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About Franz Delitzsch' Son
#5
I wouldn't really call Delitzsch Hebrew translation 'Mishnaic' Hebrew. Mishnaic Hebrew has heavy Aramaic influence, for example, masculine plural endings often have the "een" Aramaic ending rather than "eem" ending of Hebrew, plus a lot of Aramaic loan words. By contrast, Delitzsch translated the NT in about 1800, which was almost exactly the same time at which Eliezer ben Yehudah started to re-establish the Hebrew language to become a living language again. Ben Yedudah had been given a copy of Robinson Crusoe in Hebrew, and this made him realize that Hebrew could be used for any purpose, not just for the Scriptures and prayer. It was in this climate of re-establishing Hebrew than Delitzsch wrote his translation. Just as the Hebrew that ben Yehudah formed is completely understandable by all Israelis today, and in fact became modern Hebrew, Delitzsch's translation still reads very easily today, even 120 years later. He borrowed a lot of words and phrases from the Hebrew Tanakh, so you will appreciate his translation the more familiar you are with the Tanakh and modern Hebrew.

I agree that "fixing" Delitzsch's translation to make it match the Peshitta would be fairly straight-forward. Mostly you would just have to make a better choice of words every so often (a different Hebrew word, which was the same or similar to the Aramaic), and maybe adjust a few tenses now and again.

I know Delizsch's Hebrew translation well, because I made a BibleWorks module of it!

- Ewan MacLeod
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Messages In This Thread
About Franz Delitzsch' Son - by SyriacQuestioner - 02-19-2008, 03:28 AM
Re: About Franz Delitzsch' Son - by yaaqub - 02-19-2008, 01:16 PM
Re: About Franz Delitzsch' Son - by yaaqub - 02-19-2008, 05:45 PM
Re: About Franz Delitzsch' Son - by Ewan MacLeod - 02-20-2008, 01:47 PM

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