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Or 4445

Record Id:
032-003376314
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003376314
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100044107652.0x000028
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
TEI
Reference (shelfmark):
Or 4445
Title:
Pentateuch
Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003376314", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 4445: Pentateuch" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003376314
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003376314
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:
186 folios
Digitised Content:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_4445 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Hebrew
Scripts:
Hebrew
Start Date:
0920
End Date:
0950
Date Range:
0920-0950
Era:
CE
Access:
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User Conditions:
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Nissi ben Daniel
TEI:

Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project

Or 4445

Pentateuch

Contents

Pentateuch with vowel-points and accents, masorah magna and parva, aka London Codex.

Language(s): Hebrew

ff. 1v-186v
Title: תורה
Title: Torah
Title: Pentateuch

Folios 1-28, 125, 128, and 159-186 were added in 1539/1540, while the rest of the volume can be dated to the 10th century.

The upper perpendicular stroke of the letter lamed is considerably lengthened out in the first line of a page.

The left side of the columns is irregular, the scribed not having used the elongated letters.

Verse-divisions were originally altogether absent in this codex (whereas they are regularly employed in Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus, which marks the difference between these two manuscripts).

Parts of letter aleph are generally used to fill up the line, perhaps to show that the name of the scribe began with that letter (there is no sufficient certainty on the point).

The punctuation, which seems to be contemporary with the consonantal text, is not the superlinear system used in Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus, but the ordinary system associated with the Tiberian school.

The text of this manuscript is identical with the Palestinian or Western recension on which the textus receptus is based, and differs from the Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus, which contains many readings attributed to the Babylonian or Eastern recension.

There is considerable divergency between this text and the commonly accepted masoretic recension with regard to the open and closed sections (petuḥot and setumot).

The number of verses in each book and each weekly section are given at the end of the books and sections respectively; no simanim or mnemonic devices are used, and there are also some divergencies from the numbers as given in the masorah.

The simanim are only marked twice, but the beginnings of the weekly sections are indicated by a later hand in the margins.

Both masorah magna and parva were probably written up to a century later that the text. The later annotations seem to prove the Persian affinities of the manuscript.

The masorah parva does not generally indicate קרי in the margins. The masorah magna frequently has a different way of expressing the masoretic statements than the one found in [Ginsburg_1880] .

There are several references to masoretic authorities, including Ben Asher (see folios 40v, 106r).

On folio 40r there is a statement indicating that there once existed a whole Bible written by the same scribe and punctuated by the same punctuator.

Filiation: The handwriting and the ink in this volume seems to be identical with "Codex Babylonicus Petropolitanus" which is dated 916, and is also similar to the "Leningrad Codex" (dated 1008/1010) and the "Aleppo Codex" (aka Keter Aram Tsova, dated 930).
Colophon: נשלם ביום ג' בשבת דהוא י"ז יומין לירח מרחשון דשנת אלפא ותמני מאה וחמשין וחד שנין למניין שטרותאנ"ס וכתב הצעיר מכל ישראל יועץ ש[?ל?] ודורש עזרת ה[?אל? ...] מפחו בן [ ] בן מ[ ]. f. 186v
ff. 1v-42r
Title: Genesis

The first 28 leaves, belonging to the later portion, are much mutilated. The ancient part begins with chapter 39:20, on folio 29r.

ff. 42r-85r
Title: Exodus
ff. 85r-115r
Title: Leviticus
ff. 115r-158v
Title: Numbers
ff. 158v-186v
Title: Deuteronomy

The ancient part ends with chapter 1:33. The rest, belonging to the later portion, is much mutilated.

References

[Kiryat_Sefer_61] 141-145

Physical Description

Vellum and paper codex; the majority of text is written in square script of probably 10th century, and the more recent paper additions with Yemenite square script come from the 16th century.
Form: codex
Material: mixed
Support:
Extent: 186 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 418 × 334 mm.
Dimensions (written): 284 × 248 mm.
Foliation:

186 folios (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end).

Collation

The original arrangement of quires is uncertain.

Leaves have been cancelled in different parts.

Many of the extant folios are irregularly joined together.

Signatures are found on some of the folios, marking the beginning of quires, with Arabic letters on the upper left-hand corner and with Hebrew letters on the right-hand corner.

Condition

A considerable number of leaves are mutilated.

Some folios are more or less damaged (e.g. folios 122r, 122v, 123r, 123v, 124r, 124v, 126r, 126v, 127r, 127v).

Layout

Columns:3

Ruled lines: 21

Written lines: 21

Ruling is visible.

Several lacunae.

Each pericope divided into sections.

The upper perpendicular stroke of the letter lamed is considerably lengthened out in the first line of a page. Parts of letter aleph are generally used to fill up the line

The left side of the columns is irregular, the scribed not having used the elongated letters.

Hand(s)

Oriental square script of probably 10th century, with more recent paper additions with Yemenite square script of the 16th century. Nissi ben Daniel, probably also the punctuator of the manuscript (see [Kiryat_Sefer_61] 141-145): inscribed in the masoretic notes, folios 40r, 113v, 139r.

Additions:

Binding

BM/BL in-house.

History

Origin: 0920-0950 alternative dating: 820-850 Egypt or Palestine?

Provenance and Acquisition

Folios 1r-28v, 125r-125v , 128r-128v and 159r-186v, which are paper, were added in 1540.

An illegible owner's note in Persian (in Hebrew characters), folio 186v.

Mrs C. D. Sassoon & Co.: purchased by the British Museum on 09 May 1891: inscribed, back flyleaf (i)v.

1891-05-09

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on Margoliouth, G.: Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1965.

Availability

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Surrogates

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_4445 (digital images currently unavailable)

Bibliography

    George Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1899-1935; vols I-III repr. 1965); IV, Introduction, Indexes, ed. by Jacob Leveen (London: British Museum, 1977), no. 64.
    Dotan, Aron, 'Reflection towards a Critical Edition of Pentateuch Codex Or. 4445'. In.Estudios masoreticos (X Congreso de la IOMS). Dedicados a Harry M. Orlinsky (Textos y estudios 'Cardenal Cisneros' 55) (Madrid: Instituto de Filología CSIC, Departamento de Filología Bíblica y de Oriente Antiguo, 1993). pp. 39-51.
    Ortega-Monasterio, Maria-Teresa, 'Some Masoretic Notes of Mss. L and Or 4445 Compared with the Spanish Tradition', Sefarad57, no. 1 (1997), pp. 127-133.
    Attia, Élodie, The Masorah of Elijah ha-Naqdan: An Edition of Ashkenazic Micrographical NotesMateriale Textkulturen 11 (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015), pp. 18-20.

Bibliography

    [Kiryat_Sefer_61] לייאנס, דוד. “חתימת אקרוסטיכון ברשימת המסורה.” 'קרית ספר'61, no. 1 (1987 1986): 141–145.
    [Ginsburg_1880] Christian D Ginsburg (Christian David). 'The Massorah Compiled from Manuscripts, Alphabetically and Lexically Arranged by C. D. Ginsburg המסורה על פי כתבי יד עתיקים אשר נקבצו ... ביד כריסטיאן דוד גינצבורנ.'London-85, 1880.

Funding of Cataloguing

BL