Re: Cyrenius vs Quirinus
Mr. Timothy T. Dickens (ttd3@columbia.edu)
Wed, 18 Dec 1996 23:15:03 -0500 (EST)
At 10:12 PM 12/17/96 -0500, Stephen C. Carlson wrote:
>At 09:29 12/17/96 -0600, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>>At 9:16 AM -0600 12/17/96, Vanetten.Edward wrote:
>>> In Luke 2:2 the KJV translators used Cyrenius
>>> instead of Quirinus. Does anyone know why?
>>> Was Cyrenius a nickname, cognomen, Greek
>>> transliteration of a Roman name, or what?
>>
>>My guess is that the KJV translators didn't know exactly who Quirinius was
>>and that they thought the spelling of the name indicated it was derived
>>from the North African Greek city of Cyrene. In fact, however, the Greek
>>KYRHNIOS transliterates quite well--in the pronunciation of Luke's era--the
>>pronunciation of the Latin name Quirinius--and of course it would be a
>>Roman functioning as governor.
>
>I checked the Vulgate and the Latin says "Cyrino" -- so the AV translation
>is in keeping with the state of knowledge at it existed.
>
>Stephen Carlson
>--
TTD: If I may jump in here and get my feet wet a bit in this discussion, I
have the following qustion: Has anyone looked at the textual apparatus in
the GNT and seen the variant readings for Lk II.2? Second, once the variant
readings are found, what traditions do these variant readings come from,
Eastern, Western or what?
Just a thought. . . .
TIm Dickens
Smyrna, soshite Columbia ja nakute! (This is Japanese)