A Key to the Peshitta Gospels, vol. 1, Alaph-Dabath.

• Author: Lund, Jerome A.

A Key to the Peshitta Gospels, vol. 1: alaph-Dalath. by Terry C. Falla. New Testament Tools and Studies, 14. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. Pp. xl + 136 + [21]. HFI 110.

The Key is an "analytical concordance" of the Peshitta gospels, where lexemes are sorted by root as far as possible, with English glosses and Greek formal translation equivalents indicated. It is based on the critical edition of Pusey and Gwilliam (1901), supplemented in Luke 22:17-18 and John 7:53-8:11 by the text of Lee (1816) collated with the text in Walton's Polyglot (1657). While it contains a complete list of references for each lexeme, it provides only selected citations of that lexeme in context. The Key serves the needs of the beginning and intermediate student of Syriac, the New Testament scholar, and the theologian but has less usefulness for the advanced student of Syriac and textual critic of the NT, for which a key-word-in-context concordance is a desideratum.

The strength of the work lies in its citation of Greek formal equivalents, its citation of numerous collocations, and its listing of "Syriac words of similar meaning" (p. xxv; purposely avoiding the term "synonym"). With regard to collocations, the citation of spelling variants is relatively unimportant and should be avoided. For example, since the alternative spellings of `Israel' have no semantic importance, the separation of byt ??ysryl and byt ysryl (p. 20) is misleading and even confusing, especially to the student. Moreover, some discussion of the "words of similar meaning" would be useful. Is there, for example, any difference in meaning or use between the words ??wnglywn and sbrt?? in the Peshitta Gospels? Future volumes should incorporate the recent discussion of the vocabulary items in Jan Joosten, "West Aramaic Elements in the Old Syriac and Peshitta Gospels," JBL 110 (1991): 271-89.

In the introduction, Falla calls attention to the problem of the relationship between the Peshitta Gospels and its predecessors, namely the Old Syriac Gospels and the Diatessaron (pp. xxxiii-xxxiv). This is important for evaluating divergences from the Greek found in the Peshitta Gospels. It should be mentioned within this context that the Peshitta OT also influenced the Peshitta Gospels, if not directly, at least through the intermediary of the Diatessaron and the Old Syriac Gospels. This is evident in two areas: quotations from the OT and personal names. The impression is that the Peshitta Gospels used the Peshitta...