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Sophio Sarjveladze
Two Khanmeti Palimpsestic Fragments Kept
in the National Centre of Manuscripts
Summary
The article discusses two khanmeti palimpsestic fragments (Svanuri palimpsesti 4
and 3rd folio of the ms H-1445) kept in the National Centre of Manuscripts
(Tbilisi, Georgia). Both mss may be dated not later than VII c.
The text of the lower layer of the ms Svanuri palimpsesti 4 is the text of verses
19,20-21; 23-24 and 26-28 of Matthew’s Gospel. The text is identical to the Adishi
recension of Georgian version of the Gospels, kept in the ms Adishi Gospels
(copied in 897) and a number of lectionary readings. There are 8 khanmeti forms in
the text of the fragment, 7 of them are verbs and one – a superlative form of an
adjective.
The lower layer of the 3rd folio of the ms H-1445 is a fragment of a lectionary. The
text is identified as verses 20,19-25 of John’s Gospel, presented in several other
VII-X cc lectionaries: Khanmeti, Latali, Kala and Sinai lectionaries. There are 5
khanmeti verbs and one more maybe restored in the khanmeti fragment of the 3 rd
folio of the ms H-1445. The text of the reading is unlike the existing recensions of
the Georgian version of the Gospels and the texts of the same lactionary reading of
other Georgian lectionaries, while several variant readings of it are very close to
the text of Adishi Gospels.
Both palimpsestic fragments are briefly discussed and identified by the Georgian
scholar Pavle Ingorokva in the book "The Short Review of Old Georgian
Literature" (P. Ingorokva, Collected Works, v. IV, Tbilisi, 1978, p. 341-2). In the
envelope together with the ms Svanuri palimpsesti 4 is kept a handwritten copy of
the text of the fragment by P. Ingorokva. Unfortunately, P. Ingorokva has never
published the texts of these significant fragmets, thus, they have never been
discussed in the scholarly literature.
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