THE VULGATE.--St. Jerome, a doctor of the Latin Church in the latter part
of the fourth century, undertook, with the sanction of Damasus, the Bishop
of Rome, a new Latin version upon the basis of the _Vetus Itala_, bringing
it nearer to the Septuagint in the Old Testament, and to the original
Greek of the New.
This version of Jerome, corrected from time to time, was approved by
Gregory I., (the Great,) and, since the seventh century, has been used by
the Western Church, under the name of the _Vulgate_, (from _vulgatus_--for
general or common use.) The Council of Trent, in the sixteenth century,
declared it alone to be authentic.
Throughout Western Europe this was used, and made the basis of further
translations into the national languages. It was from the Vulgate that
Aldhelm made his Anglo-Saxon version of the Psalter in 706; Bede, his
entire Saxon Bible in the same period; Alfred, his portion of the Psalms;
and other writers, fragmentary translations.
As soon as the newly formed English language was strong enough, partial
versions were attempted in it: one by an unknown hand, as early as 1290;
and one by John de Trevisa, about one hundred years later.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275