[B-Greek] FW: 2 Thessalonians 3:17
Webb
webb at selftest.net
Thu Dec 29 15:37:20 EST 2005
-----Original Message-----
From: Webb [mailto:webb at selftest.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 12:24 PM
To: 'Zack Hubert'
Subject: RE: [B-Greek] 2 Thessalonians 3:17
2 Thess 3:17
hO ASPASMOS THi EMHi CEIRI PAULOU hO ESTIN SHMEION EN PASHi EPISTOLHi
hOUTWS GRAFW
3) overall...how is this meant to be understood directly, without
paraphrasing it to make an easier to read sentence?
Dear Zack,
Your question 3 seems like it may be asking the impossible. Greek and
English are different enough as languages that there is simply no such thing
as an English speaker getting a "direct" understanding of it from a
translation without knowing Greek. Do you want to convey, in English, the
sense that this is simply a person writing normally, addressing his readers?
Because that is what is going on. If you try to follow his Greek words
word-for-word in English, then it won't sound like a normal person writing
at all--it'll sound all stilted and strange. In my opinion there is no merit
to doing this:
The greeting by my own hand--of Paul, which is a mark in every letter--thus
I write.
Paul's sense of his life calling was to be "all things to all people", so if
we want to convey his writings in a way that is consistent with his own
desires, we ought to try to let his words come into English--or whatever
language--in a way that conveys his message as accurately as possible while
remaining natural in the target language. With that in mind, here's my
spoken English translation:
This greeting is with my own hand--Paul. It's a distinguishing mark of all
my letters. This is how I write.
Why, for example, do I use two demonstratives with the verb to be, where the
original Greek has a noun with a definite article in the first instance and
nothing corresponding in the second instance? Because I believe that's the
way he would have said it if he were saying it in fluent English. English
grammar and Greek grammar are not the same. If you try to translate as
though they were, you create something that is actually further from the
original, because it is harder for your English-speaking reader to
understand.
Webb Mealy
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