One of the most remarkable examples of variation in the Gothic Bible is the translation of the Greek compound ἀρχιερεύς ‘chief priest’, accorded as many as seven different Gothic renderings. By examining the distribution of the Gothic examples and the contexts in which they occur, this paper challenges the traditional assumptions on the variation and argues that the variants are due to the exegetical and creative inputs of the translator. It is improbable that the variation was brought about under the influence of pre-Vulgate Latin and unlikely that the different renderings were introduced by putative post-Wulfilian revisers of the Gothic text. The findings call into question the traditional narrative of Wulfila’s single-handed translation of the Bible into Gothic.
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Ratkus, Artūras
2018. This is not the same: the ambiguity of a Gothic adjective. Folia Linguistica 52:s39-s2 ► pp. 475 ff.
Ratkus, Artūras
2020. The (Non‐)Existence of the Middle Voice in Gothic: In Search of a Mirage. Transactions of the Philological Society 118:2 ► pp. 263 ff.
Tan, Tamisha L.
2024. The morphosyntax of Gothic preverb compounds: incorporation and applicativisation. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 27:1
Wolfe, Brendan
2019. Greek Diminutives in Gothic. Transactions of the Philological Society 117:2 ► pp. 256 ff.
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