Nomen sacrum
Nomina sacra means "Sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture. The Bruce Metzger's book Manuscripts of the Greek Bible lists 15 such expressions from Greek papyri: the Greek counterparts of God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Son, Spirit, David, cross, Mary, Father, Israel, Savior, Man Jerusalem, and Heaven. The contractions were written with overlines.
There has been a dispute about the nature of nomina sacra, whether they represent a mere shorthand or these overlined words indeed bear a sacred meaning.[1]
Starting in the third century the nomina sacra were sometimes shortened by contraction in Christian inscriptions, resulting in sequences of Greek letters such as IH (iota-eta), IC (iota-sigma), or IHC (iota-eta-sigma) for Jesus (Greek Iēsous), and XC (chi-sigma), XP (chi-ro) and XPC (chi-rho-sigma) for Christ (Greek Christos). Here "C" represents the medieval "lunate" form of Greek sigma; sigma could also be transcribed into the Latin alphabet by sound, giving IHS and XPS. See Christology#Abbreviations for more.
This tradition is also transferred into Cyrillic manuscripts. See titlo.
List of Greek Nomina Sacra
| English Meaning | Greek Word | Nominative (Subject) | Genitive (Possessive) |
| God | Θεος | ΘΣ | ΘΥ |
| Lord | Κυριος | ΚΣ | ΚΝ |
| Jesus | Ιησους | ΙΣ | ΙΥ |
| Christ | Χριστος | ΧΣ | ΧΥ |
| Son | Υιος | ΥΣ | ΥΥ |
| Spirit | Πνευμα | ΠΝΑ | ΠΝΣ |
| David | Δαυειδ | ΔΑΔ | |
| Cross/Stake | Σταυρος | ΣΤΣ | ΣΤΥ |
| Mother | Μητηρ | ΜΗΡ | ΜΗΣ |
| Father | Πατηρ | ΠΗΡ | ΠΡΣ |
| Israel | Ισραηλ | ΙΗΛ | |
| Saviour | Σωτηρ | ΣΗΡ | ΣΡΣ |
| Man | Ανθρωπος | ΑΝΟΣ | ΑΝΟΥ |
| Jerusalem | Ιερουσαλημ | ΙΛΗΜ | |
| Heaven | Ουρανος | ΟΥΝΟΣ | ΟΥΝΟΥ |
List of New Testament Greek Manuscripts Containing Nomina Sacra
| Greek Manuscript | Date of Manuscript | Nomina Sacra Used |
| P1 (P. Oxy. 2) | 250 CE | ΙΥ ΙΣ ΧΥ ΥΥ ΚΥ ΠΝΣ |
| P4 (Suppl. Gr. 1120 | 66 CE - 175 CE | ΘΣ ΘΥ ΚΥ ΚΣ ΠΝΙ ΠΝΟΣ ΠΝΑ ΧΣ ΙΥ ΙΣ |
| P5 (P. Oxy. 208 + 1781) | 200 CE | ΙΗΝ ΙΗΣ ΠΡ ΠΡΑ ΠΡΣ ΘΥ |
| P9 (P. Oxy. 402) | 200 CE - 300 CE | ΘΣ ΧΘΣ |
| P12 (P. Amherst. 3b) | 250 CE - 300 CE | ΘΣ |
| P13 (P. Oxy. 657 + PSI 1292) | 225 CE - 250 CE | ΘΣ ΘΝ ΘΥ ΘΩ ΙΣ ΙΝ ΙΥ ΚΣ ΚΥ |
| P15 (P. Oxy. 1008) | 250 CE - 300 CE | ΚΩ ΚΥ ΧΥ ΑΝΩΝ ΑΝΩ ΠΝΑ ΘΝ ΚΜΟΥ |
| P16 (P. Oxy. 1009) | 250 CE - 300 CE | ΘΥ ΙΥ ΧΩ |
| P17 (P. Oxy. 1078) | 250 CE | Θ |
| P18 (P. Oxy. 1079) | 250 CE - 300 CE | ΙΗ ΧΡ ΘΩ |
| P20 (P. Oxy. 1171) | 250 CE | ΠΝΣ ΚΝ ΘΥ |
| P22 (P. Oxy. 1228) | 250 CE | ΠΣ ΠΝΑ ΠΡΣ ΠΡ ΙΗ ΑΝΟΣ |
| P24 (P. Oxy. 1230) | 275 CE - 300 CE | ΠΝΑ ΘΥ |
| P27 (P. Oxy. 1395) | 250 CE | ΘΥ ΚΩ |
| P28 (P. Oxy. 1596) | 275 CE - 300 CE | ΙΣ ΙΝ |
| P29 (P. Oxy. 1597) | 200 CE - 225 CE | ΘΣ ΘΝ |
| P30 (P. Oxy. 1598) | 200 CE | ΚΥ ΚΝ ΘΩ ΙΗ |
| P32 (P. Rylands 5) | 150 CE - 200 CE | ΘΥ |
| P35 (PSI 1) | 200 CE - 300 CE | ΚΣ ΚΥ |
| P37 (P. Mich. Inv. 1570) | 250 CE | ΚΕ ΙΗΣ ΠΝΑ ΙΗΣΥ |
| P38 (P. Mich. Inv. 1571) | 175 CE - 225 CE | ΧΡΝ ΠΝΑ ΚΥ ΙΗΝ ΙΗΥ ΠΝΤΑ |
| P39 (P. Oxy. 1780) | 200 CE - 250 CE | ΠΗΡ ΠΡΑ ΙΗΣ |
| P40 (P.Heldelberg G. 645) | 200 CE - 300 CE | ΘΣ ΘΥ ΘΝ ΙΥ ΧΩ ΧΥ |
| P45 (P. Chester Beatty 1) | 200 CE | ΚΕ ΚΣ ΚΝ ΚΥ ΣΡΝΑΙ ΙΗ ΙΥ ΙΗΣ ΠΡ ΠΡΣ ΠΡΑ ΠΡΙ ΘΥ ΘΝ ΘΩ ΘΣ ΠΝΙ ΠΝΣ ΠΝΑ ΥΝ ΥΕ ΥΣ ΥΩ ΣΡΝ ΧΡ |
| P46 (P. Chester Beatty II + P. Mich. Inv. 6238) |
80 CE - 150 CE | ΚΕ ΚΝ ΚΥ ΚΩ ΚΣ ΧΡΩ ΧΡΥ ΧΡΝ ΧΝ ΧΣ ΧΩ ΧΥ ΧΡΣ ΙΗΥ ΙΗΝ ΙΗΣ ΘΩ ΘΥ ΘΝ ΘΣ ΠΝΑ ΠΝΙ ΠΝΣ ΥΙΥ ΥΙΝ ΥΙΣ ΥΝ ΣΤΡΕΣ ΣΤΡΝ ΣΤΡΩ ΣΤΡΟΣ ΣΤΡΟΥ ΕΣΤΡΟΝ ΕΣΤΡΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΝ ΣΤΟΥ ΑΙΜΑ ΑΝΟΥ ΑΝΟΝ ΑΝΟΣ ΑΝΩΝ ΑΝΟΙΣ ΠΡΙ ΠΗΡ ΠΡΑ ΠΡΣ ΙΥ |
| P47 (P.Cheaster Beatty III) | 250 CE - 300 CE | ΘΥ ΘΣ ΘΝ ΘΩ ΑΘΝ ΚΣ ΚΕ ΚΥ ΕΣΤΡΩ ΠΝΑ ΧΥ ΠΡΣ |
| P48 (PSI 1165) | 200 CE - 300 CE | ΥΣ |
| P49 (P.Yale 415 + 531) | 250 CE | ΚΩ ΘΥ ΘΣ ΙΥ ΠΝ ΧΣ ΧΥ ΧΩ |
| P50 (P. Yal 1543) | 275 CE - 300 CE | ΙΛΗΜ ΠΝΑ ΑΝΟΣ ΘΣ ΘΥ |
| P53 (P. Mich. inv. 6652 | 260 CE | ΠΡΣ ΙΗΣ ΠΕΡ ΚΝ |
| P64 | 66 CE - 175 CE | ΙΣ |
| P65 (PSI XIV 1373) | 250 CE | ΧΥ ΘΣ |
| P66 (P. Bodmer II + Inv. Nr. 4274/4298 |
90 CE - 130 CE | |
| P69 | ||
| P70 | ||
| P72 | ||
| P75 | ||
| P77 | ||
| P78 | ||
| P80 | ||
| P86 | ||
| P87 | ||
| P90 | ||
| P91 | ||
| P92 | ||
| P95 | ||
| P98 | ||
| P100 | ||
| P101 | ||
| P102 | ||
| P103 | ||
| P104 | ||
| P106 | ||
| P107 | ||
| P108 | ||
| P109 | ||
| P110 | ||
| P111 | ||
| P113 | ||
| P114 | ||
| P115 | ||
| P. Antinoopolis 2.54 | ||
| 0162 | ||
| 0171 | ||
| 0189 | ||
| 0220 |
References
- Bruce Metzger. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible (1981)
- Philip Comfort and David Barett. Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek manuscripts (1999)
