a Latin moment
We all know Psalm 23 "the Lord is my shepherd, etc..." Well, I'm sitting here perusing through the Vulgate looking up something for my paper, and I cruise on over to Psalm 22 (the numbering system is a little diff in the Vulgate). At first I thought I was in the wrong spot but then I realized I wasn't. I expected to see "Dominus meum pastorem est" or something to that effect, but what I found was "Dominus regit me". It's a perfectly legitimate translation. "Guide" and "lead" are meanings for the verb regere, though I usually associate with what a rex does rather heavy-handedly. The mental picture evoked all my life from the words of the Lord as my shepherd nurturing I His feeble sheep conjure up a slightly different image from I, humble servant submitting to my King and Ruler, though that is also a very appropriate image. In fact, it sort of makes me ponder how I read this Psalm. See, Latina est gaudium et utilis.
Comments
That may not be the best translation. The version you were reading is Jerome's translation of the LXX. While the Greek translation of the Hebrew appears to be legitimate, it also has a broader range of meaning than the Hebrew. In both languages, the word in question can refer both to shepherding and ruling. However, whereas in the Hebrew the connotation of shepherding carries over into that of ruling, this is not the case in the Greek. The difference between possible meanings in the Greek is great enough to warrant more than one translation. Jerome seems to have chosen the wrong meaning. In his subsequent Latin translation of the Psalms from the Hebrew, he writes, "Dominus pascit me."
Posted by: Kevin | April 28, 2004 5:31 AM
True. And I realize that in many instances Jerome's trans can be somewhat lacking since he is coming from the LXX, essentially, a secondary source in this case. I'm he found a more appropriate verb later. The regere, though not completely inaccurate, is still somewhat startling.
Posted by: Jeannette | April 28, 2004 8:57 AM
There's something wrong with our computer, maybe a virus, but no one is slowing down long enough to fix it. I am at school. I just enjoyed all your pictures.
Psalm 23 in Latin always puzzled me. I thought it would be more obvious than it apparently is!!!! I like to think that Jerome is enough of a scholar to translate accuarately, and I am sure he was, but it is only one brain at that. I often find puzzling things with the Latin and Greek ,where Latin has one option and Greek two, the common option will be chosen, but it is not necessarily correct, it's just that the Latin has obnly one option. This month we learned Isaiah 53:6. It is very word for word. What is gratifying is that my 8th and 9th graders can recognize the words. In English we ought to be saying (I think), "We have turned COMMA every one COMMA his own way." I alsways said it like we were all turning each other!
love ,mom
Posted by: mom1 | April 28, 2004 9:42 AM
well, it's partly the sources Jerome was working from.
Posted by: Jeannette | April 28, 2004 9:59 AM