We Must Leave Behind / ᎢᏧᎳ ᎠᏎ ᎠᏓᏅᏍᏗ ᎣᏂᏗᏢ

 

Image and Udugi text Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

If We Do Not Give Mercy / ᎢᏳᏃ ᎢᏧᎳ Ꮭ ᎠᏓᏁᏓᏎ ᎠᏓᏙᎵᏍᏗᏁ

 

Text and image Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

I Am Who I Am

 

In trying to restart my project of a new translation of the Psalms, I have found myself struggling with cultural norms of three thousand years ago. If you want to know exactly what I mean, look at my translation of Psalm 137, which I published in this blog on 10 December 2018. I left the last verse untranslated, in Latin, because it expressed a cruelty (to children) that I could not abide. It turns out that I am not tough enough for the Middle East of 900 BCE. Even in the context of war, such unfathomable cruelty offends me.

I am a seventy-nine-year-old poet who is also a naturist and a feminist. I happen to be able to translate some ancient languages that most people can't, because my education prepared me for a world that no longer exists. As a naturist, body-shame offends me. As a feminist, the subjugation of women offends me. As one who believes in mercy and truth, senseless cruelty offends me.

It has taken me seventy-nine years to become who I am, and I am still trying to live accordingly. I'll not give that up easily. It seems to me that we cannot enshrine and perpetuate the mistakes of the past, if we are to walk peacefully and joyfully into the future.

Text and image Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

On Translating the Psalms - III

 

The best text of the Psalms is the Hebrew text underlying the Greek of the Septuagint. Unfortunately, we don't have it. The Septuagint itself contains the oldest Psalter in existence, approximately a thousand years older than the Masoretic Text. St. Jerome's Latin text, based on the Septuagint, is a very felicitous translation, and one that was at the heart of European religion and civilization for more than a thousand years. As a translation of some of the oldest poetry that we have, I don't think it has ever been surpassed. For all of these reasons, it is my starting point for my own translations of the Psalms. But I do not sit on a one-legged stool: I also consult the Greek and the Hebrew.

I translated Psalms 1-34/35 in the period 19 April 2017 - 1 July 2017. Later, I translated a few more, as follows (Masoretic numbering):

Psalm 121 5 Oct. 2018, 23-24 Nov. 2018, 25 Nov. 2018.

Psalm 61 29 Nov. 2018, 30 Nov. and 1 Dec. 2018.

Psalm 100 10 Dec. 2018

Psalm 137 10 Dec. 2018

Psalm 121 (in English and Udugi) 3 Feb. 2019 (also video)

Psalm 117 (in English and Udugi) 10 June 2021.

(Any of these blog entries can be read by clicking the arrows in the list to the right so that they point downward, opening year, month, and day.)

I have, thus, already translated 40 Psalms, out of the total of 150 canonical Psalms.

The work is not easy. I sometimes spend hours deciding on a single word. Typically, I have an array of half a dozen books open around me, to the displeasure of my wife, who accuses me of "spreading out" in our shared office.

I have 110 Psalms to go, and then I have to prepare the whole for publication. I am 79 years old. I may not be able to finish this project without help. If you, or someone you know, would like to collaborate, please let me know, explaining what you would bring to the table. I can be reached via email: exolinguist at gmail dot com. Thanks.

Text Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

On Translating the Psalms - II

 

The second version that St. Jerome offered to Pope Damasus (translated from the Hebrew) is actually quite interesting. The underlying Hebrew text is pretty close to the Masoretic Text that we know today. This Hebrew text would be about 400 years older than the Masoretic, and about 550 years YOUNGER   than the Hebrew text underlying the Septuagint. The Septuagint is about a thousand years older than the Masoretic Text, thus much closer to the source.

The version that Pope Damasus accepted, St. Jerome's Latin translation of the Greek of the Septuagint (shown on the left-hand page in the illustration above) became the standard in the Catholic Church. Orthodox churches used the Septuagint  directly. There was, thus, overall agreement as to meanings.

The Septuagint isn't only a thousand years older than the Masoretic Text, it also reflects an underlying Hebrew text that was more complete and less corrupt. As an example of this, I'll give the case of the missing verse in Psalm 145 of the Masoretic Text, numbered as Psalm 144 in the Septuagint and the Vulgate.

Psalm 144/145 is an alphabetic acrostic. In other words, in the original Hebrew, each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and they appear in alphabetic order. But in the Masoretic Text, the verse beginning with the Hebrew letter "Nun" is missing. Apparently, that verse was missing in the manuscripts that the Masoretes had before them. But we know what the verse said, both because it does appear in at least one pre-Masoretic manuscript of this Psalm, and because it appears in the Septuagint.

Here is the Hebrew version of the missing verse:

נאמן יהוה בכל־דבריו וחסיד בכל־מעשיו

And here it is in St. Jerome's Latin, based on the Septuagint:

fidelis Dominus in omnibus verbis suis          the Lord is faithful in all his words

et sanctus in omnibus operibus suis                and holy in all his works

(to be continued)

Text and image Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

On Translating the Psalms - I

 

A social-media friend of mine posted the original, color version of the illustration above. I have rendered it here in black and white in order to make the writing at the bottom more legible. It is a painting by Jean Fouquet, dated to 1452-1460, from a Book of Hours of the time.

The words are in Latin, with the characteristic abbreviations of the fifteenth century. Since I am not a paleographer, it took me a while to puzzle them out. Here they are, in more readable form:

     Deus in adiutorium meum intende                 O God, come to my aid,

     Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.               O Lord, hurry to help me.

These are the opening words of Psalm 69 (in Septuagint/Vulgate numbering)/70 (in Masoretic Text numbering). Psalm 69/70. The words have been familiar to me since my youth (I was raised Catholic, and could read Latin long before I graduated from high school). The words are even more familiar, because for centuries they were recited by priests, monks, and nuns as part of the Roman Breviary.

As a poet, I cannot help but be impressed by the smooth, flowing quality of these words and indeed, all of St. Jerome's Latin translation of the Greek of the LXX (Septuagint).

The first question that arises for the prospective translator of the Psalms is which text/language to translate. Which text is oldest? Which text is most original? Which text is the least corrupt? In this case, the choices are pretty much the following:

Septuagint (Greek) ca. 150 BCE

Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew) ca. 30-50 CE, fragmentary

St. Jerome's Latin translation from the Hebrew ca. 400 CE

St. Jerome's Latin translation from the Septuagint ca 400 CE

The Masoretic Text (carefully conserved and pointed Hebrew) ca. 800 CE

The Septuagint got that name because it was supposedly translated by seventy of the most learned scholars in the Jewish community of Alexandria, a great center of learning at the time. We can gage its success and its influence by the fact that most of the biblical quotations in the New Testament are from the Septuagint, and it is still authoritative today for all Orthodox churches.

The Dead Sea Psalms scrolls number between thirty-nine and forty-four, and all, unfortunately, are fragmentary. Even the Great Psalms Scroll (11Q5), which covers mostly Psalms 90-150 plus a few non-canonical ones, lacks six or seven lines at the bottom of every column. The others are in many fragments.

The only part of the Bible for which St. Jerome produced two separate translations is the Book of Psalms. One translation was based on the Hebrew text (pre-Masoretic and still unpointed) of his time. The other was based on the Greek of the Septuagint. Jerome offered both to Pope Damasus, and the Pope chose the translation based on the Septuagint. The rest is ecclesiastical and monastic history.

(to be continued)

Text Copyright © 2021 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.

Prayer for the World (en, es, fr, eo)

Prayer for the World

Deja que el mundo no carezca de belleza,
porque la belleza es una bendición.
Que el mundo no carezca de verdad
porque la verdad es nuestra guía.
Que el mundo no carezca de misericordia,
porque la misericordia es la compañera de la verdad.
Que al mundo no le falte
el conocimiento del corazón,
porque sin él, el saber
del cerebro es inútil.
Que el mundo no carezca de historias,
porque ellas nos dicen quiénes somos.
Que el mundo no carezca de la valentía
corregir errores y cantar canciones.
Que el mundo no carezca de los sagrados
elementos de tierra, aire, fuego,
agua y espíritu
en toda su pureza,
porque ellos nos sostienen.

Deja que haya amor,
deja que haya alegría
que haya paz,
porque sin ellos
no podemos vivir.

¿A qué diosa o dios
nos volcamos en nuestra necesidad?
Para todas estas cosas,
debemos dirigirnos
el uno al otro,
porque somos padre, madre,
hermano hermana
al pasado, presente y futuro.

Con un abrazo cariñoso
para hacernos fuertes,
habiendo cantado la canción,
vamos a plantar la semilla.

[Este poema se entrega al dominio público.]


Que le monde ne manque pas de beauté,
car la beauté est une bénédiction.
Que le monde ne manque pas de vérité,
car la vérité est notre guide.
Que le monde ne manque pas de pitié,
car la miséricorde est la compagne de la vérité.
Que le monde ne manque pas
la connaissance du coeur,
car sans ça le savoir
du cerveau est inutile.
Que le monde ne manque pas d'histoires,
car elles nous disent qui sommes.
Que le monde ne manque pas de courage
redresser les torts et chanter des chansons.
Que le monde ne manque pas des sacrés
éléments de la terre, de l'air, du feu,
eau et esprit
dans toute leur pureté,
car ils nous soutiennent.

Qu'il y ait de l'amour,
qu'il y ait de la joie,
qu'il y ait la paix,
parce que sans eux
nous ne pouvons pas vivre.

À quelle déesse ou dieu
retournons-nous à notre besoin?
Pour toutes ces choses,
nous devons tourner
l'un à l'autre,
car nous sommes père, mère,
frère, soeur
du passé, présent et futur.

Avec une étreinte douce
pour nous rendre forts,
ayant chanté la chanson,
laissez-nous planter la graine.

[Ce poème est donné dans le domaine public.]



Lasu ke la mondo ne manku belecon,
ĉar beleco estas benigo.
Lasu ke la mondo ne manku veron,
ĉar la vero estas nia gvidanto.
Lasu ke la mondo ne manku kompaton,
ĉar kompato estas la kunulo de la vero.
La mondo ne manku
la scion de la koro,
ĉar sen tio la scio
de la cerbo estas netaŭga.
Lasu ke la mondo ne manku rakontojn,
ĉar ili diras al ni, kiuj ni estas.
La mondo ne malhavu la kuraĝon
korekti maljustajxojn kaj kanti kantojn.
La mondo ne manku la sanktajn
elementojn de tero, aero, fajro,
akvo kaj spirito
en ilia tuta pureco,
ĉar ili subtenas nin.

Estu amo,
estu ĝojo,
estu paco,
ĉar sen ili
ni ne povas vivi.

Al kiu diino aŭ dio
ni turnos nin je nia bezono?
Pro ĉio ĉi tio,
Ni devas turni nin
unu al alia,
Ĉar ni estas patro, patrino,
fratino, frato
de l'pasinteco, ĉeestanto, kaj estonteco.

Kun amema brakumo
por fortigi nin,
kantinte la kanton,
Ni plantu la semon.

[Ĉi tiu poemo estas donita al la publika domajno.]

          --Donald Jacobson Traxler