Kürzlich entdeckte karaimische Übersetzungen der Hebräischen Bibel: Geschichte und Textbeziehung

Abstract

Recent research results have substantially broadened our knowledge regarding existing translations of the Hebrew Bible into Karaim. In the past few years numerous Biblical texts have been discovered that are among the oldest texts written in this moribund language. In this paper, the author presents the oldest known Karaim texts as well as recently discovered Karaim translations of the entire Tanakh and attempts to draw some preliminary conclusions on the relationship between them. Namely, the textual and stylistic similarities between Biblical manuscripts created separately in Karaim communities located far from one another in the regions of Crimea, Lithuania, Volhynia, and Galicia (including a considerable number of shared errores significativi) highlight the close affinities between these manuscripts and suggest that a common tradition of Bible translation must have existed among the Karaims. Moreover, the textual complexity and the use of sophisticated translation techniques and literary methods in the oldest known texts suggest that they could have been based on older texts or on a well-established oral translating tradition. Recent research results have substantially broadened our knowledge regarding existing translations of the Hebrew Bible into Karaim. In the past few years numerous Biblical texts have been discovered that are among the oldest texts written in this moribund language. In this paper, the author presents the oldest known Karaim texts as well as recently discovered Karaim translations of the entire Tanakh and attempts to draw some preliminary conclusions on the relationship between them. Namely, the textual and stylistic similarities between Biblical manuscripts created separately in Karaim communities located far from one another in the regions of Crimea, Lithuania, Volhynia, and Galicia (including a considerable number of shared errores significativi) highlight the close affinities between these manuscripts and suggest that a common tradition of Bible translation must have existed among the Karaims. Moreover, the textual complexity and the use of sophisticated translation techniques and literary methods in the oldest known texts suggest that they could have been based on older texts or on a well-established oral translating tradition. Recent research results have substantially broadened our knowledge regarding existing translations of the Hebrew Bible into Karaim. In the past few years numerous Biblical texts have been discovered that are among the oldest texts written in this moribund language. In this paper, the author presents the oldest known Karaim texts as well as recently discovered Karaim translations of the entire Tanakh and attempts to draw some preliminary conclusions on the relationship between them. Namely, the textual and stylistic similarities between Biblical manuscripts created separately in Karaim communities located far from one another in the regions of Crimea, Lithuania, Volhynia, and Galicia (including a considerable number of shared errores significativi) highlight the close affinities between these manuscripts and suggest that a common tradition of Bible translation must have existed among the Karaims. Moreover, the textual complexity and the use of sophisticated translation techniques and literary methods in the oldest known texts suggest that they could have been based on older texts or on a well-established oral translating tradition. Recent research results have substantially broadened our knowledge regarding existing translations of the Hebrew Bible into Karaim. In the past few years numerous Biblical texts have been discovered that are among the oldest texts written in this moribund language. In this paper, the author presents the oldest known Karaim texts as well as recently discovered Karaim translations of the entire Tanakh and attempts to draw some preliminary conclusions on the relationship between them. Namely, the textual and stylistic similarities between Biblical manuscripts created separately in Karaim communities located far from one another in the regions of Crimea, Lithuania, Volhynia, and Galicia (including a considerable number of shared errores significativi) highlight the close affinities between these manuscripts and suggest that a common tradition of Bible translation must have existed among the Karaims. Moreover, the textual complexity and the use of sophisticated translation techniques and literary methods in the oldest known texts suggest that they could have been based on older texts or on a well-established oral translating tradition.