Subject: Jean Valentin's MSS

From: "Richard D. Weis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 21:06:22 +0000

Dear TC-List Members;

Concerning the two mss about which Jean Valentin has queried us:

1.  They are medieval, but this is indicated by the script, not the
use of spaces between the words or the use of square script rather
than palaeo-Hebrew for the name of God, as some have suggested.

2.  The divine name is also written in square script in the DSS.  
Note, for example, 1QDeut-b, to mention only the first ms at which I 
looked.

3.  When Jack Kilmon referred to the use of spaces to separate the 
words, I expect he had Greek mss in mind.  The DSS, of course, 
already used spaces to divide words.

4.  Birnbaum's compendium of sample pages of mss remains an important 
resource for palaeographic dating of medieval mss.

5.  One might also profitably consult:  Beit-Arie, Malachi.  _Hebrew 
Codicology: Tentative Typology of Technical Practices Employed in 
Dated Hebrew Medieval Manuscripts._  Paris: Institut de recherche et 
d'histoire des textes, 1977.

Prof. Valentin, if you cannot get access to this last reference
work, let me know and I can check it for you for your first scroll
(for which I could print out the .gif file).  However, it will be a
couple of weeks before I will be able to do so.

Regards,
Richard Weis
*******************************************************************************
Richard D. Weis                                          [email-masked]
New Brunswick Theological Seminary        phone: 1-732-246-5613
17 Seminary Place                                       FAX: 1-732-249-5412
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1196 USA
*******************************************************************************