[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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