On Fri, 29 May 1998 16:21:27 -0400 wrote...
>
 
faithfulness to god's word was an especially medieval notion. Early Christians
wrote on papyri specifically to thumb their nose at the tradition of the book
and of interpreting scholars, but classical romans such as Cicero and the later
Quintillian argued the issues of translation, and oftentimes, agreed that sense
was more important than exactitude. I am moving in a couple weeks, so have
books packed, but if anyone wants, I can get them the places to look for these
classical arguments concerning translation.
 
Have I missed a couple of postings?  I don't know who this
>Alexander is or who the Ker is that he quotes, but the Ker
>quote seems naively anachronistic regarding the purpose of
>Bible translation in pre-modern times.  The primary criterion
>for early translators was faithfulness to God's *word*,
>literally, and therefore style and often target-language
>sense could go hang.  Remember the old story about the
>seventy-five (I think) translators who were each set to
>work independently to produce a translation into Greek
>of the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch)?  The result
>was that they all, without consulting with each other,
>produced word for word the same translation of the
>original Hebrew!!--proving, of course, the legitimacy of
>the operation, and thus promoting ecclesiastical interests.
>
>==Dan Pearlman
>
>At 03:27 PM 5/29/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>A quick note:
>>
>>An interesting  bit in "Ezra Pound's 'Seafarer'" that I found quite
>>provocative was Alexander's cite of W. P. Ker regarding translation. In this
>>particular case Ker says of Anglo-Saxon translators of the Bible:  "The
>>fault of Bible versions was that they kept too close to the original.
>>Instead of translating like free men they construed word for word, like the
>>illiterate in all ages."
>>
>>The focus of my interest is the use of the word 'illiterate' in the context
>>of this passage.  Since I'm a novice and really unaware of Ker, what
>>impressions or insights can any of you provide?  I mean, who exactly are the
>>'illiterate' (in your view)?
>>
>>Other items written by Ker?
>>
>Dan Pearlman                    Office: Department of English
>102 Blackstone Blvd. #5                 University of Rhode Island
>Providence, RI 02906                    Kingston, RI 02881
>Tel.: 401 453-3027                      Tel.: 401 874-4659
>email: [log in to unmask]            Fax:  401 874-2580
>
>
 
Robert E. Kibler
Department of English
University of Minnesota
[log in to unmask]
 
                fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestis,
                Panaque Silvanumque senem Nymphasque sorores.