The challenge of Bible translation is often confounded by the uncertain identity of many of the animals and mythological creatures found in the text. This essay is an attempt to analyse why these creatures have complex, obscure translations and thereby complicate the passages they inhabit. Over time, this problematic translation of the biblical passages has been influenced by a variety of different historical and contextual factors; however, it has also interestingly influenced the readership of the biblical text. By focussing upon a couple of particularly intriguing words, this essay displays the impact that the process of translation has had upon the understanding of the biblical text.
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E.J. Schochet, Animal Life in Jewish Tradition: Attitudes and Relationships (New York: Ktav, 1984), p. 10.
R. Whitekettle, ‘Raven as Kind and Kinds of Ravens: A Study in the Zoological Nomenclature of Lev. 11,2–23’, ZAW 117 (2005), pp. 509–528 (517).
G.R. Driver, ‘Birds in the Old Testament: I. Birds in Law’, PEQ 87 (1955), pp. 5–20 (12–13).
S.H. Levy, ‘The Date of Targum Jonathan to the Prophets’, VT 21 (1971), pp. 186–96.
M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (New York: Pardes, 1950), p. 920b.
S. Butbul, ‘The Rendering of Bird Names in Early Judeo-Arabic Biblical Translations’, Aleph 10 (2010), pp. 11–42 (28).
I.L. Seeligmann, The Septuagint Version of Isaiah and Cognate Studies (Leuven: Brill, 1948), p. 87.
M. Papoutsakis, ‘Ostriches into Sirens: Towards an Understanding of a Septuagint Crux’, JJS 55 (2004), pp. 25–36 (31).
P. Churgin, ‘The Targum and the Septuagint’, AJSL 50 (1933), pp. 41–65.
N.H. Snaith, ‘The Meaning of שעירים’, VT 25 (1975), pp. 115–18 (115).
M. Davies and J. Kathirithamby, Greek Insects (London: Duckworth, 1986), p. 74.
H. Rahner, Greek Myths and Christian Mystery (New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1971), p. 357.
C.T. Lewis, and C. Short (eds.), A Latin Dictionary Founded on Andrew’s Edition of Freund’s Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879), p. 1768.
Quoted in R. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (New York: New American Library, 1950), p. 256.
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The challenge of Bible translation is often confounded by the uncertain identity of many of the animals and mythological creatures found in the text. This essay is an attempt to analyse why these creatures have complex, obscure translations and thereby complicate the passages they inhabit. Over time, this problematic translation of the biblical passages has been influenced by a variety of different historical and contextual factors; however, it has also interestingly influenced the readership of the biblical text. By focussing upon a couple of particularly intriguing words, this essay displays the impact that the process of translation has had upon the understanding of the biblical text.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 407 | 63 | 2 |
Full Text Views | 246 | 6 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 102 | 19 | 0 |