Logos Bible Software for Ancient Languages

Bible study in ancient languages goes far beyond Greek and Hebrew.

Logos is working hard to build a library of material for scholarly study in all the ancient languages in which texts inform our Bible study or bear witness to the Biblical text.

If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Aramaic

Aramaic is a Northwest Semitic language - in the same family of languages as Hebrew, Ugaritic and Phoenician. Aramaic inscriptions have been found dating to the tenth century B.C., and with the rise of the Assyrian empire, Aramaic became the universal language of trade and correspondence in the Ancient Near East, and thrived from around 600 B.C. until it was slowly replaced by Greek and Arabic, and fell out of common use around 700 A.D.

The biblical books of Daniel and Ezra contain large sections of Aramaic text (Dan 2:4-7:28; Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26); Jeremiah has one verse written in Aramaic (Jer 10:11), and Genesis contains two words of Aramaic (Gen 31:47). Thus many of the reference works listed on the Hebrew OT Software page, especially the lexicons and biblical language texts, include sections on or in Biblical Aramaic. Likewise, many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Aramaic. (For information on Logos Bible Software for the Dead Sea Scrolls, click here.)

Because Aramaic was in common use during the first century of this era, a handful of Aramaic phrases can be found transliterated in the Greek text of the New Testament as well. In addition, Logos now offers an introductory grammar of Aramaic that covers biblical Aramaic in detail and introduces other Aramaic dialects.

Eventually Hebrew was replaced by Aramaic for everyday use, requiring translations of the scriptures to be made into Aramaic. These translations are collectively known as 'Targums'. For more information on the Targums and Logos Bible Software for the study of the Targums, click this link. See below for the closely related dialect Syriac.

A collection of ancient Aramaic Inscriptions, with morphological and lexical analysis and English translations, is currently under development. The collection also includes Hebrew inscriptions and inscriptions in related Semitic languages.

Finally, a selection of non-biblical Aramaic documents considered important for understanding the cultural and historical background of the world of the Hebrew Bible can be found in English translations in the 3-volume set The Context of Scripture.

Latin

Towards the end of the second century of the present era, Latin started to replace Greek in the Western church, which eventually produced its own translations and other religious writings in that language. The earliest Latin translations are collectively referred to as Old Latin Versions. In 383 A.D. Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damascus to make a new revision of the Latin Bible. Jerome was one of the most skilled scholars in the early church, and one of the only Church Fathers to have any degree of skill with Hebrew (till then the church tended to make use of the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures). The resulting translation, known as the Vulgate, became the standard translation in the West, and is used today where Latin services are conducted.

Logos offers an electronic edition of the Vulgate based on the critical edition of Fischer and Weber, Biblia Sacra Vulgata, as well as the Clementine Vulgate, a grammar: An Introduction to Ecclesiastical Latin, and a dictionary: Dictionary of the Vulgate New Testament. As a pre-publication offer, Logos is gathering interest on producing one of the best unabridged Latin lexicons: The Oxford Latin Dictionary. The Collins Latin Dictionary and Grammar is gathering interest in our pre-publication program as well.

Old Latin fragments of the Johannine Epistles are included as separate digital resources in the International Critical Commentary set.

Syriac

Syriac is an ancient and still living language closely related to Aramaic.

Currently, Logos offers three Syriac New Testament versions, all based on the work of Dr. George A. Kiraz. Transcriptions of the two most important manuscripts classified as Old Syriac Gospels are avaliable: Codex Curetonianus and Codex Sinaiticus (not to be confused with the Greek codex of the same name - though they were discovered at the same monastary). These two manuscripts have been dated to some time in the fifth century, but preserve a witness to how the Gospels were translated into Syriac as early as the 2nd or 3rd century AD. In addition, Logos now has an electronic edition of the Peshitta NT, the version that gained acceptance in the Syrian Orthodox Church. The electronic edition follows the version used by the Syrian Church today, and thus has the complete New Testament, whereas the original Peshitta had only 22 books.

In addition to these three versions, Logos has produced an Analytical Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament, using the Syriac Electronic Data Retrieval Archive (SEDRA) database of Dr. Kiraz and Beth Mardutho - The Syriac Institute. This Analytical Lexicon allows one to move instantly from Syriac words in the above three texts--as well as elsewhere in the user's library--to get both English glosses and morphological information. The lexicon includes entries for lexical forms and root forms, as well as inflected forms, or the forms of the words as they appear in the text, rather than just the head words normally found in dictionaries and lexicons. Indices cross-reference inflected forms with their lexical forms and lexical forms with their roots.

The electronic editions of the Syriac texts come with Unicode fonts produced by the Syriac Computing Center of Beth Mardutho, The Syriac Institute. These fonts are designed to work with Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP and may not be fully supported on earlier versions of Windows.

All the above Syriac resources can be purchased as part of Scholar's Library Silver Edition or the Biblical Languages Supplement.

Logos also offers an English translation of the important Syriac harmony of the Gospels, the Diatessaron of Tatian. The Diatessaron weaves the text of all four gospels together into one narrative. This English translation can be found in the Early Church Fathers CD-ROM (volume 10 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers). This set is a 38-volume collection of the writings of the Church Fathers, and also includes translations of other important Syriac Patristic writings.

Coptic

Coptic is the last stage in the development of the ancient Egyptian language (Arabic Qibt "Egyptian" becomes Copt when Latinized). The Coptic alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet, but contains some extra letters based on the Demotic form of Egyptian script, which are used for sounds not found in Greek. The Coptic alphabet came into widespread use after the Greek conquest of Egypt during the 3rd century BC. Coptic Christians still use Coptic in their religious ceremonies today. The study of Coptic is of particular interest to New Testament scholars.

There are several dialects of Coptic known to biblical scholars. These include:

Akhmimic
Subakhmimic
Bohairic
Middle Egyptian
Middle Egyptian Fayyumic
Proto-Bohairic
Sahidic

Of primary interest to New Testament scholars are the Sahidic and Bohairic dialects, which appear to be the earliest Coptic translations of New Testament material available, dating back to the third century.

In addition to the Coptic New Testament manuscripts, a collection of Coptic texts known as the Nag Hammadi Codices contain many Gnostic texts which are invaluable source documents for the study of gnosticism and early church history and theology. Logos offers an English translation of the Nag Hammadi Library.

Logos has four prepublication specials on Coptic materials at present: Crum's Coptic Dictionary, A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon, The Sahidic Coptic Collection, and The Coptic Versions of the Minor Prophets. These will move into production when there is a sufficient amount of interest indicated.

If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Ugaritic

Ugaritic is the language of the city of Ugarit in what is now Syria. This language is one of the closest siblings to Biblical Hebrew, and as such plays a very important role in studying the language of the Hebrew Bible. There are also strong cultural similarities between ancient Israel and her neighbors, and the texts in the Ugaritic corpus provide valuable background material for life in biblical times far beyond just the linguistic parallels.

Logos offers a digital library for Ugaritic studies which includes texts, glossary, a grammar, translations, and various notes and indices designed to help the Bible student get the most out of the Ugaritic corpus. In addition, translations of many important Ugaritic documents into English can be found in Hallo's 3-volume set The Context of Scripture. Two more Ugaritic titles, Pardee's Ritual and Cult at Ugarit and Smith, et al's Ugaritic Narrative Poetry are being offered in the pre-publication program as part of the Writings from the Ancient World collection.

Armenian

The ancient Armenian version of the New Testament has a long heritage, dating back to the fifth century. Scholars think the original version was based on the Old Syriac text, though a revision of sorts was done in the 12th century (Aland and Aland, 205) on the basis of Greek manuscripts. Apparently the Armenians weren't strangers to the practice of textual criticism!

At present, Logos does not have electronic editions of Armenian manuscripts available. If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Georgian

Georgian is the ancient language of Georgia, located in the Caucusus region of central Asia (formerly in the Soviet Union). New Testament scholars suppose that the initial Georgian version of the New Testament was a translation from the Armenian. Like the Armenian, scholars think that the Geogian text underwent a revision sometime in the seventh century, bringing it closer in line with Greek manuscripts (Aland and Aland, 205).

At present, Logos does not have electronic editions of Georgian manuscripts available. If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Gothic

According to Bruce Metzger, the Gothic version hearkens back to the fourth century. Metzger writes, "Ulfilas, often called the apostle to the Goths, translated the Bible from Greek into Gothic. For this purpose he created the Gothic alphabet and reduced the spoken language to written form. The Gothic version is the earliest known literary monument in a Germanic dialect." (Metzger, 81–82).

At present, Logos does not have electronic editions of Gothic manuscripts available. If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Ethiopic

As Ethiopia is geographically proximate to both Egypt and the Sinai peninsula and is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament (cf. 2Ki 19:9; Esther 1, etc.) and New Testament (cf. Acts 8), it is no surprise that early versions of the Bible appear in Ethiopic. Textual critics have yet to agree on the history and development of the New Testament text (Metzger, 84), but the available manuscripts provide an important witness to early editions of the New Testament and the practice of translation. In addition, Ethiopic words are referenced frequently in the more etymologically oriented Hebrew lexicons, such as BDB and Gesenius' Lexicon, as they provide insight to the study of both Hebrew and Aramaic.

At present, Logos does not have electronic editions of Ethiopic manuscripts available. If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

Old Church Slavonic

The Old Church Slavonic version was a later development in the textual history of the New Testament. It is the product of two prolific brothers — Cyril and Methodius. Metzger writes, "Sons of a wealthy official in Salonica, they are credited with the creation of the Glagolithic alphabet, as well as the so-called Cyrillic alphabet. Soon after the middle of the ninth century they began the translation of the Gospels (probably in the form of a Greek lectionary) into Old Bulgarian, commonly called Old Slavonic." (Metzger, 85).

At present, Logos does not have electronic editions of Old Church Slavonic manuscripts available. If you have recommendations on texts we should be making available electronically, or have access to electronic editions of primary source material, please contact our publisher relations department.

About This Article

Much of the background information in the above article is from:

Aland, Kurt and Aland, Barbara. The Text of the New Testament (Revised and Enlarged Edition). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995.
Metzger, Bruce. The Text of the New Testament (Third Edition). London: Oxford University Press, 1992.

These are wonderful books, currently only available in print, detailing the background and development of the text of the New Testament.

The introductory material to the Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek New Testament was also consulted as this article was written.

Last Updated: 2/5/2009