Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.2

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77952

Introduction: This fragment is a quire of a Gospel lectionary manuscript in majuscule script, probably copied during the 10th century. The manuscript from which it came belonged to the briefer of the two main types, the "Saturday-Sunday" lectionary, giving the lections for Saturdays and Sundays only, except for Holy Week and the period from Easter to Pentecost, for which weekdays are also included. Although by this time the majority of Greek manuscripts were written in minuscule script, some continued to be produced in the majuscule form, mainly liturgical manuscripts and especially lectionaries. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Gospel lectionary (Saturday-Sunday)

The text of this fragment begins during the lection for the 11th Sunday of Luke (Lk 14:20) and ends during that for the 17th Sunday of Luke (Lk 18:14)

Gregory-Aland l 309; Scrivener Evst. 295

Filiation: This fragment was used in the preparation of the Nestle-Aland and Huck-Greeven editions.

Incipit: || f. 1r και ἕτερος εἶπεν γυναῖκα ἔγημα

Explicit: f. 8v ἡ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν||

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (FHHF), of medium thickness and quality.

Extent: Fragment (quire) 8 leaves. 270 × 200 mm.

Foliation: The quire is foliated with the numbers 1-8, in Arabic numerals, in blue crayon, recto, upper right.

Collation

The quire bears the original signature 13 (ιγʹ), a Greek numeral at the beginning of the quire, recto, upper right. The letters πζ or τζ, perhaps signifying the number 87 or 307 respectively, appear on the first folio, recto, lower centre, and the last folio, verso, lower centre. The positioning of these marks would a suggest a quire signature from a later rebinding, although even the number 87 would seem large in such a case.

Condition

There are tears to the edges of f. 2, slight water staining and an area of discoloration to the lower foredge throughout.

Layout

Two columns of 22 lines each. 185 × 122 mm. Pricking survives in the upper and lower margins, but that in the outer margin appears to have been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 00C2. Text stands on the lines.

Hand(s)

The text was copied in an upright ogival majuscule script, in dark brown ink, with breathings and accents, and occasional expansion of letters.

The horizontal stroke for nu appears at the end of lines. Mute iota is absent.

Most letter-forms follow the ogival style. However, theta and omega appear in the forms associated with the Constantinopolitan or liturgical majuscule. Letters at the end of a line, especially omega, are sometimes drastically compressed vertically. On f. 8v, line 1, the ascender of a letter phi is extended upwards and ornamented. The ligatures ΜΗ, ΟΝ and ΟΥ are present

Punctuation used includes the middle point and middle comma. The teleia (red cross used in the ekphonetic notation) appears as a full stop at the end of lections and as a normal strong punctuation mark.

Headings are written in the same style, in red ink.

Musical Notation: The text is accompanied by ekphonetic notation in red ink.

Decoration

Each lection begins with an ornamented initial, outlined usually in brown ink, but in one case in red (f. 4v), with red, blue and yellow paint infill.

The beginning of minor sections of text is marked by enlarged initials in brown ink.

Additions

As part of the original production of the manuscript, the scribe has placed a cross in the upper margin at the beginning of the quire (f. 1r). There are occasional corrections in red ink. A modern hand has added chapter and verse references in pencil at the beginning and end of the text. The fragment is marked with the current classmark and the former classmark T.3.

Binding

The fragment has a modern card binding reinforced with cloth inside the spine.

Accompanying Material

A strip of paper manuscript waste has been pasted to f. 1r as part of a previous binding, bearing fragments of a Greek hymn text in an early modern hand.

History

Origin: The style of script suggests that the manuscript from which this fragment came was copied in the 10th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874) .

Bought by the University Library from Tischendorf's executors, 23 February 1876.

Additional Information

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

Novum Testamentum Graece : ad antiquissimos testes denuo recensuit apparatum criticum apposuit Constantinus Tischendorf. Vol. 3, Prolegomena, Gregory, Caspar René (Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1894)

Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes, Gregory, Caspar René (Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs, 1900)

Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962)

Synopsis of the first three Gospels, with the addition of the Johannine parallels, Huck, Albert (Tubingen, Mohr, 1981)

Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1, Project Gutenberg, 2011)

Novum Testamentum Graece Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle, EberhardNestle, ErwinAland, BarbaraAland, KurtStrutwolf, Holger, (Stuttgart, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012)

The Centre for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.2

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