Abstract
Abstract The late second century CE translator/reviser Symmachus took a very different approach to the versions of his predecessor Aquila. His renderings do not appear to have survived in Jewish circles but were much admired by early Christian scholars, thanks to their preservation in Origen’s Hexapla. However, for textual critics of the Hebrew Bible Symmachus’ free approach has limited his value since his readings cannot be easily retroverted, unlike those of Aquila or Theodotion. In the case of the book of Job, although Symmachus’ “transformations” (to use a term from Descriptive Translation Studies) differ in nature from the freedoms observed in OG Job, while rejecting the narrow isomorphism of Aquila and Theodotion he nevertheless adheres quite closely to his Hebrew Vorlage. This offers the possibility of identifying elements significant for textual criticism in his rendering, including variant reading traditions or a different consonantal text.
Highlights
Since Textus focuses on textual criticism, it may seem questionable to offer a contribution on the fragmentary renderings of a famously free translator in a notoriously difficult Hebrew book
Can Symmachus (Sym.) offer anything to the text-critical study of Job? In the past I have argued that modern com
Sym. in Job provides good examples of van der Louw’s observation, “Behind each transformation stands a literal rendering that has been rejected,”[62] a literal rendering that we may sometimes see in a corresponding fragment of Theodotion or Aquila (e.g. Job 1:16b; 24:17)
Summary
Since Textus focuses on textual criticism, it may seem questionable to offer a contribution on the fragmentary renderings of a famously free translator in a notoriously difficult Hebrew book. Retroversion has to be based on systematic study of the tendencies of individual translators in rendering Hebrew.[3] Statistical study of renderings in different books of the lxx Pentateuch was developed from the 1950s by the Finnish school, aided by the critical editing of the text by Rahlfs and the Göttingen Unternehmen. Aquila and Sym. produced their own versions of Hebrew Job, which were culled from Origen’s Hexapla and preserved only very fragmentarily in the margins of manuscripts or in patristic commentaries.[14] The textual critic can employ the readings of Theodotion and Aquila in Job, owing to their isomorphic approach and tendency to standardise renderings (or hazard “etymological” ones, in the case of hapaxes), since these features aid retroversion to a presumed Vorlage. The first three examples note some instances where Sym. represents the Hebrew faithfully without resorting to isomorphism or stereotyping, and yet produces a rendering that differs from the og’s own relatively free handling of its Vorlage
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