Cheers.Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:21 pm ... we do not see any nomina sacra in any manuscripts until verifiably "Christian" manuscripts start to appear, so this would be a century or more after the fall of Jerusalem in 70. The practice may have existed earlier, but we do not have the manuscripts, so we cannot say for certain.
When you said earlier, "they are practically ubiquitous throughout the Greek manuscripts of sacred or semi-sacred texts", you meant Greek Christian manuscripts?
So we see them used for Ἰησοῦς (for the Hebrew Yeshua)?Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:21 pm Second, they [the nomina sacra] exist in quotations of or allusions to the Hebrew scriptures where we can see exactly which word is being translated and simultaneously abbreviated, because the Hebrew does not use them and thus writes out each word in full ... Fifth, context can often tell us which word is intended.
You wrote in a previous post
I presume you meant for Ἰησοῦς in a Christian manuscript quoting either a Hebrew passage from a Hebrew text, or for a Christian text.Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 8:32 am Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς = nomen sacrum used [for] Joshua/Jesus/Yehoshua/Yeshua [/Joshua/Jesus]
I think the answer will be Yes, given
Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:57 pm 4 The earliest of the Chester Beatty papyri, Chester Beatty Papyrus VI, which dates to early century II, contains parts both of Numbers and of Deuteronomy:
Which would in reality be, Ἰη [IH], or Ἰς [IC/IS], or the like?Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:21 pm Sixth, there were two main ways of abbreviating the words: suspension (whereby Jesus would become Je) and contraction (whereby Jesus would become Js)
I think I now know the answer (having come back to that question of mine), eg. (and the Chester Beatty Papyrus VI above) -
Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 8:32 amPapyrus Oxyrhynchus 657 (Ƿ13), column 3, lines 73-74a (= Hebrews 4.8): 73-74a [Εἰ γὰρ α]ὐτοὺς Ἰ(ησοῦ)ς κατέπαυσεν, οὐκ ἂν π[ερὶ ἄλλης ἐλά]λι μετὰ ταῦτα ἡμέρας.
Schøyen 2648, column 2, lines 11b-14 (= Joshua 10.29): 11b-14 Καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Ἰη(σοῦ)ς [יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Masoretic] κα[ὶ πᾶς Ισ]ραηλ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐκ [Λεβ]νὰ εἰς Λαχείς, καὶ περιεκάθισεν αὐτὴν. [Link.]
. . . . .
Edgar Battad Ebojo, A Scribe and His Manuscript: An Investigation into the Scribal Habits of Papyrus 46, pages 338-339 (Contraction Profile table reformatted into lines):
ΙΗΣΟΥΣ
CONTRACTION PROFILE:
SACRAL, Nomina Sacra = 107, Plene = 0.
NON-SACRAL, Nomina Sacra = 2, Plene = 0.
Like κυριος, abbreviation for Ιησους is consistently applied, using the 3-letter format; the 2-letter suspension (ι̅η̅), used in a few contemporary manuscripts, was never employed in Ƿ46. Except in two instances,* all have Jesus Christ as the referent. Paap noted that ι̅η̅ς̅ (χ̅ρ̅ς̅) in Heb 13.21 is dative in function despite its nominative form. This is only partly true; it is more likely that in context it has a genitival function, hence, consequently stimulating scribal correction toward the genitive, i.e., ι̅η̅υ̅ χ̅ρ̅υ̅. / Viewed against the backdrop of other surviving papyri witnessing to the text of Pauline Epistles and Hebrews, Ƿ46 shares only with two other papyri (Ƿ30 and Ƿ65 [both from the third century]) in equally exhibiting preference for the 3-letter compendium. In contrast, the majority of them prefer the shorter form, although they mostly represent a production timeframe after the 3rd century.