John Zhu-En Wee, «Hebrew Syntax in the Organization of Laws and its Adaptation in the Septuagint», Vol. 85 (2004) 523-544
The Hebrew of the Pentateuch exhibits a hierarchy of
discourse markers that indicate different organization levels in the legal
texts. This organization elucidates the relationship (whether coordination or
subordination) of legal stipulations with each other. The markers studied
include X+yk+Pred and X+r#)+Pred
constructions, yk and M)
clauses, as well as a specialized use of the particle
hnh. The Greek translators may have been sensitive to the use of these
markers and even modified them in order to express their particular
interpretation of the text.
544 John Zhu-En Wee
function at different levels of the translators’ consciousness. These
qualities need not be viewed as merely either present or absent. It
seems to me that the translators not only interpreted the passages they
translated, but also intended to convey their particular interpretation
to their readers. To be sure, this need not mean that every non-literal
rendition of grammatical points is to be viewed as a calculated choice
by the translators. The deliberate intention to convey a particular
meaning of an entire discourse may be manifested, on the lexical
level, by intuitive, spontaneous choices of words. Again, the extent to
which intentionality permeates the lexical level varies from text to
text. The above examples under Levitical Offerings and Grouping of
Laws on Jubilee and Vows may represent no more than an unconscious
expression of the translators’ view of the passage as a whole.
However, the examples in Leprosy Laws: White Marks in Skin and
Prohibited Human Relationships may suggest a more deliberate
attempt by the translators to make sense out of a puzzling Hebrew text.
This paper shows that the application of discourse analysis to the
LXX text can provide insights into the psychology and technique of
the translators. Due to the formulaic nature of the legal texts, it has
sufficed to focus on the handful of syntactical forms that function as
discourse markers in the Hebrew and Greek. Less rigid methods of
macroscopic study could be developed to analyze other genres in the
LXX (e.g., Beck’s work on narrative analysis, see footnote 1). Such
studies may illuminate the translators’ understanding not merely of
isolated points of exegesis, but also of entire literary sections or books.
8 Jedburgh Gardens JOHN ZHU-EN WEE
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Republic of Singapore
SUMMARY
The Hebrew of the Pentateuch exhibits a hierarchy of discourse markers that
indicate different organization levels in the legal texts. This organization
elucidates the relationship (whether coordination or subordination) of legal
stipulations with each other. The markers studied include X+yk+Pred and
X+rça+Pred constructions, yk and µa clauses, as well as a specialized use of the
particle hnh. The Greek translators may have been sensitive to the use of these
markers and even modified them in order to express their particular interpretation
of the text.