Anton Thor Helle toimetajakäekiri: kuidas Thor Helle vana testamendi verbimorfoloogiat redigeeris; pp. 91-108

The handwriting of the editor: how did Anton Thor Helle edit the verb morphology of the Old Testament This article observes the editing process of the first Estonian Bible. The manuscript of the Old Testament was written by several people, but the corrections were made mainly by Anton Thor Helle. In this article, excerpts from 14 handwritings occurring in the canonical books of the Old Testament are observed. The focus is on the places where the editor altered the verb morphology. It appears that A. Thor Helle corrected the morphology of the predicates and infinitival adverbials often, in about a third of the occurrences. Most of those corrections were minor changes in the wording or different interpretations of the source text, which did not reflect a differing view of the grammatical system. Anton Thor Helle made corrections based on principles frequently only in the texts written by J. N. Wilcken, H. C. Wrede and the unidentified writer of the Book of Ruth. In general, the translators seem to have worked carefully and harmoniously, so that principial corrections were rarely necessary. For example, there was almost no variation in the usage of da- and ma-infinitive in constructions. The few cases that differed from the generally established pattern were edited by Thor Helle. The consensus was not equally strong in terms of the saama-future, which was used by seven of the fourteen writers and always removed by the editor. His favourite construction was ’võtma + da-infinitive’, which he added in many places.