Transcription of Early English Versions

December 3, 2002

Regarding the original spelling transcription of the Tyndale New Testament online at http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/tyndale/index.htm I have some comments.

It appears that Fedosov (the editor of this transcription) has neglected to indicate various marks of contraction, abbreviation, and punctuation which were in the original printed editions. For example, there is the frequently elided "n." Notice the words "seruaut" in verse 1, "begotte" in verse 3, and "hethe" in verse 5 in Fedosov's text of Romans below. In the printed editions the elision of the "n" is indicated by a horizontal stroke over the last letter. But in Fedosov's text the mark of elision is not present, and the elided "n" is not supplied.

1 Paul the seruaut of Iesus Christ called to be an Apostle put a parte to preache the Gospell of God 2 which he promysed afore by his Prophetes in the holy scriptures 3 that make mension of his sonne the which was begotte of the seed of David as pertayninge to the flesshe: 4 and declared to be the sonne of God with power of the holy goost that sanctifieth sence ye tyme that Iesus Christ oure Lorde rose agayne from deeth 5 by whom we have receaved grace and apostleshyppe to bringe all maner hethe people vnto obedience of the fayth that is in his name: 6 of the which hethen are ye a part also which are Iesus christes by vocacio.

Compare this with my Tyndale Romans text online at www.bible-researcher.com/tyndale-romans.html, in which I supplied the "n" whenever a contraction was indicated in the printed editions.

PAUL the seruaunt of Iesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, put a parte to preache the Gospell of God, which he promysed afore by his Prophetes, in the holy scriptures that make mension of his sonne, the which was begotten of the seed of David, as pertayninge to the flesshe: and declared to be the sonne of God with power of the holy goost that sanctifieth, sence the tyme that Iesus Christ oure Lorde rose agayne from deeth, by whom we have receaved grace and apostleshyppe, to bringe all maner hethen people vnto obedience of the fayth, that is in his name: of the which hethen are ye a part also, which are Iesus christes by vocacion.

There are some other problems with Fedosov's text that may be seen in the sample above. He supplies verse numbers, though these were not in the printed editions. Tyndale's version was paragraphed, and Fedosov does not indicate the paragraphs. And he has represented the runic "thorn" character (resembling a "y") which was used as an abbreviation of "th" as if it were an ordinary "y" (cf. "ye" before the word "tyme" in verse 4 above). This runic character was commonly used by printers in the words "the" and "that," and it is not phonetically or typographically equivalent to the ordinary "y."

This may seem like nitpicking, but attention to detail is important in an "original spelling" edition. Editors must either expand the contractions or indicate the marks of contraction. And if someone is making a modern-spelling edition, he must know what the contraction marks and other special characters signify. For more information on the characters used in early English manuscripts and printed editions, see my page on Changes in the English Language

Michael Marlowe