Minuscule 537
Encyclopedia
Minuscule 537 ε 334 (in Soden's numbering), is a Greek
minuscule manuscript
of the New Testament
, on a parchment. Palaeographically
it has been assigned to the 12th century. Scrivener labelled it by number 550. The manuscript was prepared for liturgical use, its marginalia
are not complete. It has survived until the present day in complete condition.
Currently it is housed at the University of Michigan
. It is available in a digital form on the internet.
s, on 144 parchment leaves (size ). The text is written in one column per page, 29 lines per page. The headpieces and large initial letters are decorated. It has breathings (spiritus asper
and spiritus lenis
) and accents.
It is carelessly written; the error of itacism
is very common (983 in all), especially ε for αι, ο for ω, οι for η, η for ει, etc. According to Scrivener it has 16 omissions by ομοιορτελευτον (with the same beginning twice), iota adscript
um twice, iota subscript
um 52 times. N εφελκυστικον occurs 578 times, a hiatus
6 times.
It contains Lectionary markings at the margin (for liturgical service), a few (in red) were added by a later hand, many numbers of the Ammonian Sections (in Mark 237 Sections, the last section in 16:14), more often without references to the Eusebian Canons at the margin (written below Ammonian Section numbers), which are only partially inserted.
At the end of the Gospel of John
it contains foreign matter: αρ της φυσεως των ζωων και ερμηνειας του εν αγιοις πρς ημων ιω του χρυσοστομου περι φυσιολογιας. Ο φυσιολογος καλος ελεγξει περι του λεοντος κ.τ.λ.
, but with numerous alien readings. Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family Iκ. Aland
did not place it in any Category
.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it is represents textual family Kx
in Luke 10 and Luke 20, but in Luke 1
it has Πa text.
The Genealogy of Jesus
in Luke presents many variations from the common text (vv. 19, 26, 30; 26-34 confused). According to F. H. A. Scrivener it has notable readings in Matthew 11:17; 13:22; 27:49; Luke 18:2; John 6:57; 8:38.
It lacks the text of the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:12).
Matthew 27:35 is given in full (τα ιματια μου εαυτοις, και επι τον ιματισμον μου εβαλον κληρον), as in codices Δ, Θ
, 0250
, f1
, f13
, 1424
.
There are many corrections in a margin.
Textual variants
The words after the bracket are the readings of the codex.
Of the history of the codex 537 nothing is known until the year 1864, when it was in the possession of a dealer at Janina
in Epirus
. In 1864 the manuscript was purchased by Baroness Burdett-Coutts
(1814–1906), a philanthropist, together with other Greek manuscripts (among them codices 532
-546
). They were transported to England in 1870-1871.
The manuscript was presented by Burdett-Coutts to Sir Roger Cholmely's School, and was housed at the Highgate (Burdett-Coutts II. 13), in London. In 1922 it was acquired for the University of Michigan. The manuscript was described by K. W. Clark in 1937.
The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (550) and C. R. Gregory (537). It was examined and collated by Scrivener. Gregory saw it in 1883.
The manuscript was digitised by the CSNTM in 2008. It is currently housed at the University of Michigan (Ms. Inv. No. 19) in Ann Arbor
.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
minuscule manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, on a parchment. Palaeographically
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
it has been assigned to the 12th century. Scrivener labelled it by number 550. The manuscript was prepared for liturgical use, its marginalia
Marginalia
Marginalia are scribbles, comments, and illuminations in the margins of a book.- Biblical manuscripts :Biblical manuscripts have liturgical notes at the margin, for liturgical use. Numbers of texts' divisions are given at the margin...
are not complete. It has survived until the present day in complete condition.
Currently it is housed at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. It is available in a digital form on the internet.
Description
The codex contains a complete text of the four GospelGospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s, on 144 parchment leaves (size ). The text is written in one column per page, 29 lines per page. The headpieces and large initial letters are decorated. It has breathings (spiritus asper
Spiritus asper
In the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing , is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an sound before a vowel, diphthong, or rho. It remained in the polytonic orthography even after the Hellenistic period, when the sound disappeared from the Greek language...
and spiritus lenis
Spiritus lenis
The smooth breathing is a diacritical mark used in polytonic orthography. In ancient Greek, it marks the absence of the voiceless glottal fricative from the beginning of a word....
) and accents.
It is carelessly written; the error of itacism
Iotacism
Iotacism is the process by which a number of vowels and diphthongs in Ancient Greek converged in pronunciation so that they all sound like iota in Modern Greek....
is very common (983 in all), especially ε for αι, ο for ω, οι for η, η for ει, etc. According to Scrivener it has 16 omissions by ομοιορτελευτον (with the same beginning twice), iota adscript
Iota adscript
In Greek polytonic orthography, the iota adscript is a iota written after a long vowel in a long diphthong, as opposed to below the vowel as a small vertical stroke ....
um twice, iota subscript
Iota subscript
Iota subscript in Greek polytonic orthography is a way of writing the letter iota as a small vertical stroke beneath a vowel. It was used in the so-called "long diphthongs" in Ancient Greek, that is, diphthongs the first part of which is a long vowel: and...
um 52 times. N εφελκυστικον occurs 578 times, a hiatus
Hiatus
Hiatus may refer to:*Recess *Hiatus, a small difference in pitch between two musical tones *Hiatus , a phonological term referring to the lack of a consonant separating two vowels in separate syllables, as in co-operation*Hiatus , a break of several weeks or more in television scheduling*Hiatus...
6 times.
It contains Lectionary markings at the margin (for liturgical service), a few (in red) were added by a later hand, many numbers of the Ammonian Sections (in Mark 237 Sections, the last section in 16:14), more often without references to the Eusebian Canons at the margin (written below Ammonian Section numbers), which are only partially inserted.
At the end of the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
it contains foreign matter: αρ της φυσεως των ζωων και ερμηνειας του εν αγιοις πρς ημων ιω του χρυσοστομου περι φυσιολογιας. Ο φυσιολογος καλος ελεγξει περι του λεοντος κ.τ.λ.
Text
The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the ByzantineByzantine text-type
The Byzantine text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts, though not in the oldest...
, but with numerous alien readings. Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family Iκ. Aland
Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland was a German Theologian and Professor of New Testament Research and Church History. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director for many years...
did not place it in any Category
Categories of New Testament manuscripts
New Testament manuscripts in Greek are categorized into five groups, according to a scheme introduced in 1981 by Kurt and Barbara Aland in Der Text des Neuen Testaments. The categories are based on how each manuscript relates to the various text-types. Generally speaking, earlier Alexandrian...
.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it is represents textual family Kx
Family Kx
Family Kx is a large group of the New Testament manuscripts. It belongs to the Byzantine text-type as one of the textual families of this group. It includes uncials, and although hundreds of minuscules, no early ones.- Description :...
in Luke 10 and Luke 20, but in Luke 1
Luke 1
Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It describes the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. It is written to Theophilus, who could be a real person or could simply mean a fellow Christian as theo philus is Greek for God lover...
it has Πa text.
The Genealogy of Jesus
Genealogy of Jesus
The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.* Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal...
in Luke presents many variations from the common text (vv. 19, 26, 30; 26-34 confused). According to F. H. A. Scrivener it has notable readings in Matthew 11:17; 13:22; 27:49; Luke 18:2; John 6:57; 8:38.
It lacks the text of the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:12).
Matthew 27:35 is given in full (τα ιματια μου εαυτοις, και επι τον ιματισμον μου εβαλον κληρον), as in codices Δ, Θ
Codex Koridethi
The Codex Koridethi, also named Codex Coridethianus, designated by Θ, 038, or Theta , ε 050 , is a 9th century manuscript of the four Gospels. It is written in Greek with uncial script in two columns per page, in 25 lines per page...
, 0250
Codex Climaci Rescriptus
Codex Climaci rescriptus, known as Uncial 0250 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament as well as a Christian Palestinian Aramaic uncial manuscript of the Old and New Testament. Paleographically the Greek section has been assigned to the 8th century , and the Christian Palestinian...
, f1
Family 1
Family 1 is a group of Greek Gospel manuscripts, varying in date from the 12th to the 15th century. The group takes its name from the minuscule codex 1, now in the Basel University Library. "Family 1" is also known as "the Lake Group", symbolized as f1. Hermann von Soden calls the group Ih...
, f13
Family 13
Family 13, also known Ferrar Group , is a group of Greek Gospel manuscripts, varying in date from the 11th to the 15th century, which display a distinctive pattern of variant readings — especially in placing the story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery in the Gospel of Luke, rather than in...
, 1424
Minuscule 1424
Minuscule 1424 , δ 30 is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, written on 337 parchment leaves . It has been dated paleographically to the 9th or 10th century).- Description :...
.
There are many corrections in a margin.
Textual variants
The words after the bracket are the readings of the codex.
- Matthew 11:17 εκοψασθε ] ευξασθε
- Matthew 13:22 απαθη ] αγαπη
- Matthew 27:49 – verse omitted
- Mark 7:33 omit – εις τα ωτα αυτου
- Luke 2:25 ευλαβης ] ευσεβης
- Luke 14:5 ανασπασει ] αναστησει
- Luke 18:2 πολει ] τοπω
- Luke 20:41 λεγουσι ] λεγουσι τινες
- John 6:40 δε ] γαρ
- John 6:57 ζων ] omit
- John 8:38 ποιειτε ] νοειτε
History
Scrivener dated the manuscript to the 12th century, C. R. Gregory to the 13th century. Currently the manuscript is dated by the INTF to the 12th century.Of the history of the codex 537 nothing is known until the year 1864, when it was in the possession of a dealer at Janina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
in Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
. In 1864 the manuscript was purchased by Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
(1814–1906), a philanthropist, together with other Greek manuscripts (among them codices 532
Minuscule 532
Minuscule 532 , ε 255 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century.Scrivener labeled it number 545....
-546
Minuscule 546
Minuscule 546 , ε 511 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated palaeographically to the 13th century. It has some marginalia, the scribe has made numerous errors....
). They were transported to England in 1870-1871.
The manuscript was presented by Burdett-Coutts to Sir Roger Cholmely's School, and was housed at the Highgate (Burdett-Coutts II. 13), in London. In 1922 it was acquired for the University of Michigan. The manuscript was described by K. W. Clark in 1937.
The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (550) and C. R. Gregory (537). It was examined and collated by Scrivener. Gregory saw it in 1883.
The manuscript was digitised by the CSNTM in 2008. It is currently housed at the University of Michigan (Ms. Inv. No. 19) in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
.
See also
- List of New Testament minuscules
- Biblical manuscriptBiblical manuscriptA biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia ; manuscript comes from Latin manu and scriptum...
- Textual criticismTextual criticismTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
Further reading
- F. H. A. ScrivenerFrederick Henry Ambrose ScrivenerThe Reverend Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, LL.D. was an important text critic of the New Testament and a member of the English New Testament Revision Committee which produced the Revised Version of the Bible...
, Adversaria critica sacra (Cambridge, 1893), pp. XLIII-XLV. (as k) - Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago, 1937), pp. 286–287.
External links
- Images of the minuscule 537 at the CSNTM