『신약젼셔』(1906년) 로마서의 번역 고찰

Abstract

This article examines how faithfully the translation principles were exercised for the Korean New Testament, in particular the Romans, which was initially published in 1900 and revised in 1904 and 1906. It is often insisted that, for both the original translation and the revisions, the Board of Translators set the rules to use Palmer’s Greek edition as the basic text; to make reference to the English Revised Version; and to let the Korean helpers consult the Chinese Delegates’ Version. However, a closer examination hints us that these rules were not kept reliably. Evidences show that the Greek grammar was not applied to a number of passages. It is not difficult to find inappropriate expressions, exaggerations, and omissions. Presumably, the draft of the Korean assistants would have been adopted by and large. In addition, the Korean New Testament (1906) influenced the Korean Revised Version (1961) and the New Korean Revised Version (1998).<BR> This study comes to the following conclusions. First, the translators did not take the original Greek into consideration very seriously. They did not consult even the English R.V. carefully while the Korean helpers dealt with the Chinese Version at their disposal. Secondly, the Korean Old Version ought to be considered as the work of the Korean helpers since they made use of their free language style for translation. They deserve, therefore, to be called ‘translators,’ not ‘helpers’ or ‘assistants,’ despite the fact that they have made many mistakes. Lastly, the latest Korean version (NKRV) influenced by the Korean New Testament (1906) should be also thoroughly examined and corrected as soon as possible, and it is necessary to publish a more reliable and accurate version in Korean immediately.