The Criticism of the New Testament. Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
No. 36) Zeta is so large as to run far below the line, ending in a kind of tail.
Eta does not depart from its normal shape (Η) except that in Cod. Ephraemi (No. 24) and some narrow and late uncials (e.g. Nos. 7, 36) the cross line is often more than half way up the letter. In a few later uncials the cross line passes outside the two perpendiculars, as in the Cod. Augiensis, twenty-six times on the photographed page of Scrivener's edition.
Theta deserves close attention. In some early inscriptions it is found as a square, bisected horizontally ([Symbol]). On the Rosetta stone and most others (but only in such monuments) it is a circle, with a strong central point . On the Herculanean rolls the central point is spread into a short horizontal line, yet not reaching the circumference (No. 10, l. 8). Thence in our uncials from the fourth to the sixth century the line becomes a horizontal diameter to a true circle (Codd. Vatican., Sinait., Codd. ANRZ, Ephraemi, Claromont., Rossanensis, and Cureton's Homer). In the seventh century the diameter began to pass out of the circle on both sides: thence the circle came to be compressed into an ellipse (sometimes very narrow), and the ends of the minor axis to be ornamented with knobs, as in Cod. B of the Apocalypse (eighth century), Cod. Augiensis (ninth century), LX of the Gospels, after the manner of the tenth century (Nos. 7, 16, 21, 36, 38).
Iota would need no remark but for the custom of placing over it an upsilon, when they commence a syllable, either a very short straight line, or one or two dots. After the papyrus rolls no copy is quite without them, from the Codex Alexandrinus, the Cotton Genesis and Paris-Leyden Pentateuch, Cod. Z and the Isaiah included in it, to the more recent cursives; although in some manuscripts they are much rarer than in others. By far the most usual practice is to put two points, but Cod. Ephraemi, in its New Testament portion, stands nearly alone with the Cotton Genesis (ch. xviii. 9) in exhibiting the straight line; Cod. Alexandrinus in the Old Testament, but not in the New, frequently resembles Codd. Ephraemi and the Cotton [pg 037] Genesis in placing a straight line over iota, and more rarely over upsilon, instead of the single or double dots; Cod. Sinaiticus employs two points or a straight line (as in Z's Isaiah) promiscuously over both vowels, and in Wake 12, a cursive of the eleventh century, the former frequently pass into the latter in writing. Codd. Borgianus (T) and Claromont. have but one point; Codd. N and Rossanensis have two for iota, one for upsilon.
Kappa deserves notice chiefly because the vertex of the angle formed by the two inclined lines very frequently does not meet the perpendicular line, but falls short of it a little to the right: we observe this in Codd. ANR, Ephraemi, Rossanensis, and later books. The copies that have strong points at the end of epsilon &c. (e.g. Codd. NR and AZ partly) have the same at the extremity of the thin or upper limb of Kappa. In Cod. D a fine horizontal stroke runs a little to the left from the bottom of the vertical line. Compare also the initial letter in Cod. M, No. 32.
Lambda much resembles alpha, but is less complicated. All our models (except Harl. 5598, No. 7), from the Rosetta stone downwards, have the right limb longer than the left, which thus leans against its side, but the length of the projection varies even in the same passage (e.g. No. 10). In most copies later than the Herculanean rolls and Cod. Sinaiticus the shorter line is much the thinner, and the longer slightly curved. In Cod. Z (Nos. 6, 18) the projection is curved elegantly at the end, as we saw in delta.
Mu varies as much as most letters. Its normal shape, resembling the English M, is retained in the Rosetta stone and most inscriptions, but at an early period there was a tendency to make the letter broader, and not to bring the re-entering or middle angle so low as in English (e.g. Codd. Vaticanus and Sinaiticus). In Cod. Ephraemi this central angle is sometimes a little rounded: in Codd. Alex. and Parham 18 the lines forming the angle do not always spring from the top of the vertical lines: in Arund. 547 (No. 16) they spring almost from their foot, forming a thick inelegant loop below the line, the letter being rather narrow: Harl. 5598 (No. 7) somewhat resembles this last, only that the loop is higher up. In the Herculanean rolls (and to a less extent in the Cotton Genesis) the two outer lines cease to be perpendicular, and lean outwards until the letter looks much like an inverted W (No. 10). In the papyrus Hyperides (No. 9) these outer lines are low curves, and the central lines rise in a kind of flourish above them. Mu assumes this shape also in Cod. T, and at the end of a line even in Codd. Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. This form is so much exaggerated in some examples, that by discarding the outer curves we obtain the shape seen in Cod. Z (Nos. 6, 18) and one or two others (e.g. Paul M in Harl. 5613, No. 34), almost exactly resembling an inverted pi. So also in the Isaiah of Cod. Z, only that the left side and base line were made by one stroke of the pen.
Nu is easier, the only change (besides the universal transition from the square to the oblong in the later uncials) being that in a few cases [pg 038] the thin cross line does not pass from the top of the left to the bottom of the right vertical line as in English (N), but only from about half-way or two-thirds down the left vertical in the Cotton Genesis, Codd. A, Rossanensis, Harl. 5598 (No. 7), and others; in Codd. אNR Parham 18 it often neither springs from the top of one, nor reaches the foot of the other (Nos. 4, 5, 11b, 12, 36); while in Cod. Claromont. (No. 41) it is here and there not far from horizontal. In a few cursives (e.g. 440 Evan. at Cambridge, and Tischendorf's loti or 61 of the Acts), H and N almost interchange their shapes: so in Evan. 66 and Wake 34 at the end of a line only.
Xi in the Rosetta stone and Herculanean rolls consists of three parallel straight lines, the middle one being the shortest, as in modern printed Greek: but all our Biblical manuscripts exhibit modifications of the small printed ξ, such as must be closely inspected, but cannot easily be described. In the Cotton Genesis this xi is narrow and smaller than its fellows, much like an old English [Symbol: yogh] resting on a horizontal base which curves downwards: while in late uncials, as B of the Apocalypse, Cod. Augiensis (l. 13 Scrivener's photographed page), and especially in Parham 18 (No. 36), the letter and its flourished finial are continued far below the line. For the rest we must refer to our facsimile alphabets, &c. The figures in Cod. Frid.-August. (Nos. 2, 11a, ll. 3, 8) look particularly awkward, nor does the shape in Cod. Rossanensis much differ from these. In Cod. E, the Zurich Psalter of the seventh century, and Mr. W. White's fragment Wd, xi is the common Z with a large horizontal line over it, strengthened by knobs at each end.
Omicron is unchanged, excepting that in the latest uncials (No. 16, 36) the circle is mostly compressed, like theta, into a very eccentric ellipse.
Pi requires attention. Its original shape was doubtless two vertical straight lines joined at top by another horizontal, thinner perhaps but not much shorter than they. Thus we meet with it on the Rosetta stone, Codd. R, Vatican., Sinaiticus, Ephraemi, Claromontanus, Laud. of the Acts, the two Pentateuchs, Cureton's Homer, and sometimes Cod. A (No. 12). The fine horizontal line is, however, slightly produced on both sides in such early documents as the papyri of Hyperides and Herculaneum, and in the Cotton Genesis, as well as in Cod. A occasionally33. Both extremities of this line are fortified by strong points in Codd. N and Rossanensis, and mostly in Cod. A, but the left side only in Cod. Z, and this in Cod. Bezae occasionally becomes a sort of hooked curve. The later oblong pi was usually very plain, with thick vertical lines and a very fine horizontal, in Arund. 547 (No. 16) not at all produced; in Harl. 5598 (No. 7) slightly produced on both sides; in Parham 18 (No. 36) produced only on the right.
Rho is otherwise simple, but in all our authorities except inscriptions is produced below the line of writing, least perhaps in the papyri and [pg 039] Cod. Claromont., considerably in Codd. AX (Nos. 12, 38), most in Parham 18 (No. 36): Codd. N, Rossanensis, and many later copies have the lower extremity boldly bevelled . The form is [Symbol like sans-serif bold Roman capital P] rather than [Symbol like serif Roman capital P] in Codd. אA. In Cod. D a horizontal stroke, longer and thicker than in kappa, runs to the left from the bottom of the vertical line.
Sigma retains its angular shape ([Symbol] or Σ) only on inscriptions, as the Rosetta, and that long after the square shapes of omicron and theta were discarded. The uncial or semicircular form, however, arose early, and to this letter must be applied all that was said of epsilon as regards terminal points (a knob at the lower extremity occurs even in Cod. א, e.g. Acts ii. 31), and its cramped shape in later ages.
Tau in its oldest form consists of two straight lines of like thickness, the horizontal being bisected by the lower and vertical one. As early as in Cod. Sinaiticus the horizontal