Lost Hebrew or Aramaic 2 Baruch source behind Syriac witness

This article describes an entity that is not directly attested as a surviving Hebrew or Aramaic 2 Baruch manuscript; it is inferred from the reported original-language and translation history.

Epistemic status

Draft article. The complete Syriac witness is attested; the Hebrew or Aramaic original-language text is absent.

Summary

The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha says 2 Baruch was most likely composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, that this original-language text does not survive, and that the only complete text is a Syriac manuscript translated from Greek. Inferpedia treats the lost Semitic layer behind that witness as a draft inferred-source entity.

What is being inferred

The inferred entity is the lost Hebrew or Aramaic 2 Baruch source behind Greek and Syriac transmission.

What is attested

OCP attests probable Hebrew or Aramaic composition, non-survival of the original-language text, a complete Syriac manuscript, Greek translation mediation, and only small surviving Greek sections.

Why infer this entity

A complete Syriac text translated from Greek, when the composition is reported as Hebrew or Aramaic and the original-language text is lost, implies a missing Semitic source layer.

Evidence ledger

• E1, OCP: supporting trace for Hebrew or Aramaic composition.
• E2, OCP: supporting trace for non-survival of the original-language text.
• E3, OCP: supporting trace for the complete Syriac witness.
• E4, OCP: supporting trace for Greek mediation.
• E5, OCP: complicating trace for small surviving Greek sections.

Counterarguments

The original language is not fixed between Hebrew and Aramaic. The complete witness is Syriac, and the Greek precursor survives only in small sections.

Confidence scores

Direct attestation: 54. Existence warrant: 82. Specificity: 72. Reconstruction dependence: 90. Counterevidence: 30.

What would change the score

A critical retroversion study across Syriac, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and lectionary evidence would change the score.