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Something's Lost In Translation

Yaakov is Jacob Yosef now Joseph Shlomo now Solomon Jonathan - Yonatan Is it the Anglicization or the Hebraization underpins the garblization of this transliteration

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Bill Baker

Date: 4/6/2022 5:13:00 PM

Wonderful information, Gershon. Especially in responses to comments below. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. Sincerely, Bill

Jeff Kyser

Date: 4/6/2022 1:19:00 AM

We have a copy of Everett Fox's Five Books of Moses which supposedly preserves some of the names, poetic sense of the language. I get the feeling a huge amount has been lost in translation. I know that's true of the Greek, but I seem to get nowhere in efforts to learn a new language late in life.

Gershon Wolf
Date: 4/6/2022 1:39:00 PM

Your feeling is spot-on, Jeff. So much nuance is missed in translation from the original Hebrew -- and sometimes the simple meaning is badly skewed as well. As well, the Hebrew grammar and syntax of the Old Testament are quite complex, added to which are the cantillation marks (trope notes) never shown in Christian English translations. The cantillation marks themselves can carry actual meaning, in addition to marking syntactical junctures and resolving potential misinterpretations. Finally, there are 'crowns' on each letter in the actual Torah scroll which carry literally 'mountains of additional meaning.' So, that's why the Torah was given from Mt. Sinai, the lowest of the region's mountains, to Moses, the humblest of men. (Numbers 12:3)... The Torah is a humbler of the greatest of men. :) gw