[B-Greek] EGW EIMI ANHR in Acts 22:3

Daniel Buck bucksburg at yahoo.com
Wed Nov 24 08:59:03 EST 2010


George,

You're not convinced that it really makes any difference; Obviously, neither are 
most Bible translators. But somehow I'm not at all comfortable with the idea 
that EGW EIMI ANHR IOUDAIOS means no more than EIMI IOUDAIOS. And his audience 
could see that he was a male; it's not that he was seeking to convey that as 
simply obvious information. ANER isn't particularly the word for 'male' anyway. 
Words have meaning, or they wouldn't be used. The task of the translator is to 
somehow extract that meaning and convey it in words used by a different 
language. I don't see that happening, and I just wonder if there's any 
justification for that elsewhere in the Greek literature.

I would add that ANER is often used in Acts as some sort of intensifier, and 
rarely conveyed in translation. It would appear that Luke knew something about 
Hebrew-influenced Greek that we don't.

Daniel Buck



________________________________
From: George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
To: Daniel Buck <bucksburg at yahoo.com>; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tue, November 23, 2010 7:45:02 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] EGW EIMI ANHR in Acts 22:3


I suppose the way you translate it would depend upon how insistent you are 
regarding translating a passage in a formally equivalent manner.  You could 
translate it as "I am a male Jew."  I'm not convinced that it really makes any 
difference.
 george
gfsomsel 



________________________________
 From: Daniel Buck <bucksburg at yahoo.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tue, November 23, 2010 4:56:22 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] EGW EIMI ANHR in Acts 22:3

I've see EGW EIMI carrying the following different meanings in English:
- It is I -
- I am he -
- I am -

This last dissipates the intensity of the Greek, but is understandable in a 
popular language translation. What I'm trying to figure out, though, is just 
what Paul was trying ot convey with ANHR in EGW EIMI ANHR IOUDAIOS. Some of the 
more expanded or literal translations render it "I am indeed a Jew" but no 
modern translation seems to find a way of independently expressing the intensity 

behind the word ANHR--they all treat the word as if it were not  even there. 
Even Shakespeare had Shylock state simply "I am a Jew" (as most English 
translations of Acts 22:3) when the English Bible of his day used a full nine 
English words to translate the four Greek ones.

Are there other examples in Greek literature where ANHR is used to further 
intensify EGW EIMI? Any ideas on how to convey that into English--other than 
literally, of course?

Daniel Buck


      


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