Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.21.142

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Some historians count seventy-five nations from Moses' seventy-five descendants of Jacob; Scripture counts seventy-two languages; the Greeks have five dialects.

Greek text · Stählin 2:88

Ἔφορος δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν καὶ ἔθνη καὶ γλώσσας πέντε καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα λέγουσιν εἶναι, ἐπακούσαντες τῆς φωνῆς Μωυσέως λεγούσης· ἦσαν δὲ πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἐξ Ἰακὼβ πέντε καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα αἱ εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατελθοῦσαι. φαίνονται δὲ εἶναι καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον αἱ γενικαὶ διάλεκτοι δύο καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα ὡς αἱ ἡμέτεραι παραδιδόασι γραφαί, αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι αἱ πολλαὶ ἐπὶ κοινωνίᾳ διαλέκτων δύο ἢ τριῶν ἢ καὶ πλειόνων γίνονται. διάλεκτος δέ ἐστι λέξις ἴδιον χαρακτῆρα τόπου ἐμφαίνουσα, ἢ λέξις ἴδιον ἢ κοινὸν ἔθνους ἐπιφαίνουσα χαρακτῆρα. φασὶ δὲ οἱ Ἕλληνες διαλέκτους εἶναι τὰς παρὰ σφίσι ε΄, Ἀτθίδα, Ἰάδα, Δωρίδα, Αἰολίδα καὶ πέμπτην τὴν κοινήν, ἀπεριλήπτους δὲ οὔσας τὰς βαρβάρων φωνὰς μηδὲ διαλέκτους, ἀλλὰ γλώσσας λέγεσθαι.

English · Claude translation

Ephorus and many other historians say that there are seventy-five nations and languages, having heard the words of Moses, which say, “All the souls from Jacob who went down into Egypt were seventy-five.” But according to the true account, the generic languages appear to be seventy-two, as our Scriptures hand down; and the many others arise from the combination of two or three or more languages. A dialect is a form of speech showing the peculiar character of a place, or a form of speech showing the peculiar or common character of a nation. The Greeks say that there are five dialects among them, Attic, Ionic, Doric, Aeolic, and fifth the Common; and that the languages of the barbarians, being innumerable, are not called dialects but tongues.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:88 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Gen 46:27 (LXX; Acts 7:14). The seventy-two nations are those of Gen 10 in the Greek tradition.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.142 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/142/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.142 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/142/).

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