Abstract

Among the difficulties that have always challenged the translators of the Bible one can mention the adaptation of proper names in each idiom. Certain biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian when the first translations of fragments belonging to the Old and the New Testaments were performed. However, most biblical proper names were adapted into Romanian for the first time in the translation of the Septuagint performed by Nicolae Spătarul (Milescu) in the second half of the 17th century and preserved in a manuscript copy (the Romanian manuscript no. 45) from the same century. The main source of this translation was an edition of the Septuagint issued in Frankfurt in 1597. In accordance with the spirit of literalism in Bible translation in that period, the main tendency of translators and reviewers was to preserve, as much as possible, the original form of proper names as they appeared in the source-text, attempting, at the same time, to integrate them in the formal system (graphy, declension) of the Romanian language. Starting from the formal particularities of the names in the source-text, we aim at describing certain aspects related to the graphic principles that the transposition of proper names from the Greek source into Ms. 45 was based upon.

Highlights

  • The transposition of proper names from one language into another can be achieved through a number of main procedures: translation

  • The study of formal adaptation to the Romanian language system of proper names written in another alphabet supposes two main research directions: 1) graphic adaptation: the transposition through transliteration or through phonetic transcription of proper names from one alphabet into the other3 ; 2) morphologic adaptation: the participation of proper names in gender, number, case and determination oppositions in the Romanian language (Ichim-Tomescu, 1978, p. 237)

  • The literality of the translation from Ms 45, which implies a tendency towards the preservation of the original forms from the source-text, the different graphic forms, the coexistence of two different alphabets, as well as the translator’s attempt to adapt the biblical onomastics to the Romanian language, are some of the aspects that have contributed to the degree of integration of biblical proper names from Greek into

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Summary

Introduction

The transposition of proper names from one language into another can be achieved through a number of main procedures: translation (replacing the textual material from the source-language with the textual equivalent in the target language, for example: Gr. Φάραγξ Βότρυος – Valea Strugurelui1 ), transliteration and transcription (the adaptation of a name form in the source-language to the graphic and morphologic system of the target-language). The literality of the translation from Ms 45, which implies a tendency towards the preservation of the original forms from the source-text, the different graphic forms, the coexistence of two different alphabets, as well as the translator’s attempt to adapt the biblical onomastics to the Romanian language, are some of the aspects that have contributed to the degree of integration of biblical proper names from Greek into. In literal translation, where the morphological forms of proper names as they appear in the original are often preserved, some specifications regarding the declension of proper names from the Greek source-text (sept. 1597) are mandatory for the proper understanding of certain graphic forms as they appear in the Romanian version

Formal particularities of proper names in the Septuagint
Graphic particularities of proper names in Ms 45
The preference for rendering the original as accurately as possible
Conclusions
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