[B-Greek] What I meant about TO UDWR TO ZWN
Curtis Hinson
curtis at curtishinson.com
Sun Sep 3 03:05:14 EDT 2006
Pardon me, but I might have not made myself clear on one point so I want
to head off some potential confusion.
What I am saying about TO UDWR TO ZWN is that it obviously functions on
both levels in Greek. The fact that the phrase "living water" is used
to refer to what we'd call "running water" reveals something interesting
about the Greek-speaking mind.
I'm not saying that we should consider translating TO UDWR TO ZWN, when
translate we must, as "running water" in some effort to conceal it's
dual meaning that running water is thought of as having life, whereas
still water is thought of conversely as dead. Rather, to merely
translate as "living water" leaves out half of the imagery, which is
probably an allusion in this case. At the least I think there should be
a footnote explaining the other half of this image. After all "living
water" has only theological abstracted meaning in English, but misses
the concrete or practical imagery. We don't think of a bubbling,
flowing brook when we hear the phrase "living water", it's just one of
those things that Jesus "says" that doesn't affect us in a sensory way.
It's rather like transliterating instead of translating Greek words can
create an abstraction in English that is concrete in Greek.
Bless the Name
Curtis Hinson
http://curtishinson.com
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