[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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