Saint Jerome Translating the Bible from Hebrew into Latin: Three Major Challenges

Written By Lars Petersen

Saint Jerome in His Study, by Ghirlandaio, 1480 (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)


In the year 382, theologian and translator Saint Jerome (Jerome of Stridon) was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to translate the Bible into Latin – a version of the Bible known as the Vulgate.

Back in the dawn of the world’s literary awakening, long before Gutenberg’s printing press, and before most people could even read and write, the approach to interlingual translation among scholars was a very conservative one, bordering to the rigid and inflexible.

Especially in theological circles, written work was seen as holy, and any translation should maintain the sanctity of the original by employing a very literal, word-for-word approach. At least, this would be a theological explanation for the literal approach, which often finds the reader struggling to readily understand, and has a clumsy overall appearance – aesthetically as well as content-wise.

Notwithstanding the deeper implications of the scholarly translation trends of his time, Jerome's approach to translation does mark a new era within translation, pivoting to a sense-for-sense approach. This was in the theological world frowned upon, and it was a ground breaking shift in the religiously conservative way of the learned.

To this day, Saint Jerome’s mode of translational operation is considered the most viable one – across all media formats, and even in the theological arena of our current times.

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Challenge #1

Word-for-word or sense-for-sense?

Marcus Tullius Cicero

"If I render word-for-word, the result will sound uncouth, and if compelled by necessity, I alter anything in the order or wording; I shall seem to have departed from the function of a translator.”

(Khalaf et al. following Bassnett: 2002, 51)



A deliberate schism between the two schools of translation (word-for-word and sense-for-sense) was first publicly discussed by Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC).

In Ciceros work De optimo genere oratorum (The Best Kind of Orator, 46 BC), he put forth the notion that a translator should avoid the word-for-word approach, and instead reproduce the “sense” of the original.

"from Cicero's position, to translate like an ‘interpreter’ is to practice within the restricted competence of the textual critic whose duty is to gloss word-for-word; and this is a restriction that the profession of rhetoric (Cicero's profession) historically imposed on the profession of grammar. To translate as an ‘orator’ is to exercise the productive power of rhetoric, a power which rhetoric asserted and maintained by purposefully distinguishing itself from grammar.”

Khalaf et al.

Ciceros thoughts had a big impact on the scholarly world, and according to Khalaf et al., Jerome was deeply influenced by these topics in his works.


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Challenge #2

If Jerome did not translate word-for-word, what was then his guiding principle?


When you translate word-for-word (or if not entirely word-for-word, then at least very literally) then you’re already being heavily influenced and guided by the original author in terms of stylistic choices, syntax, and terminology choices.

Jerome had in his approach not this luxury, so he had to create a framework for reproducing new elements in his final copy.

Jerome had multiple sources at hand at time of writing, so he let himself inspire by a range of linguistic topics:

  • Jerome used Hebrew syntax

  • Jerome kept Hebrew word order

  • Jerome introduced new Hebrew words

  • Jerome copied Greek syntax (where the original was Greek)

(Khalaf et al., following Ackerley and Hale (2007:265))


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Challenge #3

Obscuring the sanctity of the original

Jerome knew one crucial fact: translation is an act of violence against the original.

Because you cannot reproduce literary works one-to-one in any meaningful way, you’re forced to create something new which is likely to obscure the picture originally intended. Almost no matter what, the purity of the original is lost, and you’re creating a whole new work which the original author might not recognise and like.

Below, Jerome in a letter about his translation, commenting on his seeking to satisfy his target audience.

”A word with a significant meaning in the original possibly has no equivalent in the target, making the translator waste much time in seeking to satisfy the meaning to reach his goal.”

Saint Jerome on his Bible translation – the Vulgate – in a letter to Pammachius (Khalaf et al.)















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Sources



  • A. Kadhim Khalaf and L. Majid: St. Jerome’s Approach to Word-for-Word and Sense-for-Sense Translation. Journal of the College of Arts. University of Basra. 2015 (available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335638360_St_Jerome's_Approach_to_Word-for-Word_and_Sense-for-Sense_Translation)




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Lars Petersen
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