The Frenequerana Bible ‒ textus receptus of the Bible from Blaj (1795)
The Frenequerana Bible ‒ textus receptus of the Bible from Blaj (1795)

Summary/Abstract: The Bible from Blaj (1795), the second translation into Romanian of the Holy Scriptures, stands out as a landmark in the history of our language. For more than a century, Samuil Micu’s translation had an overwhelming influence on the Romanian biblical language. Thorough analyses of the circumstances in which the Romanian edition was elaborated along with reviews of its multiple sources have already made the object of numerous studies. Ioan Chindriș and Eugen Pavel are credited for having discovered and having advanced the hypothesis that the source edition for the translation of the Old Testament was Lambert Bos’ Septuagint (1670-1717), printed in Franeker, in 1709. Moreover, Eugen Pavel’s investigations emphasized the fact that the text criticism methods adopted by Lambert Bos in constructing the critical apparatus of his edition also constituted the base for the model followed by Samuil Micu in elaborating his own critical apparatus of the Bible of 1795. Although praised at the time, the Dutch Hellenist’s edition no longer receives much attention in today’s international research. In earlier and more recent studies alike, Lambert Bos’ edition is overshadowed by more intensely investigated versions. In order to partially bridge this gap, our study aims at discussing a series of aspects related to the specific context in which the Franeker edition was elaborated. We were particularly interested in the cultural environment and the reasons that led Lambert Bos to compile a single-author edition of the Septuagint. Moreover, we wanted to identify the place held by the Franeker edition among the other European biblical editions. Last but not least, our aim was to identify some of the principles and methods that the professor from Franeker applied in his Biblical criticism, capitalizing in this respect some of relevant information provided by the author in the extensive preface that accompanies the Dutch edition.

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