3 ms·
> As a Hebrew speaker, I wish the "shibboleth" idiom (which is a good one) was translated, rather than transliterated. laoned idioms are inherently exotic, and
by 80386 7y ago
> As a Hebrew speaker, I wish the "shibboleth" idiom (which is a good one) was translated, rather than transliterated. laoned idioms are inherently exotic, and this one is worth demystifying
Until a few decades ago, it was assumed in educated Protestant society that everyone was familiar with the Bible. So a lot of biblical idioms are still present.
- netcan 7y agoHmm. I now just realized that the biblical translators must have chosen to transliterate the word, not translate it. It's probably because in context its about how the word is pronounced, not meaning. In any case, I guess the idiom would have never taken off with the word "corn."
- acqq 7y agoYou can compare the different translations, even through the centuries, here: Vulgate, cc 4th century CE: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A5-6&version=VULGATE https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A5-6... Luther, 1545: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A6&version=LUTH1545 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A6&v... King James Bible (1611): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A6&version=KJV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12%3A6&v... Septuagint (the Greek translation, older than all above, around 3rd century BCE) didn't keep that word as is: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/shibboleth-in-the-septuagint.2391146/ https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/shibboleth-in-the-se... "the LXX scholars had difficulties translating the Hebrew word שבלת Shibboleth into Greek, for the simple reason, Greek lacks the phoneme [ʃ]"