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August 6, 2009
I Heart This Post
In general, when faced with an idiom of uncertain meaning, I favor a literal translation. If I'm not sure what something means, I think it best to pass that uncertainty along to the reader of my translation. But this can be tricky business. Nearly any string of words in any grammatical order will mean something to someone. And in many cases, a word string doesn't even really need to be in grammatical. Often, target language usage implies meanings that are not within the semantic range of the source language. And frequently, target language usage limits the semantic range of source language usage. Sometimes both dynamics interplay.
Following the work of Carolyn Leeb, Martin Shields of "Shields-up" discusses an interesting case in point. How should one handle the Biblical Hebrew expression דבר על לב? The word for word translation is "speak to the heart of…" Translators occasionally render it "speak tenderly to…" or the like. But Martin tells us that this rendering likely relies on "an English idiom, not a Hebrew idiom." Go check out what Martin has to say about the Hebrew and the various ways of translating it.
I want to look at a few usages of the Akkadian word most often translated "heart."
The Akkadian word libbu, much like its Hebrew cognate, has a rather large semantic range. It can mean "heart," "abdomen," "entrails" or even "womb." It generalizes to "inside," like the inside of a building or a container or even the pith inside a plant. But it can also mean "mind," "thought," "wish," "preference," and, sometimes, even "courage." All these meaning, with the possible exception of "womb," are somewhat within the semantic range of our English word "heart." But our word can also imply tenderness, compassion and love that the Akkadian does not appear ever to imply. However, the Akkadian itself has connotations missing from the semantic range of our word. When used as a preposition (or with a preposition) it can mean "among," "belonging to," "like," "according to," "as follows" as well as, in some contexts and constructions, "therefore."
Here are a few of examples:
libbû agâ iqabbi, "he was speaking as follows." A literal wrong translation would be "He said this heart."
abuka . . . libbû agâ iqabbi, "your father was speaking as follows." A literal wrong translation would be "your father was speaking this heart."
ina libbi ašib, "he will live there." Literal Wrong translation: "He will live in the heart."
ina libbi ūmakkal, "within a single day." Literal Wrong translation: "in the heart of a single day."
ina libbikunu išten, "one among you." Literal Wrong translation: "one in your heart."
urid ana libbimma, "he (Gilgāmeš) descended into it (a well)." Literal Wrong translation: "He descended into the heart."
While a couple of these examples, like the last one, are from rather flowery literature most are from far more mundane or at least non-poetic contexts. Translating Akkadian libbu into English "heart" implies a range of meanings that are not part of Akkadian usage and at the same time it restricts understandings that are part of Akkadian idiom.
Check out CAD L, 172-174, for these and many other examples.
I'm not sure if there's any help here in understanding the Hebrew passages about which Martin worries. Even coming to a tentative conclusion on that question will take more heart than I have just now. I will say that one should not pay too much attention to my first two examples when thinking of how to translate דבר על לב. With the Hebrew having a preposition and the Akkadian having a demonstrative pronoun, the construction is dissimilar. But I wouldn't completely ignore them either.
Posted by Duane Smith at August 6, 2009 8:10 PM | Read more on Akkadian |
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