ARCANA COELESTIA INDEX 2
Editor/Translator's Preface
This index was compiled but not published by Swedenborg himself. It is an English translation based on the previous translation by the Rev. James Hyde in 1909, and on the Latin text transcribed and edited by John Elliot in 2004, both of which were sponsored by the Swedenborg Society of London.
Edited, Revised and Published by Heavenly Doctrine Publishing Foundation
Kempton, PA - November 2021
© Heavenly Doctrine Publishing Foundation 2021
The passages in this work are from the second index that Swedenborg made, or started, for the Arcana Colestia. It covers just the first two (of eight) Latin volumes, but the following preface addresses both indexes.
[%2] Preface for the electronic text of the English translation of the Indexes to the Arcana Coelestia written by Swedenborg and based on Hyde's translation.
Recently the Heavenly Doctrine Publishing Foundation (HDPF) sponsored the scanning of the entire collection of the works of Swedenborg at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. This collection includes most of the first editions and manuscripts of the theological, philosophical and scientific works written by Swedenborg. Among the manuscripts are many volumes or codices of indexes to the Sacred Scripture and to some of the theological works. They include two indexes to The Arcana Coelestia. The First Index is a draft of an index to all of The Arcana Coelestia, the Second Index is a fair copy of the first index, but only for the Latin volumes 1 and 2 of the 8 volumes published. This Second Index is not a direct copy of the First, but the entries are often edited and rearranged or combined. The fair copy of the index for the first volume was clearly not made at the same time as the fair copy of the index for the second volume. For more information about the manuscripts and these indexes see the introduction written by John Elliot, found in the preface to the electronic edition of the second Latin edition of The Arcana Coelestia Indexes.
As the HDPF is desirous of making the scans of the Swedenborg collection available in the most accessible and usable form, we have undertaken to link these scans to the Latin electronic texts. This is done in such a way that the scans of the original manuscripts can be displayed together with the Latin e-texts of the same page. For many students of the Heavenly Doctrine, this study is greatly enhanced by having an English translation which matches the Latin text of these Indexes subject by subject. But it turned out that there were no such English translations available that followed the original text of the Latin. The Latin text was accurately transcribed and edited by John Elliot in 2004 for the Swedenborg Society, made from the phototypes made by Alfred Stroh in 1904 from the actual manuscripts.
The HDPF therefore decided to rework the translation by the Rev. James Hyde, which in general was faithful, accurate and clear. We are indebted to the Stairs Project for sharing their scan of Hyde's translation with the HDPF. But Hyde's translation combined the two indexes into one, reordered the subjects into subheadings in many cases, and included an index composed by Dr. Beyer, and supplementary entries made by Dr. Jo. Fr. Im. Tafel, which were added to fill in for subjects which were on lost pages of the original manuscripts. Such an index might well serve usefully for studying The Arcana Coelestia, but it did not serve the HDPF as a parallel translation to the Latin text, parallel to the original manuscripts. After several years of work of revision, including work done by the Rev. Derrick Lumsden, the HDPF has rearranged and edited the English translation of James Hyde into a text which closely parallels Elliott's Second Latin Edition of Swedenborg's two Indexes to the Arcana Coelestia.
[%3] We have formatted these indexes to match as much as possible the format of the electronic text we made of the Second Edition of the Latin Indexes to The Arcana Coelestia. The changes we made to Hyde's translation are the following:
The Latin word was added in parentheses after each English translation, and the "To" was removed after the verbs. Where Hyde had:
Laugh, To, Laughter (ridere, risus),
we simplified and clarified this to:
Laugh (Ridere), Laughter (Risus).
The # sign followed by a number has been added in front of words being cross referenced by the word vide. This allows the program to display that word when it is double clicked, and also makes it easier for those using the a text file to locate that word in the book; e.g.,
3. Abihu, Vide #982 Nadab.
Each entry followed by references to the Arcana Coelestia, or a reference to another subject in the index, was put on a separate line, rather than listed together in one paragraph. In doing this, we restored the original order of the entries. So instead of:
14. Heap (Acervus). In ancient times they had heaps; and afterwards altars in their place, 4192. Heap d. good, 4192. A heap d. truth and good received, 9145. Standing grain d. truth and good in conception, 9146.
We have:
14. Heap (Acervus). Heap d. good, 4192.
In ancient times they had heaps; and afterwards altars in their place, 4192.
A heap d. truth and good received, 9145.
Standing grain d. truth and good in conception, 9146.
We also added subsection markers, such as [%2] or [%3]. They were added to help in finding words in subjects with many entries, such as Dominus and Verbum. They were also used to divide the text at, or close to, where the entries for a specific subject continues from one page to the another. This allows for scrolling the Latin text alongside the manuscript pages; e.g.
All consanguinity in heaven is from good, and proceeds therefrom, 3815.
[%2] Consanguinities and affinities in the other life take place according to good, 4121.
Here in the manuscript the subject is continued on the facing page. The % sign was added to indicate that the subsection only contains a portion of the entries for a specific subject in the index.
[%4] In using the translation of the Rev. James Hyde we inherited some nuances and abbreviations which need to be understood when using this translation of the Indexes to the Arcana Coelestia. He used d. for denote, s. for signify, r. for represent, and c. for correspond. Whenever the words signify, represent or correspond were spelled out in the original, we have tried to change this to full spelling. But where d., for denote, actually represents the verb to be, we have left the d. abbreviation; e.g.,
"Field d. the Church, 3766." stands for "Quod ager sit Ecclesia 3766." And wherever s. is used fill the blank where there is no Latin word at all we have left the s. abbreviation; e.g., "What Gaza s., 1210." stands for "Quid Assa 1210." At times when Hyde inserted another word as well both the word the s. are enclosed in square brackets; e.g., "151. Bared (Bared). What [Bared s.], 1958." stands for "Bared. Quid 1958." [%5] Since Hyde's translation was not based on the transcription by the Re John Elliott in 2004, but rather on the transcription by Dr. R. L. Tafel in 1890, there are many places where not only a single entry was left out needed be translated, but also whole sections. Along with this came a difference of opinion as what references insert if the number in the manuscript did not seem contain what was referred to. Elliott proved more cautious on this than Hyde when they disagreed often just a # sign was inserted in this text. When there was time, the references themselves were looked at again, as both Elliott Hyde had done this previously if there was a doubt, Hyde's choice was put in in square brackets while what is in the manuscript is put in parentheses. An example of this is the following entry for the subject Celestial: What the celestial-spiritual is, [2184:4,] (2189), where Hyde substitutes in 2184:4, but Elliott lets 2189 stand as it is. If both Elliot and Hyde agree, the number is written without square brackets or parentheses, even though a different number may actually be written in the manuscript. If there is doubt the critical text of the Latin Second Edition can easily be consulted, as the English translation has been set up to work in parallel with the original Latin text.
[%6] As was mentioned earlier, Hyde, and others before him, in translating the Indexes to The Arcana Coelestia, chose to combine them into one index, and this so they could be used as an index for studying The Arcana Coelestia itself. The purpose of this revision and translation is to set forth in English what Swedenborg wrote in Latin, in the order that he wrote it, for the sake of studying what is written as a work of the Heavenly Doctrine itself. So we have made an effort to set forth each index as a work in itself. However, there are places where what is said in one index helps the meaning of what is said in the other, and so at times words from one index are inserted into the other, but these words are set off by a leading asterisk in the square brackets that surround the words inserted. For example, under the word for Language or Tongue we find the following entry:
Opinion [*of spirits concerning truths] flows into the tongue, 1159.
Such insertions were especially needed when a section of one index is lost, and a section from the other index can provide some information on the subject. As an example of where a subject is taken from one index to fill in for pages that were lost in the other, we have this subject added from the Second Index into the First Index, with a note added:
174. [*Butter (Butyrum). Butter d. the celestial, 2184;] {*Note: This entry is taken from the Second Index. It is included as it most likely was taken from this First Index. The page on which Butyrum would have appeared is missing from the ms.}
[%7] Again, the Heavenly Doctrine Publishing Foundation would like express their gratitude the Swedenborg Society for providing both Hyde's translation of the combined Indexes - the PDF of the 2nd Edition of the Indexes - from which we made an electronic version for incorporating into the Kempton Project software. It is hoped that this will increase the use of this invaluable work in the study of the Heavenly Doctrine, considering that such study has become more more dependent on computer applications. We also want thank the Rev. John Elliott for his incredible work transcribing these two Indexes from the manuscripts. If you would like a copy of this file, or would like share it with others, please contact the Heavenly Doctrine Publishing Foundation.
Andrew J. Heilman, secretary of the HDPF, Kempton, Pennsylvania -- November, 2021. andyhdpf@kncs.org www.heavenlydoctrinepublishing.org
