Native syntax and translation effects: Adnominal arguments in the Greek and Latin New Testament

Abstract

A comparative study of the syntax of adnominal arguments in the Greek original and in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Gospels shows that word order in this domain is strikingly parallel in the two languages. The fact that faithfulness in translating evidently extends to syntax, leveling Latin to the Greek model, must not lead to the conclusion that the language of the Latin translation is artificially shaped in conformity to the Greek; rather, it shows that Latin, at this diachronic stage, shared with New Testament Greek some significant parametric settings pertaining to nominal syntax.