Hades, Tartarus, Gehenna all rendered "hell"--Loyal translation?

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Thu Dec 30 11:57:52 EST 1999


To: Bill Burks,

<< The word TARTAROW in 2 Peter as opposed to the other two words mentioned 
does have some significance. Otherwise I suspect Peter would have used a 
different word. >>

The logic of your point escapes me. For it is not uncommon for a person to 
use near synonyms merely for the fun (or diversity) of it, just as it is 
also uncommon for a person to use the same term in different ways.

<< What you are proposing for Hades, and Gehenna is not really translating 
but transliterating these words. This has been done with several words 
throughout the KJV and other versions. This tends to devalue the meaning of 
the original words. After all is not the purpose of a translation to take 
words, syntax, and grammatical forms of the words, phrases, and sentences 
with respect to the author's original usage in one language and bring the 
original author's meaning into the receptor language. >>

On the other hand, the Greek term GEENNA is itself a transliteration. One 
could argue that transliterating a transliteration is more faithful to the 
original text than using some other dissimilar English term.

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree), 
what do I know?"




More information about the B-Greek mailing list