We analyze two pericopes (Mt 3, 1-12, 13-17) of the Arabic version contained in Codex Vat. Ar. 13 corresponding to the restored section of the Gospels rendered from an original Syriac text. Our aim in this article is to contribute to the hypothesis that the two sections of the translation of the Gospels have been made from two different originals. So while the text contained in the oldest section has been translated from a Greek original, though revised with a Syriac text, however the text of the restored section (corresponding to four hands) has been rendered from a Syriac text apparently previous to the Pešīṭtā, or maybe revised from a Greek text. At the same time, we also emphasize the difference between these two corpora of translations, which not only come from two different Vorlagen, but they also are the result of different strategies followed by the translator.
Our aim in the present paper is to show that the translator of the oldest portions of the Gospels preserved in MS Vat. Ar. 13 used at least two texts, Greek and Syriac. Our analysis is based exclusively in the fragment represented by Matthew 11:1–19. According to our analysis of the translation strategies adopted by the Melkite translator the Greek text was used as the base text for the translation into Arabic. At the same time, the Syriac text/s was/were consulted for revising the previous translation made from Greek, a task which may have taken place during the very translation process. As we shall attempt to show in the present paper the revision made through Syriac text/s, together with the exegesis added by the translator, influenced the final Arabic version in some concrete parts of the texts.
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