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Tue May 3 10:41:24 EDT 2011


(and sometimes challenging) when the target language does not admit such an 
ambiguity due to the lack of a similar multi- purpose structure in its 
syntax.  For example, the Chinese Union Version (1911) of the Bible had to 
translate  AGAPH TOU QEOU in I John 2:15 as ‘the heart to love the Father,' 
which resolved any ambiguity in the Greek phrase by itself. This kind of 
amplification is often desirable or noted as a footnote when necessary. The 
so-called appositional genitive can also be a potential problem in a non-IE 
target language wherein such a structure does not exist. In John 2:21 TOU 
NAOU TOU SOMATOS AUTOU, it is clear that SOMATOS is appositional to NAOU 
and may be translated without using a functional or structural genitive, 
and the paraphrase goes like: ‘referring to His body as the temple.' The 
immediate context helps to resolve this genitive abstraction. In Gal. 3:14, 
however, a bigger context, including the Pentateuch, is needed perhaps  to 
consider TOU PNEUMATOS in THN EPAGGELIAN TOU PNEUMATOS as an appositional 
genitive in function, instead of the possessive. The English syntax can 
mimic the Greek, being in the same language family. The translator of a 
non-IE language will need to determine what it supposed to mean by being 
familiar with the broader context of the Scriptures, and this can be 
challenging as well as subjective.

Jason




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