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Apolyglot is a book that containsside-by-side versions of the same text in several different languages. Some editions of theBible or its parts are polyglots, in which theHebrew andGreek originals are exhibited along with historical translations. Polyglots are useful for studying the history of the text and its interpretation.
The first enterprise of this kind is the famousHexapla ofOrigen of Alexandria, in which theOld TestamentScriptures were written in six parallel columns, the first containing theHebrew text, the second a transliteration of this inGreek letters, the third and fourth the Greek translations byAquila of Sinope and bySymmachus the Ebionite, the fifth theSeptuagint version as revised by Origen, and the sixth the translation byTheodotion. However, as only two languages, Hebrew and Greek, were employed, the work should perhaps be called adiglot rather than a polyglot in the usual sense.
After the invention of printing and the revival ofphilological studies, polyglots became a favourite means of advancing the knowledge of Middle Eastern languages, for which no good references were available, as well as for the study ofScripture.
The series began with theComplutensian printed byAxnaldus Guilielmus de Brocario at the expense ofCardinal Ximenes at the university atAlcalá de Henares (Complutum). The first volume of this, containing theNew Testament inGreek andLatin, was completed on 10 January 1514. In vols. ii.−v. (finished on 10 July 1517), theHebrew text of theOld Testament was printed in the first column of each page, followed by the LatinVulgate and then by theSeptuagint version with aninterlinear Latin translation. Below these stood theChaldee, again with a Latin translation. The sixth volume containing an appendix is dated 1515, but the work did not receive the papal sanction until March 1520, and was apparently not issued until 1522. The chief editors wereJuan de Vergara,López de Zúñiga (Stunica),Hernán Núñez (Pincianus),Antonio de Nebrija (Nebrissensis), andDemetrius Ducas.
About half a century after theComplutensian came theAntwerp Polyglot, printed byChristopher Plantin (1569-1572, in eight volumes folio). The principal editor wasArias Montanus, aided byGuido Fabricius Boderianus,Raphelengius,Masius,Lucas of Bruges, and others. This work was under the patronage ofPhilip II of Spain; it added a new language to those of theComplutensian by including theSyriacNew Testament; and, while the earlier polyglot had only theTargum ofOnkelos on thePentateuch, the Antwerp Bible had also the Targum on theProphets, and onEsther,Job,Psalms, and the Salomonic writings.
Next cameGuy Michel Lejay'sParis Polyglot (1645), which embraces the first printed texts of theSyriacOld Testament (edited byGabriel Sionita, aMaronite, but theBook of Ruth byAbraham Ecchellensis, also a Maronite) and of theSamaritan Pentateuch and version byJean Morin (Morinus). It has also anArabic version, or rather a series of various Arabic versions.
The last great polyglot isBrian Walton's (London, 1654-1657), which is more complete in various ways than Le Jay's, including, among other things, theSyriac ofEsther and of severalapocryphal books for which it is wanting in the Paris Bible,Persian versions of the Pentateuch andGospels, and thePsalms andNew Testament inEthiopic. Walton was aided by able scholars and used much new manuscript material. His prolegomena and collections of various readings mark an important advance in biblical criticism. It was in connection with this polyglot thatEdmund Castell produced his famousHeptaglott Lexicon (two volumes folio, London, 1669), a monument of industry and erudition even when allowance is made for the fact that for the Arabic he had the great manuscript lexicon compiled and left to theUniversity of Cambridge byWilliam Bedwell.
The liberality ofCardinal Ximenes, who is said to have spent half a millionducats on it, removed theComplutensian polyglot from the risks of commerce. The other three editions all brought their promoters to the verge of ruin.
Subsequent polyglots are of little scholarly importance, the best recent texts having been confined to a single language; but at least into the early 20th century many biblical students still used Walton and, if it was available, Le Jay.
The numerous polyglot editions of parts of the Bible include theGenoapsalter of 1516, edited byAgostino Giustiniani, bishop ofNebbio. This is inHebrew,Latin,Greek,Aramaic, andArabic, and is interesting from the character of the Chaldee text, being the first specimen of Western printing in the Arabic writing system, and from a curious note onChristopher Columbus and the discovery of America on the margin of Psalm xix.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Pollard, Alfred William (1911). "Polyglott". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 24. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Polyglot Bibles".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.