The Semantics of Biblical Language Redux (original) (raw)

2010, Translation Is Required: The Septuagint in Retrspect and Prospect (Robert Hiebert, ed.)

Abstract

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This paper explores the distinction between word and concept in biblical language, focusing particularly on the semantic evolution of the Greek verb ἐλπίζω in the Septuagint as compared to its classical Greek usage. It critiques the assumption that Hebrew concepts translated into Greek inevitably altered the lexical meanings, emphasizing that a rigorous analysis of biblical language and semantics is necessary to avoid conceptual confusion.

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References (9)

  1. James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961).
  2. See James Barr, The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective (Min- neapolis: Fortress, 1999), 232: "As is clear, the faults in the use of linguistic evidence which I detected and criticized were for the most part located in 'biblical theology' as it was practised at that time, and I said so. "
  3. See Gideon Toury, "The Meaning of Translation-Specific Lexical Items and Its Repre- sentation in the Dictionary, " in Translation and Lexicography: Papers Read at the EURALEX Col- loquium Held at Innsbruck 2-5 July 1987 (ed. Mary Snell-Hornby and Ester Pöhl; Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1989), 45-53, here 45; see also Gideon Toury, Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond (Benjamins Translation Library 4; Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1995), 274-79.
  4. Pietersma, "Psalms: To the Reader, " 542-44.
  5. Barr, Concept of Biblical Theology, 251.
  6. James Luther Mays, The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to the Psalms (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 134.
  7. Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1987), 72.
  8. Stephen Geller, "Wisdom, Nature and Piety in Some Biblical Psalms, " in Riches Hidden in Secret Places: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen (ed. I. Tzvi Abusch; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 116.
  9. Leslie C. Allen (Psalms 101-50 [WBC 21; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002], 183) argues that, given the presence of Aramaisms and terms characteristic of late or postbiblical Hebrew, a postexilic date for Ps 119 is inescapable.