VERSIONS
367
VERSIONS
Louis XIV were very generous; Notre-Dame des
\nfces, at Cliehy I'Aunois (1212) ; the pilgrimage of the
Hoh- Tunic of thrist that Charlemagne, who had re-
'eive<l it from the Empress Irene, gave (August, 800)
- o his daughter Theodrade, Abbess of Argenteuil, and
hat was transferred (1804) from the priory, destroyed luring the Revolution, to the parish church of Argen-
- euil. There were in the Diocese of Versailles before
ihe Law of Associations (1901): Assumptiohists; [Capuchins; Cistercians of the Immaculate Concep- ion; Jesuits; Missionaries of Notre-Dame of Africa; Resurrectionists; Salesians of Don Bosco; and several jrders of teaching brothers. Several orders of women irose in this diocese: the Hospitaller Augustines of Etampes, founded in 1515; the Maid-Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (hospitals and teaching) , founded n 1S(>6 with mother house at Versailles; the Sisters of he Holy Childhood, with mother house at Versailles. —Religious congregations conducted in the diocese at he end of the nineteenth century : 7inf ant asylums ; 121 nfant schools; 5 special homes for sick children; 2 nixed oqjhan asylums; 12 orphan asylums for boys; 54 ori>han asylums for girls; 3 apprenticeship houses; i refuges and ;isylums for imperilled girls; a work- lousc for beggars; 29 houses of nuns for taking care )f sick persons at home; 44 hospitals; 1 hospital for ncurables. The Diocese of Versailles had (1905) '07,325 inhabitants, 64 first class parishes, 520 second
- lass parishes, 38 curacies, recognized by theConcordat.
BaU.V.UID. L' Episcopal Fran^ais depuis le Concordat jusqu'a la Uparalion (Paris, 1907); P^RArt. Versailles (Paris, 1904); de »IoLHAC, Hisloire du chileaude Versailles (Paris, 1900); Bradby, the great days of Versailles: Studies from Court life in the later (ears of Louis XIV (London, 1906); Farmer, Versailles and the ?ourt under Louis XIV (London, 1906); Grimot, Histoire de la ViUe de I Isle-Adam, el notice biographique de ses seigneurs (Pon- «iae, 1885) ; Mont-Rosd, Essais historiques sur la ville d' Etampes .2 vols., Etampes, 1836-37).
Georges Gotau.
Versions of the Bible. Synopsis. — Greek: Septuagiut; Aquila; Theodotion; Symmachus; other versions. Versions from the Septuagint: Vetus [tala or Old Latin; Egyptian or Coptic (Bohairic, ^ahidic, Akhmimic, and Faytjmic, i. e. Middle Egyp- tian or Bashmuric); Ethiopic and .\mharic (Falasha, jalla); Gothic; Georgian or Grusian; Syriac; Slavic (Old Slavonic, Russian, Ruthenian, Polish, Czech w Bohemian, Slovak, Servian or lUyrian, Croatian, Bosnian, Dalmatian); Arabic; Armenian. Versions FROM the Hebrew: Chaldaic; Syriac (Peschitto); r^rabic (Carshuni); Persian; Samaritan Pentateuch; Vulgate; other Latin versions. Hebrew Versions 3F THE New Testament. Versions from Mixed Sources: Italian; Spanish; Basque; Portuguese; French; German; Dutch and Flemish; Scandinavian (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic); Finnish (Esthonian, Laplandish); Hungarian; Celtic (Irish, Scotch, Breton or Armoric, Welsh or CjTnric). Miscellaneous: Aleutian; .\niwa; Battak; Benga; Bengali; Chinese; Gipsy or Romany; Hindu; Hindu- stani; Japanese; Javanese; Mexican; Modern Greek. English Versions.
Greek. — (1) The Sepluaginl. The Septuagint, or Alexandrine, Version, the first and foremost transla- tion of the Hebrew Bible, was made in the third and second centuries b. c. An account of its origin, recensions, and its historical importance has been given above (see Septuaoint Version). It is still the official text of the Greek Church. Among the Latins its authority was ex]ilicitly recognized by the Fathers of the Council of Trent, in compliance with who.se wishes Sixtus V, in 15S7, pubhshed an edition of the Vatican Codex. This, with three others, the Complulensian, .Mdine, and Gr.abian, are the leading representative editions available.
(2) Vcrxion nf Aquitd. — In the second century, to meet the demands of both Jews and Christians, three Other Greek versions of the Old Testament were
produced, though they never took the place of the
Septuagint. Only fragmentary remains of them are
preserved, chiefly from Origen's "Hexapla" (q. v.).
The first and the most original is that of Aquila, a
native of Sinope in Pontus, a proselyte to Judaism,
and according to St. Jerome, a pupil of Rabbi Akiba
who taught in the Palestinian schools, 95-135.
Aquila, taking the Hebrew as he found it, proves in
his rendering to be "a slave to the letter". When his
version appeared, about 130, its rabbinical character
won approval from ths Jews but distrust from the
Christians. It was favoured among the Greek-
speaking Jews of the fourth and fifth centuries, and
in the sixth was sanctioned by Justinian for pubUc
reading in the synagogues. Then it rapidly fell into
disuse and disappeared. Origen and St. Jerome found
it of value in the study of the original text and of the
methods of Jewish interpretation in early Christian
years.
(3) Version of Theodotion. — Another Greek version practically contemporaneous with Aquila's was made by Theodotion, probably an Ephesian Jew or Ebion- ite. It held a middle place among the ancient Greek translations, preserving the character of a free revision of the Septuagint, the omissions and errone- ous renderings of which it corrected. It also showed Ijarts not appearing in the original, as the deutero- canonical fragments of Daniel, the postscript of Job, the Book of Baruch, but not the Book of Esther. It was not approved by the Jews but was favourably received by the Christians. Origen gave it a place in his "Hexapla" and from it supplied parts missing in the Septuagint. St. Irena?us used its text of Daniel, which was afterwards adopted in the Church.
(4) Version of Symmachus. — This appeared at the close of the second century. Its author was an Ebionite of Jewish or Samaritan origin. Giving the sense rather than the letter of the Hebrew, he turned its idioms into good Greek, used paraphrases, and translated independently of the earlier versions. His work, though finished and inteUigible to readers igno- rant of Hebrew, sometimes failed to give the real meaning of the original. It was but little used by the Jews. St. Jerome admired its literary quaUties and was often guided by it in preparing the Vulgate.
(5) Other Greek Versions. — In Umited portions of the Hexapla, Origen made use of other partial Greek versions which he designated as the Quinta, Sexta and Septima, from the numerical position of the columns assigned them in his work, but their authors are unknown and very httle can be said of the merits of the versions.
Version.s from the Septtiagint. (1) The Vetus I tala or Old Latin. — The origin of the oldest Latin version or versions is involved in much uncertainty. Some contend that there was but one primitive ver- sion, others show with strong arguments that there were several. It is generally admitted that long before the end of the second century, Latin transla- tions, though rude and defective, of Tobias, I and II Machabees, and Baruch were in use and that towards the close of the same period, there existed at least one version of the whole Bible, based on the Septuagint and on Greek MSS. of the New Testament. This was the Vetus Itala, or Old Latin. Its New Testa- ment is possessed complete in some thirty-eight MSS., but its Old-Testament text has survived only in parts. As it contained both the protocanonical and the deu- terocanonical books and parts of books of the Old Testament, it figured importantly in the history of the Biblical Canon. It exercised a vast influence on the Vulgate and through it on modern translations and Church language. In the latter part of the fourth century, the text of the Itala was found to have variant readings in different parts of the Church. Pope Dama.sus therefore requested St. Jerome to undertake its revision. Guided by old Greek MSS.,
