Nomina Sacra and Genealogical Relationships: A Test in Scribal Fidelity

Abstract The nomina sacra , abbreviations of sacred or sometimes sacred names, are ubiquitous in Greek New Testament manuscripts. Despite their prevalence, they have typically been ignored in studies seeking to determine genealogical relatedness among manuscript witnesses. Previous studies have focused on the origin of the nomina sacra or the abbreviation practices in individual manuscripts. This article argues that scribes attempted to copy the abbreviations of their exemplars faithfully, which means that the nomina sacra are genealogically significant. Three avenues of inquiry are explored to come to this determination. First, it is shown that known textual groups, such as Family 1 and Family 13, tend to attest the same abbreviation patterns. This indicates that textual consanguinity extends to the nomina sacra . Second, it is shown that Abschriften tend to abbreviate in the same patterns as their exemplars. Finally, two examples are given of manuscripts that were each copied by one scribe but from multiple exemplars. As the exemplars change, the patterns of abbreviation also change. This indicates that it is the exemplar, not the scribe, that most determined which words would be abbreviated, and how they would be abbreviated. The study concludes with a call for future apparatuses to include information about abbreviation so that researchers can take this valuable data into account.