[lit-ideas] "Thus God Spake" (In memoriam Guillelmii Tyndale)

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:56:14 EDT
God Englished. 
 
R. Paul writes (and thanks for the comments):
 
"The King James Version, often called the Authorized Version  in the UK, was 
the work of a committee. It was published in  1611, so Shakespeare's works 
might have had some influence on its prose  although I find its rhythms 
markedly 
different from Shakespeare's.  Milton was born in 1608. Pope wrote in the 18th 
 C."
 
I was revising the story in "The story of  English". Apparently, the great 
martyr was
 
                TYNDALE
 
who, the authors of "The story of  English" write,
 
                "[died in] the stake"
 
-- This for having followed Wycliff in  thinking that God's message should be 
'Englished'.
 
With a philosophical background as I have  (I have been trained as a 
'practising' philosopher), I was surprised to learn  that one of my former 
heroes, 
Thomas Hobbes, wrote this stupidity worth of an  Aquinas:
 
"What, with Tyndale, every boy (and  worse, wench) can read the Bible and 
think they can speak with God and  understand what he says".
 
Hobbes was mainly responsible for the  death of Tyndale.
 
Paul is right that there was a committee  formed for the translation of the 
Bible. The authors of "The story of English"  have a point to complain though:
 
"It was surprising that such an august  committee was instructed to base the 
translation upon the _previous_ English  translations", including Tyndale's -- 
who thus strikes back with a  vengeance.
 
The authors of "The story of English"  quote one example. The translation of 
[INSERT-HEBREW-HERE] as "gracious" (in  "The Lord _is_ gracious".
 
The Committee -- of which only John Bois  and Anthony Downes -- both from 
Cambridge -- are cited in "The story of English  -- compared the different 
English version for what the KJV will have as  'gracious':
 
TYNDALE:  'pleausant'
GENEVA BIBLE:  'bountifull'
RHEIMS BIBLE:  'sweet'
GREAT BIBLE:  'gracious'
 
The authors of "The Story of English"  note that only the KJV "makes the 
sentence sing".
 
Re: R. Paul's sensible remark: 
 
>[While] Shakespeare's works might have had some  influence >on its prose ... 
I find its rhythms markedly different  ?>from Shakespeare's. 
 
Indeed, the authors of "The Story of  English" compare Shakespeare with the 
North Pole and the KJV with the South Pole  (or viceversa):

"[Shakespeare and the Bible]  represent [as it were] the North and South 
Polese of [English] -- reference  points for authors throughout, from the 
Shakespearian splendour of a Joyce  [James, I assume. JLS] or a Dickens 
[Charles, I 
assume. JLS] to the biblical  rigour of a Bunyan [John, I assume. JLS] or a 
Hemingway [I'm not sure if  this is Margot or Muriel. JLS]"
 
Now I would like to know more about  the death of Tyndale. I assume it was 
the White Tower of  London.
 
Note that the most English of readers  is still ready to accept that what's 
true in Hebrew may not necessarily be true  in English: Thus God's name is 
"YHVH", the tetragrammaton, while in English  "god" is a trigrammaton" (cf. 
dog). 
 
Cheers,
 
JL  Speranza
Buenos Aires,  Argentina
 



************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
[lit-ideas] "Thus God Spake" (In memoriam Guillelmii Tyndale)

Other related posts:
