Comments | theonides: Greek translation

theonides

Greek translation

Jan 17, 2007 23:07

My brother sent me five lines of Greek today and asked me to translate them for him. Apparently, two of his coworkers have been going around about the translation of these verses, and since I know Classical Greek, he thought he'd get my opinion. The text he sent is scanned below the cut.

( he said it's from the book of John, apparently Chapter 1, verses 1-5 )

classics

Comments 8

shouldvesmiled January 18 2007, 04:24:27 UTC

Usually "the word" means "the truth," which is God, so maybe John is making a statement akin to God's "I am He who is called I am"? An alpha-and-omega, beginning-and-the-end sort of metaphor?

theonides January 18 2007, 04:31:34 UTC

Except that according to Liddell & Scott who wrote my massive Greek dictionary, I don't find "truth" as a meaning for "logos".

shouldvesmiled January 18 2007, 04:35:53 UTC

Did John actually write in Greek or were his letters translated from Aramaic or Hebrew or whatever into Greek by somebody else?

theonides January 18 2007, 04:48:49 UTC

I doubt that answer is definitely known, since the earliest books of the Bible are dated to more than a century after the death of Jesus. However, Greek was the language of the Empire in the Middle East, so if he expected to be able to talk to anyone outside small local communities, he would have done so in Greek. What is certain, is that the New Testament was originally written down in Greek.

double-entendres anonymous January 19 2007, 14:36:14 UTC

The Logos is obviously the traditional Stoic conception cum Aramaic Xianity, turned upside down for its Greek speaking audience. It is impossible to render in English as "word," yet so many translators just accept it at face value. I like the fact that Theonides suggested some very viable alternatives ("purpose" indicates an active entity as opposed to "word" is colourless and really means nothing!) here ( ... )

Re: double-entendres theonides January 19 2007, 17:59:49 UTC

It's true that puns rarely translate well. I noticed the meaning/connection with "light" when I was giving it an initial once over. I had considered a translation similar to "the light of men/mankind" to convey this, but after consulting my dictionary, I went with the more banal "man" since my brother was looking for a literal rather than poetic meaning.

Thank you for your input. I will consider this section further.

melody333 January 2 2011, 14:32:04 UTC

Thanks :)

gehabunk April 8 2011, 12:22:23 UTC

Very happy I found your site. Will note it and return for more info.