AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

Metaphor in biblical translation : a study of the translation of metaphorical concepts in the Fourth Gospel in modern Italian Bibles

by Simon Tebbit




Institution: University of Western Australia
Department:
Degree: PhD
Year: 2013
Keywords: Translation; Metaphor; Bible; Conceptual metaphor theory; Italian; Fourth Gospel; Cosmic trial; John 15
Record ID: 1031841
Full text PDF: http://repository.uwa.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=40078&local_base=GEN01-INS01


Abstract

[Truncated abstract] Conceptual Metaphor Theory offers significant insights into metaphor in translation. One major insight comes from the notion that words used in metaphorical expressions are not individual linguistic expressions, but are outward manifestations of conceptual metaphors. If a text contains linguistic expressions which are manifestations of the same conceptual metaphor, they can therefore be considered parts of a whole. This theoretical understanding makes for a more coherent strategy that can be employed when analysing metaphor in translation in that it takes into account the tension between the individual metaphorical expression and the overarching conceptual metaphor within a text. Following a survey of conceptual metaphor theories and of the translation approaches to metaphor, this dissertation integrates the major insights from Conceptual Metaphor Theory into a model which I propose as a means for analysing how certain metaphorical concepts have been translated in the Fourth Gospel. In order to define the corpus, I survey the history of the Italian Bible. Although there are several works on the translations of the Bible into Italian, there has yet to be a coherent history of the Italian Bible. My dissertation therefore includes a history of the Italian Bible from the manuscript tradition until the present day. For the analysis of metaphor, I select a corpus of modern Italian Bibles from the Catholic, Protestant and Ecumenical traditions published in the 20th and 21st centuries. I apply the model to my analysis of two metaphorical concepts. The first, JESUS IS THE VINE, is found in JOHN 15:1-16. For this metaphorical concept, I discuss the major Sitz im Leben before analysing the translations of the corpus. I conduct a second analysis on the cosmic trial. The Fourth Gospel as a heavenly lawsuit has been explored by several Johannine scholars. In my dissertation, I present the cosmic trial as a metaphorical concept, and I focus specifically on two entailments. I discuss the concept of witness in my analysis of the translation of ρτυς cognates... [Truncated abstract] Conceptual Metaphor Theory offers significant insights into metaphor in translation. One major insight comes from the notion that words used in metaphorical expressions are not individual linguistic expressions, but are outward manifestations of conceptual metaphors. If a text contains linguistic expressions which are manifestations of the same conceptual metaphor, they can therefore be considered parts of a whole. This theoretical understanding makes for a more coherent strategy that can be employed when analysing metaphor in translation in that it takes into account the tension between the individual metaphorical expression and the overarching conceptual metaphor within a text. Following a survey of conceptual metaphor theories and of the translation approaches to metaphor, this dissertation integrates the major insights from Conceptual Metaphor Theory into a model which I propose as a means for analysing how certain…