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A Study of the Gospels in Codex Alexandrinus: Codicology, Palaeography, and Scribal Hands
William Andrew Smith
https://books.google.com/books?id=pWHPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119
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Alexandrinus
Word Divisions at Ends of Lines
In continuous script writing the ruling (discussed above) determined the physical boundaries of the text on the page, and the scribe determined how to fit text within those physical boundaries. If a scribe was attempting to make an exact duplicate of a manuscript, including all paratextual features involving the layout, then that feature was predetermined by the exemplar(s). Otherwise, the placement of letters within ruled boundaries represents the choice of the scribe. Division of words across row boundaries and compression of letters at the end of a row are products of the scribe’s freedom to fit letters, words, or syllables into the bounded space.26 Further, Turner posited that the rules for word division between lines are strictly observed: they are that a syllable divides after its vowel: but division is permitted between doubled consonants or two consonants, the first of which was a liquid or a nasal or a sibilant; and after a single consonant, if that letter is part of a preposition forming a compound word.27
Of the three hands found in the NT, each scribe made use of both compression and word division at the end of lines and some variation between scribes is apparent. With regard to frequency of ending lines with a word division, there seems to be no significant difference between the two scribes of the Gospels:
26 Cf. Eric G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971). 19.
27
Turner, Greek Manuscripts, 19-20;
Frederic G. Kenyon, The Palaeography of Greek Papyri (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899), 31-32;
William A. Johnson. “The Ancient Book,” in The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, ed. Roger Bagnall (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 262.
Compare this from Smith PDF and Turner book
William Andrew Smith
https://books.google.com/books?id=pWHPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119
Also PDF
Alexandrinus
Word Divisions at Ends of Lines
In continuous script writing the ruling (discussed above) determined the physical boundaries of the text on the page, and the scribe determined how to fit text within those physical boundaries. If a scribe was attempting to make an exact duplicate of a manuscript, including all paratextual features involving the layout, then that feature was predetermined by the exemplar(s). Otherwise, the placement of letters within ruled boundaries represents the choice of the scribe. Division of words across row boundaries and compression of letters at the end of a row are products of the scribe’s freedom to fit letters, words, or syllables into the bounded space.26 Further, Turner posited that the rules for word division between lines are strictly observed: they are that a syllable divides after its vowel: but division is permitted between doubled consonants or two consonants, the first of which was a liquid or a nasal or a sibilant; and after a single consonant, if that letter is part of a preposition forming a compound word.27
Of the three hands found in the NT, each scribe made use of both compression and word division at the end of lines and some variation between scribes is apparent. With regard to frequency of ending lines with a word division, there seems to be no significant difference between the two scribes of the Gospels:
26 Cf. Eric G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971). 19.
27
Turner, Greek Manuscripts, 19-20;
Frederic G. Kenyon, The Palaeography of Greek Papyri (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899), 31-32;
William A. Johnson. “The Ancient Book,” in The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, ed. Roger Bagnall (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 262.
Compare this from Smith PDF and Turner book
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