Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] one-to-one rendering of olam (was: Song of Songs 1:12)
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 19:02:51 -0500
English has the concept of an endless “forever.” Hebrew does not. As Gary
reminded us, the actual concept of עולם is a very long time. But the normal
English translation of עד עולם is “forever,” unless context prevents such an
open-ended statement.
When I was involved in translation work, I happened to work in a language
that, like Hebrew, did not have the “forever” concept. But their equivalent
preposition phrase, “adde noka,” was well understood by people to normally
refer to an endless time unless otherwise prevented.
Just out of curiosity, what would you suggest as a more “correct” meaning?
Paul Zellmer
From: fred burlingame [mailto:tensorpath AT gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 4:43 PM
To: Paul Zellmer
Cc: B-Hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Song of Songs 1:12
Hello Paul:
Thanks for your nice and explanatory comments.
The question remains however. The niv committee, in its wisdom, instructs
that the little phrase עד עולם means "forever."