Translation is about meaning. But what kind of meaning?
Bible translators generally agree that translation is a process of conveying the meaning of the biblical source texts into a new text in a new language. However, they disagree in the relative importance of different kinds of meaning. Few even discuss the different kinds of meaning that translators work with.
Let’s consider four kinds of meaning that translators deal with in the process of producing a Bible translation.
1. The Meaning of Words
The first and most basic kind of meaning is the meaning of words. In more technical terms, we would refer to this as the lexical meaning. The lexical meaning is what you find in a dictionary when you look up a word.
If Bible translators wanted to convey the lexical meaning and primarily the lexical meaning, they could produce an interlinear Bible. Here’s an example of an interlinear of Genesis 4. Note that each word in the Hebrew text is translated according to its own lexical meaning and position in the source text. The resulting work is a very valuable tool for study of the Scriptures but not an actual translation.
In this blog post I am referring to “kinds” of meaning, but a more common term in the linguistics literature is “levels” of meaning. It’s because each builds on the other. Furthermore, there is a unit of meaning below the word, the morpheme. But for the sake of this blog, I will not discuss morphemes nor refer primarily to levels.
Bible translations provide more than the lexical meaning.
2. The Meaning of Sentences
The second kind of meaning is the meaning of sentences or, in technical terminology, the sentential meaning. The sentential meaning is the composite meaning of the components of the sentence.
In Genesis 4:4a, we read that Abel brought an offering from the firstborn of his flocks and from their fat. What does “firstborn” mean? The Hebrew word translated here as “firstborn” can also be translated as “birthright” as we see in Genesis 25:31. However, when translators look at how the word is used in the context of the whole sentence, they are unanimous in translating it as referring to animals and not a privilege.
Traditional Bible translations give priority to translating the sentential meaning.
3. The Meaning of Texts
The third kind of meaning is the meaning of texts. In other words, it is the meaning the emerges when the sum of the meaning of the sentences in a text is considered.
In the case of Genesis 4:4a, I noted earlier that Abel brought an offering. However, in the actual Hebrew sentence, there is no word for offering. The verse says that Abel also brought of his firstborn of his flock. However, if we look at this sentence in light of the preceding and following sentences, we can conclude that he brought an offering.
In Genesis 4:3, it states that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from his harvest. An then in Genesis 4:4b, it states that Yahweh was pleased with Abel and his offering but not with Cain and his offering.
When we consider the broader context, we see that there is an ellipsis or omission of the word “offering” in Genesis 4:4a, presumably because it was good style to leave out a word that was so clear from the context. So, when translators add “offering” to their rendering of Genesis 4:4a, they are bringing out textual meaning.
Some translations of Genesis 4:4a will render “flocks” as “sheep” or “sheep and goats” in case the target language does not have a word comparable to “flocks.” A careful study of the Hebrew Bible reveals that “flocks” refers to a group of sheep, goats, or a combination of sheep and goats. So, translators may take “firstborn” of the “sheep and goats” and render the meaning of this phrase as “lambs.” Such a translation is presenting the textual meaning as opposed to the lexical meaning.
Most Bible translations convey textual meaning, especially in cases of ellipsis. The more traditional translations give priority to sentential meaning, though. On the other hand, modern translations that are more dynamic, functional, or free in their approach often place more importance on conveying the textual meaning than sentential meaning.
4. The Meaning Beyond the Written Word
The fourth kind of meaning is meaning that is not actually present in the text. It might be called encyclopedic meaning or implicit information.
Encyclopedic meaning is the knowledge that the speaker has about something but which is not explicitly expressed. For instance, if I say, “I went to Walmart,” I explicitly refer to the action of going but didn’t explicitly state that I drove a car. I also didn’t explicitly state that I went to a store to purchase something, but I am assuming that my audience understands that Walmart is a store.
In some translations of Genesis 4:4a, Abel does more than offer his firstborn lambs. Some translators add an explicit reference to Abel killing his offering and even butchering it. In fact, many Bible translations today have an explicit reference to killing in this verse.
These translations are conveying encyclopedic meaning or implicit information. The translators reason that the original author knew that the lambs were killed. Furthermore, the original readers would also have known that you kill your sacrifice before offering the fat to God. In addition, the translators decide that this implicit information is critical for modern readers to know. As a result, an explicit reference to Abel killing and even butchering his lambs is added to the verse in many modern translations. To read more about these translations of Genesis 4:4a, check out my blog post on what is accuracy in Bible translation.
Traditional Bible translations convey as little encyclopedic meaning as possible, even going to such lengths as alerting readers to its presence by italics.
On the other hand, translations that describe themselves as dynamic, meaning-based, paraphrased, expanded or free have significantly more encyclopedic meaning.
In Conclusion
Translation is about meaning. But which kind?
Many Bible translations today include more encyclopedic meaning than in the traditional translations of previous generations. Proponents of these translations often refer to their approach as one that brings across the meaning in clear, accurate, and natural ways. Yet they don’t explain the importance of encyclopedic meaning.
The most popular and beloved Bibles in English are traditional translations which prioritize sentential meaning. Proponents of these translations often refer to their Bibles as word-for-word or literal. However, it is helpful to understand that the traditional Bibles are not giving the meaning of each word, one by one. Rather, these translations prioritize the sentential meaning.
It is difficult to understand the variety of approaches to translation without understanding that there are different kinds of meaning at different levels of the biblical source text. But with this understanding, we can discuss the merits and dangers of conveying one meaning as opposed to another in our Bible translations.