Variation in the Gothic Bible translation, and the authorship of the Gothic Bible

What is it about?

The Gothic Bible contains a great deal of grammatical and lexical variation, with the translation of the Greek compound ἀρχιερεύς ‘chief priest’ given seven different Gothic renderings. By examining the distribution of the Gothic examples in the Gospels and the contexts in which they occur, this paper argues that the variants are best explained in terms of the exegetical and creative inputs of the translator(s). Contrary to traditional analyses, it is argued that the variation was not due the influence of pre-Vulgate Latin. Nor is it likely that the different variants were introduced by later revisers of the Gothic text.

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Why is it important?

The findings of this research call into question the traditional hypothesis of the Gothic Bible translation, according to which the translation was carried out by Bishop Wulfila. It is shown that the Gothic translation was, in fact, a collective undertaking. This finding will help re-evaluate much of the existing research on Gothic and draw attention to the properties of the language that have previously escaped notice or been swept under the carpet as errors of translation, later revisions, etc.

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