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Re: orion translation central?
Sigrid Peterson wrote:
> and the example of the Song of Deborah (Judges/Shofetim 5), which has two
> translations into Greek, with many doublets (see the E Tov article) and a
> generally mangled approach to its poetry, where the poem which has been
> transmitted via the MT (Masoretic Text) retains archaic language and
> poetic features which are parallel to the poetry of the Ugaritic mythic
> cycles of 1400 bce at the latest.
>
> I realize that there can be beautiful, poetic translations and adaptations
> of a not-so-poetic original language piece; there's artful rhyme in the
> Syriac Psalms of Solomon, which are translated, probably from the Hebrew
> (see Trafton, ABD & book-length discussion of 1985 in Septuagint and
> Cognate Studies series). I'm working with a beautiful poetic piece in
> Syriac that incorporates an earlier rhymed translation into a later
> intricate rhymed structure, that could not be more artful if it were an
> original composition.
>
> I think the presence of doublets, one fairly universal sign of the
> tendency of translators to use two words to express something that is said
> in only one in the original, is a helpful and fairly universal sign that
> distinguishes language of translation from language of original.
>
> For the Song of Deborah, we may only have the medieval MT text, but there
> are many things about it which indicate that it could not have been
> translated from or paraphrased from or freely composed according
> to the Greek. Here there are two Greek versions that don't seem original,
> and one Hebrew version that is highly similar to poetry older
> than almost anything extant in Greek.
> [...]>
> >
>
> Sigrid Peterson UPenn petersig@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
>
> PS The texts span approximately two millenia bracketing the period of
> Qumran occupation. Perhaps Qumran centrality is an indicator that we can
> discuss such a question on Orion?
Dear Sigrid,I Iliked your explanation regarding the Song of Deborah.
As for Biblical references to YHWH's war agagainst the sea monster, there is an old
Hebrew article on the subject by Umberto Cassuto, "The War of YHWH against the Prince
of the Sea, in which he reconstructs an assumed ancient epic; but I can't remember
where it appeared.
Is it perhaps in his collection of articles?
Yours,
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College