GENOITO!

Dale M. Wheeler dalemw at teleport.com
Thu Dec 16 02:17:25 EST 1999


Bart Ehrman wrote:
 >
 >  Ignatius goes on a tear with GENOITO MOI in Ephesians 11f (3x).  It's
 >normally translated something like "may it be to me that ..." or "may I
 >be" (optative of wish).  What do you think of "I hope that I," or
 >something comparable?  E.g., translating
 >
 >
 >    "In him I am bearing my chains, which are spiritual pearls, EN hOIS
 >GENOITO MOI ANASTHNAI TH PROSEUXH hUMWN" as "In him I am bearing my
 >chains, which are spiritual pearls.  In them I hope to rise again through
 >your prayers..."
 >
 >
 >  Too weak?  Wrong idea?  Unnuanced?  Perfect in every way?
 >

After seeing Edward and Carl's posts, I also have no desire to quibble with 
their suggestions...this is just the way it struck me when I first read the 
post (before I read their responses).

My "feeling" was that, on the one hand, it was too weak and didn't nuance 
the *almost* divine supplication of the phrase (sort of like in Num and 
Deut where the LXX has GENOITO, translating the Hebrew )FM"N (AMEN)), but 
on the other too strong, since it implies "expectation", and with GENOITO 
he puts his fate in the hands of God (this is not the same verbage as Phil 
1:19, 20).  I don't think I would go as far as the NIV "God forbid!", but 
"I hope..." seems too human oriented to me.  Also, I don't know what the 
translation philosophy you'all have been given (or perhaps you're on your 
own on that), but I'd think you'd want to avoid having the reader 
inadvertently make the connection between this optative and the 
ELPIS/ELPIZW group. It seems to be somewhere between "hope" and "pray", 
whatever that might be in English...I did a quick look in  a Thesaurus and 
could find no help there.  Perhaps, "It is my prayerful hope...."

In the for what its worth department...





***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages        Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street                               Portland, OR  97220
Voice: 503-251-6416    FAX:503-251-6478     E-Mail: dalemw at teleport.com
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