Talk:Middle English Bible translations

This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Middle Ages Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Middle AgesWikipedia:WikiProject Middle AgesTemplate:WikiProject Middle AgesMiddle Ages articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Bible Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Bible, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Bible on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BibleWikipedia:WikiProject BibleTemplate:WikiProject BibleBible articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Translation studies This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Translation Studies, a collaborative effort to expand, improve and standardise the content and structure of articles related to Translation Studies. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of objectives.Translation studiesWikipedia:WikiProject Translation studiesTemplate:WikiProject Translation studiesTranslation studies articles ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale. English Language This article is within the scope of WikiProject English Language, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to the English language on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.English LanguageWikipedia:WikiProject English LanguageTemplate:WikiProject English LanguageEnglish Language articles ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

Effect of the printing press

The article says:

All translations of this time period were from Latin or French. Greek and Hebrew texts would become available with the development of the Johann Gutenberg's movable-type printing press which coincided with the development of Early Modern English, making English a literary language, and would lead to a great increase in the number of translations of the Bible in the Early Modern English era.

What's the link between invention of printing press and source languages? Jonah (talk) 16:46, 13 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There were (and are) a limited number of source-language texts in manuscript form. The printing press made it more feasible to produce and distribute both source-language and translated texts. ~ MD Otley (talk) 16:24, 13 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Vaticanus manuscript

The article says:

However during the 20th Century there were more than one hundred English translations, and they were all based heavily on the Vaticanus Greek text in opposition to the New Testament Greek text that Erasmus viewed as pure and traditional.

This seems somewhat unlikely in the 20th century, but even if true bears little reference to middle English translations. Epideme (talk) 00:23, 19 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Epideme is right. The 20th century is hardly speaking Middle English. The remark quoted was probably put in to attack the belittling of the Vaticanus manuscript immediately above at the time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.112.41.10 (talk) 09:43, 23 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Vulgate, etc.

Since the proclamation of the Latin Vulgate as authentic by the Council of Trent, there had been little new study of the original Biblical languages in Europe.

The verb tense here implies that this occurred prior to the time period under discussion, but the Council of Trent occurred afterward, in response to the Protestant Reformation. I'm going to remove it and smooth out the next sentence. ~ MD Otley (talk) 16:30, 13 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Honestly, I'm not sure there's much worth saving. This section isn't supposed to be a preview of coming attractions, but an analysis of the legacy of the ME translations. They aren't even mentioned! This should be about any memorials to Wycliffe and "his" translation or how future translators leaned on their work. ~ MD Otley (talk) 17:06, 13 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The paragraph "Since the Wycliffe Bible conformed fully to Catholic teaching, it was rightly considered to be an unauthorized Roman Catholic version of the Vulgate text but with heretical preface and notes added. This slightly misleading view was held by many Catholic commentators, including Thomas More - and has continued to create confusion on the meaning of an authorised version of the Bible and the purpose of authorising an orthodox context for its translation."

This is not NPOV (words such as "rightly", "slightly misleading"), uncited (who has this "great confusion"?) and is unclear (what is the "meaning .. and purpose of authorizing an orthodoc context for its translation"?

So I am trimming it of this material. If someone can correct it to clarify, please revert and fix. Rick Jelliffe (talk) 10:00, 9 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]