Published: 2019-02-12

The problem of translating biblical names into Chinese in the “Christmas Bible”

Dariusz Klejnowski-Różycki
Studia Oecumenica
Section: Dialogi ekumeniczne i procesy integracyjne
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/SOe/18/2018/333-348

Abstract

Chinese personal names have a specific structure. In addition, the Chinese language is a suggestive language that extends semantic borders through written images in its characters. Therefore, translators of texts into Chinese, including Bible translators, face a difficult challenge. The translation of proper names is particularly interesting. It depends on such a choice of characters to prevent unwanted semantic associations by, for example, focusing only on phonetic similarity, but select signs to include the most harmonious content in them with the historical, social or personal context of the translated name. The first Catholic translator of the whole Bible was the blessed Gabriele Allegra, who created together with the so-called The Bible of Bethlehem or The Christmas Bible (Studium Biblicum Version, 思高本 Sīgāo Běn), and his struggles with the translation of names are presented in this article on the examples of several names: Jabes, Benoni, Benjamin, Darius, Jesus Christ. Among others translations of personal names required the whole team of translators to have an extremely thorough knowledge of Chinese culture and language as well as deep Bible studies.

Keywords:

Chinese Bible, Chinese names, biblical translations

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Citation rules

Klejnowski-Różycki, D. (2019). The problem of translating biblical names into Chinese in the “Christmas Bible”. Studia Oecumenica, 18, 333–348. https://doi.org/10.25167/SOe/18/2018/333-348

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