The Wycliffe Bible

8/8/2019 The Wycliffe Bible

1/17

The Wycliffe BibleJ.W. Richter

Beginning of the Gospel of John from a 14th century copy of Wycliffe's

translation

The beginning of the Gospel of John in a copy ofJohn

Wycliffe's translation of the Bible. This copy was made in thelate 14th century and was pocket sized, probably for the use of

a wandering preacher, perhaps a Lollard. The edition contained

only segments of the New Testament. This copy eventually

worked its way to Wycliffe biographer John Lewis (1675-

1747).

The gospel begins at the large, red & bluedecorated character

"I" and reads: In e bigynnyng was/e word & e word/was at

god/& god was/e word.

Fig. 1: In e bigynnyng was/e word
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wycliffe_John_Gospel.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wycliffe_John_Gospel.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wycliffe_John_Gospel.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/John_Wycliffehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/John_Wycliffehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/John_Wycliffehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/John_Wycliffehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/John_Wycliffehttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wycliffe_John_Gospel.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wycliffe_John_Gospel.jpg


2/17

1 Wyclif's Bible

Wyclif's Bible1

is the name now given to a group of Bibletranslations into Middle English that were made under the

direction of, or at the instigation of, John Wycliffe2. They

appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.

Beginning of the Gospel of John from a 14th century copy of Wycliffe's

translation3

1: Source: Wikipedia's Wyclif's Bible2: ca. 1330 - 13843: Folio 2v of MS Hunter 191 (T.8.21)

Page 2

Fig. 2: Wycliffe's Bible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyclif's_Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyclif's_Bible


3/17

These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and chief

cause of the Lollardmovement, a pre-Reformation movement

that rejected many of the distinctive teachings of the Roman

Catholic Church. In the early Middle Ages, most WesternChristian people encountered the Bible only in the form of oral

versions of scriptures, verses and homilies in Latin (other

sources were mystery plays, usually conducted in the

vernacular, and popular iconography). Though relatively few

people could read at this time, Wycliffes idea was to translate

the Bible into the vernacular. [] it helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best

Christs sentence.

Long thought to be the work of Wycliffe himself, it is now

generally believed that the Wycliffite translations were the

work of several hands. Nicholas of Hereford is known to have

translated a part of the text; John Purvey and perhaps John

Trevisa are names that have been mentioned as possible

authors. The translators worked from the Vulgate, the Latin

Bible that was the standard Biblical text of Western

Christianity, and the text conforms fully with Catholic

teaching. They included in the testaments those works which

would later be called deuterocanonical along with 3 Esdras

which is now called 2 Esdras and Paul's epistle to the

Laodiceans.

Although unauthorized, the work was popular. Wycliffite Bible

texts are the most common manuscript literature in MiddleEnglish. Over 250 manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible survive.

Page 3


4/17

2 Versions of the Wycliffite Bible

Surviving copies of the Wycliffite Bible4

fall into two broadtextual families, an "early" version and a later version. Both

versions are flawed by a slavish regard to the word order and

syntax of the Latin originals; the later versions give some

indication of being revised in the direction of idiomatic

English. A wide variety of Middle English dialects are

represented. The second, revised group of texts is much larger

than the first. Some manuscripts contain parts of the Bible in

the earlier version, and other parts in the later version; thissuggests that the early version may have been meant as a rough

draft that was to be recast into the somewhat better English of

the second version. The second version, though somewhat

improved, still retained a number of infelicities of style, as in

its version of Genesis 1:3

Latin Vulgate:Dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux

Early Wyclif:And God seide, Be maad lit; and maadis lit

Later Wyclif: And God seide, Lit be maad; and lit

was maad

King James:And God said, Let there be light: and there

was light

4: Source: Wikipedia's Wyclif's Bible

Page 4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyclif's_Biblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyclif's_Bible


5/17

3 Suppression

The association between Wyclif's Bible and Lollardy causedthe kingdom of England and the established Roman Catholic

Church to undertake a drastic campaign to suppress it. In the

early years of the 15th century, Henry IV (De haeretico

comburendo), Archbishop Thomas Arundel, and Henry

Knighton (to name a few) published criticism and enacted

some of the severest religious censorship laws in Europe at that

time. Even twenty years after Wycliffe's death, at the Oxford

Convocation of 1408, it was solemnly voted that no newtranslation of the Bible should be made without prior approval.

However, as the text translated in the various versions of the

Wyclif Bible was the Latin Vulgate, and as it contained noheterodox readings, there was in practice no way by which the

ecclesiastical authorities could distinguish the banned version;

and consequently many Catholic commentators of the 15th and

16th centuries (such as Thomas More) took these manuscriptEnglish bibles to represent an anonymous earlier orthodox

translation. Consequently manuscripts of the Wyclif Bible,

which when inscribed with a date always purport to precede

1409, the date of the ban, circulated freely and were widely

used by clergy and laity.

Page 5


6/17

4 Encoding Antipodes

Genesis 1-5

1 In the bigynnyng God made of nouyt heuene and

erthe.2 Forsothe the erthe was idel and voide, and derknessis

weren on the face of depthe; and the Spiryt of the Lordwas borun on the watris.

3 And God seide, Liyt be maad, and liyt was maad.4 And God seiy the liyt, that it was good, and he

departide the liyt fro derknessis; and he clepide the liyt,5 dai, and the derknessis, nyyt. And the euentid and

morwetid was maad, o daie.

Genesis1-5 demonstrates the strange wordings of the medieval

text:

In e bigynnyng applies the sacred Icelandic

character as th in the

heuene = sky

erthe = earth

seide = said

seiy = saw

liyt = light, in which the y is transformed to gh.

nyyt5 = night, in which the first character y is

transformed to i and the second y is transformed to

gh.

5: Equivalent to French la nuit

Page 6


7/17

euentid6 = evening

morwetid = morning

light and night

The language is archaic expressing a strange poetic character in

carefully selecting the words and characters for newly created

words. Genesis reveals special contrasts in the expressions for

created antipodes light and night, which have been chosen

purposely to contrast lightagainst night. In modern English the

contrast is highlighted by simply exchanging the l-characterin light against the negating character n in night.

Obviously nyyt has been derived from the French word La

nuit, in which the first character y replaces a u and the

second character y replaces a i. This is a rather strange way

of transforming words from French into a newly created

language. Why did the authors prefer to writing nyyt insteadof nuit.

The similar word liyt for light exchanges the first negating

character n in nyyt to produce the light liyt. An exacttransformation would have chosen lyyt for light to match

the wording for nyyt.

Obviously the y-character has been used to represent two

different, antipodal symbols u and i, which have been

identified as the female, respectively male elements7

in thecreation legend.

6: Eventide = the twi-light with equal amounts of liyt and nyyt between

day and night7:

See:The Hermetic Codex - including a History of PIE-Religion andThe

Sky-God Dyaeus

Page 7
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32981510/The-Hermetic-Codex-including-a-History-of-PIE-Religionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/32981510/The-Hermetic-Codex-including-a-History-of-PIE-Religionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeushttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeushttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeushttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeushttp://www.scribd.com/doc/32981510/The-Hermetic-Codex-including-a-History-of-PIE-Religionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeushttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15463331/The-SkyGod-Dyaeus


8/17

The bivalent symbolism in the y-character may also be found

in the personal pronoun of the first person singular, which in

modern English I differs form the archaic Y in Wyclif's

Bible.

Page 8


9/17

5 The Ego-pronoun

In Wyclif's Bible the personal pronoun of the first personsingular has been defined as an upper case character Y.

Hosea 11-98

9 Y schal not do the strong veniaunce of my wraththe. Yschal not turne, to leese Effraym; for Y am God, and

not man. Y am hooli in the myddis of thee, and Y schal

not entre in to a citee.

In Hosea 11-9 the personal pronoun of the first person singular

has been defined as Y instead of the modern I. The word

Y correlates to the Spanish word yo9.

Upper Case Characters

It has been suggested the English people capitalize I to

highlight the I-pronoun against a lower case i. This may be

a good argument for an i, but there is no good reason to

capitalize Y to highlight the Y-pronoun against a lower

case y. The Spanish word y, representing and has not

been written in capital letters as well.

Capitalizing Y may have been selected to symbolize divine

concept in the Y-character.

8: Book Osee in Wyclif's Bible9: to be translated as the pronoun I

Page 9


10/17

Androgynous symbols in characters

It must be noted the Y-character graphically consists of

character V, respectively U located on top of an I.

Combining a female U/V and a male I-character will

result in an androgynous UI- or VI-combination,

representing a divine symbol. Did the authors of Wyclif's Bible

in analogy to Occitan language encode the hieroglyphs I and U

in the Ego-Pronoun Y?

Occitan usually applies the Ego-pronoun ieu10

, respectively iualong with the Creator God Dieu, Diu. In these cases we will

note the remarkable inclusion of the Ego-pronoun ieu inside

the Creator God's nameDieu, respectively the inclusion of the

Ego-pronoun iu inside the Creator God's nameDiu.

Occitan is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, the

Occitan Valleys of Italy, Monaco, and in Val d'Aran in

Catalonia, Spain, the regions sometimes known informally asOccitania. It is also spoken in a linguistic enclave of Guardia

Piemontese11. The languages, as spoken in early medieval

times, might be considered variant forms of the same language.

The term Provencal is often used to refer to Occitan.

In Occitan symbolism for Y am God, and not man. Y am hooliin the myddis of thee would express:

For I am Diu, and notiu; the Holy One () in the midst ofiu;

10: One of the most marvelous applications of these words are to be found in

Frdric Mistral's Occitan epic Mirio (1859).11: Calabria, Italy

Page 10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mistralhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mistralhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir%C3%A8iohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mistralhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir%C3%A8io


11/17


12/17

This work describes 12 alchemists, each of them carrying their

typical symbols: Hermes, und Mary from Judea- Democrit

from Greece, Morienus from Rome, derAvicenna from Persia,

Albertus Magnus from Germany.

At the bottom line Arnoldus von Villanova from France,

Thomas of Aquin from Italy, Raymundus Lullus, from Spain ,

Roger Bacon, from England, Melchior Cibinensis from

Hungary and an anonymous Sarmate (from Poland or Russia).

The sixth book introduces Albertus Magnus13, who meets an

androgynous couple carrying a character Y. The symbolism of

this depiction however is unknown to me, but may be

interpreted as an explanation of the Y-character as an

androgynous symbol.

The book reveals the following introduction:

Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum, hoc est Hermaea seuMercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu,

sapientia et authoritate paribus celebrata, ad Pyrgopolynicen seu

adversarium illum tot annis jactabundum, virgini Chemiaeinjuriam argumentis tam vitiosis quam convitiis argutis inferentem,

confundendum et exarmandum, artifices vero optime de ea meritos

suo honori et famae restituendum. Frankfurt a. M: Lucas Jennis,

1617.

Albertus Magnus, O.P. (1193 November 15, 1280), also

known as Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a

Dominican friar and a bishop, who achieved fame for his

comprehensive knowledge of and advocacy for the peacefulcoexistence of science and religion.

13:1193/1206 1280, depicted at page 262 in Symbola aureae mensae

duodecim nationum

Page 12
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistoshttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirjam_(Prophetin)http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demokrithttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicennahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaldus_de_Villanovahttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_von_Aquinhttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymundus_Lullushttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Baconhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://books.google.com/books?id=87sQCxPqwrgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=87sQCxPqwrgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistoshttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirjam_(Prophetin)http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demokrithttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaldus_de_Villanovahttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_von_Aquinhttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymundus_Lullushttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Baconhttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicennahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnushttp://books.google.com/books?id=87sQCxPqwrgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=87sQCxPqwrgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=de#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnus


13/17

Contemporaries such as Roger Bacon applied the term

"Magnus" to Albertus during his own lifetime, referring to his

immense reputation as a scholar and philosopher.

Genesis 26-27

Sky and earth have been created out of nouyt, which is thesame wording to be applied for the creation of man:

26Make we man to oure ymage and liknesse, and be hesouereyn to the fischis of the see, and to the volatilis of

heuene, and to vnresonable beestis of erthe, and to echcreature, and to ech `crepynge beest, which is moued inerthe.

27And God made of nouyt a man to his ymage and

liknesse; God made of nouyt a man, to the ymage ofGod; God made of nouyt hem, male and female.

Genesis27 uses God made of nouyt a man instead of the

modern wording In Gods image he createdhim, directly tobe followed by God made of nouyt hem, male and female

applying a plural expression14 hem for the first man, being

male and female simultaneously. In a modern text we may

read:

Genesis 1-27God created man in his own image

His own image isDiu.

In Gods image he created him;

In Gods image (Diu)he creatediu;

14: The singular equivalent for hem is hym. See Exodus 6-22 Therfor

Noe dide alle thingis whiche God comaundide to hym.

Page 13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Baconhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon


14/17

male and female he created them.

male (i) and female (u) he creatediu.

Genesis 2828 And God blesside hem, and seide, Encreesse ye, andbe ye multiplied, and fille ye the erthe, and make ye it

suget, and be ye lordis to fischis of the see, and tovolatilis of heuene, and to alle lyuynge beestis that ben

moued on erthe.

The correct translation of this quotation of Genesis28 is God

blessed them, which implies to understand ye as a pronoun

of the second person plural. For a first man this can only be

understood if ye is an androgynous couple...

The modern translation for Genesis28 is:

1-28God blessed them. God said to them, Be fruitful,multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.

1-28God blessediu. God said to iu, Be fruitful, multiply, fillthe earth, and subdue it.

Genesis 31

31 And God seiy alle thingis whiche he made, and thoweren ful goode. And the euentid and morwetid was

maad, the sixte day.

Genesis 1-31God saw everything that he had made, and,

behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was

morning, the sixth day.

Page 14


15/17

6 Exodus 28-4

4 Forsothe these schulen be the clothis, whiche thei schulen make; `thei schulen make racional, and aclooth on the schuldris, a coote, and a streyt lynnun

clooth, a mytre, and a girdil; hooli cloothis to Aaron,thi brother, and to hise sones, that thei be set in

preesthod to me.5 And thei schulen take gold, and iacynt, andpurpur,

and ` reedselk twies died, and bijs;

6 forsothe thei schulen make the clooth on the schuldrisof gold, and of iacynt, andpurpur, and of `reed selktwies died, and of bijs foldid ayen, bi broyderi werk of

dyuerse colours.

The colours of Aaron's garments have been defined clearly as

hyacinth, purple and red, according to the new biblical

versions:

Exodus 28-4...and they shall make holy garments forAaron your brother, and his sons, that he mayminister to me in the priests office. 5They shalltake the gold, and the blue, and thepurple, and thescarlet, and the fine linen.

Page 15


16/17

7 YY-words in Wycliffe's Bible

In analogy to the word nyyt (night) several other YY-wordshave been identified in the book Genesis in Wycliffe's Bible.

These couples of Y-characters must be considered as important

elements, representing variants of religious power, e.g. in

give, mighty, knight:

nyyt = night

yyue = give yyuen = given15; foryyuenesse =

forgiveness ( foryyue = forgive) smyyt = smith16

nyy, nyye = near17

myyti = mighty18; Almyyti = Allmighty19; myyten20,

myyte = might21

leiyynge = laying22

knyytis = knights23

The YY-combinations replace the modern alternatives igh innight, mighty, knight, gi ingive, ear in near.

15: Genesis 24-4116: Genesis 4-2217: Genesis 12-1118: Genesis 6-419: Genesis 17-120: Genesis 19-1121: Genesis 26-1022: Genesis 21-623: Genesis 26-26

Page 16


17/17

8 Summary

In analogy to many other illuminated bibles the beginning ofthe Gospel of John from the 14th century copy of Wycliffe's

translation24applies initials in red and blue decorations, which

most probably symbolize the red (male) and blue (female)

elements of man and the purple colour symbolizing the divine

synthesis of the male and female elements.

The Wyclif Bible clearly defines an identical source nouyt25 for

the creation of the sky, earth and for man. God made ofnouyt hem, male and female defines the first man as a

plural individual, male andfemale character, which implies an

androgynous couple.

The Wyclif Bible identified the first man as a singularindividual creature, simultaneously male and female, exactly as

it had been described by Plato in Symposium. Describing these

concepts in plain English certainly must have triggered the

severest religious censorship laws of the medieval Church.

The Ego-pronoun (the personal pronoun of the first person

singular) has been defined as an upper case character Y26

instead of the modern I. In analogy to the Ego-pronoun iu

in Occitan language the Y-pronoun symbolized an androgynous

iu-synthesis in the divine concept. The Wyclif Bible documents

some of the most remarkable versions of the ancient Book

Genesis explaining liyt (light) and nyyt(night) as antipodes in adivine concept, in which the Y-character equally represented

the female U and the male I-elements.

24: Folio 2v of MS Hunter 191 (T.8.21)25:Nought (?)26: From Hosea 11-9: Yam hooli in the myddis of thee

Page 17

Documents

The Wycliffe Bible