In conclusion, we will only mention, from the seven- t)f-third annual report of the British and Foreign Bible Society (1877), that " several new versions of the Script- ures in French have been urged on the committee, but they did not see their way to the adoption of anj' of them ; they hope, however, that the present activity in Bible translating and revision may lead to the produc- tion of a version more accurate, and more acceptable to the French than any which they now possess."
2. Italian Versions. — See that art. in this Cyclopmdia. We will only add an edition of the Hebrew Pentateuch with an Italian translation by S. D. Luzzatto, II Penta- teucho colle Haftarot voh/arizzato (Trieste, 18.58-60, 5 vols.): — .fob (with an Italian translation) (Livorno, 1844) ; and II Profeta Isaia volgarizzato e commentato ad uso degV Israeliti (Padova, 1855-67).
3. Portuguese Versions (q. v.).
4. Spanish Versions. — It is very difficult to decide at what time the first Spanish version was made. If we may believe tradition, the oldest version would belong to the 13th century, made at the request of Alphonso of Castile and John of Leon. But as there is no confirma- tion of this statement, we must depend on the different data which we find in the printed editions themselves; and it is a remarkable fact that the versions were made either by Jews or Protestants.
(a) First in chronological order we mention El Niievo Testamento de nuestro Redemptor y Salundor.Jesu Christo, traduzido de Griyo en lenr/iui Custellana por Francisco de Enzinas, dedicado a la Cesarea Magestad (En Anberes [i. e. Antwerp], Anno 1543, 8vo). Of this edition, which is also published by the British and Foreign Bible Soci- ety, we have no notice except what we find in Simon's JS'ouvelles Observations sur le Texte et les Versions du Nou-
veau Testament, ii, 151 , where we are told that, in the ded- ication, different reasons are given for and against the usefulness of translations of the Bible. " I do not," says the translator, "condemn those who are of another opin- ion, but I believe such versions, when made by judicious and conscientious men, to be useful." He then speaks of the cause for this translation. Gamaliel, he says, pro- nounced that if Christianity be of God. men cannot over- throw it; but if it be of men, it will soon come to naught; and addressing the emperor Charles V, he says, "The controversy about the translations of the Bible has al- ready lasted for about twenty j'ears. All measures to prevent them are in vain; on the contrary, their num- ber has increased among the Christians, and Gamaliel's judgment seems to be fulfilled."
The version of Enzinas is made from the Greek. Such words as "gospel," "scribe," "testament," etc., are retain- ed. For the greater part he follows Erasmus's transla- tion, e. g. John i, 1 : En el principio era la palubra, y la palabra estava con Dios, y Bios era la palubra. Where a word is ambiguous he puts the Greek in the margin ; thus he puts the word XoyoQ three times to palabra. He has no annotations excepting such as explain meas- ures, coins, etc., thus: Matt. xviii, 24, Diez mille takntos (Note : " Cada taleudo vale 600 ducados," i. e. each tal- ent is worth 600 ducats) ; ibid. ver. 28, cient dineros (Note : " Cada diuero vale casi 30 maraveiiis," i. e. each denarius is worth 30 maravedis). Very seldom he has an addition, and yet his translation is iutelligii>le eveu to the unlearned. Sometimes, in spite of all oare, he translates rather according to the sense than to the word of the text: e. g. Rom. i, 28, Ti-apeSwKfv avrovi; 6 ^(('■(;, Vulg. tradidit illiis Dens; the translation of Trnp'tCtxJKtv is " permitio caer," i. e. he suffered them to fall.
ROMANIC VERSIONS
100
ROMANIC VERSIONS
(6) Next in chronological order is Biblia en Lengua Es- panola, traduzidu palabra por palabru de la vei'dad He- hrayca,por muy excelentes Letrados. Vista y examinada por el officio de la Inquisicion. Con Privilegio del Illus- trissirao Seiior Duque de Ferrara (En Ferrara, 5313 [i.e. 1553]). At the end we read, " A gloria y loor de nuestro Sennor se acabo la presente Biblia en lengua Espannola traduzida de la verdadera origen Hebrayca por muy ex- cellentes letrados : con yndustria y diligentia de Abraham Usque, Portugues : Estampata en Ferrara a costa y de- spesa de Yom Tob Alias, hijo de Levi Atias Espannol : en 14. de Adar de 5313." In some copies we read at the end, " Con yndustria y diligencia de Duarto Pinel, Por- tugues : estampata en Ferrara a costa y despesa de Ge- ronymo de Vargas, Espannol, en priraero de Marzo de 1553." These copies were made for the use of Chris- tians. That the Spanish translation of the Pentateuch is the same as that printed six years before in the so- called "Constantinople Polyglot-Pentateuch" has been proved beyond a shadow of doubt by Le Long, who also supposes that the Spanish translation, of which the Pen- tateuch only was printed at Constantinople, while the whole was published at Ferrara, had been in use before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and that the Jewish exiles brought it to Constantinople. The ti- tle is followed by (1) an index of Haphtarhas ; (2) an in- dex of the order of books among Jews and Christians : (3) an index and short synopsis of the chapters of the Old Test.; (4) an index of the judges, prophets, and high- priests of the Jewish people, together with a short chro- nology from Adam to the 452d year after the destruction of the Temple according to the Seder Olam (a Jewish chronology) ; (5) a lectionary for each day, in order to read the Old Test, in one year. The translation in the Ferrara edition is in two columns, and the editors or pub- lishers were so conscientious as to indicate passages con- cerning which they were doubtful as to the correct trans- lation by a star (*). Where the Hebrew reads Jehovah, an .A. with two dots is placed. The verses are not given in the text, but at the end of each book their number is given. The order of the book is, the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ho- sea to Malachi, Psalms (divided into five books). Prov- erbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther. The translation, which follows the Hebrew very closely, is in that ancient Spanish which was used at that time in the synagogue.