Sunday, June 8, 2008

Why look at a translation when you can read the original?

Thanks to Mrs. Halevy at HaUlpan San Diego for mentioning these examples in her shabbos shi'ur. (I wrote the lesson from memory after Shabbat, so all errors are mine.)

The story of Samson and Delilah is the story of Shimshon and Delilah, which is the story of "Day and Night."

The Scroll of Ruth (megillat rut)
Boaz sees the protagonist (Ruth) collecting charity--sheaves of wheat--from the corners of his field and asks "who is that girl?" Yesterday, I learned that his question in Hebrew is actually "who is that youth?"--genderless or male. Na'arah vs Na'ar. So, looking at the original text is more elucidating than looking at the translation.

It sounds silly that this point has been overlooked in the literature, but I easily found the mistranslation. The original text uses the unmarked form (Na'ar) to emphasize the modesty of Ruth. That is, she is so modestly clad that Bo?az is unsure of her gender.

Here are more--none are accurately glossed--on the first page of hits.