Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

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Joseph D. L.
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Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by Joseph D. L. »

Does anyone know how Aquila translated chapter one of Genesis, in particular verse four? Did he substitute Καλός with Χρήστος?

In what ways did his translation differ from the Septuagint?

I admit that I'm not at all knowledgeable on the subject of translations so please forgive my ignorance. I ask only to confirm or disprove a theory of mine.
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DCHindley
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by DCHindley »

Joseph D. L. wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:15 am Does anyone know how Aquila translated chapter one of Genesis, in particular verse four? Did he substitute Καλός with Χρήστος?

In what ways did his translation differ from the Septuagint?

I admit that I'm not at all knowledgeable on the subject of translations so please forgive my ignorance. I ask only to confirm or disprove a theory of mine.
You might check online for a PDF of Henry Barclay Swete's, Intro to the Old Testament in Greek (2nd ed 1914), but most of what we think we know about the translations of Aquila or Theodotion are spotty, maybe a book or two here and there, or just fragments in quotations, etc.

I went through it just now and it does not appear anything like use of Greek Chrestos (good, useful) for Kalos (jus' plain ol' good) is mentioned anywhere, whether in the context of Aquila, Theodotion or Symmachus.

Good luck with your efforts.

DCH :goodmorning:
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by Joseph D. L. »

Many thanks for that. I had speculated that the good in reference to the light in Genesis had been the origin of the Isu Chrestus of Marcion. (And the fact that both him and Aquila were from Sinope added to that speculation). But, oh well. Back to the drawing board.

Again thank you.
Secret Alias
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by Secret Alias »

chrestos is used to translate yashar in the LXX. Yashar is the deeply mystical root of the name Israel. Best guess.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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MrMacSon
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by MrMacSon »

.
A summary from the wikipedia entry on Aquila -
Aquila's Greek version of the OT is said to have been used in place of the Septuagint in Greek-speaking synagogues. Origen spoke in its praise and incorporated it in his Hexapla, and Jerome is also said to have praised it.

Fragments of this translation have survived in

..(i) what remains of fragmentary documents taken from the Books of Kings and the Psalms found in the old Cairo Geniza in Fustat, Egypt; and

.(ii) excerpts taken from the Hexapla written in the glosses of certain manuscripts of the Septuagint (published by Frederick Field in his momentous work, Origenis Hexaplorum quæ Supersunt, Oxford, 1875). (iii) fragments of two codices brought to the Cambridge University Library in 897. These have been published: the fragments AqBurkitt containing 1 Kings xx. 7-17; 2 Kings xxiii. 12-27 by Francis Crawford Burkitt in 1897, those containing parts of Psalms xc.-ciii. (signed as AqTaylor) by C. Taylor in 1899. See F. C. Burkitt's article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia.[though the reference given is: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911) 'Aquila', Encyclopædia Britannica 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press; p. 248. F. C. Burkitt's article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia seems to be the url-link above ]

The surviving fragments of this translation, and of other Greek translations forming part of Origen's Hexapla, are now being re-published (with additional materials discovered since Field's edition) by an international group of Septuagint scholars. This work is being carried out as 'The Hexapla Project' [ http://www.hexapla.org/ (not currently available)] under the auspices of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies - http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ioscs/ - directed by Peter J. Gentry (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), Alison G. Salvesen (University of Oxford), and Bas ter Haar Romeny (Leiden University).
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

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Joseph D. L. wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:15 amDoes anyone know how Aquila translated chapter one of Genesis, in particular verse four? Did he substitute Καλός with Χρήστος?

In what ways did his translation differ from the Septuagint?

I admit that I'm not at all knowledgeable on the subject of translations so please forgive my ignorance. I ask only to confirm or disprove a theory of mine.
Frederick Field's tomes on the Hexapla are available at the Internet Archive. The link goes straight to the page (of volume 1) which has Genesis 1.4. I do not see anything in that verse on how Aquila might have translated טוֹב (which the LXX renders as καλός). However, flipping a few pages ahead, I notice that Genesis 1.31 has a reading from Aquila which involves him using ἀγαθόν where the LXX has καλὰ.
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by Joseph D. L. »

Secret Alias wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:43 am chrestos is used to translate yashar in the LXX. Yashar is the deeply mystical root of the name Israel. Best guess.
Thank you for this. Also would you know if the light from verse three was thought to be different or superior to the light of verse fourteen on? John, to an extent, seems to invoke this light ("the true light") in his prologue.
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Joseph D. L.
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Re: Aquila of Sinope's translation of Genesis chapter 1

Post by Joseph D. L. »

However, flipping a few pages ahead, I notice that Genesis 1.31 has a reading from Aquila which involves him using ἀγαθόν where the LXX has καλὰ.
This may indicate that he also translated טוֹב as αγαθός in verse four also. Thank you.
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