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  • From: George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
  • To: uhurwitz AT yahoo.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [b-hebrew] paraphrase Bible versions
  • Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 11:15:41 -0500

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 07:48:35 -0800 (PST) Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
writes:
> Bill Rea wrote, inter alia:
>
> ..." One final example, Gen 27:41, the following are
> word-for-word, dynamic
> equivalence, and paraphrase to me:-
>
> Esau said in his heart
> Esau said to himself
> He thought to himself
>
> Here Leman accepts the second and third as right and rejects the
> first as
> wrong..."
>
> UH: this is a convenient illustration that more than one correct
> translation is possible from an origional. Contrary to Leman, the
> first possibility looks perfectly alright; it is intelligible and of
> course closest to the original.
>
> A varaiation of the the third, and more "modern" sounding, if
> this is the effect the translator wishes to achieve, is:
>
> He thought
>
> Uri
____________________

Fundamental to Wayne Leman's conception is that a translation must be
intelligible to the intended audience. His idea of what today's audience
would understand and what I think it would understand differ somewhat. I
would say that his philosophy in that regard is expressed in the
statement attributed to H.L. Mencken

No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American
people.

george
gfsomsel
___________
>From peterkirk AT qaya.org Thu Jan 6 11:19:49 2005
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Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:19:48 +0000
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To: Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [b-hebrew] paraphrase Bible versions
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On 06/01/2005 15:48, Uri Hurwitz wrote:

> Bill Rea wrote, inter alia:
>
> ..." One final example, Gen 27:41, the following are word-for-word, dynamic
>equivalence, and paraphrase to me:-
>
>Esau said in his heart
>Esau said to himself
>He thought to himself
>
>Here Leman accepts the second and third as right and rejects the first as
>wrong..."
>
> UH: this is a convenient illustration that more than one correct
> translation is possible from an origional. Contrary to Leman, the first
> possibility looks perfectly alright; it is intelligible ...
>

To you, who are used to this Hebrew idiom. Maybe to well-educated
English speakers. But this kind of usage can be very confusing to less
educated people.

>... and of course closest to the original.
>
>

Well, this is only true if Hebrew LEB is closer to English "heart" than
to English "self". This is by no means self-evident. In modern English
"heart" refers either to a physical organ or in some way to romantic
love. Hebrew LEB never refers to the physical organ. Its extended senses
relate to the entire inner person, or to the mind and the will, but only
rarely to the emotions and never specifically to love. "Self" may well
be a better gloss than "heart". I note that BDB glossed "inner man,
mind, will, heart", with "heart" relegated to fourth place.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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