Coptic Reading Group: Gospel of John, Chapter 2

Anthony the Great, Pachomius the Great, Shenoute
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Shenoute
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Coptic Reading Group: Gospel of John, Chapter 2

Post by Shenoute »

This thread is for discussion about Chapter 2 of the Gospel according to John in Coptic.
Whether you read Coptic or not, questions and comments about the Coptic text itself, its relationship with other versions, etc., are welcome.

Horner's Sahidic edition (1911)
Horner's Bohairic edition (1898)
Sahidic text at Coptic Scriptorium

Greek text (Nestle-Aland 28)
Vulgate (Stuttgart)

Shenoute
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Re: Coptic Reading Group: Gospel of John, Chapter 2

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v. 1-2 ⲛⲉⲣⲉ ⲧⲙⲁⲁⲩ ⲛⲓ︦ⲥ︦ ⲙ̄ⲙⲁⲩ ⲁⲩⲧⲱϩⲙ̄ ⲇⲉ ⲛⲓ︦ⲥ︦ ⲛⲙ̄ ⲛⲉϥⲙⲁⲑⲏⲧⲏⲥ ⲉⲧϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ "And the mother of Jesus was there and they called Jesus and his disciples to the wedding"
These verses give me the feeling that inviting Jesus was an afterthought: "His mother is coming, maybe we should invite him too? - Ok, why not? But he has this bunch of disciples following him everywhere... - Hmmm, what to do, what to do?".
Whatever, it feels like the spotlight is taken off him before he performs his first miracle.

v. 2 ⲛⲙ̄
PPalau Rib. 183 consistently uses ⲛⲙ̄ for "with", instead of ⲙⲛ̄. I never checked this carefully but my impression is that it is more characteristic of older manuscripts. Speaking of Sahidic only here. In Bohairic, for instance, ⲛⲉⲙ is the normal form.

v. 7 ⲁⲩⲱ ⲁⲩⲙⲁϩⲟⲩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲉⲣⲱⲟⲩ "And they filled them up to their edge"
I was confused by ⲉⲣⲱⲟⲩ at first and it took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure that we are dealing with a form of ⲣⲟ "mouth, edge", ⲣⲱⲟⲩ "their mouth" (I guess it could simply be the plural form, ⲣⲱⲟⲩ "the mouths" but I find this less likely). It renders the Greek ἕως ἄνω "up to the top".

v. 9 ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲣⲉ ⲡⲁⲣⲭⲓⲧⲣⲓⲕⲗⲓⲛⲟⲥ ⲇⲉ ⲧⲱⲡⲉ ⲙ̄ⲡⲙⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲁϥⲣ̄ ⲏⲣⲡ̄ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉϥⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ ⲁⲛ ⲡⲉ ϫⲉ ⲟⲩ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲧⲱⲛ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄ⲣⲉϥⲟⲩⲱⲧϩ̄ ⲇⲉ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲛⲧⲁⲩⲙⲉϩ ⲙ̄ⲙⲟⲟⲩ ⲛⲉⲩⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ ⲡⲉ ⲁⲡⲁⲣⲭⲓⲧⲣⲓⲕⲗⲓⲛⲟⲥ ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲉⲡⲁⲧϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ
The main verb is ⲁⲡⲁⲣⲭⲓⲧⲣⲓⲕⲗⲓⲛⲟⲥ ⲙⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲉⲡⲁⲧϣⲉⲗⲉⲉⲧ. ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉϥⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ depends on the initial ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲣⲉ:
"When the superintendent tasted...and didn't know...(but the servants knew), he called..."

v. 10 PPalau Rib. 183 has ⲁⲣⲉϩ for ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ. This is not uncommon, maybe showing that, in this word at least, initial ϩ was pronounced rather weakly, if at all.

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