Nestle 1904 GNT - About

This Text-Fabric dataset

This is the Text-Fabric version of the Nestle 1904 Greek New Testament (seventh edition: reprint 1913), containing the Greek text augmented with linguistic annotations. This Text-Fabric dataset was created by the ‘N1904-TF Conversion Project,’ a collaboration between the Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (ETCBC) at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the Center of Biblical Languages and Computing (CBLC) at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI, USA.

The Text-Fabric research ecosystem

Text-Fabric, as described by its developer Dirk Roorda, is a “data model, a file format, and a tool on the one hand, and a strategy, even an ethos on the other hand.”¹ The Text-Fabric framework is designed to facilitate the analysis and manipulation of large-scale textual data, particularly in the context of ancient languages and biblical texts. The engine of Text-Fabric is its powerful Python library, which provides a comprehensive set of tools for processing and querying structured text data efficiently. The software package is accessible at https://github.com/annotation/text-fabric.

A brief functional overview of Text-Fabric functions can be found here.

More detailed information regarding Text-Fabric can be found in it’s package description.

License

Citation

When citing this dataset, please include reference to the DOI (either the generic or release specific). For example:

Tony Jurg, Saulo de Oliveira Cantanhêde, & Oliver Glanz. (2024). CenterBLC/N1904: Nestle 1904 Text-Fabric data. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13117911.

Provenance

The Nestle text

This Text-Fabric dataset is based upon the Greek New Testament, edited by Eberhard Nestle, published in 1904 by the British and Foreign Bible Society. See here a scan of the orginal publication: Nestle, Eberhard. Η Καινή Διαθήκη Novum Testamentum Graece (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1904). The 1913 reprint is available here. Transcription by Diego Santos, morphology by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen, markup by Jonathan Robie.

It is worth noting that the current standard version used in academic settings is the Nestle-Aland edition 28. Despite this, the Nestle 1904 provided by this Text-Fabric implementation, is the closest version in terms of the ‘principal text’ available in the public domain which is suitable to perform syntactical analysis.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets

The Text-Fabric files were created based upon the LowFat trees XML files. The source data for the conversion are the XML node files representing the macula-greek version of the Nestle Aland 1904 Greek New Testment. The most recent source data for the “MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets is available at Clear-Bible Github. This source dataset includes data from:

Nestle1904 Greek New Testament, edited by Eberhard Nestle, published in 1904 by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Transcription by Diego Santos, morphology by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen, markup by Jonathan Robie.
Syntax trees developed by Clear Bible, Inc.
English glosses from the Berean Study Bible
Word sense data from the United Bible Societies MARBLE project, based on Louw & Nida’s semantic domains.
Semantic roles: Who does what to whom? (Agent, Verb, Patient …)
Participant referents: Who is “he,” “she,” or “it” in this sentence?

Footnotes

¹ Dirk Roorda. “Coding the Hebrew Bible” in Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 3: Issue 1, 30 DOI: 10.1163/24523666-01000011