2"* S. VIII. Dec. 24. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



517 



tation " sur ces paroles du Paeaume xcv. v. 10., 

 ' Dominus regnavit a ligno.' " The question is 

 argued at length, Whether those words were 

 omitted by the Jews or added by the Christians. 

 In closing a long controversy on the subject, the 

 editor is of opinion that those words were origi- 

 nally written in the margin by way of annotation, 

 and inserted in the text by some copyist. 



The following collations may assist B. H. C. : — 



De Lyjra, Alia litera. Regnavit "k ligno. 



Quincuplex Psalterium, Regnavit \ ligno is in 

 the text of the versions called " Romanum," fo. 

 144., and Vetus, fo. 269., Paris. H. Stephens, 1509. 



Polyglot Psalter, P. P. Porrus, 1516, marginal 

 note, " Quod legit in Romana psalmodia," "reg- 

 nauit a ligno Deus, non est de hebraica ueritate 

 sed Christiana deuotione ut arbitror additum." 



Le Fevre, in his first French version from the 

 Vulgate, 1530, " Le Seigneur dieu a regne." It 

 is the same in the "Bible Historiee," 1487, by 

 Verard. 



I have examined ten fine MS. Vulgate Bibles, 

 and two beautiful Psalters in my library, but can- 

 not discover the words " \ ligno " in any of them. 



George Offok. 



Hackney. 



The interpolation ^^ a ligno'" may well be termed 

 " celeberrimum additamentum" (De Rossi, Var. 

 Led. V. T.) ; for few various readings have ex- 

 cited more earnest discussion amongst mediaeval 

 critics. 



1. Of the questions proposed by your corre- 

 spondent, the first is, "What account can be 

 given of the introduction of the words d ligno, as 

 part of the sacred record" (Dominus regnavit 

 a ligno, Ps. xcv. 10., Heb. and Eng. xcvi. 10.) ? 

 Le Moyne has suggested that the Hebrew word 

 in Gi*eek characters, ixets (of old, or from eter- 

 nity), was mistaken for fleers (a ligno), and that 

 thus the reading a ligno crept in. This expla- 

 nation has been pooh-pooh'd ; but it really seems 

 to be the simplest way of accounting for the 

 blunder. Thus in Psalm xciii. 2. we read the 

 parallel passage, " Thy throne is established of 

 old " (flies), where " Thy throne is established a 

 ligno " might be easily substituted. 



2. Who is the earliest Father who quoted in 

 this form (d ligno) ? The words are found in 

 TertuMisin, Adv. Marc. cap. xix,, "Age nunc, si 

 legisti penes David (Ps. xcv. 10.), Dominus reg- 

 navit a ligno;" also Adv. Jud. cap. x., and cf. 

 cap. xiii. They occur, too, in Justin Martyr 

 (Dial, cum Try ph., ed. Thirl by, pp. 294-5.) who 

 taxes the Jews with suppressing them ! Elpijixtvov 

 yap Tov \6yov, EtnaTe iv toIs fOveffiy, 6 Kvptos iSaai- 

 \evaep a/jrh tov ^v\ov, apriKav, ElfiraTe iv ToTy ^Qf^ffiv, 6 

 Kvpios i§a(Ti\evj-ev. And, what is still more re- 

 markable, the reading appears to be recognised in 

 the epistle attributed to S. Barnabas : on ^ /8a«rt- 



\eta TOV 'Ir/eroO iirl r§ ^v\<fi. (S.S. Pat. Apost. Op. 

 Gen., 1746, L 36.) 



3. The Vulgate has simply " Dicite in Gen- 

 tibus, quia Dominus regnavit." But the Versio 

 Antiqua, which is supposed to have been made in 

 the first century of the Christian aera, has " Dicite 

 in Gentibus, Dominus regnavit d ligno." 



How shall we account for the very early ap- 

 pearance of the reading a ligno? Perhaps we 

 must come to Cassiodorus, who, writing in the 

 sixth century, says, " A ligno alii quidem non 

 habent translatores ; sed nobis sufficit quod Sep- 

 TUAGiNTA Inteepketom auctoritate firmatum est." 

 (Ed. Migne, vol. ii. col. 680.) Possibly then there 

 still existed, at the period when Cassiodorus wrote, 

 some copies or copy of the LXX. which counte- 

 nanced the old reading a ligno. Yet could any 

 such copy be authentic ? 



De Rossi says that the reading is confirmed by 

 the " Psalterium Grcecum Veronense." Is anything 

 now known of this Greek Psalter ? 



Thomas Bots. 



It appears that these words are a translation 

 of the original text of the Septuagint ; and as the 

 Latin Church, until the time of St. Jerome, used 

 no versions of the H. Scriptures but those trans- 

 lated from the Septuagint, the adoption of the text 

 above quoted by the ancient Latin Fathers can 

 be accounted for. The Septuagint, indeed, as we 

 now have it, gives only the words 'O Kvpios i§affi- 

 Xfv(re' but the text, it seems, is incomplete. Per- 

 haps the following commentary by Tirinus will 

 satisfy your correspondent ; it is, though short, 

 comprehensive, and meets, as far as it goes, all his 

 three Queries : — 



" Dominus regnavit^ scilicet ci ligno ; et licet hoc non 

 sit in Hebraeo, tamea addiderunt LXX Spiritu proplietico 

 plusquam 200 annis ante adventum Christi: et veteres 

 Patrea sic legerunt, Justinus Martyr, TertuUiaaus, Cy- 

 prianus, Lactantius, Arnobius, Augustinus, Cassiodorus, 

 et Psalterium vetus Romanum et Gothicum. Ex nostris 

 LXX interpretum exemplaribus id sustulerunt Judsei, 

 asmuli Crucis Cliristi (inquit Justinus contra Typhon.) 

 vel alii quidam scioli, cum id in Hebraeo non reperirent. 

 Sensus ergo est,- quod Claristus, non vi et armis, non etiara 

 sanguinis successione, aut publica universi electione, con- 

 sequetur regnum suum, sed a ligno, id est, per et post lig- 

 num, seu merito mortis sute in ligno Crucis toleratae." 



The idea, moreover, was familiar to the primi- 

 tive church, as is evident from the ancient litur- 

 gies. Thus, down to the present day, the Catholic 

 chui'ch in the very ancient Preface appointed to 

 be sung during the time of the Passion, thus ad- 

 dresses the heavenly Father : — 



" Qui salutem humani generis in ligno Crucis consti- 

 tuisti ; ut unde mors oriebatur, inde vita resurgeret ; et 

 qui in ligno vincebat, in ligno quoque vinceretur per 

 Christum Dominum nostrum," 



I should like also to quote some beautiful pas- 

 sages to the same effect from the ancient Sacra- 

 mentarium Gallicanum, QditQd by Mabillon in his 



