POLYGLOTT. Although the earliest speci men of a Polyglott was that of a projected work of the celebrated printer Aldus Manutius, of which one page only was published, the first Of this kind was the Complutensian Polyglot?, entitled Biblia Sacra Polyglotta, num- prinizazz inzpressa, etc., comprised in 6 vols. fol. We are indebted for this work to the celebrated cardinal, statesman, and general, Francis Ximenes de Cisneros, who pub lished it at his own expense, at the cost of 5o,000 ducats. It was commenced in 1502, completed in 1517, and published in 1522. The editors were }Elius Antonius, Ducas, Pincianus, Stunica, Za mora, Coronellus, and Johannes de Vergera. The three last were originally Jews. The first four volumes contain the O. T., with the Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, in three columns, the Targum, and a Latin version of the same. The fifth volume contains the Greek Testament, with the Latin Vulgate. The last volume consists of Vocabu laries, Indexes, etc. etc. The Greek Testament was finished in 1517 ; but the MSS. were modern and not of much critical value (See Dr. Bow ring's letter, Monthly Repository for 1827, p• 572). There is little doubt that the celebrated text of the Three Witnesses in this edition was translated from the Latin. There were 600 copies only printed of this splendid work, of which three were on vellum. One of these was sold in England, in 1829, for 600 guineas.
The Antwerp Polyglott was published in 1569 72, in 8 vols. fol., at the expense of Philip II., king of Spain. It contains, in addition to the Complutensian texts, a Chaldee Paraphrase, the Syriac version and the Latin translation of Arias Montanus, which was a correction of that of Pag ninus. It also contains lexicons and grammars of the various languages of the originals and ver sions.
The Paris Polyeott, in addition to the contents of the former works, has a Syriac and Arabic ver sion of both the O. T. and N. T., with the Sama ritan Pentateuch, now published for the first time, and edited by J. Morinus. This Polyglott also contains the Samaritan version of the same. It was published in 1645, in to vols. large folio. The editor of this valuable, but unwieldy work, was Michael le Jay, who was ruined by the publi cation. [LE JAY.] The London Polyglott, edited by Brian Wal ton, afterwards Bishop of Chester, is much more comprehensive than any of the former, It was published in 1657, in 6 vols. fol. The first volume, besides prolegomena, contains the Pentateuch, exhibiting on one page the Hebrew text, with the interlinear Latin version of Arias Montanus, the Latin Vulgate of the Clementine edition, the Sep tuagint of the Roman edition, and the various readings of the Cod. Alex., the Latin version of
Flaminius Nobilius, the Syriac with a Latin ver sion, the Targum of Onkelos with a Latin ver sion, the Samaritan Pentateuch with the Samari tan version of the same, and a Latin translation serving for both, and the Arabic with a Latin version. The second volume comprises the his torical- books, with the Targums of Jonathan. The third volume contains the books from Job to Malachi, and, besides the versions in all the former languages, the Psalms in Ethiopic, and a Latin translation. The fourth volume has all the Deutero-canonical books in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Syriac ; the two Hebrew texts of Tobit [Tostr], and two Chaldee and a Persian Targum on the Pentateuch, with Latin versions. The fifth volume has the N. T., with Arias Montanus's translation ; the Syriac, Persic, Latin, Vulgate, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions. These, with sepa rate Latin versions of the Oriental translations, are all given on one page. The sixth volume con tains various readings and critical remarks. The whole of this stupendous labour was completed in four years. It was published by subscription, under the patronage of Oliver Cromwell, who died before its completion. This gave occasion to the cancelling of two leaves of the preface, in order to transfer to king Charles II. the compliments ad dressed to Cromwell. There are, in consequence, both Republican and Royal copies, the former of which are the most scarce and valuable. For the variations between these, see Butler's Hone Biblicce and Adam Clark's Succession of Sacred Literature. This Polyglott was accompanied by Castell's Kep taglott Lexicon, in 2 vols. fol. [CASTELL ; WALTON.] Mr. Bagster's Polyglott, fol., London 1831, contains in one volume the Hebrew text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac versions, the Greek text of Mill in the N. T., together with Luther's German, Diodati's Italian, Ostervald's French, Scio's Spanish, and the English A. V. of the Bible. The cheapest and most generally useful polyglott is one entitled Polyglotten-Bibel zum Praktischen Handgebrauch, edited by Drs. Stier and Theile. It contains the Hebrew, Septuagint, Vulgate, and German, in the O. T., and the Greek, Vulgate, and German, in the N. T.
There are also polyglotts of several portions of the Bible, of which one of the most valuable is that published at Constantinople, in Hebrew, Chaldee, Persian, and Arabic, in 1546.—W. W.