Subject: Re: Itacisms

From: DC PARKER <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 09:57:05 GMT

Mark_O'Brien wrote
> 
> After doing a bunch of collation in Sinaiticus, and noticing the great
> multitude of itacisms, I was curious about the theories regarding 
> these variants.  What is the concensus out there about how a 
> manuscript like Sinaiticus was copied?  Was the scribe following an
> oral reading of an exemplar, or was he following a written copy in
> front of him?  Most textbooks seem to indicate that itacism was the
> result of hearing errors (eg. Metzger), but there seem to be 
> indications in Sinaiticus that it was not based on an oral reading of
> an exemplar (occurences of haplography and dittography).  Hence 
my question:  How do we explain these cases of itacism where there 
was no hearing involved?  Was there in fact a stage in the 
development of the Greek language where some of these itacisms 
were in fact the correct spellings of words?
> 
> I'm just trying to think through these issues and would appreciate
> any insights.  Thanks.

I would recommend reading Milne & Skeat, "Scribes & Correctors of 
the Codex Sinaiticus, esp. Ch. VII, 'Orthography & the Dictation 
Theory'.

On Koine Greek, read first F.T. Gignac, "A Grammar of the Greek 
Papyri of the Rom. & Byz. Periods, Vol. 1 Phonology" (Testi e 
Documenti per lo Studio dell'Antichita 55), Milan, n.d. (but about 
1975), and G. Mussies, "The Morphology of Koine Greek as used in 
the Apoc. of St. John", Leiden: Brill, 1971.