[B-Greek] hEWS AN--"While" (Heb. 1:13)?
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri May 11 03:53:09 EDT 2007
----- Original Message -----
From: "Webb" <webb at selftest.net>
> BDAG’s definition 1 β seems to pose the very problem you and Iver say doesn’t exist:
>
> “to denote that the commencement of an event is dependent on circumstances: hEWS AN EIPW SOI Mt
> 2:13…”
Yes, BDAG is somewhat misleading here, because they do not adequately distinguish between the
meaning of the word itself and the meaning implied by context. hEWS in itself only means "up to a
certain point" and it implies nothing at all about what happens after that point. In many cases, the
context will provide such an implication.
> In Mt. 2:13, the angel tells Joseph to wait with his family in Egypt until the angel tells him [to
> come back to Israel].
Strictly speaking the text does not say "wait", nor does it say "remain" as RSV has it. ISQI means
"be there" or "live there". hEWS means up to a certain point. That point is AN EIPW SOI, when I tell
you something else. So, the text is only saying: "Go to Egypt and stay put until further
instructions." Those instructions could be to return or go somewhere else.
>
> I’d love to use “while”, to escape this unwanted implication in English, but upon surveying many
> instances, only a few seemed capable of being rendered as “while”. For example of a typical
> “until” sense, 1 Kgs 1:23 has Eli urging Hanna to stay (=KAQOU, interestingly) until she’s weaned
> the child Samuel. The implication—although it’s not a strict implication—is that she will go home
> after that.
Iver:
I did not say or intend to say that hEWS is always best translated as "while". Quite often "until"
in English works fine. There is no word in English that is exactly equivalent to hEWS, so which word
you choose in your translation depends on which word fits best with the overall context. The problem
is that traditional, literal translations fell into the habit of being "concordant". They like to
translate the same Greek word with the same English word, so "until" became the standard (default)
choice for hEWS. The result is that "until" is used even where the context suggests that another
translation would be more accurate. Heb 1:13 is one of those contexts. So, as a translator, I
recommend to think of the meaning as "up to a certain point", and then let context decide whether to
use "until", "while", "before", "to", "up to", "as many as, enough" (Mat 18:21) or something else.
Whether AN is present or not does not alter the sense of hEWS. Once you start thinking of choosing
between only two options: "until" and "while", you are on shaky ground.
Iver Larsen
Translation Consultant
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