[B-Greek] Possible re-translation error from Greek into Latin...

Daveat168 at aol.com Daveat168 at aol.com
Mon Sep 26 12:34:17 EDT 2005


<<Could it be ANTE FACIEM rather than ANTE FACIUM? I should think that  
either phrase might convey the sense of PRO PROSWPOU which is itself  
the Hellenized equivalent of the Hebrew LiFNeI meaning "in front of"  
or "facing" or "ahead (of)." It would be easier to judge it were  
clear exactly what passages you find these phrases in.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/

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Dear Carl, 
    Thankyou for your prompt reply.  You are absolutely correct, I got it wrong with <facium>, indeed , it should have been <faciem>.
In the Vulgate Gospels, all occurrances I have found are in Luke.  Vulgate references are used here.  
They are :-
1/ Ante faciem,     Lc.  1:76
2/ Ante faciem,     Lc.  2:31
3/ Ante faciem,     Lc.  7:27
4/ Ante faciem,     Lc. 10:1
5/ Ante conspectum, Lc.  9:52

My Latin dictionary gives:
Conspectus, -us m look, view, sight; appearing on the scene; (fig) mental picture, survey; in ~um come in sight, come near.

All five occurrances seem to be used in very similar contexts, and case #5 does carry the inference of the definition I chose, thus implying that cases #1 to #4 are erroneous translations from the Greek intermediary.

To be fair, the Hebrew <LiFNeI> you quote, is also somewhat ambiguous, but the definition of <avant gard> or <path-finder> is there, implying my chosen definition is not a mile off course.

-- 
Best regards,
    Dave Smith.
    (B.A.2,1, Science & Technology, Open Univerity.)
    168 Bristol Road,
    Frampton Cotterell,
    Bristol, BS36 2AX,
    U.K.
eMail    <DaveAt168 at aol.com>
WWW:     <http://www.sangallen56.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk>




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