[B-Greek] Coat of what?
mrt
mrt at hisurfer.net
Tue Jan 13 12:21:08 EST 2004
1/13/2004 bart.torbert at ihsenergy.com Bart Torbert wrote:
>So how can POIKILON get translated to all these other terms? Is the word
used in other senses the "mottled"? I am truly confused how other
translators would justify the diversity on this point.
___________
Hi Bart,
Yes, for instance the leopard spoken about in Jer 13:23 uses this same word.
But you and I know that a leopard is spotted, yes? And so it is these spots
that make a leopard multicolored :-)
Translators will often nuance a word according to a particular context. We
are dealing with a archaic language that doesn't have the massive vocabulary
options as English; behold > variegated, dappled, discolored, motley,
multicolor, multihued, parti-color, parti-colored, varicolored, versicolor,
versicolored, checked, checkered; piebald, pied, skewbald; freaked,
streaked; flecked; stippled; marbled; mottle, mottled, spattered, speckled,
spotted; calico; pinto
Now I have defined POIKILON for your passage (Gen 37:3) = many-colored.
Now for other contexts it may mean: 2. of metal work, P' DESMOS = intricate
Then there are its metaphorical uses: changeful, various, diversified,
manifold, as in the P' MHNES the changing months 2. of Art, diverse art 3.
intricate, complex as in P' AUDWMENOS speaking in double sense 4.
changeable, changeful, unstable as in P' ECEIN to be different
(I was looking at the Liddell and Scott lexicon)
We may also note that the most basic terms do not have exact correspondence
to English, for instance Hebrew yad does not = hand. English "hand" has its
range of possible meanings (see English dictionary) and Hebrew has its range
for yad. Therefore we translators constantly nuance terms for each and
every context. We can see the origin and choose for ourselves. And that's
why we read hELLHNIKOS.
Michael Tarver
Oregon, USA
mrt at hisurfer.net
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