[B-Greek] a question about Tertullian translation

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Jan 11 08:03:31 EST 2006


On Jan 11, 2006, at 6:32 AM, Octavio Rodriguez wrote:

>  Dear Sir :
>
>   Perhaps this question is without the greek, but i need help about  
> the
> Greek to latin .
>
>     My question is only about in what sense Tertullian translated  
> Phil 2:6.
> He did it like this  :
>
>    * qui in effigie dei constitutus non rapinam existimavit pariari  
> deo* (On
> the Resurrection of the Flesh)
>
>   Greek : hOS EN MORFH QEOU hUPARXWN OUX hARPAGMON hHGHSATO TO  
> EINAI ISA QEW
>
> It is clear that Tertullian considered  hARPAGMON in active  
> sense,   the
> same as robbery. However,I don´t know if Tertullian is saying :  
> "thought it
> not robbery to be equal with God" or "gave no consideration to a  
> seizure,
> that he should be equal to God" .

Your question, of course, is about Latin as an indicator of how  
Tertullian understood the Greek. I think that the latter comes  
closer, at least the predicate phrase, "rapinam existimavit"  is an  
equivalent to "thought it not robbery" or better, "thought it not  
booty"-- but what is very problematic in the Latin is the infinitive  
phrase "pariari deo." Apparently this is used here in the sense "to  
be put on a level of equivality with God" -- but the problem is that  
the attested sense of the (relatively rare) verb PARIARE, here used  
in the present passive infinitive, is "square an account, match the  
credit and debit figures." The verb seems oddly used here with a  
sense "make equivalent to."

One might also raise questions about the phrase "in effigie dei  
constitutus": "effigies" sounds more like an assumed appearance than  
a "form."

I'm rather skeptical, for my part, that one can derive from this  
sentence a very clear notion of exactly how Tertullian understood the  
beginning of the Pauline Christ-hymn of Philippians. I think one  
would have to be intimately familiar with Tertullian's Latin style.

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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