Summary: Vetus Latina (Old Latin) is the collective term for all Latin translations of Biblical texts made before the Vulgate of St. Jerome in the fifth century; it is often translated as 'Old Latin Bible'.
Old Latin: The Old and New Testaments were written in Hebrew/Aramic and Greek respectively and before the work of St. Jerome in the fifth century there was no single, authorised Latin translation. The first Latin versions appeared in the 2nd half of the 2nd century CE in North Africa and Gaul. By the fourth century many different translations had appeared for all the biblical texts; these varied, hugely in quality, accuracy and geographical area of use. As a collective, these are called the Vetus Latina.
Most were small, covering perhaps a book at most and probably prepared quickly for local congregations, where they stayed in use, while others were grander manuscripts containing all four canonical gospels, albeit in idiosyncratic versions, known over a wider area. The varying ideas and readings among the Vetus Latina - which merged, offshot and evolved on an almost biological scale - soon became frustrating to the centralised church who attempted to standardise in 382 CE.
The Old Latin Bible: When Vetus Latina is translated as Old Latin Bible the authors are referring in a general sense to the collective translations, not to a specific text. In cases where enough translated books had been collected to form a complete bible – an entire version was rare even after the Vulgate – that bible is different from the majority of others and each has their own name, such as Codex Vercellensis.
