Bible translation as mediator of Hebrew impact on target languages: the Estonian bible translation by Johannes Gutslaff

What it is about

The paper studies the 17th-century Estonian manuscript of the Old Testament by Johannes Gutslaff, which was translated directly from Hebrew rather than from Luther's German, as the Finnish Bible was. Luther held that a translator should not follow the source structure, but the Estonian translators followed the Hebrew strictly. The author analyses Genesis 25, Ruth 2 and some shorter passages, and 68 comments the translator added to Hebrew words in Genesis, to see how faithful he was and whether he drew on other translations. The most visible feature is that his Estonian grammar bends toward Hebrew: Hebrew phrases are rendered word for word, with calques on Hebrew constructions such as the narrative "and he said" pattern. The 1739 published translation also followed the Hebrew, so Hebrew influence on Estonian phraseology has lasted into modern use. The study is qualitative and based on a few chapters.

Ideas

I1. Source order as a default with counted departures: a translation that keeps the Hebrew order is a style class. In en/src/lin.rs the order is the source's by default, and each departure is an override. Count the departures per translator and per class.
I2. Calque detection: when a Hebrew idiom is rendered word for word, the encoder should record the chunk as a construction rather than as separate lexical items. The paper's examples are a case of phrases carrying function words, the second open problem of the translator.
I3. The paper's claim that a source-following target costs more in the encoder and less in the reader is testable: measure the split of residual bits between the two layers for a source-following author and a free one, and report it rather than assume it.

For Mova

The paper bears on the Hebrew-to-meta order normaliser (open problem 7) and on the phrase constructions (open problem 2). The language is Estonian and the method is qualitative, so only the design ideas carry over. Summary only.

Topics: Machine translation

Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. DOI 10.30752/nj.69571

@inproceedings{ross2000bible,
  title = {{Bible translation as mediator of Hebrew impact on target languages: the Estonian bible translation by Johannes Gutslaff}},
  author = {Ross, Kristiina},
  booktitle = {Nordisk Judaistik 21},
  year = {2000},
  doi = {10.30752/nj.69571},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69571}
}

References

5 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

Gutslaff, Johannes. 1998. Observationes grammaticae circa linguam esthonicum: grammatilisi vaatlusi eesti keelest. (Tartu ülikooli eesti keele öppetooli toimetised Io.) Luther 1530. On Translating: An open Letter, 1530. Translated by Charles M. Jacobs. Revised by E. Theodore Bachmann. In: Luther's works in 56 volumes. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. Vol. 35. pp. 1 75-202. Luther 1533. Summarien Über die Psalmen and Ursachen des Dolmetschens, 1533. In: Luther Deutsch. Herausgegeben von Kurt Aland. Band 5: Die Schriftauslegung. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Göttingen (1991). pp. 176-181. find
Meschonnic, Henri. 1999. Poetique du traduire. Paris, Verdier. find
Nuorteva, J. 1992. "Suomalaisen Raamatun 35o vuotta." In: Biblia 35o: Suomalainen Raamattu ja Suomen kulttuuri. pp. 20-34. (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia. 556.) Pöldmäe, Rudolf. 1939. Anton Thor Helle: Esimese eesti piibli tölkija. In: Vana Tallinn, IV. pp. 35-74. (Tallinna Ajaloo Selts.) Ross, K. 1995(a). "Ülemlaulu tölkest esimeses eestikeelses piiblis." In: Akadeemia. No. 1. pp. 3-29. Ross, K. 1995(b). "Verbivormide tölkest esimeses eestikeelses täispiiblis: Ülemlaulu pöhjal." In: Läänemere rahvaste kirjakeelte ajaloost. Tartu. pp. 176-189. (Tartu ülikooli eesti keele öppetooli toimetised. I.) find
Ross, K. 1997. "Kahest 17. sajandi teise poole käsikirjalisest piiblitölkest." In: Evald Saag 85: juubelikogumik. EELK Konsistooriumi Kirjastusosakond. pp. 52-55. find
Tering, A. 1979. "Lisandusi ja täpsustusi Johannes Gutslaffi kohta." In: Keel ja Kirjandus, No. I. pp. 26-30. SAMMANFATTNING find

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