Читать книгу Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle-Aland) - Группа авторов, Nestle-Aland - Страница 58

In the present scholarly manual edition of the Greek New Testament the principal emphasis is on the Latin, Syriac and Coptic versions. These versions were unquestionably made directly from the Greek and at an early period. They are also the most fully studied. And finally, their value as witnesses to the textual tradition of the Greek New Testament, which is our concern at present, has become increasingly clear through decades of debate. The same cannot be said of the other versions (cf. below pp. 76*-78*). These three versions are important witnesses for establishing the text. The following remarks discuss their use in the present edition.

The versions are cited only where their underlying Greek text can be determined with confidence. They are generally cited only where their readings are also attested by some other Greek or independent versional evidence. Only in rare instances do they appear as the sole support for a Greek reading (cf. Jas 1,17 ⸂). Differences in linguistic structure between Greek and the languages of the versions must be carefully noted. Variant readings reflecting idiomatic or stylistic differences are ignored. On the whole, versions can only reveal with more or less precision the particular details of their Greek base.10 In instances where the witness of a version is doubtful, it is not noted.11

The versions still enjoy an important role in critical decisions because they represent Greek witnesses of an early period. But their value for scholarship today in comparison with earlier generations has been modified by the great number of Greek manuscripts on papyrus and parchment discovered in the twentieth century.

Hitherto only Coptic witnesses were occasionally assigned to more than one variant of the same passage. In the apparatus of the Catholic Letters this practice has sometimes been followed for Latin and Syriac witnesses as well.