Atkinson — On a South-Coptic Text of M. Bouriant. 283 



following statement, Isaac regut de son propre pere Vordre de s'ofrir en 

 victime d Dieu ; the Coptic text simply says that Isaac's own father 

 took him, to sacrifice him, pefeiot mmin mmaf pentafbitf je 

 efnatalaf ehrai, 247, 13. 



And the New Testament is equally unheeded, when he renders, 

 d artisan qui n'as point eu d te repentir de labourer la vigne de ton 

 Seigneur, et qui de ton corps as fait un champ pur pour le Seigneur 

 ton Dieu ; for it will hardly he maintained that qui n^as point eu a te 

 repentir is a good version of ete mefji sipe, [248, 8], 'who is not 

 wont to be ashamed', the ipyaTrjv dveTraLo-xwrov of Tim. ii. 15. But 

 the phrasing is quite wrong, for he has made twp independent clauses : 

 (a) V. has not had to repent of tilling God's vineyard ; 

 (h) he has made of his body a pure field ; 

 whereas the Coptic is careful to weld together these two clauses by 

 its admirable particles : efcre mpma neloole mpefjoeis, ete 

 pefsoma pe, ntafaaf niohe nkatharos iSpjoeis pefnwte, of 

 the ipya.Tr]s, "who by digging up the vineyard of the Lord, i.e. his 

 body, has made it a pure field &c." ; cf. No. [134]. 



Finally here are three instructive examples : — 



At [249, 7] ef sasm does not mean expose d la chaleur, but ' worn 

 out, wearied ', cf. 2 Reg. xvii. 29 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 7 ; Ezek. xxiii. 32 ; 

 Jonah ii, 8 &c. He plainly does not realize the force of this word, 

 for at [251, 11], he renders, absurdly, Saint Victor est mort effame, 

 alter e, hrule de desirs [!]. Surely it was no merit on the part of a 

 saint to die IrHiU de desirs ! ! 



And to render hnkowe nrefskoptei, at [250, y] by les autres 

 -sont mefiants is to exhibit a very unsteady hold of the realities of the 

 Grreek language, for cr/cwTrretv means ' to jeer ', and the Copt was 

 referring to ' jeerers ', and not to ' mistrustful ', ' suspicious' persons. 

 Did M. Bouriant take it to be the verb o-fceVro/xat ? Why, then his 

 translation is still equally uncritical ; for the Greek word does not 

 involve the idea of ' sinful distrust ' ! 



This same list of sinful persons is taken by M. Bouriant to 

 include a set of men described generically in these terms : les autres 

 violent les lois, which I am again constrained to indict as an act of 

 high treason against Coptic lexicography, because neither are laws 

 mentioned, nor is their violation reierred to, in the phrase, nrefpeene 

 tos ebol, at [251,5]! It means, "men who remove landmarJcs'\ 

 Perhaps a quotation will clinch the matter : Prov. xxii. 28 mpf pecne 

 ntos ebol sa eneh nta nekeiote smntw, [xr] /Aerat/ae opta aiu>via 

 a WcvTO ol Trarepes (rov. 



