translation of the jussive

[Kristin]

I am hoping to receive some clarification concerning the jussive. Specifically, how to translate it if you are going to avoid "let" and "may."

 

Regardless of whether it is more of a "wish" or more of a "command" my question is concerning who the subject is. The 3rd person jussive is typically seen as a first person command or wish. So as an example, the famous jussive of Gen 1:3 "let there be light," is a third person jussive, with an "implied" first person subject.

 

So in other words, if you were going to get rid of the old English and supply a subject, it would be "I command light to be" or "I wish light to be" or whatever, since the third person jussive is a command of the first speaker.

 

I don't like the concept of adding the speaker though since I can see this causing problems.

 

For example, "let not my enemies exult over me" (Ps 25:2) would then be "I command my enemies..." or "I wish my enemies", which would make it identical to the cohortative in the line above it "let me not be put to shame".

 

So supplying the subject is a bad idea since it would make it sound identical to the cohortative.

 

So then I think maybe "light will be" and "my enemies will not exult..." but that reduces it to the imperfect.

 

So then I thought maybe making it passive? "light is commanded to be" and "my enemies are commanded to not exalt" or whatever, but I don't like inverting the grammar.

 

I thus sort of despise the jussive. Does anyone have thoughts on how to translate the jussive without "let" or "may"?

 

Thank you,

Kristin

 

 

[A. Smith]

Good question. Pragmatically, Gen 1.3 essentially a command given to light--which is impersonal, of course. How to translate it really depends on who you're translating it for, their background, langauge-culture, etc. 

 

In English, it could reasonably something like "Light! Appear!" Or "Light! I command you to appear!"

 

Regarding Psalm 25, we have to ask who the request is addressed to. God, of course. So it could be worded as, "God, do not allow my enemies to triumph over me" or something similar.

[Kristin]

Hi @A. Smith,

Thank you for your answer. I was giving it a lot of thought after I wrote this, and I kind of think that if I want a consistent translation, my best bet might be to translate it as an imperfect with an explanation point. So for example, Gen 1:3 would be "Light will be!" and the Ps will be "my enemies will not exult over me!" So then the idea is it would be distinguished by a simple imperfect by the explanation point.

If I go with the command phrase of "Light, I command you to appear!" in Ps 25 it would turn into "I command my enemies to not..." but like you said,  it seems contextually to be a plea to God to make the command.

Since I am hoping to avoid adding subjects since I don't want to guess wrong making a contextual choice (such as Ps 25), I think my best bet is the imperfect with an explanation point. Do you agree that would work well?
 

[A. Smith]

20 hours ago, Kristin said:

Hi @A. Smith,

Thank you for your answer. I was giving it a lot of thought after I wrote this, and I kind of think that if I want a consistent translation, my best bet might be to translate it as an imperfect with an explanation point. So for example, Gen 1:3 would be "Light will be!" and the Ps will be "my enemies will not exult over me!" So then the idea is it would be distinguished by a simple imperfect by the explanation point.

If I go with the command phrase of "Light, I command you to appear!" in Ps 25 it would turn into "I command my enemies to not..." but like you said,  it seems contextually to be a plea to God to make the command.

Since I am hoping to avoid adding subjects since I don't want to guess wrong making a contextual choice (such as Ps 25), I think my best bet is the imperfect with an explanation point. Do you agree that would work well?
 

That can certainly work. Again, I think the question of who the translation is for can really govern these decisions. For some audiences, I can see how something like "Light will be!" wouldn't have the force of a sovereign command. Rather, it would be a sort of prediction or even a pragmatic question. But, for other audiences, it could work well. As a translator, I also question the value of concordance or consistency in these situations as it doesn't always communicate pragmatic/discourse issues well. But, again, it all depends on the audience. I'm happy to talk about translation briefs and skopos theory if you like, lol!

[Kristin]

Hi @A. Smith,

Thank you again for your thoughts and what you just wrote. Yes, I agree 100% about the need to consider the audience. That is for sure very important, and I agree that not every translation works for every audience.

[Ingo]

FWIW, the German Buber (Die Schrift by Buber/Rosenzweig) attempts to echo the brevity of the Hebrew when it renders Gen 1:3:

 

Gen. 1:3 "Gott sprach: Licht werde! Licht ward."  Note the use of !

 

Lit. "Light be! Light was."

 

JPS (1985), Koren Tanakh, Artscroll's Stone Edition Tanach all read the traditional "Let there . . . "

 

Interestingly, NKJV includes the idea of command for λέγω in the corresponding 2Cor 4:6: "For it is the God who *** commanded *** light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

 

Let me (!) ponder this some more!

Edited May 18, 2023 by Ingo