[B-Greek] Translation of Mark 5:7

Dan Gleason dan-bgreek at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 28 13:11:14 EDT 2005


Curtis Hinson wrote: You could consider trying out some more colloquial, 
dynamic English translations to see how that goes.  Using the hypens does 
not reflect the way the entences occur to the Greek-speaking mind, which are 
as fluent, fluid contructions.  I doubt they do much to enhance your 
understanding of the Greek either.

DG: Thank you and everyone else for your excellent contributions.

DG: Right now I am working on my own translation of Mark. Here are a few of 
my guidelines ... I am trying to translate like an interlinear with word to 
word correspondence when at all possible (this is why I use hyphens) ... no 
paraphrasing allowed (I do that in footnotes) ... use english word order 
when a Greek word needs to be dropped (tous mathetas autou = his disciples) 
... use hyphens to point out embedded words and change of word order (ouk 
oiden autos = he-does- not -know it). And I have a few more conventions not 
applicable to this thread.

CH: .. TI EMOI KAI SOI IHSOU UIE TOU QEOU TOU UYISTOU
He cried out loudly, "What do you want from me, Jesus, son of the God most 
high?

DG: my revised translation now reads .. .
And crying-out with-a- great -voice he-says ... What (is-happening-between) 
me and you Jesus, son of-the most-high God!

CH: (A historic or narrative present.)  I like your use of "implore" (see 
DG's initial post), that captures the text very well.  Now regarding your 
question, TI EMOI KAI SOI, this is a common Semitism in Judeo-Greek (Jewish 
Koine).  "What of you and me" would be a so-called "literal" way to look at 
it, which itself is a translation, mah liy walakh.  It IS a colloquial 
expression though and there is no point in translating it "literally" into 
English.  I would render it as, "What do you want with me?" or "What have 
you got to do with me?" or something to that effect.

DG: I agree, a literal translation of colloquial Semetic expressions is a 
challenge - a good place for a footnote.

CH: (One thought: is UIE TOU QEOU UYISTOU a divine circumlocution by the 
demon?  How might that sound in Aramaic or Hebrew?  Is the name/power game 
(as in Mesopotamian culture) going on between the demon and Jesus?

DG: I defineitely agree with your observation of the ancient belief that 
calling on the Name of something or issuing an Order resulted in something 
happening. The belief that this was a method how a person released the 
"power" (dunamis or exousia) inside him.

CH: I wrote something on this text once, I might send it over to you later.

DG: Yes, send it to me off line.

Dan Gleason

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! 
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/




More information about the B-Greek mailing list