The Ethiopic Book of Joel: A Critical Edition, Annotated Translation and Its Reception
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Date
2025-04-20
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This dissertation has shown the significant variants extant in the Gə‘əz witnesses of the Ethiopic
Book of Joel, dated from the 14th century until 20th century. The thesis has confirmed the
scholarly consensus according to which the Gə‘əz version of the Book of Joel is a translation
from the LXX, while still remembering Ethiopian innovations, sign of a dynamic interpretation.
In fact, compared with the Hebrew or Greek versions, the research has shown that the Ethiopic
Book of Joel is by and large a faithful translation. The cause of the textual variants has been
discussed from a philological and literary point of view. The examinations of the Hebrew and the
Greek versions have been helpful to see how the Ethiopic translation shows a careful attention to
its readers and its audience. One major finding concerns the changes made in view of making the
text understandable to the new Ethiopian context. By doing this, we see how Ethiopian
translators solved problems of understanding caused by sentences that contain grammatical or
semantic complications in the Hebrew or the Greek versions. One can also conclude that most
Ethiopian manuscripts are close to the Greek or Septuagint version while very few recent
manuscripts show a particular affinity with the Hebrew version of the book of Joel. This has
been confirmed during the research work in which a critical edition of the Ethiopic version of the
Book of Joel has been produced with an annotated translation of the same in English. The critical
edition has enabled us to identify different families and to trace the textual history of the Ethiopic
Book of Joel. Through the identification of quotations and allusions from Ethiopic Book of Joel
in Ethiopic literature, the research has demonstrated that Ethiopic version of Joel has been
widely received in Ethiopic literature. Qəne, Sənksār, in liturgical texts like the Dəggw
ā and
Anaphora. The research has demonstrated the presence of various meanings of the original
biblical text throughout the Ethiopian literary and liturgical history. Thanks to Jauss‘ Reception
History Theory, we have been able to appreciate the value of Ethiopian hermeneutics through the
Andǝmta commentaries as well as the oral interpretations of the Book of Joel in Ethiopian liturgy
and Qǝne. In general, the dissertation has been organized in seven chapters
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Book of Joel is by and large a faithful translation