Sources of influence on rendering biblical geographical names into Ukrainian. Part 2.

Abstract

The article examines the coincidences and discrepancies in the rendering of geographical names in the most common translations of the Bible into Ukrainian. The material of the study comprised 172 geographical names from the text of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) in translations from the Hebrew original, as well as from the Synodical and English-language intermediary texts. For the purpose of this analysis, all 172 names were divided into six categories, depending on the degree of coincidence of their spelling in Ukrainian, where in category 1 the rendering of the proper name coincides in all versions of the translation, and in category 6 it does not coincide in any of its six versions. The other categories differed in the proportion of such matches. This article discusses the results of the analysis of the latter two categories, which allow to draw a preliminary conclusion that some of the studied translators were guided mainly by the Ukrainian tradition (initiated in the translations of I. Ohienko and I. Khomenko), even when they did not translate from the Hebrew original but from other intermediary texts, in particular, from the English-language (New World Bible). Filaret was mainly influenced by the synodal translation, only occasionally switching over to the Ukrainian tradition. On the other hand, O. Hyzha even translating from the synodal text, has a distinctly Ukrainian orientation, relying on the long tradition of national translation. Turkoniak’s translation stands apart, as he adheres to his own principles of rendering proper names, making his translation unlike any other tradition in this respect. Given the undoubted erudition and qualifications of this translator, it can be assumed that his innovations are the most valuable ones in the modern interpretation of the texts of Scripture.