University of Cambridge
A Grammar of Transcriptions in 2 Esdras: Text, Philology, Phonology
Abstract
dc:description.abstractThe most secure reconstructions of transcription spellings in 2 Esdras provide the simplest explanations for the extant spellings in manuscripts. When understood in their philological context, these securely reconstructed spellings reliably reveal a Hebrew and Aramaic pronunciation of Ezra-Nehemiah from a stage earlier than that attested in the Tiberian reading tradition. This pronunciation, and the process of uncovering it, sheds new light on Ezra-Nehemiah, 2 Esdras, and some of the people who transmitted these texts down through time. 2 Esdras contains one of the highest concentrations of transcriptions for any ʟⅹⅹ book. The translator had a penchant for transcription and for slavish representation of semitic Ezra-Nehemiah. Previous studies of transcriptions identified 2 Esdras as the last ʟⅹⅹ book to be translated, in the mid-late 2nd c. ᴄᴇ. This work contributes an exhaustive collation of all transcriptions in 2 Esdras, with a suggested reconstruction and historical explanation for every extant Greek MS variant. It provides a defence of the major text critical decisions underlying these reconstructions, and implications that 2 Esdras' textual transmission has for Greek linguistics. A philological analysis is given for every transcription, as well as a description of the Heb. and Aram. phonemic systems and their phonetic realisations revealed by this corpus. The dissertation makes a significant contribution to the study of transcriptions as well as to our understanding of Ezra-Nehemiah, 2 Esdras, text criticism, and linguistics.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- Doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- University of Cambridge
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2020
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Myers, Peter Daniel
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Khan, Geoffrey
Subjects
dc:subject × 6Rights
dc:rightsIdentifiers
dc:identifier.*- DOI dc:identifier.doi
- https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.47685
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/300611