PRINCIPLES GOVERNING BIBLE TRANSLATION. 



57 



The decision may be said bo lie between intelligibility marred 

 by ilu 1 danger of erroneous teaching, and freedom from error 

 marred by the danger of obscurity. There is evidently room 

 for difference of opinion, and either principle can be supported 

 by weighty argument. For my own part, I would allow the 

 opinion of Christian converts from heathenism to govern the 

 decision. Foreigners, even though they are missionaries, are 

 apt to regard the objects of heathen worship too much from 

 their grotesque or merely revolting side. Only those who have 

 been under the sway of the dark superstitions connected with 

 their former gods and goddesses can realize the foreboding fear 

 which they still arouse, or the remains of a lurking belief in 

 them, at least as evil demons, which it is so difficult entirely to 

 eradicate. Men to whom a language is vernacular are not 

 likely to undervalue the advantage words derive from familiarity 

 and easy intelligibility. If they are willing to forego such 

 advantages, the reason must be a strong one. I would advocate, 

 therefore, that in such questions as have been described the 

 decision should be governed by the prevailing opinion among 

 Christian converts from heathenism, and would follow their 

 opinion whether or not it commended itself to foreign students 

 of* the language. 



We pass now to the question of the principle which should 

 guide a translator who can find in the language into which he 

 is translating no equivalent at all (or no satisfactory equivalent) 

 for ideas or words in the original language. In such a case 

 there can be no translation in the strict sense of the word. 

 People who are absolutely without a particular idea cannot have 

 framed words which convey that idea. Still more is it true in 

 the case of material objects, that in a country where they do 

 not and never have existed the language can have no name for 

 them. In all such cases recourse must be had to one of several 

 devices other than true translation. Among these are trans- 

 literation of the original, the borrowing of words from another 

 cognate language or a language recognized as a standard, such as, 

 for instance, Sanscrit for Indian languages, Arabic for languages 

 of that stock, and English for countries under the influence of 

 England, whose languages are in a low state of development. 



In default of these plans, it is necessary to have recourse to 

 paraphrase or explanatory phrases. Where tents are unknown, 

 the word has been rendered by " cloth-house," and in countries 

 where there are no bees and therefore honey is unknown, some 

 descriptive phrase such as " exceedingly sweet food " is the 

 only possible rendering. 



