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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Alter's translation (Was: Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II)

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  • From: "B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Alter's translation (Was: Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II)
  • Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:49:49 -0500

Hi Peter,

Peter Kirk wrote:
On 22/11/2005 02:08, B. M. Rocine wrote:

...

Do you mean that readers of the Bible cannot look up words with which they are unfamiliar? Bohu hardly seems to have been a familiar Hebrew word.


Not all Bible readers have good dictionaries (and this sense of "welter" isn't in bad ones). They certainly don't carry them with them wherever they take their Bibles or hear them read. Does your congregation? Would they understand this translation if it was read out to them?

Judge the diction against the targetted audience. It is not he kind of Bible you take to church. It is big, thick, expensive, and a third or more of the book is commentary. Is all of this a clue to what the book is about? It is a translation for a pretty educated crowd, the kind that would be intrigued with "welter" and willing to look it up if they have to.

Alter's notes on vv. 1-3 include comments on _tohu wabohu_, "hovering," and _ruax_, which he admits may be translated, "breath, wind, spirit."


As for the familiarity of Hebrew bohu, we have no way of judging that. Even though it is rare in the Bible, it may have been a very familiar colloquial word. It seems highly probable that at least the narrative parts of the Hebrew Bible were written with ordinary words which would have been understood by any Hebrew speaker.

As for whether all the words in narrative parts of the Bible are familiar words, we have no way of judging that. ;-)

We *have* a way of judging whether _bohu_ is unfamiliar. It has an elusive etymology. It only appear three times in the Bible, always in conjunction with the more familiar word tohu, and twice as a veritable allusions to the first in Gen. 1:2. It rhymes with _tohu_. Alter's suggestion that _bohu_ may be a "nonce word coined to rhyme with [_tohu_]" seems plausible. I don't say *probable*; plausible.

Shalom,
Bryan

The total number of
different words is well within the passive vocabulary of native speakers of any language - and I am not sure how else we might judge such things.



--
B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13026
(W): 315.437.6744




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