A Study of the Translation Technique of Peshitta Proverbs

A Study of the Translation Technique of Peshitta ProverbsSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/EEFAFHUF/tei

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2024-08-15-04:00

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.ChanghakHyunA Study of the Translation Technique of Peshitta Proverbshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/EEFAFHUFhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/EEFAFHUFhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/EEFAFHUF2001The emergence of a critical edition of Peshitta Proverbs and the methodological inadequacy of the former studies provide reasons for a new investigation of the Peshitta Proverbs translation. My method of examining the translation is to describe a translation act using two dimensions, namely, Adjustment Type and Motivation. Adjustment Type is concerned with the form of a translational change. It denotes how the translator has made a change. Motivation is concerned with the translator's intention or purpose to achieve a certain goal through a specific change. It denotes why or for what purpose the translator has made a change. Seven categories are identified for Adjustment Type and another seven categories for Motivation. Every translation variant is understood and described by means of these fourteen categories. Adjustment Types are plus, minus, word choice, difference in sequence, homoeophony, grammatical change , and syntactical change . Motivations are: (1) Rectification , the intention to make an unintelligible text intelligible; (2) Simplification , the intention to make a difficult text easy; (3) Assimilation-Leveling , the intention to make a varied text uniform; (4) Explication , the intention to make an ambiguous text clear; (5) Adaptation , the intention to make an irrelevant text relevant; (6) Septuagintal Influence , the adoption of LXX elements; (7) Error , a mistranslation induced by the translator's misunderstanding of the Hebrew. The present work discovers the rules governing a special phenomenon belonging to Explication, the addition of waw . Although among the Peshitta scholars waw has largely been treated as a redundant and haphazard particle of little significance, the reality is that waw is employed in quite a methodical way. Rules are delineated for two uses of waw , i.e. waw before a couplet and waw before the second hemistich. The Motivations "exercised" result in an intelligible, easy, uniform (coherent), clear, and relevant Proverbs text. In a word, Peshitta Proverbs is a "facilitating" translation prompted by audience-oriented concerns. The translator primarily aims to provide his audience with a plain text, i.e. a text easily understandable and highly accessible. Hyun, Changhak. “A Study of the Translation Technique of Peshitta Proverbs.” Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2001. Changhak Hyun, A Study of the Translation Technique of Peshitta Proverbs (Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2001).Classical SyriacOld TestamentPeshitta OTProverbsSyriac languagetranslationtranslations into Syriac