The Retranslation Hypothesis and Lexical Borrowings in Bible Translations into Igbo

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, I explore the validity of the retranslation hypothesis – that the first translation of a text tends to be more target culture oriented than subsequent translations – in representations of certain Biblical concepts in the translations of the Bible into Igbo. Specifically I investigate instances of lexical borrowings in the first complete translation of the Bible into Igbo because, following from the hypothesis, subsequent translations of the Bible should also borrow the same items. I discover that most of the borrowings in the first translation are de-borrowed in the retranslations, while the retained borrowings undergo various forms of grapho-phonological adjustments to reflect the Igbo linguistic system. Thus, the retranslation hypothesis is not validated in this study. I trace this choice of indigenization in the subsequent translations to the agents involved in the translations. Being specialists in Igbo Studies, they understand the Igbo linguistic system better than the agents of the first translation who were mainly European missionaries with little knowledge of the language system. Unlike the missionaries, these Igbo agents are not only interested in having the Bible in Igbo, but also in having it in an Igbo that is in sync with the way the language is actually used.