[B-Greek] Matt 1:20 to gennethen: Beget or conceive?
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Fri Dec 15 14:05:39 EST 2006
I would hesitate to cry "mistranslation" since the two terms are the two sides of the one coin. I do think, however, that using "begotten" and referring that to the Holy Spirit would have been preferable. Of course, there is a history of translation here which seems to have determined that "conceived" SHALL be used. After all, would not millions of people think something was wrong if suddenly they heard "that which is begotten in her . . ." rather than "conceived"? We are creatures of habit.
:-)
george
gfsomsel
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: Anthony Buzzard <anthonybuzzard at mindspring.com>
To: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 1:52:56 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Matt 1:20 to gennethen: Beget or conceive?
Thank you for your helpful reply which seems to confirm that "conceive" is very odd for gennao in Matt. 1:20. If Matt. 1:20 is the only occurrence, its oddity is shown by the RV's margin telling us that the Greek actually says "begotten". It seems that one can rightly cry "mistranslation" in Matt. 1:20.
Anthony Buzzard
At 01:41 PM 12/15/2006, George F Somsel wrote:
A quick check confirms what I had suspected, viz. that the primary translation for GENNAW is "to be born" used in reference to children. When used of the male's role it becomes "to beget" and is only rarely used with regard to the female prior to birth -- so rarely that Mt 1.20 is the only passage I find where this is the case. There is, however, one passage (Gal 4.24) where GENNAW is used regarding the female, but there it is apparently conceived (pun intended) not to reference the period during pregnancy but subsequent thereto and is therefore translated as "bearing children." I really know of no reason that it could not have been translated as "That which is begotten in her is because of the Holy Spirit." LSJ likewise notes that this is largely used regarding the father.
george
gfsomsel
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: Anthony Buzzard <anthonybuzzard at mindspring.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 12:27:58 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Matt 1:20 to gennethen: Beget or conceive?
In Matt. 1:20 TO GENNETHEN is rendered generally as "what is conceived in her"
Can anyone comment on that translation? Is not GENNAO really a
begetting here, the action of the father? Is GENNAO elsewhere ever
translated "conceive"?
Anthony Buzzard
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
Anthony Buzzard
www.restorationfellowship.org
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list