Middle English Bible translations
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Middle English Bible translations (1066-1500) covers the age of
The most well-known and preserved translations are those of the Wycliffean bibles.
Between two and four Middle English translations of each book of the New Testament still exist, mainly from the late 1300s, and at least two vernacular Psalters, plus various poetic renditions of bible stories and translations of verses in published sermons and commentaries.
Times
Aside from the decades of the late 1300s this was not a fertile time for Bible translation, especially the Old Testament.
English literature was limited because from 1066 to c. 1400 Anglo-Norman French was the preferred language of the elite who could fund book production, synthetic Anglo-Saxon Old English had broken down[1] and was transitioning to analytic Middle English with a Frenchified vocabulary, and Latin was the preferred literary and church language throughout Medieval Western Europe.
In the 1400s in England, new unauthorized translations were banned, following the
Early partial translations
The
Sample from the Ormulum (Luke 1:5):
An preost wass onn Herodess daȝȝ
Amang Judisskenn þeode,
& he wass, wiss to fulle soþ,
Ȝehatenn Zacariȝe,
& haffde an duhhtiȝ wif, þhat wass,
Off Aaroness dohhtress;
& ȝho wass, wiss to fulle soþ,
Elysabæþ ȝehatenn.
Paraphrases of many biblical passages are included in the
Around the same time, an anonymous author in the West Midlands region produced another gloss of the complete Psalms — the West Midland Psalms.[2][3]
In the early years of the 14th century, a French copy of the Book of Revelation was anonymously translated into English.
Anna Paues (1904) edited a 14th century translation of most of the New Testament: the Epistles and part of the Gospel of Matthew.[4][5]
Margaret Joyce Powell (1916) edited the non-Wycliffean Middle English commentary and translation of the Gospels of Mark and Luke,[6] and the Pauline epistles,[7] dating them to the late 1300s.[8]
Another non-Wycliffean commentary and translation of Matthew's Gospel exists in two manuscripts.[9][10]
Wycliffean Bibles
In the late 14th century, the first complete English language Bible was produced, with some connection to John Wycliffe as inspiration or instigator or glossator or translator — hence it often called Wycliffe's Bible. This New Testament was completed in 1380 and the Old Testament a few years later. It is thought that a large portion of the Old Testament was actually translated by Nicholas Hereford. Some 30 copies of this early version (EV) Bible survive.
Books containing
Wycliffe's Bible was revised in the last years of the 14th century, perhaps by John Purvey. This late version (LV) was subject to the same ban and was more popular than the first. Some 130 copies exist, including some belonging to the British royal family. All dated copies are dated before the ban.
Sample of Wycliffe's translation:
Be not youre herte affraied, ne drede it. Ye bileuen in god, and bileue ye in me. In the hous of my fadir ben many dwellyngis: if ony thing lasse I hadde seid to you, for I go to make redi to you a place. And if I go and make redi to you a place, eftsone I come and I schal take you to my silf, that where I am, ye be. And whidir I go ye witen: and ye witen the wey. (John 14:1-4)
Since the Wycliffe Bible conformed to Catholic teaching, it was considered to be an unauthorized
Later partial translations
Legacy
All translations of this time period were from Latin or French.
The other great event of that same century was the invention, in Europe, of printing with movable type. It was in 1455 that Johannes Gutenberg printed his first major work, an edition of the Latin Vulgate, now called the Gutenberg Bible. These developments would lead to the more fertile time for English translations in the Early Modern English period.
See also
- Wycliffe's Bible
- English translations of the Bible
References
- ^ "Middle English – an overview". OED.
- ^ Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume One, Susan Gillingham, John Wiley & Sons, Mar 28, 2012
- ^ Midland Prose Psalter, Middle English Compendium, University of Michigan
- ^ Selwyn Coll. Cambridge 108 L.1, Parker 434, CUL Dd.12.39, Bodleian Douce 250, Holkham Hall 672
- ^ Paues, Anna Carolina (1904). A fourteenth century English Biblical version. University of California Libraries. Cambridge, University Press.
- ^ ms. Parker 32, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge folios 1r–56v and 57r–154v
- ^ ms. Parker 32, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge folios 155r–208v
- ISBN 978-1-356-13429-8.
- ^ mss. London, British Library Egerton 842, folios 1r–244v, and Cambridge, University Library Ii.2.12, folios 1r–167v
- ^ Kraebel, Andrew (2014). "Middle English Gospel glosses and the translation of exegetical authority". Traditio. 69.