[B-Greek] Jn 12:44
Webb
webb at selftest.net
Thu Nov 17 17:26:46 EST 2005
Which is to say, intertextuality always plays a role in translation, and so
it must. But the translator should practice being consciously aware of the
different levels of influence that result in any choice of rendering.
Webb
_____
From: Yancy Smith [mailto:Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 2:10 PM
To: webb at selftest.net
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Jn 12:44
Webb,
Thanks for getting me up to speed. Of course this problem arises from the
gen. of AUTOS, H, O having the same form. But, I think it may depend on the
koloi written in this case. What might decide the case here is the presence
of the article with TO YEUSTOS and its absence with YEUSTHS. The anafora
would more likely go back to the last emphatic noun, rather than merely to
the last noun, although I think, on any score, the way John said it is
infelicitous, i.e. ambiguous. Much like the reference to Zaccheus/Jesus in
Luke 19:3. Which one is short, Jesus or Zachaeus? The words "because he was
short" also build anaphorically on what went before, the anaphora being
carried by the subjects of the 3rd person verbs. Jesus is the last one
mentioned, yet most translators take the short person to be Zachaeus. One
way to find out how a Greek speaker would have read John 12:44 is to check
out Chrysostom's commentary, who is not against creativity in his readings,
or to find out whether any ancient Gnostic traditions refered to "the father
of the devil" both these will take us to ancient, native Greek readings. Im
not sure whether Origen comments on this text, since his Commentary on John
does not extend this far. As for Chrysostom, he says:
EKEINOS GAR ETEKE TO YEUDOS PRWTWS LEGWN H AN hHMERA FAGHTE DIANOICQHSONTA
hUMWN hOI OFQALMOI.
"For he gave birth to the lie first by saying in the day that you eat [it]
your eyes will be opened."
I would say that the average "man on the street" in Corinth would not have
know the Adam and Eve narrative and would, therefore, not have had the
background of assumptions necessary to access the implicature necessary to
understand that "AUTOU" should be construed with TO YEUDOS.
Homilies on the Gospel of John 33.299.58 (See Migne's edition, or use these
numbers in TLG 153, 1.59.299.58)
Yancy Smith
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
Brite Divinity School
Texas Christian University
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