P027 Tyndale's Translations.

P027 Tyndale’s Translations. The oft-repeated story that he translated the New Testament from Luther’s German version, or from the Vulgate, is untrue.(1) As his Old Testament translations were directly from the Hebrew, so he translated the New Testament directly from the Greek, using the second and third editions of Erasmus’ Greek Testament, though he doubtless consulted the Vulgate, the Latin translations of Erasmus, and the German of Luther. His English is idiomatic and racy. His diction differs from that of the literature of his day, even from his own controversial works, and equally differs from the ordinary style of colloquial discourse, though by its simplicity admirably adapted for popular use. It stands by itself, peculiar to the sacred volume. The best features of our present version are derived from it, and "thus that remarkable work has exerted, directly and indirectly, a more powerful influence on the English language than any other single production between the ages of Richard II. and Queen Elizabeth."(2) In Tyndale’s New Testament there were no divisions, excepting those of chapters and paragraphs. The edition of 1535 added to these for the first time headings to the chapters.

Before the year of his death there were in all fifteen editions issued, seven of them, however, being surreptitious. In 1536, the year of his death, there were eight editions printed, one of them being remarkable as the first English Testament printed on English soil.

It was published in London by Thomas Berthelet. After 1538, when one edition was published, there was no edition of his New Testament printed for six years. Nineteen editions were issued between 1544 and 1566, after which it ceased to be printed.

There were altogether more than forty different editions published. The arrangement of the books in Tyndale’s Testament differs somewhat from that of our present version, being an exact copy of Luther’s German Testament. As far as the Epistle to Philemon the order is the same as that of the present version; after that it is as follows: 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2, and 3 John; Hebrews; James; Jude; Revelation.

------------ (FN1)For a thorough discussion of this subject, see Eadie’s "English Bible," chaps. viii and ix.

(FN2)Marsh’s "Lectures on the English’ Language," p. 118.

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