The Song of Hannah in Arabic om Vat. Barb.

Or. and Other Sources

Adam McCollum
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
Saint Johns University

Introduction
As with the other papers in this volume, the main subject is the Song of Hannah (Sam
:-) and the main manuscript Vatican Barberiniani Or. . Among the columns of
that impressive polyglot manuscript of the Psalter and Odes is an Arabic column in a
clear, well-written hand, and Hannahs Song in the Arabic version of this manuscript is
the particular subject of this brief paper. To shed light more broadly on the question of
the Arabic witness to the text, however, a few other Arabic manuscripts (details below)
have also been studied. As will be seen clearly om the presentation of the text below
and the accompanying notes, there is a rather considerable variety among the Arabic
witnesses, even those which seem certainly to have been translated om Greek, in terms
of vocabulary, word order, and syntax. This means, of course, that turning to Arabic
versions of the Bible as any kind of textual witness requires even greater caution and
more thorough groundwork than usual in such an endeavor.
A few general words about the Arabic witness to the biblical texts are in order. It
somewhat muddies the issue to speak of the Bible in Arabic in terms of there being a
single version, or perhaps a single version with certain parts of the Bible having prior
versions extant, analogous to the Old Latin or, better, the Old Syriac Gospels. That
is, we cannot speak of the Arabic Bible, but rather, the (versions of the) Bible in
Arabic. It is known that there are versions translated om Hebrew, Greek, Syriac,
and Coptic, and there is very probably a signicant amount of cross-pollination among
the versions. The Bible has been translated, read, and studied by Jewish, Samaritan, and
Christian communities, and these groups sometimes even borrowed translations om
one another, as in the case of the dispersal of Saadia Gaons Judeo-Arabic translation
of the Hebrew Bible. Suce it to say here that the situation is very complex, and it is
dicult even to get a grasp of the nature of the data because so much of the material
The author has almost completed a bibliography of editions and studies of the Bible in Arabic; it will
hopefully be published by the end of . For an overviewnow over half a century old, thoughsee Georg
Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur, vol. , Die bersetzungen, Studi e testi (Vatican City:
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, ), pp. -.
There seems to be nothing extant om Saadias translation of the books of Samuel, including the Song
of Hannah.

remains only in manuscripts, never having been edited or studied. Unfortunately, the
nineteenth century version made under the auspices of Protestant missionaries om
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek has essentially obliterated this rich diversity of Arabic
witness to the biblical texts, at least on a popular and accessible level.

Manuscripts
This is not the place for a full critical edition of this short text. The edition presented below is in the main that of Vat. Barb. Or. divergences om this manuscript
are all notedbut it has been deemed worthwhile to compare the text of the Vatican manuscript with that of some other manuscripts available to me, and a number of
readings om these manuscripts ll the annotations to the text. These manuscripts are:
Sin = Sinai Arabic (th c.), . v-r
Sin (th c.), . r-r
Sin (th c.), . v-r
Sin (), . v-r
Sin (th c.), . r-v
MOr = Montserrat, Ms. or. , . v-v, a Psalter dated to
Val = Valetta Provincial Library O.F.M. (Order of Franciscan Minors) Ms. A.
, . v-r, a fully vocalized Psalter dated to exhibiting some colloquial
features
For information on printed Arabic (including Garshuni, Judeo-Arabic, Samaritan, and even dialectal)
Bibles or parts thereof, see T.H. Darlow and H.F. Moule, Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy
Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society (London, -), vol. , pp. -.
E. Smith and C.V.A. Van Dyck, The Bible,
Translated from the Original Hebrew and Greek Texts, vols. (Beirut, ). Later editions include Oxford,
; Oxford, (vocalized); and London, . For some background, see (no author), Brief Documentary
History of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Arabic Language by Rev. Eli Smith, D.D., and Rev. C.V.A.
Van Dyck, D.D. (Beirut, ); I.H. Hall, The Arabic Bible of Drs. Eli Smith and Cornelius V. A. Van
Dyck, JAOS (-): -; and William Wright, The Late Dr. Van Dyck: The Translator of the
Arabic Bible, Sunday at Home (Jan ): -.
For a handlist of the Sinai manuscripts, see Aziz Suryal Atiya, The arabic manuscripts of Mont
Sina (Monastery of St Catherine) (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, ); cf. Murad Kamil, Catalogue of
all manuscripts in the Monastery of St. Catharine on Mount Sinai (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, ).
All of the Sinai manuscripts consulted for this study (and many more in Arabic, Georgian, Greek,
and Syriac) are available as digitized microlms are available at http://www.e-corpus.org/eng/
notices/96558-Microfilms-manuscrits-Mt-Sinai.html. Many thanks are due the Bibliothques
de lUniversit Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste for making these important manuscripts eely
available.
It should be noted that the lines near the edges are sometimes illegible, so this manuscript is not a
complete witness to the text.
Amalia Zomeo, Los manuscritos rabes cristianos de la Biblioteca del Monasterio de Monstserrat,
Collectanea Christiana Orientalia (): .
Dated Muarram , (= July , ). Colloquial features include ) =( and =(
). Readings for this manuscript are given slightly less completely than the others because the certainty of
its text is in doubt in a few places.

All of these manuscripts, like the one om the Vatican, have the text of the Song of
Hannah as one of the Odes at the end of the Psalter, that is, not as part of the books
of Samuel. While the question of the text-critical worth of this distinction is not
answered here, its possible signicance is at least pointed out. While all of these texts
seem to have been translated om Greek, like the Vatican manuscript, there is some
notable variety in vocabulary and, less so, in syntax and word order, so the question
of dierent translations, all still made om the Greek, does arise, but ten verses is too
small a sample on which to base an answer; suce it to say, though, that more than
one translation, or at least recensions earlier split om one another based in ultimately
one translation, is not unlikely. To facilitate even broader comparison, Hannahs Song
in Arabic om a few other sources is recorded in an appendix.

Text and translation

. Text
As is not uncommon, the scribes have been inconsistent in the indication of the t
marba, but I have normalized it, as I have the diacritical dots distinguishing identical
letter shapes, which are not always present. I have not, however, introduced the hamza
into the orthography. Variants om the manuscripts listed above are noted rather thoroughly, especially those showing a dierence in vocabulary, grammatical form, and word
order. The notes are partly along the lines of a critical apparatus (a reading followed
by indication of the manuscripts that attest it), partly conventional notes.

That is, to what extent should the witness of these texts as the biblical Odes following the Psalter be
considered separate om the witness to these same passages as found within the full biblical books in other
manuscripts?
The presence or number of dots (e.g. vs. , etc.) written according to a particular scribes practice
may, of course, have some bearing for the history of Arabic phonology, especially in light of the study of
Arabic dialects, but such an investigation requires a thorough examination of a large number of manuscripts
about which at least some information as to provenance and date is known.
There are some minor dierences in the title to this Ode (e.g. Hannah is sometimes called a prophetess,
Samuels name may be spelled either with sn or d, and the presence or absence of an introductory direct
speech formula), but they are not noted. Dierences, including presence or absence, in the readings of - and
- are not given.

Sin MOr (where the order is ) . Sin (also Sin but with
Sin. ( missing )!Val.
ms. Sin Sin Sin MOr Val. Sin .
Sin Sin Sin MOr Val. Sin Sin. Cf. also the last line of the text.
Sin MOr.
Sin. Sin.

the last two words transposed).

In

Sin this word and the prepositional phrase are transposed. Sin has no expression with mouth
but rather .
Sin Sin Sin MOr Val, and Sin Sin, all without .
Sin Sin. Sin MOr. Val.
Both here and in the next occurrence of the same word Sin has -.
Sin Sin Sin MOr Val.
Sin Sin. Sin Sin Sin MOr Val.
Sin Val.
Sin Sin.
Sin. Sin. Sin MOr Val. ( i.e. = )Sin.
Sin Sin. Sin. Sin. Sin.

MOr. Val.
For these two words, Sin Sin. Sin (with these two words before ) .
Sin. Sin (again before ) . MOr.
Sin. Om. Val.
These two words are anarthrous in Sin and Sin. Sin, and MOr similarly
, but Sin . Completely missing in Val.
Has the article in Sin and Sin.
Sin. MOr. The word here in Sin and Sin is uncertain, but it does not look like
any verb meaning to prepare; the preposition , however is clear following the uncertain word. The word
in Sin is perhaps a participle, but it, too, is uncertain.
Sin Sin Val. Sin.
Sin, Sin, and Val have ( sg.) instead of ( pl.), and there is a dierent word order in Sin:
. Also with the singular bow but with an active verb and God as the subject Sin
and Sin have .
Sin. Sin. The word is unclear in Sin.
Sin. Sin. Sin MOr. Sin Sin. Val.
This prepositional phrase is the reading of Sin Sin Sin MOr, while Sin has the accusative
, and Val has )!( . Vat. Barb. Or. in error here has , which is probably by dittography, the
same form occurring a few lines later in the manuscript.
Sin Sin Sin MOr. ) =( Val.
Sin Sin Sin Sin Sin MOr Val.
Sin Sin. MOr. For the whole phrase, Val has .
Om. Sin.

Sin. Sin. For this and the previous word, Val reads )?( .

The

word thus has the article in all the manuscripts consulted, so, according to standard grammatical
rules, the expression is not an ifa. In that case, the following word might be understood as in terms
of children.
Val.
Sin Sin Val. Sin.
Sin Sin.
This is the order in all the manuscripts (matching the Greek), but the verbs are transposed in the Vat.
manuscript.
Following this verb, there should be another of similar meaning, but the Vat. manuscript lacks it. The
other manuscripts dier enough in their reading to merit a complete transcription:
Sin:

Sin:
Sin:
Sin: ---- ( second word unreadable)
Sin:
MOr:
Val:
MOr. Val.
For this ifa, Sin Sin Sin Sin MOr have , and Sin has the same second word
in the construction, but the rst word is not clear to me. Val.
Dierent in vocabulary and word order, Sin, Sin, Sin, and MOr have .
Sin is almost the same (note that is anarthrous) with the addition of a prepositional phrase:
, with which Sin mostly agrees, the last word there, however, being obscure.
Val.
Sin.
For this phrase, Sin, Sin, and MOr have ( also Sin, but with the plural
participle), and Sin reads , to which Sin is similar: .

. Annotated translation
The added verse numbers follow the Cambridge . The notes do not generally reect
the diversity of vocabulary and word order found in the manuscripts relevant om
an Arabic-only perspective; the observations here simply highlight items of a more
generalthat is, not specic to Arabictextual interest.
The Hymn of Hanna the Prophetess, the Mother of Samuel

MOr.

meaning of the Vat. ms. reading (

patent, and the readings of other manuscripts consulted, while clear, are hardly consistent:
The

)is not

Sin and :

( has )
Sin:
Sin:
Sin:
MOr:
Val:

The reading given above, takensomewhat arbitrarily, I admitom Sin, is certainly not the reading
intended by the scribe of the Vat. ms., but it is at least meaningful.
Om. Sin Sin Val.
+ Sin Sin. Om. Sin.
Sin Sin.
Om. Sin. Val has the verb and noun transposed.
+ Sin Sin Sin Val (again with verb and noun transposed). MOr is missing the whole
statement about the strong man.
+ Sin Sin Sin Sin MOr Val. Sin.
Sin Sin Sin Val. Sin.
For these two words, Sin Sin.
Sin. Sin. -( the last word unclear)

Sin. Sin. MOr. ( that is, with only one object

noun) Val.
+ Sin.
Sin Val.
, and without the following preposition, Sin Sin Sin Sin Sin MOr Val; Val also has
a preceding ( cf. next note).
+ Sin Sin MOr. + Sin Sin ( ;)probably also Sin but the tight
binding makes reading dicult.
Sin. Sin. Val.
ms. Sin Sin Sin Sin MOr. Sin.
Sin. Cf. the note above for in the rst line of the text.

 Then she said: In the Lord my heart is strong, and my head is exalted
in my God. My mouth was broadened over my enemies when I rejoiced
in your salvation, because no one is holy like the Lord nor righteous like
our God: there is no one holy equal to you. Do not boast, do not talk
arrogantly, and let no haughty speech come out of your mouth, because the
the Lord is the knowing God, and a God preparing his works. The bows
of the strong are weak, and the weak have girded themselves with might;
those great with bread have decreased, and the poor have inhabited
the earth, because the barren has given birth to seven [children], and the
one prolic in children is weak. The Lord kills and gives life; he sends
down to hell and sends up; the Lord makes poor and makes rich; he
humbles and exalts; [he lis up] a poor man om the ground, and om
the dungheap he raises one impoverished, to seat him with the heads
of the nations and he grants as his inheritance a throne of honor; he
gives vows to the one who calls to him, and he blesses the years of the
righteous. It is not in might that a man is mighty. The Lord makes
his opponent weak, because the Lord is holy. a Let not the wise man
boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, nor
the rich man in his riches, b but let the one who boasts boast that he
understands and knows the Lord and practices righteousness and justice
within the world. c The Lord has ascended into heaven into heaven and
Greek is rendered as expected in Sin Sin Sin MOr Val: my horn. In Sin and
Sin, however, it is translated more abstractly as my condition, state, matter, etc. Cf. the note to horn in
verse c.
No other manuscript consulted has this word.
Two issue are noteworthy for this phrase. Some manuscripts have the singular bow (Sin Sin Sin
Sin Val), in agreement with the Greek. Secondly, Sin and Sin have an active verb with God as the
subject (he has weakened), again matching the Greek.
This is a unique reading, the other manuscripts giving full or satised.
The Vatican manuscript has an error here, children, foreshadowing this word a few lines later in the
manuscript.
The other manuscripts have the hungry, which makes perfect sense in context but does not necessarily
better reect the Greek .
The manuscripts vary somewhat here. Sin and Sin have harvested in, MOr found eoyment in,
and Val for the whole phrase have le the earth om them (?). There is, at least, a Latin correspondence
to the Vatican reading above in habitauerunt terram (see the Cambridge apparatus).
This is the order in all the manuscripts consulted, but the Vatican manuscript in fact has the order
reversed, almost certainly an error.
The vocabulary and other details of this sentence noticeably vary among the manuscripts consulted. The
Vatican manuscript is also lacking a verb, based on the Greek and the other manuscripts, so I have added it
in brackets.
Sin Sin Sin Sin simply have the powerful.
The Vatican manuscript has a unique vocabulary term here (izz); the other manuscripts read glory
(majd).
Sin Sin Sin MOr read the prayer to the one who prays (with plural relative clause in Sin),
while Sin and Sin have vows to the one who vows. In the Vatican manuscript, the verb in the relative
clause is unique.
The text of verse and the beginning of verse is unclear, and the translation here is om Sin. Here
again there is variety in the details of this part among the consulted manuscripts.
The verb is repeated in Sin Sin Sin and Val.
All the other manuscripts consulted except Sin have here in this.

thundered. He is the judge in the quarters of the world. He gives might

to our kings and exalts the horn of his anointed.

Appendix: The Song of Hannah in some other Arabic sources

. Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of im, Ms , . v-r
This is a Psalter, dated (= / ), with parallel Syriac and Garn (Arabic
written with Syriac letters) columns, which agree in the form of the text, and the
Garn may have been translated directly om this Syriac version. The text form is
close to that of the Vatican manuscript and the others consulted, but dierent enough
not to be included with them in the text given above.

[]

Instead of a noun and this preposition, the other manuscripts all have the verb (om a dierent root)
judges / will judge.
The other manuscripts all have aer this (with varying vocabulary), because he is righteous.
Sin here has not horn, but condition, state, matter, etc.. Cf. the note at verse .
Note and was satised as opposed to seven with the similarity of these two roots in the Semitic
languages. The parallel Syriac column also has this reading.
The Garn text is missing a verb here. The parallel Syriac column reads

.
The following is om the rst person version of the passage in Jeremiah :, not the third person form
in Sam : (Greek).

. The Paris () and London () Polyglot Bibles

Both Bibles have the same Arabic text for this passage, and each edition is fully
vocalized, but I have not included the vowels here.

. Biblica Sacra Arabica, Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Rome,
)
The text is in vol. IIb, pp. -.

See Darlow and Moule, vol. , pp. - (no. ) and pp. - (). Incidentally, the dates given
in this section title are for the volumes in which is the text of Samuel in Arabic, not the date of completion
for the whole Bibles.
The text here is om the London (Walton) Polyglot, vol. , pp. , . On the Arabic versions, and
the relationship between the Paris and London Polyglot Bibles, see vol. , Praefatio (no page numbers) and
p. . The text is found in vol. of the Paris Bible.
text.

Bibliography
A, Aziz Suryal. The arabic manuscripts of Mount Sina (Monastery of St Catherine).
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, .
[No author.] Brief Documentary History of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Arabic
Language by Rev. Eli Smith, D.D., and Rev. C.V.A. Van Dyck, D.D.. Beirut, .
D, T.H. and H.F. M. Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy
Scripture in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Vol. . London, .
G, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. Vol. , Die bersetzungen.
Studi e testi . Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, .
H, I.H. The Arabic Bible of Drs. Eli Smith and Cornelius V. A. Van Dyck. JAOS
(-): -.
K, Murad. Catalogue of all manuscripts in the Monastery of St. Catharine on Mount
Sinai. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, .
S, E. and C.V.A. V D.
The Bible, Translated from the Original Hebrew and Greek Texts. vols. Beirut, .
W, William. The Late Dr. Van Dyck: The Translator of the Arabic Bible. Sunday
at Home (Jan ): -.
Z, Amalia. Los manuscritos rabes cristianos de la Biblioteca del Monasterio de
Monstserrat. Collectanea Christiana Orientalia (): -.