is a fragmentary collection of metrical homilies, at least one of which is by the famous fifth-century poet Narsai. The other, inside the back cover, is a description of the Creation, written in the Neo-Aramaic dialect of Alqosh (in modern Iraq). The smaller manuscript, Ms. C, also contains excerpts from the Ḥudrā. There are more entries than in Ms. B, although each is shorter, and while the two manuscripts naturally feature many of the same feast days, the liturgies themselves are entirely different. This paper includes descriptions and discussion of the manuscripts, updated catalog entries, and text and translation of the metrical homilies inserted inside the front cover of Ms. A. ii Acknowledgments This project could not have been completed without the guidance of my committee members, Sam Meier and Hadi Jorati, nor that of Kevin van Bladel and Aaron Butts. I am also grateful to Eric Johnson and Rebecca Jewett of the Rare Books Collection for their assistance in my work with the manuscripts. iii Vita 2011........................................B.A., Linguistics, University of Southern California 2018 (expected) ......................M.A., Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Near Eastern Languages and Cultures iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii Vita ..................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Ms. B. ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Ms. C ......................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2. Updated Catalog Entries................................................................................... 8 2.1 Ms. B. ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 Ms. C ....................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 3. Text and Translation of the Metrical Homilies Inserted into Syriac Ms. B .... 11 3.1 (no title extant) ........................................................................................................ 13 3.2 For Unmarried Daughters of the Covenant ............................................................. 15 3.3 For Married Daughters of the Covenant ................................................................. 21 3.4 For Priests ............................................................................................................... 31 3.5 For Deacons ............................................................................................................ 37 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 40 Appendix A. Illustrations .................................................................................................. 42 Appendix B. Lists of the Feasts in Mss. B & C ................................................................ 49 B.1 Ms. B ...................................................................................................................... 50 B.2 Ms. C ...................................................................................................................... 51 v List of Figures Figure 1. Ms. B. ................................................................................................................ 42 Figure 2. The first page of the codex, Ms. B. ................................................................... 43 Figure 3. A page of Ms. B. showing the restoration of black ink but not red ink. ........... 44 Figure 4. Fol. 1b of the metrical homilies inserted into Ms. B. ........................................ 45 Figure 5. The first page of the Neo-Aramaic text inserted into Ms. B. ............................ 46 Figure 6. Ms. C. ................................................................................................................ 47 Figure 7. A page of Ms. C................................................................................................. 48 vi Chapter 1. Introduction The Rare Books Collection at the Ohio State University’s Thompson Library contains two Syriac manuscripts, neither of which has been catalogued or closely studied until now. The purpose of this project is to further identify and record the contents of these two manuscripts. Their provenance is unknown, including how they came to be at Ohio State. Their only designation by the library is “Syriac Ms. B: the Psalms of Tuqe” and “Syriac Ms. C: a Rather Mystical Interpretation of the Sundays and Fast Days of the Church”.1 Both manuscripts are listed in Clemons 1966, an extensive list of Syriac manuscripts in the US and Canada. In addition to the library’s titles, some additional information is provided for each manuscript. I will discuss one at a time here, beginning with Ms. B, the larger of the two. 1.1 Ms. B. 201. Syriac Ms. B. Psalms of Tuqe. Fragments. Nestorian. XVI [century] (?). Broken wood cover; first pages mutilated, but in several different hands. According to Mr. Ploch [curator], Dr [R] Bowman of the Oriental Institute made a brief examination of this manuscript, which was acquired ‘many years ago’. Various sizes of pages and different hands suggest that originally it contained several texts.2 1 Apart from the suggestion of the designations B and C, there is no evidence of a third manuscript. 2 Clemons 1966, 481. 1 While scanty, this information is generally sound. However, the name is a misreading. The first page of the codex reads (see Figure 2): ܕܝܘܕ ܐܢܒܘܛܕ ܐܬܪܝܡܙܕ̈ ܐܒܬܟ ܒܬܟܡܠ ܢܢܝܪܫܡ ܐܚܝܫܡ ܥܘܫܝ ܢܪܡܕ ܗܠܝܚ ܠܥ ‘By/about the power of our lord, Jesus Christ, we begin to write the book of the Psalms of the blessed David’. Whoever assigned the name ‘Psalms of Tuqe’, whether Dr Bowman or someone else, misread the word ܐܢܒܘܛ, which appears in the manuscript with the ܒ and ܢ written together and so resembling a ܩ. However, ṭwqʾ is not an attested Syriac name, and the following word ܕܝܘܕ makes it clear that the word is to be read as ܐܢܒܘܛ ‘blessed’, a common adjective applied to David or other major figures in Christianity. It is not clear why the word ܐܢܒܘܛ should be the only word written in black ink up to this point, which may have something to do with the misinterpretation of this word as a name.3 Also, the next word ܕܝܘܕ is partially effaced and hard to read. Nevertheless, the introduction certainly identifies the first part of the work as the Psalms of David, a standard identification of the biblical book of Psalms. At the bottom of the first page is the title of Psalm 1, but the words after it do not match the Pšiṭtā4 text. The top half of the second page is missing; where it begins, there are nearly two lines of red text that are difficult to make out, followed by the text of Ps 1:2 in black. The next page is similar: the top half is missing, and there is half a line of red, followed by Ps 2:2 in black. This is representative of a pattern that continues throughout the Psalms section of the manuscript: the number and title in red, then about 3 Possibly, the word was originally in red ink, but was later restored in black, which appears to have happened in places throughout the manuscript (see Figure 3). 4 The name of the Syriac translation of the Bible. 2 one verse in black, then an interruption, presumably a refrain, in red, and then the rest of the psalm in black. The exception to the pattern is Psalm 1. Not only is the title in black, but then there is a single illegible word in red, and then more black text that is not Ps 1:1 according to the Pšiṭtā. Another oddity about the beginning of the Psalms is that the first quire of the codex contains eighteen pages, whereas every other quire thereafter has twenty, up to