Cover not available
Part of
A World Atlas of Translation
Edited by Yves Gambier and Ubaldo Stecconi
[Benjamins Translation Library 145] 2019
► pp. 193–214

Chapter 9
Traditions of translation in Hebrew culture

Throughout most of the history of Jewish communities worldwide, diglossia has been the rule rather than the exception. The history of Hebrew translation is hereby told from this special angle of Hebrew’s diglossic existence, encompassing both ‘classical’, genetically related diglossia (Hebrew/Aramaic, Hebrew/Arabic) and ‘extended’, non-genetically related diglossia (Hebrew/Greek, Hebrew/non-semitic Jewish Languages). Accordingly, the following overview is divided into two unequal parts: the first presents traditions of translation into Hebrew in its long-held diglossic state since biblical times to the end of Haskala, and the second, traditions originating and carried out in its ongoing non-diglossic state begun with the return to Eretz Israel in the late 19th century. It is within this context that the attitude towards translation as well as the significance of translation for Hebrew culture will be viewed.
Keywords: Hebrew, diglossia, ancient times, revival, independence
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation born of diglossia
    • 2.1The biblical period
    • 2.2The mishnaic and talmudic periods: Enter the translator
    • 2.3The Middle Ages
    • 2.4The haskala : Jewish Enlightenment
    • 2.5The center shifts to Eastern Europe
  • 3.The non-diglossic era
    • 3.1Back to Eretz Israel
    • 3.2The State years: Normalization and institutionalization
    • 3.3Translated literature: Norms and repertoire
    • 3.4The rise of translation studies
  • 4.Epilogue
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.145.09ben
References (47)
References
Albertz, R. 2003. Israel in exile. The History and Literature of the sixth century BCE, vol. 7. Society of Biblical Literature.Google Scholar
Amit-Kochavi, Hannah. 1998. “Translation from Arabic into Hebrew in Israel – An Overview.” Meta 43 (1): 79–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bassnett, Susan. 1993. Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford/Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bastin, Georges. 2006. “Subjectivity and Rigour in Translation History: The Latin America Case”. In G. Bastin & P. Bandia (eds). Charting the Future of Translation History, 111–129. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Ari, Nitsa. 1997. “The Jewish Historical Novel Helps to Reshape the Historical Consciousness of German Jews.” In: Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096–1996, 143–151. J. Zipes, S. L. Gilman, (eds.) Yale University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006a. Romanze mit der Vergangenheit: Der deutsch-jüdisch historische Roman des 19.Jahrhunderts und seine Bedeutung für die Entstehung einer Jüdischen Nationalliteratur. Translation by Dr. Dafna Mach. Coditio Judaica, 58, Tübingen: Niemeyer Verlag, viii, 278 pp.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006b. Suppression of the Erotic in the Modern Hebrew Literature. Ottawa: Ottawa University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006c. “Puritan Translations in Israel: Rewriting a History of Translation”. In G. Bastin, P. Bandia (eds). Charting the Future of Translation History, 164–179. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
. 2009. “Popular literature in Hebrew as Marker of Anti-Sabra Culture”, Translation Studies 2 (2): 178–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. An open system of systems: I. Even-Zohar and the Polysystem theory”. In C. Millán & F. Bartrina (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies, 144–150. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ben-Shahar, Rina. 1998. « The language of plays translated into Hebrew from English and French – A cultural stylistic study”, Meta 53 (1): 54–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cohen Skalli, Cedric. 2014. Le modèle d l’exhumation chez Freud au regard de l’intuitionnisme de Bergson. In Brigitte Sitbon-Peillon. Bergson et Freud. Paris: PUF. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coogan, Michael David, and Michael D. Coogan (eds.). 2001. The Oxford history of the biblical world. USA: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Delisle, Jean. 1997–1998. “Réflexions sur l’historiographie de la traduction et ses exigences scientifiques”, Equivalence 26 (2): 21–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delisle, Jean and Judith Woodsworth. (eds.). 2012. Translators through History. Revised Edition. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Drory, Rina. 1988. The Emergence of Jewish-Arabic Literary Contacts at the Beginning of the Tenth Century. Tel- Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics & Semiotics, Tel Aviv University (Hebrew).Google Scholar
D’hulst, Lieven. 2001. “Why and how to write translation histories”. In J. Milton (ed.). Emerging Views on Translation History in Brazil, 21–32. Sao Paolo: Humanitas/FFLCH/USP, CROP 6.Google Scholar
Erchei Milon – A collection of entries from ancient times, from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the end of the Geonim Era: Experimental Booklet. Historical Dictionary Project. The Academy of the Hebrew Language (Hebrew).
Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1970. “The Nature and Functionalization of the Language of Literature under Diglossia”. Ha-Sifrut 2 (2): 286–303 (Hebrew, English Summary: 443–446).Google Scholar
. 1978. “Russian and Hebrew, The case of a dependent polysystem”. In Papers in Historical Poetics, 63–75. The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University. Also published later in 1990 as: “Russian and Hebrew: The Case of a Dependent Polysystem.” Poetics Today 11 (1): 97–110, special issue on Polysystem Studies.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Charles F. 1959. “Diglossia.”. Word 15: 2.325–40. Reprinted in Hymes, Dell (ed.) 1964, Language in Culture and Society. A Reader in Linguistics and Anthropology, 429–39. New York/London: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, Israal & Silberman, Neil Asher. 2001. The Bible Unearthed: Archeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts. Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A. 1980. “Bilingualism and Biculturism as Individual and as Societal Phenomena”. In: Fishman, J. A. et al. (eds). The rise and fall of the ethnic revival: Perspectives on Language and Ethnicity, vol. 37. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin. 2001. “Polysystem Theory.” In Contemporary Translation Studies, 106–144. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Gil, Moshe. 1983. Palestine in the First Muslim Period (634–1099). Vol. 2 & 3. Tel Aviv University Press (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Khayal, Ma’hmud. 1998. “Hebrew-Arabic Translations in the Modern Era: A General Survey.” Meta 43 (1): 86–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leith, Mary Joan Winn. 2001 [1998]. “Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period.” In Michael David Coogan (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Megan Bishop & Kelle, Brad E. 2011. Biblical History and Israel’s Past: The Changing Study of the Bible and History. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing.Google Scholar
Pasachoff, Naomi E. & Robert J. Littman. 2005. A Concise History of the Jewish people. Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Pöchhacker, Franz & Miriam Shlesinger (eds). 2007. Healthcare Interpreting: Discourse and Interaction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 1998. Method in Translation History. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Pym, A. M. Shlesinger & Z. Jettmarová (eds). 2006. Sociocultural Aspects of Translating and Interpreting. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sela-Sheffy, Rakefet. 2008. “The Translators’ Personae: Marketing Translatorial Images as Pursuit of Capital.” Meta LIII, 3: 609–622.Google Scholar
Sela-Sheffy, Rakefet & Miriam Shlesinger. 2008. “Strategies of Image-Making and Status Advancement of Translators and Interpreters as a Marginal Occupational Group”. In A. Pym, M. Shlesinger & D. Simeoni (eds). Beyond Descriptive Translation Studies, 79–90. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shavit, Yaakov. 1996. “Supplying a Missing System: Between Official and Unofficial Popular Culture in the Hebrew National Culture in Eretz Israel”. In B. Z. Kedar (ed.) Popular Culture, 327–345. Jerusalem: Merkaz Zalman Shazar (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Shavit, Zohar. 1998. “The status of translated literature in the creation of Hebrew literature in pre-State Israel (the yishuv period).” Meta, 43 (1): 46–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. Poetics of Children’s Literature. University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Shlesinger, Miriam. 1989. “Extending the Theory of Translation and Interpretation: Norms as a Case in Point”. Target 1 (1), 111–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, David Winton. 1958. Documents from Old Testament Times. Edinburgh/London: Thomas Nelson.Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon. 1977. Translational norms and Literary Translations into Hebrew. Tel Aviv: Porter Institute (Hebrew).Google Scholar
. 1980a. “Translation.” Encyclopedia Hebraica, 1063–1065. Jerusalem: Schoken (Hebrew)Google Scholar
. 1980b. In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel Aviv: Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.Google Scholar
. 1985. “A rationale for Descriptive Translation Studies”. In Theo Hermans (ed.) The Manipulation of Literature, 16–41. London/Sydney: Crom Helm.Google Scholar
. 2002. “Translation and Reflection on Translation: A skeletal history for the uninitiated.” In Jewish Translation History, Robet Singerman (ed.), ix—xxxi. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Toury, Gideon & Ben-Ari, Nitsa. 2006. ”Past, Present and Future of the Art: A conversation with G. Toury”, Translation and Interpreting Studies 1 (2): 147–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weissbrod, Rachel. 1998. “Translation Research in the Framework of the Tel Aviv School for Poetics and Semiotics”, Meta 53 (1): 35–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. “Translation Studies and Mass Media Research”. In D. Gile, G. Hansen & N. Pokorn (eds). Why Translation Studies Matter, 115–124. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Levine, Daniel J
2022. “He Knew of a Surety”: Realism, Zionist National-Security Discourse, and the Absent Sublime. Global Studies Quarterly 2:3 DOI logo
Rovira, José María Santos
2022. When utopias become real. European Journal of Language Policy 14:1 ► pp. 89 ff. DOI logo
Woodsworth, Judith Weisz
2019. A Language for Israel: The Role of Translation in Building the Resources of Hebrew. Contemporary Review of the Middle East 6:3-4 ► pp. 224 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.