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Publication details [#21800]

Knibb, Michael. 1999. Translating the Bible: the Ethiopic version of the Old Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press. xii + 145 pp.
Publication type
Monograph
Publication language
English
Source language
Target language
Main ISBN
0197261949
Edition info
ISBN-13: 9780197261941

Abstract

These Schweich Lectures tackle the origin, history, and character of the Ethiopic translation of the Old Testament. This version is of fundamental importance both in terms of the influence it has exerted on Ethiopian life and culture, and as one of the daughter versions of the Greek Old Testament. Yet much remains unknown or uncertain about it. Notwithstanding the criticisms that have been made of it, the traditional view of the history of the Ethiopic version - translation from the Septuagint in the fifth-sixth century, revision on the basis of the Syriac-based Arabic texts in the fourteenth century, and a further revision in the fifteenth or sixteenth century on the basis of the Hebrew - is broadly correct. However, according to the author this view is in need of development and refinement in many details. The majority of the book is devoted to a study of the mode of translation, to translation technique. There is a discussion of general aspects of the translation and syntactical issues, and the question of consistency and diversity in the translation-equivalents that are used is also addressed. Many of these issues are of general relevance to other ancient Bible translations. This book takes a look at the Ethiopian translation of the Old Testament, which is of fundamental importance both in terms of the influence it has had on Ethiopian life and culture, as well as being one of the 'daughter versions' of the Greek Old Testament.
Source : Based on publisher information

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