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Abstract
The language of the Septuagint is not only a linguistic question: evaluations of the language have been intertwined with presuppositions on the social context of Jews in antiquity, in particular their linguistic competency, educational background, and position within the Graeco-Roman society. Recent work has rehabilitated the position of Jews in ancient society and with it came a renewed quest for understanding the social locus of the language of the Septuagint and related Jewish-Greek writings. In order to appreciate the language of the Septuagint, we need to contextualize it appropriately within the history of Greek, diachronically and synchronically. The dedication of a special issue to the present topic by Journal for the Study of Judaism signals the recognition of the importance of the Septuagint for the wider discipline. In this introduction, the editors lay out recent trends in the field and discuss its challenges.
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Abstract
Scholars are often struck by the frequent use of pronouns in the Septuagint, particularly placed in postposition, linking both these aspects to the translation technique or the competency of the translators. In this article, I argue that pronominal usage in the Septuagint can be linked to developments in post-classical Greek more so than to interference from the source text. I focus particularly on pronominal usage in relation to syntax and word order to show that the traditional approach to translation technique has limited our understanding of linguistic features in the Septuagint, and deal with questions that arise from an approach to the Septuagint as reflective of post-classical Greek, namely, what can pronouns in the Septuagint tell us about the educational background of the translators and their translation methods?
The Case of 4Q418a
Scholars working with ancient scrolls seek ways to extract maximum information from the multitude of fragments. Various methods were applied to that end on the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as on other ancient texts. The present book augments these methods to a full-scale protocol, while adapting them to a new computerized environment. Fundamental methodological issues are illuminated as part of the discussion, and the potential margin of error is provided on an empirical basis, as practiced in the sciences. The method is then exemplified with regard to the scroll 4Q418a, a copy of a wisdom composition from Qumran.
The Case of 4Q418a
Scholars working with ancient scrolls seek ways to extract maximum information from the multitude of fragments. Various methods were applied to that end on the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as on other ancient texts. The present book augments these methods to a full-scale protocol, while adapting them to a new computerized environment. Fundamental methodological issues are illuminated as part of the discussion, and the potential margin of error is provided on an empirical basis, as practiced in the sciences. The method is then exemplified with regard to the scroll 4Q418a, a copy of a wisdom composition from Qumran.