Object Type

Codex

Support

Handmade cream-coloured paper

Medium

Ink: light brown, dark brown, black

Support Dimensions (mm)

175 × 140

Text-block Dimensions (mm)

155 × 120

Foliation

—

Folios

002+388+003

Layout

Written in one column with 21 to 22 lines per page

Catchwords

Catchwords on each folio verso

Watermarks

—

Binding

Rebound in 2015

State of Preservation

Very good, the text is clearly legible, the margins of folios 1–17 are damaged, which resulted in the loss of text, the item underwent a complex restoration treatment in 2015, see Pronobis-Gajdzis (2015).

Date of Copying

mid-19th century, folios 1r–2v
5480 A.M. / 1720 A.D., folios 3r–387v
turn of the 20th century, folio 388r–388v

Copyist

Jeshua Josef Mordkowicz, folios 1r–2v
Simcha ben Chananel, folios 3r–387v
Unknown (early 20th century), folio 388r–388v

Translator

Jeshua Josef Mordkowicz, folios 1r–2v
Simcha ben Chananel, folios 3r–387v
Unknown, folio 388r–388v

Place of Copying

Kukizów or Halych, folios 1r–2v
Kukizów, folios 3r–387v
Unknown, folio 388r-388v

Script

Hebrew

Script type: North Karaitic mashait script

Vocalization: Tiberian vocalisation

Diacritics: Dagesh, sin dot, shin dot, and mappiq not used. Raphe used for marking spirantization.

Characteristic features of the script: The letter aleph has the structure of K in the Roman alphabet. The middle part of lamed is usually missing, the letter has the shape of a straight vertical stroke. The right stroke of the mem turns leftward at the bottom; it is connected with the left stroke by a bridge which is mostly curved. The final mem is circular, but the stroke ends outside the letter with a downward movement or has a tail on the left. The final nun has the shape of a straight vertical line. No final pe form is used. The middle stroke of the letter shin is a small curve joined to the top of the left stroke and slanting upwards to the right. Double waw and double yodh are used. No ligatures are used. Although the manuscript was created in Northwest Karaim, the shape of the letters stands somewhat closer to those known from manuscripts produced in Halych and Lutsk. The manuscript, however, is unique palaeographically.

Text Language

South-Western Karaim , folios 1r-2v
North-Western Karaim , folios 3r-387v
Hebrew , colophon, incipits

Creation

The main text of the Torah was created by Simcha ben Chananel either in Kukizów
or in Halych in the beginning of the 18th century between 25 March and 31 May 1720, see the colophon on folios 342v – 343r. The text of the Haftarah must have been created not much later. In the colophons that close the translation of Exodus, Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy — see folios 157v (line 14), 207v (line 5), 278v (line 2), 342v (line 5), respectively — the copyist states that the text of the Pentateuch he copied is his own translation (peshat).

Ownership

Simcha ben Chananel (1720–1723)
Josef ben Jehuda (?–1768)
Zecharia ben Shalom (1768–1771?)
Mordechai ben Zecharia (?)
Shalom ben Zecharia (?)
Jeshua Josef Mordkowicz (?–1884?)
Aleksander Dubiński (?–2002)
Adam Józef Dubiński (2002–)

• Németh, Michał. 2015. An early North-Western Karaim Bible translation from 1720. Part 2. The Book of Ruth. Karaite Archives 3: 49–102.
• Németh, Michał. 2021. The Western Karaim Torah. A critical edition of a manuscript from 1720. Leiden and Boston: Brill (Languages of Asia series).
• Pronobis-Gajdzis, Małgorzata. 2015. Zachować dla przyszłości. Sprawozdanie z prac konserwatorsko-restauratorskich prowadzonych przy drukach i rękopisach karaimskich w roku 2015 [To Preserve for the Future. Report on the Conservation-Restoration Treatment of Karaim Prints and Manuscripts in 2015]. Almanach Karaimski 4: 283–287.

Manuscript description by Michał Németh
Digital edition by Michał Németh

Citation

Németh, Michał 2020. ‘A digital edition of the Karaim biblical manuscript ADub.III.73’, in László Károly and Michał Németh (eds) A database of Middle Turkic documents. Uppsala: Department of linguistics and philology. Accessed 7 Jan 2026. https://middleturkic.lingfil.uu.se/manuscripts/middle-karaim/ADub.III.73

Licensing

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

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