Article

Name: Features of expression of modal meanings in 16th-century biblical translations created on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Authors: A. A. Kozhinowa

Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus

In the section Linguistics

Abstract: The paper deals with the features of expression of some modal meanings in the Masoretic text of the book of Genesis by means of particles and the special construction of infinitivus absolutus, which serves to express modality in Hebrew. The ways of translating into Slavic languages in 16th-century bibles created on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are considered as well. The data from classical translations – LXX, the Vulgate, and the Czech Venetian Bible – are also used for analysis. The particles were chosen because they are desemantized and do not make considerable changes in the semantics of sentences, but merely specify them. The infinitivus absolutus constructions are a means of expressing modal semantics. They are absent in Slavic languages and require understanding and special translation efforts from the translator. It is concluded that even the translator dealing with sacred texts corrects modal semantics and changes the formal means of its expression, indicating that the modality is understood as a category of a special kind, with unclearly defined borders and a diverse and non-rigid set of means of expression. The analysis of translated texts made us-ing various original texts shows that translators while trying to preserve the spirit and letter of the original or authoritative translation (the Masoretic text, Church Slavonic translation, the Venetian Bible, the Vulgate), nevertheless, consider modality to be a category that can be easily sacrificed in translation, by changing or even eliminating the modal meaning.

Keywords: modality, Hebrew, Slavic languages, biblical translations of the 16th century

Bibliography:

Bělič J. Kamiš A. Kučera K. Malý staročeský slovník [Small Old Czech Dictionary]. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1979, 444 p.

Blau J. Morphology and Phonology of Biblical Hebrew: An Introduction. In: Linuistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic. Vol. 3. Winona Lake, Indiana, 2010, 384 p.

Brown F., Driver S. R., Briggs C. A. Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. G. R. Driver (Corr.). Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1952, 1152 p.

Gesenius W. Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. 23 ed. Boston, Hougton, Cambridge, 1882, 919 p.

Ragozina E. V. O sostave modal’nykh znacheniy i osobennostyakh ikh realizatsii v voprositel’nykh predlozheniyakh [On the composition of modal values and the features of their implementation in interrogative sentences]. Vestnik VSU. Series: Philology. Journalism. 2009, no. 1, pp. 89–93.

Sreznevskiy I. I. Materialy dlya slovarya drevnerusskogo yazyka po pis'mennym pamyatnikam. T. 3 [Materials for the Dictionary of the Ancient Russian Language on Written Texts. Vol. 3]. St. Petersburg, Tip. Imp. AN, 1912, 1684 p.

Septuaginta. Id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes. Duo volumina in uno. Alfred Rahlfs (Ed.). Stuttgart, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1979, vol. 1, 1184 p., vol. 2, 941 p.

Teoriya funktsional’noy grammatiki. Temporal’nost’. Modal’nost’ [Theory of functional grammar. Temporality. Modality]. A. V. Bondarko (Ed.). Leningrad, Nauka, 1990, 264 p.

Tov E. Renderings of Combinations of the Infinitive Absolute and Finite Verbs in the Septuagint-their Nature and Distribution. In: The Greek and Hebrew Bible. Collected Essay on the Septuagint. Leiden, Boston, Köln, Brill, 1999 (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum Vol. 72). 247–256.

Vinogradov V. V. O kategorii modal’nosti i modal’nykh slovakh [On the category of modality and modal words]. In: Vinogradov V. V. Issledovaniya po russkoy grammatike: izbrannyye Trudy [Studies on Russian grammar: selected works]. Moscow, Nauka, 1975, pp. 53–87.

Waltke B. K., O’Connor M. P., O’Connor C. An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, Indiana, Eisenbrauns, 1990, 765 p.

Zaliznyak A. A. “Slovo o polku Igoreve”: Vzglyad lingvista [“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”: The view of a linguist]. Moscow, LRC Publishing House, 2004, 352 p.

Zinovkin A. Drevneyevreyskiy yazyk [Hebrew]. St. Petersburg, SPbPDA, 2017, 216 p.