Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Footnotes, was: The translation of ehyeh

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Footnotes, was: The translation of ehyeh
  • Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 18:18:01 +0100

On 06/08/2005 13:33, B. M. Rocine wrote:


... All translations should have lots of footnotes. Lots of the footnotes should read "or, "...."" Others should read, "meaning of Hebrew uncertain."


As a translator, I disagree. The issue depends on the target audience. For relatively scholarly audiences using the text for study purposes, lots of footnotes are good - although one has to bear in mind the cost of all that extra paper. For general audiences using the Bible primarily as devotional material, an abundance of footnotes is unhelpful. In fact most of them are likely to remain unread, because a normal reader reading a text will take the first sensible meaning which comes from the main text, and refer to the footnote only if totally confused. This footnotes which attempt to correct a misleading literal text are worthless because they are ignored. It is much better to put the explantory reading in the text, and if necessary add a footnote giving a more literal rendering.

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





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page