An edition of the book of Daniel and associated apocrypha in Manuscript Sinai Arabic 1
[Thesis]
Stapleton, Russell A.
Brandeis University
1989
431-431 p.
Ph.D.
Brandeis University
1989
The book of Daniel and associated apocrypha in Manuscript Sinai Arabic 1 (henceforth "S1") was edited, selected portions translated, and two discussions included, one describing linguistic phenomena with relation to A Grammar of Christian Arabic by Joshua Blau, and the other providing a structural outline of historical-interpretive phenomena. The transcription of the text reflects the orthographic ambiguities inherent in the manuscript. The pointing of the consonants and ta marbuta was provided, while hamza and the remaining diacritical and vocalic signs were omitted unless marked in the manuscript. Footnotes to the transcription include extensive discussion of textual and linguistic difficulties. In preparing the transcription, this text of Daniel was compared with its Vorlage (the Peshitta) and several Arabic manuscripts and edited texts dating from the tenth to thirteenth centuries. Two of these manuscripts (Manuscript Sinai Arabic 513 in The Arabic Manuscripts of Mount Sinai by Aziz Suryal Atiya and Manuscript Fraser 257 of the Bodleian Library) contain versionally related texts of Daniel. However, they are sufficiently divergent to render production of an Urtext meaningless. Special attention was given to these two manuscripts in resolving textual difficulties. When no solution was available based on these two manuscripts, the Peshitta, or other passages in S1, other manuscripts were utilized as sources for hypotheses. S1 is dated palaeographically to the ninth or early tenth centuries, and based on its location at St. Catherine's monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, it is felt that its production was probably associated with the Melkite church. The text of Daniel in this manuscript has been recopied at least twice. This is the oldest known book of Daniel in Arabic. The linguistic data discussed include apparent reflections of an ay > a shift in this text and the usage of final ya with passives of third person masculine singular final weak perfects and final alif with similar active perfects. In the historical-interpretive section it is concluded that the caliph Umar ibn-al-Khattab was regarded as the conquerer of Jerusalem of the last portion of Daniel 11.