Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] 'iysh and zakar

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
  • To: kwrandolph AT email.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 'iysh and zakar
  • Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 13:17:41 -0500

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 12:45:00 -0500 "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
writes:
> Uri:
>
> In good English, "man" refers only to the male of the species.
>
> To use an example from a different language, the German word "Frau"
> can be translated as "Missus (Mrs.), "woman" or "wife". The Germans
> have only one word, English three, so when translating from German
> to English one needs to check the context to recognize which English
> word fits.
>
> So with Hebrew vs. English, Biblical Hebrew used )Y$, or for a child
> BN, where proper English would use "person", "anyone" and "child".
> So had I authored Psalm 1:1 in English first, I would have written
> "Happy is the person ..." In Hebrew we have a grammatical masculine
> where )Y$ stands in for "anyone". Overly literal translators (and I
> am just as guilty as anyone else) often put in "man" to preserve the
> Hebrew phrasiology, even when it does not fit proper English.
>
> The Levitical passage that started this discussion, has a context
> indicating that )Y$ means "man" as in male of the species.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
____________________

Uri,

Ignore what Peter and Karl have said. The Brits have forgotten how to
speak English (Perhaps we Yanks will need to teach them English ! ) and
Karl's native language (if I remember correctly) isn't English. There is
a generic "he" in English which is alive and well. Also, "man" is used
to refer to either a male or female in various contexts. There is a
politically correct movement in which "he or she" is constantly used, but
the generic usage is still valid.

george
gfsomsel
___________




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page