[B-Greek] GENNAW

Jim West jwest at highland.net
Fri May 27 10:32:35 EDT 2005



william zeitler wrote:

>"Abraham gave birth to Isaac,
> and Isaac gave birth to Jacob...
>  
>
In the sense that

Abraham fathered Isaac
Isaac fathered Jacob

or
Isaac was born to Abraham
Jacob was born to Isaac

So yes, they are within the same semantic domain.

>We DO make a distinction in English (not present in the Greek) between the
>male and female activities. Obviously context in Matt 1 requires the 'male'
>mode.
>  
>

Indeed- the distinction is not present in Greek- and since we are 
translating greek a little ambiguity is a good thing.

>So why choose the 'female' mode for translating John 3 instead of the 'male'?
>Is it arbitrary, or is their some exegetical basis for preferring
>'born' (female) over 'begotten' (male)? (Or 'to sire' or 'to father' if you
>prefer.)
>  
>

The reason is that when one translates, one strives to offer the best 
and most intelligible, and yet faithful to the original, rendering that 
one can.  Translation is art as well as science.  That's why computers 
are dreadful at translating.  They can get the words and grammar, but 
they can't make it intelligible.  Many translators (of the human sort) 
can get the words out- but not faithfully nor intelligibly, and hence 
not meaningfully.  Sometimes those who are "washed in the blood of the 
subjunctive mood" are dreadful translators.

Best,

Jim

-- 
Jim West

Biblical Studies Resources -  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
Biblical Theology Weblog -  http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com




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