Latin Psalters

Versions

The Latin Church has a diverse selection of more-or-less different translations of the psalms. Three of these translations, the Romana, Gallicana, and juxta Hebraicum, are traditionally ascribed to Jerome, the author of the Latin Vulgate. Two of these translations, the Pian and New Vulgate versions, were made in the 20th century.

Many of these translations are actually quite similar to each other, especially in style: the Roman, Gallican, Ambrosian, and Mozarabic psalters have relatively few differences between them. The concord among these similar psalters is attributable to a common original translation from the Greek Septuagint. The New Vulgate psalter, though stylistically similar to these, diverges rather more from these traditional psalters insofar as it more closely follows the Hebrew Masoretic text. Two of these psalters stand apart as independent translations from the Hebrew: Jerome's juxta Hebraicum and the Pian version.

Versio Vetus Latina

Also called the Psalterium Vetus, the psalter of the Old Latin Bible was used in the earliest days of the Latin liturgy in Rome, under Pope Damasus I. A translation from the Septuagint, it provided the basis for Jerome's first revision of the psalter.

Versio Ambrosiana

This is the version used in the Ambrosian rite. It was made in the middle of the 4th century from the Septuagint.

Versio Romana

The Roman Psalter, called also the Versio Romana or Psalterium Romanum, traditionally has been considered to be the same as Jerome's first revision of the psalms completed in 384, which was made from the Versio Vetus Latina, and corrected to bring it more in line with the Greek psalms. It is similar to the version used in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites. The Roman version is used in the Roman Missal, but in the Divine Office, however, it was soon replaced throughout most of the west by Jerome's so-called "Gallican" version. It lived on in Britain where it continued to be used until the Norman Conquest in 1066 and in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and in St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. It survives to this day in the Divine Office as the solemn chanted text of the Invitatory psalm, Psalm 94, where it is the sole survivor in a liturgy where the Gallican, Pian, or New Vulgate translation is otherwise used.

Versio Gallicana

The Versio Gallicana or Psalterium Gallicanum (so called because it became the version most used in Gaul) has traditionally been considered Jerome's second revision, which he made from the Greek of the Hexapla c. 386-391. This became the psalter of the Vulgate bible, and the basis for Gregorian chant. It became the standard psalter used in the canonical hours throughout the West from the time of Charlemagne until it was replaced in the 2nd edition of the Liturgy of the Hours by the Versio Nova Vulgata in 1986. It is still used today in some monasteries and churches and by traditionalist Catholics.

This most influential psalter has a distinctive style which is attributable to its origins as a translation of the Septuagint. Following the Septuagint, it eschews anthropomorphisms. For instance, the term rock is applied to God numerous times in the Hebrew Psalter, but the Latin term petra does not occur as an epithet for God in the gallicana. Instead more abstract words like refugium, "refuge"; locus munitus, "place of strength"; or adiutor, "helper" are used.

This psalter retains many Hebraisms by way of the Greek, the most noticeable being the redundant demonstrative. The relative pronoun is indeclinable in Hebrew, and so is accompanied by a redundant demonstrative. This use is reproduced in the Latin, although Latin has no need for it. For instance, Ps 18:4(19:3), quorum non audiantur voces eorum, which means, "whose voices, their voices, be not heard". Also Ps 32(33):12, Beata gens cujus est Dominus Deus ejus, "blessed is the nation whose God, its God, is the Lord". Ps 121(122):3, civitas, cujus participatio ejus in idipsum, "a city whose share, its share, is compact".

Another Hebraism is the use of the conditional "if" to mean the negative "not". Examples include Ps 88:36(89:34), si David mentiar, "if I lie to David", which means, "I will not lie to David". Ps 94(95):11, Si introibunt in requiem meam, "if they shall enter into my rest", which means, "they shall not enter into my rest. Ps 131(132):3, Si introiero in tabernaculum domus meae, "If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house", which means, "I shall not enter into the tabernacle of my house". Ps 130(131) has a double negative, Si non humiliter sentiebam sed exaltavi animam meam, "If I was not humbly minded but exalted my soul", which is equivalent to "I was humbly minded and did not exalt my soul".

Hebrew has only two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine, while Latin also has a third, the neuter. Hebrew's lack of a neuter gender sometimes shows up in very idiosyncratic phrasing in the Gallican Psalter, for instance Ps. 26(27):4, unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram, "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after", where "thing" is rendered feminine in the verse. A native speaker of Latin would have used a neuter instead: Unum petii a Domino, hoc requiram.

Classical Latin occasionally employs a dangling nominative for rhetorical flourish, but this construction is especially common in the Gallicana. Ps. 17(18):31 has, Deus meus, impolluta via ejus, "my God, his way is undefiled" to mean, "the way of my God is undefiled". Likewise Ps. 125(126):1 has, In convertendo Dominus captivitatem Sion, facti sumus sicut consolati for "The Lord, in bringing back the captivity of Zion, we became like men comforted", instead of, Cum converteret Dominus captivitatem Sion, facti sumus sicut consolati, meaning, "When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we became like men comforted".

Versio juxta Hebraicum

This version was the last made by Jerome. It is often informally called the "Hebrew Psalter" despite being written in Latin. Rather than just revise the Gallicana, he translated these psalms anew from the Hebrew, using pre-Masoretic manuscripts ca. 392. This psalter is found in a few of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Vulgate. It was found in Spanish manuscripts of the Vulgate long after the Gallicanum supplanted it elsewhere. It is not clear that it was ever used in the liturgy.

Despite evident textual enhancements, this version still retains many hebraisms, as in the case with conditional 'if', Jerome renders Ps 94(95):11, ut non introirent requiem meam correctly, but in Ps 131(132):3-5, Si intravero... si adsedero... si dedero... donec inveniam locum, that is in the same way as in his earlier translation.

Versio Piana

Under Pius XII in 1945, a new translation of the psalms, the Versio Piana, Psalterium Vaticanum or simply Novum Psalterium, was published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute. One of its merits was that it was made from a reconstructed Hebrew text based largely on the Masoretic. Its Latin adopted a classical rather than a biblical style. This version is sometimes called the Bea psalter after its author, Augustin Bea. Its use in the liturgy was widely encouraged but not required. It was adopted by some religious orders (e.g. Carmelites and Franciscans) for use in their liturgy, but its use was resisted in some quarters. It can be found in most breviaries printed between 1945 and 1971.

Versio Nova Vulgata

In 1969, a new psalter was published which translated the Masoretic text while keeping much of the poetry and style of the Gallican psalter. It has proved to be a popular alternative to Jerome's Gallicana. While it is based on the Gallican, it shows the influence of other versions, e.g., in Psalm 95 it follows the Piana in translating מְרִיבָה and מסה as the proper names Meriba and Massa rather than as common nouns meaning exasperation and temptation; likewise מצער is transliterated as the proper name Misar rather than as a common adjective meaning "small" in Psalm 42. The 1969 psalter deviates from the previous versions in that it follows the Masoretic numbering of the psalms, rather than the Septuagint enumeration. It is the psalter used in the edition of the Roman Office published in 1986.

Comparison

Below is a comparison of Jerome's three versions of the psalm Venite exsultemus with the older Ambrosian version as well as the two 20th century versions, which illustrates some of the distinctions noted above: