The correct English translation for 'ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ⲕⲱϩ'

[EddieC]

The links below display, in an easy to read format, the entries in Crum's 'A Coptic Dictionary' for and related to:

(1) 'ⲱⲛⲉ':  https://remnqymi.com/crum/?query=%E2%B2%B0%E2%B2%9A%E2%B2%88#gsc.tab=0
and
(2) 'ⲕⲱϩ': https://remnqymi.com/crum/?query=%E2%B2%94%E2%B2%B0%CF%A8#gsc.tab=0

I am wondering:

[1] Whether 'ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ⲕⲱϩ' in the phrase:
ⲙⲁⲧⲥⲉⲃⲟⲉⲓ ⲉⲡⲱⲛⲉ ⲡⲁⲉⲓ ⲛ̄ⲧⲁⲩⲥⲧⲟϥ⳿ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ⳿ ⲛ̄ϭⲓ ⲛⲉⲧ⳿ⲕⲱⲧ⳿ ⲛ̄ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ⲕⲱϩ

would be more correctly translated as 'movable', 'changeable', 'alterable'
and 'ⲕⲱϩ' as 'piece
to mean '(a) re-purposable piece'
 
rather than 'stone' - which is 'ⲱⲛⲉ', and 'ⲕⲱϩ' as 'corner'
to mean '(the) corner stone'?


[2] Whether the article inserted in the English translation, i.e. 'a' and 'the' in the twp separate translations above, is a valid insertion given that there is no article in the original Coptic text?

I am trying to figure out the correct translation, which would also make sense to builders.

[EddieC]

If we take (the meaning provided in links above)
'ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ' to mean 'change'
'ⲕⲱϩ' to mean 'zealous'   
'ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ⲕⲱϩ' to mean 'change zealous' i.e. 'zealous change' or perhaps 'zealous for change'

Then, the full phrase translates to:

ⲙⲁ ⲧⲥⲉⲃⲟ ⲉⲓ ⲉ ⲡⲱⲛⲉ
Give! Show I the stone

ⲡⲁⲉⲓ ⲛ̄ⲧⲁ ⲩ ⲥⲧⲟϥ⳿ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ⳿
 - the one have they rejected

ⲛ̄ϭⲓ ⲛⲉⲧ⳿ⲕⲱⲧ⳿
viz. they who build:

ⲛ̄ⲧⲟϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄ⲕⲱϩ
He is zealous change.
Or:
He is zealous for change.


Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks in advance!

[mlinssen]

That is fantastic Eddie!

I have just translated it with stone, but ⲱⲱⲛⲉ isn't even attested in Crum for stone - wow.
Yes, your alternative is absolutely valid, but the translation is different

ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲛ̄.ⲕⲱϩ = removal/change/death of.envy

ⲕⲱϩ = envy, as noun as well verb, and I have hinted at such in the Commentary on Logion 13

But your suggestion is fitting the typical ambiguity of Thomas, although this is one of the few that can't even be translated the usual way

Excellent! Obviously, when we follow up, the stone rejected by they who ⲕⲱⲧ, which comes from Hieroglyph for 'to form; to fashion; to build', it implies that those embrace envy

I realise the irony in you using my interlinear and me answering your question out here, but it's a small world

I certainly will modify my translation at this point!

[mlinssen]

https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/59960 is the Hieroglyph, with translation 'to turn upside down'

https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/d1981 is the Demotic, where 'to turn over' obviously is a suave interpretation of that. I prefer to stick as close as possible to the original words, which means that for nouns I choose the translation that goes with the verb, which in Coptic - and thus in English - frequently are identical

Five times does the verb ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ exist in Thomas, in Logion 35, 48 and 106. Never as noun, although 66 will have it:

66. IS said: go on, show me the stone, this one they have rejected, viz. they who build: he is reversal of envy

I'll include credits to Eddie C in the footnote to 66

Alternatively, ⲡⲉ could be read as definite article, such as we also find ⲡⲉ in Thomas 6, 9, 57, 60, 65 and 76.
And then it would read:

66. IS said: go on, show me the stone, this one they have rejected, viz. they who build: he the reversal of envy

The overwhelming preference for ⲡ- in Thomas is selective, and e.g. Philip has ⲡⲉ by default. But in Coptic, ⲡⲉ is the so-called nexus pronoun / copula, see e.g. Layton $279

(Bentley Layton, A COPTIC GRAMMAR With Chrestomathy and Glossary, Sahidic Dialect, 2000, Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden)

"Opposite" is what I get from this word. Inversion, reversal, a genuine turning upside down as in the house of Thomas 35: a complete turning around of an imaginary chess table, switching sides, swapping the pieces.
Although I am now inclined to take the verb in 35 intransitively, and will translate ⲧⲟⲧⲉ ϥ ⲛⲁ ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲙ̅ ⲡⲉϥ ⲏⲉⲓ with "Then he will move out of his house" instead of the current "Then he will turn outward [dop] his house".

Thanks again Eddie, I will also put this on my list of unattested - apparently it slipped through.
I certainly hope you continue playing around with Thomas!!!

[mlinssen]

Well, final words on this.
ⲱⲱⲛⲉ is attested, once AFAIK.
Westendorf 292 points to Bodmer VI for that (https://www.copticsite.com/dictionaries/Koptische%20handwortenbuch.pdf)

Brent Nongbri (https://brentnongbri.com/2017/09/24/the-bodmer-papyri-an-inventory-of-p-bodmer-items/) notes that it is present in Bodmer VI that is written in "an extremely rare  (so-called proto-Theban) dialect of Coptic"

The document can be found https://bodmerlab.unige.ch/fr/constellations/papyri/barcode/1072205347

I'm puzzled about the attestation in my paper; it is not in there, although I have it marked as Marginally attested with a reference to (W 292:Bod VI) in my translation source - I must have added that at a later point

And a last word on the alternative construction: it could read "noun adjective" or "noun [of] noun", e.g. either "envious reversal" or "reversal of envy".
I will have to think long and hard on this new word, as it changes everything. Not only is there this noun ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ, there also is the verb ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ, as well as the verb ⲡⲱⲱⲛⲉ in combination with the adjective ⲉⲃⲟⲗ. All this needs to be taken into account, as these evidently are very closely interlinked in Coptic, and thence it must remain that way in any translation

But yes, while obviously "corner stone" is the superficial translation, Thomas meant this alternative to be found.
Congratulations Eddie C, you likely are the very first person to have found this ever since 1945, and perhaps even the first one ever. Many thanks again for this "upsetting" of my translation ;-)