SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

100 Chapter 4: Technical Aspects of Scroll Writing
split at the ends of lines: h/why, lar/çy, n/b, l/a, wt/a. As a result of this splitting of words,
virtually straight left margins were obtained, e.g. in 4QpaleoExod m I, VI, IX, in all the columns of
11QpaleoLev a (cf. Freedman–Mathews, Leviticus, 9), and 4QpaleoDeut s . A similar system was
used in the medieval manuscripts of SP (see below).
In texts written in the square script, scribes were also not very strict in the observance of the
left margin when there was no special reason to economize in space. Frankly, it would have been
difficult to be so, as it required an exact planning of every word in the line, something that is
possible only when copying from a Vorlage. While there are some exceptions that display careful
adherence to the left margin (see below), usually that margin was adhered to only in a general
sense. Only in the medieval traditions of MT did scribes adhere strictly to a left margin.
A special case is 4QHoroscope (4Q186), the text of which was written in reverse direction in different scripts.
Here, the left margin is straight and unusual indentations appear in the right margin which marks the ends of lines
and not the beginnings.
The degree of margin observance in the scrolls from Qumran cave 1 was described in detail by
Martin, Scribal Character, I.109–17 and additional texts were described by Herbert, A New
Method, 21–4; 63–76. In any event, the (different) prescriptions of b. Menah≥. 30b and Sof. 2.3
for the number of letters which could be written beyond the vertical left margin in Scripture
scrolls were not adhered to in most scrolls that are written with square characters.
πdl ≈wj µytçw πdh ˚wtb çlç ala πdl ≈wj çlçw πdh ˚wtb µytç bwtky al twytwa çmj tb hbyt wl hnmdzn
hfyçh tlyjtb btwkw rzwj ala ˆypdh ˆybl hnqrzy al twytwa ytç tb hbyt wl hnmdzn
If one has to write a word of five letters, one must not write two
letters in the column and three outside , but three in the column and two
outside. If one has to write a word of two letters, one may
not insert it in the intercolumnar space, but must write the word at the beginning of the following line
(b. Menah≥. 30a–b).
hyh µaw ˆfq µçm al lba πdl πd ˆyb µytçw πdh πwsb µytç bwtky al twytwa [bra ˆb µç πdl πd ˆyb µyjynm
rwsa twytwa çwlç lç wmx[ ynpb ˆfq µç
It is permitted to insert in the intercolumnar space a word of four letters. One may not write
two letters within the column and two beyond ; but this is not the case with a short
word. If a short word of three letters on its own, it is forbidden (Sof. 2.3).
Whereas Martin, Scribal Character, I.112–3 stressed the scribal disregard for the ruled margin,
Herbert, A New Method, 21–4, 63–76 suggested that scribes often did not necessarily adhere to
the ruled margin, but rather to a ‘notional’ margin, that is, a margin which they had in mind. This
margin could be either to the left (1QIsa a , 1QS) or to the right (1QpHab) of the ruled margin; e.g.
0.375 cm to the left of the ruled margin in cols. I–XXVII of 1QIsa a , and 0.525 cm to the left in
cols. XXVIII–LIV of that scroll (Herbert, ibid., 39–41).
Systems for maintaining a straight left margin. In those instances in which scribes wished to
obtain a straight left margin on the writing block, but found difficulty in doing so because of the
constraints of the text, other means were sometimes devised:
(1) Leaving extra spaces between words toward the end of the line (proportional spacing, as
in printed texts and computer editing), so that the end would be flush with the left marginal line.
1QH a I (Suk. = Puech IX) 8–17
4QGen c 1 ii 9–18
4QGen f 1 11–17
4QpaleoExod m I 3–5; XIX 11; XXXVIII
4QNum b , a scroll which has left vertical rules, cf. I 9, 13; XII 26; XVIII 27; XIX 29;
XXXI 12, 14, 15. This practice probably was the rule for this scroll (XVI 14 is an exception).
4QDeut h 1 5–7; 4 3
4QEn c ar (4Q204) 1 v 5,8; xii 25–29; 5 i 23; see Milik, Enoch, 179
4QCommGen B (4Q253) 4 i 1–3