The Peculiarities of Translation
A Multidisciplinary Contextualized Analysis of Select Passages From Genesis V2.0
[This is an excerpt from an exhaustive personal study of most of the first 9 chapters of the book of Genesis. This is a vastly expanded effort from the original version that can currently be found here downloadable for free. The purpose of this exercise is to compare a non-symbolic literal reading of the text to our current understanding of language, paleontology, and the physical sciences. Constructive discussion on the merits of this study is encouraged!]
Few people read the Bible in its original languages, making the content of versions translated to our native tongues subject to the interpretation of a translator. Since word-for-word translation between languages does not always provide a readable result, interpretive paraphrasing is common in the Bible.
These translations are typically done by committee with the utmost care to retain the integrity of the content. But there is inevitably interpretive license and preconceived ideas of how the verses should be understood. To compound this concern is the occasional lack of equivalent vocabulary between the source and target languages. For example, there are seven Greek words for “love”, each requiring several words in English to provide an accurate context. If the translator doesn’t account for that explicit level of detail and simply uses a catch-all term, there could be lost meaning or context.
Hebrew seems to be the opposite case where there is a more limited vocabulary with a multitude of context-dependent definitions. Words often have implied meanings, like whether a term for a quantity is considered fixed or flexible.
For example, in English, a “lot” is a loose term for a relatively large quantity or frequency. But when used in the context of manufacturing, there is often a specific quantity that is considered a “lot”.
Multi-use terms like this are frequent in Hebrew with such considerations going back to antiquity. This requires the reader to understand the context of and even the historical use of a statement in considering the intended meaning. However, being unable to share the author’s original vision, the original context is not immediately apparent. This has certainly resulted in some fluidity regarding what translation of which term a translator or interpreter may select. Even then, the definition and veracity of a term in any language can drift over time with future generations interpreting a wholly different context than their predecessors.
That accusation could be made of this very document. Reconsidering interpretations of ancient writings like this is considered anachronistic or trying to make it more palatable to modern sensibilities. However, for any document that claims to reflect reality or is otherwise based on facts, it should withstand scrutiny and ideally be further enhanced as more information is available. Just as our scientific understanding has evolved over the centuries with drastic changes in our beliefs regarding the nature of reality, so our reading of any historical document may be amended or corrected with new knowledge.
This study seeks to differentiate itself from dated and casual interpretations by presenting supportable evidence behind each consideration while maintaining consistency in the methodology used. Since the peculiarities of translating the following words appear repeatedly throughout this study, I am providing their detailed analyses here as a reference and example of the process used throughout:
Having spent so much time parsing only a few terms, one might recognize that choosing the intended meaning of a Hebrew word can already be problematic. And with a linguistic tradition of meaning-inclusive vocabulary, one needs to consider if words with compound definitions may also be used to embed deeper context. Categorical use of language might allow a memorable and simplified phrase to contain a more complicated image or even with the intent of leveraging multiple definitions. An intentional double entendre as it were.
This practice of adding new definitions to the existing Hebrew vocabulary continues today. The Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem assigns existing Hebrew words to thousands of modern terms that emerge from other languages every year. Although this is done in an attempt to prevent dilution of the language due to the adoption of foreign terminology and grammar, as time goes on the popular application of many words will likely drift further from their use historically. Without an intimate understanding of the timeline of such changes, this may serve to complicate translation from ancient Hebrew going forward.
A Multidisciplinary Contextualized Analysis of Select Passages From Genesis
This is a collection of excerpts from a longer personal study of the book of Genesis. It is the 2nd edition I’m currently writing. The 1st edition can currently be found here downloadable for free.