Polyglot. In terms of Theology and Criticism, polyglot signifies a Bible printed in various languages. See Bible . It comes from the Greek πολὺ and γλῶττα, language , tongue . The first is that of Cardinal Ximenes, printed in 1515 at Alcala of Henare, and is commonly called the Complutensian Bible .

It contains the Hebrew text, the Chaldean paraphrase by Onkelos on the Pentateuch only, the Greek version of the Septaguint, and the ancient Latin version. See Pentateuch, Paraphrase , etc.

There is not in this Polyglot another Latin version based on the Hebrew than this, but to it has been added a literal one in the Greek of the Septuagint. The Greek text of the New Testament is printed without accents, to represent more exactly the original of the Apostles, or at least the oldest Greek copies where the accents are not marked. See Accent.

At the end is added a grammarians’ apparatus, dictionaries and indices or tables. Francois Ximenes of Cineros, Cardinal and Bishop of Toledo, who is the principal author of this great work, marks in a letter written to Pope Leon X that it was appropriate to give Holy Scriptures in the originals because there is no translation, as perfect as it may be, that perfectly represents them.

The second Polyglot is that of Philip II printed by Plantin in Antwerp in 1572 by Arias Montanus. To it was added what was already in the Complutensian Bible, the Chaldean paraphrases of the rest of Scripture, apart from the Pentateuch, with the Latin interpretation of these paraphrases. There is also in this Polyglot a very literal Latin version of the Hebrew text, for the use of those who want to learn the Hebraic language.

With respect to the New Testament, apart from the Greek and Latin of the Bible of Alcala, into this edition has been put the old Syriac version, in Syriac characters and in Hebrew characters, with vowel points to facilitate reading for those who were accustomed to reading Hebrew. To this Syriac version is also joined a Latin interpretation composed by Guy le Fevre, who was entrusted with the Syriac edition of the New Testament.

In the Antwerp Polyglot is found a greater number of grammars and dictionaries than in the Conplutensian, as well as several small treatises that were judged necessary to clarify the most difficult matters in the text.

The third Polyglot is that of M. le Jay, printed in Paris in 1645. It has the advantage over the royal Bible of Philip II that the Syriac and Arabic versions of the Old Testament are there with Latin interpretations. It contains moreover for the Pentateuch the Samaritan Hebrew text and the Samaritan version in Samaritan characters.

With respect to the New Testament, into this new Polyglot has been put everything that is in the Antwerp one; and apart form that, there is added an Arab translation with a Latin interpretation. But it lacks an apparatus, the grammars and dictionaries that are in the two others, which makes this great work imperfect.

The fourth Polyglot is English, printed in London in 1657, which some call the Walton Bible , because Walton, later Bishop of Winchester, took charge of having it printed.

In truth it is not so magnificent, as much for the durability of the paper as for the beauty of the characters as that of M. Jay, but it is more ample and commodious. It uses the Vulgate in the edition revised and corrected by Clement VIII, which was not done in that of Paris, where the Vulgate is the same as it was in the Antwerp Bible before correction. See Vulgate .

It contains moreover an interlinear Latin version of the Hebrew text; instead of which in the Paris edition there is no other Latin version with the Hebrew than our Vulgate. The Greek of the Septuagint that is in the English Polyglot is not that of the Complutensian Bible, which has been kept in the Antwerp and Paris editions, to which is joined various lessons of another very ancient Greek copy, because it came from Alexandria. See Septuagint.

The Latin version of the Greek of the Septuagint is that which Flaminius Nobilius had printed in Rome under the authority of Sixtus V. In the English Polyglot there are some parts of the Bible in Ethiopian and in Persian, which are not found in that of Paris. Finally, this edition has this advantage over M. Jay’s Bible: it contains preliminary discourses called prolegomena , on the text of the originals and the versions, with a volume of various lessons in all these different editions.

One may also add to the Polyglots two Pentateuchs that the Jesuits of Constantinople had printed in four languages but in Hebrew letters.

In one of these Pentateuchs printed in 1551, the Hebrew text is in large letters with on one side Onkelo’s Chaldean paraphrase in medium letters, and on the other side a Persian paraphrase composed by a Jew called Jacob with the surname of his city. Apart from these three columns, the Arabic paraphrase of Saadias is printed on top of the page in small letters, and on bottom pages of Rasch’s commentary.

The seventh Polyglot is the Psalter that Augustine Justinian, a Dominican friar and Bishop of Nebio, had printed in four languages in Genoa in 1516. This psalter contains Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Chaldean, with Latin interpretations and glosses. See Psalter.

There are several editions of the Bible, either entire or parts, that could be called polyglots . Gutter’s Bible, printed in Hamburg in Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, Latin, German Saxon, French, Italian, Slavic,and Danish must be placed among the Polyglot Bibles. Again, there are Origen’s Hexaplas and Octaplas . See Hexaplas and Octaplas.

We also have Vatable’s Polyglot Bibles in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and Volder’s in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and German. Polken’s printed in 1546, in Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, or rather in Ethiopian and Latin. That of Jean Draconits of Carlostad in Franconia who in 1565 gave the Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, the prophets Micah and Joel in five languages (Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek, Latin and German). Father le Long of the Oratory has treated the Polyglots carefully in a duodecimo volume he published on this subject.