text than an extended homiletical midrash. It gives important testimony to the crystallization in the earlier Middle Ages of Jewish “allegorical” interpretation of the Song.46 The Old Latin (L) and other “daughter” versions of G have little independent text-critical significance, though they are, of course, valuable as witnesses to the broader history of the Song’s transmission and interpretation.47 3. History of Interpretation Over the course of the centuries study of the Song of Songs has generated