"Et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntas" [sic!]

Question

I have a German Christmas song of the 16th century, which is bilingual, German–Latin. The lyrics go as follows (I translated the German parts into English):

O how beautiful the group of angels is singing, praising God for today and forever and sing:
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
They are rejoicing that Jesus Christ has become human in favour of us. That's why they are singing:
Et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntas
So let's be happy too and sing with the angels:
Gloria in excelsis Deo

Clearly, this is an adaptation or even translation of Luke 2:13:

et subito facta est cum angelo multitudo militiae caelestis laudantium Deum et dicentium gloria in altissimis Deo et in terra pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis

My problem in the Christmas carol is the apparently nominative case of "bona voluntas". To my understanding

Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis

can be translated as

And peace on earth by the humans which are of good will

where by the humans is the translation of the ablative "hominibus" and which are of good will corresponds to the genitive "bonae voluntatis"

But I cannot find a proper translation of

et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntas

Is there a meaningful translation, or is this just wrong or bad Latin in the source?

Answer 1

The Latin version with bonae voluntatis comes from the Vulgate. There are at least two versions of the original Greek in ancient manuscripts, and one reads "ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία" where both εἰρήνη - peace - and εὐδοκία - goodwill - are in the nominative. Other Greek manuscripts often used in more modern English translations have the genitive εὐδοκίας - in the New Revised Standard Version the main translation is "On earth peace among those whom he [God] favours" with "on earth peace, good will among people" given in a note as the translation of the "εὐδοκία" text of alternative ancient authorities. The King James version of the Bible follows the "εὐδοκία" text and has "and on earth peace, good will toward men". ("Hominibus" is dative and can be translated "to/for humanity". The Greek means "among humans.") So "bona voluntas" is a good Latin translation of one of the two main variants found in manuscripts of the Greek - perhaps with a comma before "hominibus". I would guess that the version with "et in terra pax hominibus bona voluntas" derives from a revision by renaissance scholars who consulted some original Greek manuscripts. The version with "bona voluntas" must have been in quite wide circulation - according to Albert Schweitzer it was used by Johann Sebastian Bach in a setting of additional texts associated with one version of his Magnificat.

Answer 2

Let us first start with Luke. In pax hominibus bonae voluntatis the word hominibus is not ablative but dative. The two forms look alike here, but context reveals the intended case. It means "to the people". Therefore I would offer this translation:

Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
And on Earth peace to people of good will

It seems that the song simply uses a messed-up version of this quote. I can see a way to read it meaningfully, but I wonder what (if anything) was intended. I might read as a double wish:

Et in terra pax, hominibus bona voluntas
And on Earth peace, to people good will

This wishes two things: peace for Earth and good will to people.

I am tempted to treat this as a mistake, but on the other hand bona voluntas is inflected correctly — both are in nominative, as opposed to both being in genitive in the original. Since there is a way to read it as a grammatical and meaningful (and fitting!) Latin sentence, I would do so instead of declaring it a mistake. After all, we are all wished to have a good will!

Answer 3

Is seems odd to me even to suggest that hominibus might be the ablative/instrumental case, The Gloria is hardly the greatest work of art from any point of view, but simple balance alone—gloria Deo in excelsis||pax hominibus in terra—would put God and men in the dative. Besides, pax/peace is a state, and pax hominibus(abl) would be meaningless.

The important point for me—and I must say it doesn’t keep me awake at night— is that the English (Book of Common Prayer) “…on earth peace, good will towards men” is a gross embellishment and extension of the wish intended in the Latin of the Vulgate, which would have peace only for men of good will and not for men in general—and this would seem to be a more likely wish. Only the most undiscriminating Christian, surely, would wish peace upon men of bad will; and almost certainly the English translators were taking the Christmas spirit a little beyond the reserve of the writers of the Vulgate.

Answer 4

Looking for a relevant rendering of this Latin phrase, starting with a significant "Et", I was wondering why no one hadn't come up with "Also" or "Too". A Latin sentence beginning with Et usually has this particular meaning. If peace is considered as a promised state in heaven, this phrase might as well be meant as a call for peace on earth. Furthermore, in this sense the first part, "Et in terra pax", could function as a theme, while the second part, "hominibus bona voluntas" could be perceived as a comment on the first part's theme. So metaphorically speaking, Good Will (in humans) could be similar to Peace (on earth).