Translation Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Religious texts=== {{Further|Bible translations|Quran translations}} [[File:Domenico Ghirlandaio - St Jerome in his study.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Jerome]], [[patron saint]] of translators and [[encyclopedia|encyclopedists]]]] An important role in history has been played by translation of religious texts. Such translations may be influenced by tension between the text and the religious values the translators wish to convey.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tobler|first1=Stefan|last2=Sabău|first2=Antoaneta|date=1 April 2018|title=Translating Confession, Editorial RES 1/2018|url=https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/ress/10/1/article-p5.xml|journal=Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu|volume=10|issue=1|pages=5–9|doi=10.2478/ress-2018-0001|s2cid=188019915|doi-access=free}}</ref> For example, [[Buddhist]] [[monk]]s who translated the [[India]]n [[sutra]]s into [[Chinese language|Chinese]] occasionally adjusted their translations to better reflect [[China]]'s distinct [[culture]], emphasizing notions such as [[filial piety]]. One of the first recorded instances of translation in the West was the 3rd century BCE rendering of some books of the biblical [[Old Testament]] from Hebrew into [[Koine Greek]]. The translation is known as the "[[Septuagint]]", a name that refers to the supposedly seventy translators (seventy-two, in some versions) who were commissioned to translate the Bible at [[Alexandria]], Egypt. According to legend, each translator worked in solitary confinement in his own cell, and all seventy versions proved identical. The ''Septuagint'' became the [[source text]] for later translations into many languages, including Latin, [[Coptic language|Coptic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], and [[Georgian language|Georgian]]. Still considered one of the greatest translators in history, for having rendered the Bible into Latin, is [[Jerome]] (347–420 CE), the [[patron saint]] of translators. For centuries the [[Roman Catholic Church]] used his translation (known as the [[Vulgate]]), though even this translation stirred controversy. By contrast with Jerome's contemporary, [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430 CE), who endorsed precise translation, Jerome believed in adaptation, and sometimes invention, in order to more effectively bring across the meaning. Jerome's colorful Vulgate translation of the Bible includes some crucial instances of "overdetermination". For example, [[Isaiah]]'s prophecy announcing that the Savior will be born of a virgin, uses the word '''almah'', which is also used to describe the dancing girls at [[Solomon]]'s court, and simply means young and nubile. Jerome, writes [[Marina Warner]], translates it as ''virgo'', "adding divine authority to the virulent cult of [[sex]]ual disgust that shaped Christian moral theology (the [Moslem] ''[[Quran]]'', free from this linguistic trap, does not connect [[Maryam (name)|Mariam]]/[[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]]'s miraculous nature with moral horror of sex)." The apple that [[Eve]] offered to [[Adam]], according to Mark Polizzotti, could equally well have been an [[apricot]], orange, or banana; but Jerome liked the [[pun]] ''malus/malum'' (apple/evil).<ref name="This Little Art 2018 p. 22"/> [[Pope Francis]] has suggested that the phrase "lead us not into temptation", in the [[Lord's Prayer]] found in the [[Gospel of Matthew|Gospels of Matthew]] (the first Gospel, written {{circa|80}}–90 CE) and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] (the third Gospel, written {{circa|80}}–110 CE), should more properly be translated, "do not let us fall into temptation", commenting that God does not lead people into temptation—[[Satan]] does.{{efn|MJC Warren, Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies, [[University of Sheffield]], points out (more explicitly than Charles McNamara) that Luke gives a shorter version of Jesus's Lord's Prayer, leaving off the request that God "deliver us from evil"; that (as Charles McNamara also says) accurate translation is not the question here; and that the Bible records a number of incidents when God commands evil actions, such as that [[Abraham]] kill his only son, [[Isaac]] (whose execution is canceled at the last moment).<ref>MJC Warren, "‘Lead us not into temptation’: why Pope Francis is wrong about the Lord’s Prayer", ''[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]'', 8 December 2017 [https://theconversation.com/lead-us-not-into-temptation-why-pope-francis-is-wrong-about-the-lords-prayer-88886]</ref>}} Some important early Christian authors interpreted the Bible's Greek text and [[Jerome]]'s Latin Vulgate similarly to Pope Francis. A.J.B. Higgins<ref>A.J.B. Higgins, "'Lead Us Not into Temptation': Some Latin Variants", ''[[Journal of Theological Studies]]'', 1943.</ref> in 1943 showed that among the earliest Christian authors, the understanding and even the text of this devotional verse underwent considerable changes. These ancient writers suggest that, even if the Greek and Latin texts are left unmodified, something like "do not let us fall" could be an acceptable English rendering. Higgins cited [[Tertullian]], the earliest of the Latin [[Church Fathers]] ({{circa|155|240 CE}}, "do not allow us to be led") and [[Cyprian]] ({{circa|200}}–258 CE, "do not allow us to be led into temptation"). A later author, [[Ambrose]] ({{circa|340}}–397 CE), followed Cyprian's interpretation. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), familiar with Jerome's Latin Vulgate rendering, observed that "many people... say it this way: 'and do not allow us to be led into temptation.'"<ref>Charles McNamara, "Lead Us Not into Temptation? Francis Is Not the First to Question a Key Phrase of the Lord's Prayer", ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]'', 1 January 2018. [https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/lead-us-not-temptation]</ref> In 863 CE the brothers [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]], the [[Byzantine Empire]]'s "Apostles to the Slavs", began translating parts of the Bible into the [[Old Church Slavonic]] language, using the [[Glagolitic script]] that they had devised, based on the [[Greek alphabet]]. The periods preceding and contemporary with the [[Protestant Reformation]] saw translations of the Bible into [[vernacular]] (local) European languages—a development that contributed to [[Western Christianity]]'s split into Roman Catholicism and [[Protestantism]] over disparities between Catholic and Protestant renderings of crucial words and passages (and due to a Protestant-perceived need to reform the Roman Catholic Church). Lasting effects on the religions, cultures, and languages of their respective countries were exerted by such Bible translations as [[Martin Luther]]'s into German (the [[New Testament]], 1522), [[Jakub Wujek]]'s into Polish (1599, as revised by the [[Jesuits]]), and [[Tyndale Bible|William Tyndale's version]] (New Testament, 1526 and revisions) and the [[King James Version]] into English (1611). [[File:Moses (Michaelangelo - San Pietro in Vincoli - Rome).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Mistranslation: [[Michelangelo]]'s [[Horns of Moses|horned Moses]]]] Efforts to translate the Bible into English had their [[martyr]]s. [[William Tyndale]] ({{circa|1494}}–1536) was convicted of [[heresy]] at [[Antwerp]], was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned.<ref>{{Citation |last=Farris |first=Michael |title=From Tyndale to Madison |year=2007 |page=37}}.</ref> Earlier, [[John Wycliffe]] ({{circa|mid-1320s}} – 1384) had managed to die a natural death, but 30 years later the [[Council of Constance]] in 1415 declared him a heretic and decreed that his works and earthly remains should be burned; the order, confirmed by [[Pope Martin V]], was carried out in 1428, and Wycliffe's corpse was exhumed and burned and the ashes cast into the [[River Swift]]. Debate and religious [[schism]] over different translations of religious texts continue, as demonstrated by, for example, the [[King James Only movement]]. A famous ''mistranslation'' of a [[Biblical]] text is the rendering of the Hebrew word {{lang|he|קֶרֶן|rtl=yes}} (''keren''), which has several meanings, as "[[Horns of Moses|horn]]" in a context where it more plausibly means "beam of light": as a result, for centuries artists, including sculptor [[Michelangelo]], have rendered [[Moses|Moses the Lawgiver]] with horns growing from his forehead. [[File:Chinese quran.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Chinese language|Chinese]] translation, verses 33–34 of ''Quran'''s [[Ya Sin|''surah'' (chapter) 36]]]] Such fallibility of the translation process has contributed to the [[Islamic]] world's ambivalence about translating the ''[[Quran]]'' (also spelled ''Koran'') from the original Arabic, as received by the prophet [[Muhammad]] from [[Allah]] (God) through the angel [[Gabriel]] incrementally between 609 and 632 CE, the year of Muhammad's death. During prayers, the ''Quran'', as the miraculous and inimitable word of Allah, is recited only in Arabic. However, as of 1936, it had been translated into at least 102 languages.<ref name="fatani">{{cite encyclopedia |first =Afnan|last = Fatani|title =Translation and the Qur'an|editor-link =Oliver Leaman|editor-first = Oliver| editor-last = Leaman|encyclopedia=The Qur'an: An Encyclopaedia|publisher = Routledge|date = 2006|pages = 657–669|isbn = 978-0415775298}}</ref> A fundamental difficulty in translating the ''Quran'' accurately stems from the fact that an Arabic word, like a Hebrew or Aramaic word, may have a [[Polysemy|range of meanings]], depending on [[Context (language use)|context]]. This is said to be a linguistic feature, particularly of all [[Semitic languages]], that adds to the usual similar difficulties encountered in translating between any two languages.<ref name = fatani/> There is always an element of human judgment—of interpretation—involved in understanding and translating a text. Muslims regard any translation of the ''Quran'' as but one possible interpretation of the [[Classical Arabic|Quranic (Classical) Arabic]] text, and not as a full equivalent of that divinely communicated original. Hence such a translation is often called an "interpretation" rather than a translation.<ref>[[Malise Ruthven]], ''Islam in the World'', Granta, 2006, p. 90, {{ISBN|978-1-86207-906-9}}.</ref> To complicate matters further, as with other languages, the meanings and usages of some expressions have changed ''over time'', between the Classical Arabic of the ''Quran'', and modern Arabic. Thus a modern Arabic speaker may misinterpret the meaning of a word or passage in the ''Quran''. Moreover, the interpretation of a Quranic passage will also depend on the historic context of Muhammad's life and of his early community. Properly researching that context requires a detailed knowledge of ''[[hadith]]'' and ''[[Prophetic biography|sirah]]'', which are themselves vast and complex texts. Hence, analogously to the translating of [[#Chinese literature|Chinese literature]], an attempt at an accurate translation of the ''Quran'' requires a knowledge not only of the Arabic language and of the target language, including their respective evolutions, but also a deep understanding of the two [[culture]]s involved. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page