The Crimean Karaim Bible

Vol. 1: Critical edition of the Pentateuch, Five Scrolls, Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Vol. 2: Translation

edited by Henryk Jankowski, Gulayhan Aqtay, Dorota Cegiolka, Tulay Culha and Michal Nemeth

Book cover: The Crimean Karaim Bible

Extent: 1174 pages

Publisher: Harrassowitz Verlag

Subjects: Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, Language & Linguistics

Series: Turcologica

Series volume number: 119

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(March 2019)

ISBN: 9783447111966

Price: $260.00

In stock

The Bible was the most important canonical book of the Karaites, but only short fragments or individual books have been published. The present two-volume publication is a critical edition of approximately a half of Crimean Karaim Bible. Volume I contains the transcription of sixteen biblical books, the Pentateuch, i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; the Five Scrolls, i.e., the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes; as well as six books of the Writings, i.e., the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Volume II contains the English translation of all biblical books provided in volume I. The transcription is based on the most complete manuscript from Cambridge and a few other manuscripts, including the earliest ones. Therefore, this is the first publication that makes large portions of the Bible accessible to the reader. Although the oldest known datable manuscripts go back to the seventeenth century, the language of Karaim translation is more archaic. This edition is an important source for the study of Middle Karaim and Middle Turkic languages. The edited text is provided with numerous comments and the introduction traces the history of research. All this is important for the study on the Crimean Karaim Bible since Ebenezer Henderson’s seminal study of 1828.

  • Edited by Gulayhan Aqtay
  • Edited by Dorota Cegiolka
  • Edited by Tulay Culha
  • Edited by Henryk Jankowski
  • Edited by Michal Nemeth