Early Latin Translations: The Origins of the Old Latin Bible

The Latin Vulgate, designated symbolically as vg in textual criticism, stands at the end of a long and complex history of Latin Bible transmission. Long before Jerome’s authoritative revision of the biblical text in Latin, Christian communities in the Western Roman Empire had already undertaken the translation of portions of Scripture into Latin. The earliest of these translations are commonly referred to as the Old Latin (Vetus Latina, abbreviated OL or VL).

The OL translations were not centralized, uniform, or systematic. Instead, they arose out of necessity, particularly for use in public worship, where Greek had become increasingly unfamiliar to Latin-speaking congregations in North Africa, southern Gaul, and eventually Italy. Latin-speaking Christians likely began translating the Scriptures by the end of the second century C.E., as evidenced by the Latin biblical citations in Tertullian (ca. 150–ca. 220) and later Cyprian (ca. 200–258).

These early Latin versions were translated not from the Hebrew Old Testament but primarily from the Greek Septuagint. As a result, the Old Testament corpus in the OL included the Apocryphal (Deuterocanonical) books, such as Tobit and Judith. These versions show varied degrees of faithfulness to the Greek source and exhibit a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical styles, often determined by regional preferences or scribal liberties. The Old Latin Gospels often follow the order Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark and contain interpolations such as Matthew 3:16’s “a tremendous light flashed forth from the water.”

This variation led to three general text-type families: the African (Afra), European (Itala), and Italian traditions. The African tradition, represented by Cyprian, displays the most archaic features and diverges significantly from the later standard Latin Bible. The European tradition—sometimes confusingly labeled “Itala”—is somewhat more refined in style and grammar. These distinctions reflect both textual and ecclesiastical developments in different regions of the Roman world.

Jerome’s Vulgate: A New Epoch in Latin Biblical Transmission

By the close of the fourth century, the proliferation of divergent OL versions had created a textual chaos. Augustine (Letter 71) lamented that “the Latin translators are out of number,” illustrating the urgent need for a standardized Latin text. In 383 C.E., Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome (ca. 342–420) to revise the Latin Bible then in use at Rome. Jerome’s initial reluctance, recorded in his correspondence with Damasus, was based on the enormous risk involved in correcting Scripture in an age when innovation in sacred texts could provoke fierce backlash.

Jerome was uniquely qualified for the task. Born in Strido in Dalmatia, he received elite training in rhetoric under Aelius Donatus in Rome and became intimately familiar with Latin classical literature. Though less proficient in Greek, he developed his knowledge of the language while in Antioch and furthered his philological skills in the Syrian desert and later in Bethlehem, where he learned Hebrew from Rabbi bar-Anina. His study of Hebrew, though imperfect, surpassed that of most Christian scholars of the time.

Jerome’s approach was to revise existing Latin translations rather than create an entirely new version. His translation of the Gospels was completed within a year and carefully revised against the best Greek texts available to him. Jerome explained his process to Damasus: he altered the Latin text only when necessary, preserving familiar phraseology where possible. This explains variations in how terms such as “high priest” were translated—e.g., princeps sacerdotum (Matthew and Luke), summus sacerdos (Mark), and pontifex (John).

His revision of the Psalter went through three stages: the Roman Psalter (384), the Gallican Psalter (387–390), and finally a Hebrew-based Psalter, which failed to gain widespread use. From 390 to 404, Jerome undertook a complete revision of the Old Testament based on the Hebrew text, rejecting the Septuagint where it diverged from the Hebraica veritas (the Hebrew truth). His preference for the Hebrew canon led him to relegate the Apocryphal books to a secondary status—anticipating the later Protestant distinction between “canonical” and “apocryphal.”

Jerome’s translation of the Apocrypha, when he attempted it at all, was often cursory—Tobit and Judith were translated in a day and night respectively. Other books remained in their Old Latin forms. Nevertheless, the cumulative impact of his efforts was profound. Despite initial resistance (e.g., the uproar over translating Jonah’s plant as hedera [ivy] instead of cucurbita [gourd]), Jerome’s Vulgate would ultimately supplant the Old Latin versions and become the standard biblical text for the Western Church for over a millennium.

Manuscript Transmission and Revisions of the Vulgate

Although Jerome’s Vulgate was a monumental achievement, it did not halt textual corruption. Over the centuries, scribes continued to introduce Old Latin readings into Vulgate manuscripts, and the mixed nature of nearly all extant Latin manuscripts reflects ongoing contamination. By the eighth and ninth centuries, further revisions of the Vulgate were undertaken to restore textual fidelity. These included the Spanish revision by Peregrinus and Carolingian reforms by Theodulf and Alcuin.

Despite the diversity of manuscripts, the Vulgate’s influence was ubiquitous. It became the basis for vernacular translations such as Wycliffe’s English Bible, the German Bibles of the 1460s, the Italian Bible (1471), the Catalán (1478), the Czech (1488), and the French (1530). It also provided the liturgical and theological vocabulary that shaped Latin Christendom.

The Vetus Latina Institute and Modern Textual Research

The most significant modern contribution to the study of the Latin Bible comes from the Vetus Latina Institute at Beuron, Germany. Established in the 1950s under the leadership of Bonifatius Fischer, the institute aimed to produce critical editions of the OL versions and to understand the textual history of the Latin Bible up to the ninth century.

The methodology used is comprehensive: each edition presents multiple lines of text representing different text-types rather than attempting to reconstruct an eclectic or singular “original” OL text. Extensive critical apparatuses list all known manuscript variants and patristic citations. The OL manuscripts are identified numerically rather than by confusing letter designations, and patristic sources are catalogued using the Sigelliste, which includes metadata such as date, location, and best critical editions.

Key contributors include Walter Thiele (Catholic Epistles), Hermann Josef Frede (Pauline Epistles), and Hugo Eymann (Romans). Current projects under the Vetus Latina series include Acts and Revelation, with Gospel texts remaining a priority area for future research.

Textual Value of the Latin Versions for Greek New Testament Studies

The OL and Vulgate Latin versions serve as secondary witnesses to the Greek New Testament. They are not early enough to reflect the original autographs but are invaluable for tracing the development of Greek textual traditions. Notably:

• The African OL text often aligns with the Western Greek text-type, especially in Acts.

• The European OL revisions reflect a shift toward the Alexandrian tradition, culminating in Jerome’s Vulgate, which is more Alexandrian than Western.

• This progressive move from the Western to Alexandrian text-types is evident not only in vocabulary and syntax but in the underlying Greek source texts themselves.

Importantly, OL text-types reflect deliberate revisions from specific Greek exemplars. Thus, their value lies not in individual variant readings but in their testimony to broader textual traditions.

Codex Bezae (D/05), with its bilingual Greek-Latin text, presents unique challenges. Its Latin column contains readings from nearly every OL text-type but also many unique renderings. Whether this reflects a fresh translation or a sophisticated collation of earlier texts remains an open question.

Methodological Challenges and Future Directions

Despite significant progress, several challenges remain in Latin Bible research:

1. The Gospels: Comprehensive critical editions are still lacking. Existing editions (e.g., by Aland) lack patristic data. The Vetus Latina Institute has begun classifying over 450 Gospel manuscripts, but much work remains, especially in collating the 100,000+ Gospel citations in Latin Fathers.

2. Tertullian’s Citations: His Latin quotations do not align with known OL traditions. Some scholars suggest he translated ad hoc from Greek, yet a comprehensive study of all his NT citations is still needed.

3. Origins of the African Text: The vocabulary and style of the African OL remain distinctive and unexplained. Sociolinguistic and sociohistorical studies might shed light on the milieu that produced this translation.

4. Codex Bezae’s Latin Acts: Its blend of OL text-types and singular readings continues to puzzle researchers. New theories, such as David Parker’s hypothesis connecting the Bezan text to the Roman law school in Berytus, need further investigation.

5. Vulgate Outside the Gospels: The authorship and textual character of the Pauline and Catholic epistles in the Vulgate remain unclear. More research is needed to understand their development and transmission.

Conclusion: The Latin Version’s Enduring Legacy

The Latin Vulgate, and the OL traditions that preceded it, represent the most influential translations of the Bible in Western Christianity. They were not merely linguistic renderings of Greek and Hebrew texts; they shaped Christian doctrine, worship, and culture for over a thousand years. Though not directly useful for reconstructing the New Testament autographs, the OL and Vulgate texts are indispensable in tracing the history of the Greek NT and the development of early Christian theology.

Their textual diversity, regional adaptations, and revisions form a complex but rich tradition—one that modern scholarship, especially through institutions like the Vetus Latina Institute, continues to explore with increasing precision and clarity.

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