Eulogistic lexicon – The art of translation

 

Many people equate translation with mechanically replacing a word in one language with one with the same meaning in the other language. It is similar to describing painting as brushing color on a surface. While there is a small measure of truth, the analogies ignore the art involved in creating a useful result. As an example, last week I received an interesting project involving the translation of old gravestones from Hebrew to English. To be clear, the longest of them did not contain more than 20 words. However, the act of translation required a clear understanding of the full texture of the words in both languages.

The challenge began from the start with the honorifics. The letter מ [mem], which is a short form of מרת [marat], preceded the names of some of the women. The problem is that English has two different forms of address, Ms. and Mrs. After careful thought, I chose the former term because the reader of my translation is from the modern era and, more importantly, the issue of her marital status should be minimized. I recognize that Mrs. would be also appropriate since it reflects language use during the relevant years, 1912-1946. However, I chose the more modern term. As for the male deceased, the letter ר [resh], a short form for Rabbi, appeared before the name. However, the term Rabbi was used quite often as an honorific, like Mr. Not every Jew was a religious scholar, although some were. My solution was to write “Rabbi” and let the genealogist ascertain who was a real rabbi and who was merely a respectable gentleman. In both cases, it is possible to justify and criticize my choice.

The fun had only begun. First names in Hebrew and English are not always identical. The English spelling of the name appeared in the caption to the photograph I received from the client. However, I still had to choose between the Hebrew version and the “official” English version. For example, on the gravestones of those named Jacob was written יעקב [Yaakov]. On the one hand, the names are similar enough for a non-Hebrew speaker to identify the connection. Furthermore, my task was to translate the Hebrew, which may include the actual form of the name. On the other hand, the audience was the English-speaking family. I saw no need to add complexity to the already logistically and emotionally challenging task of learning about one’s family. I feel confident that Yaakov would not be angry at me for calling him Jacob even if some translators may question my judgment.

Many gravestones carried a few carefully chosen words of praise. The bereaving families noted that many of the deceased were תם [tom]. A quick dictionary search of the term brings up innocent and naive, to name a few. However, these words in English have a negative connotation, implying ignorance or stupidity according to the context. For example, a naïve businessperson or child lacks something important. By contrast, the meaning here is a person that acted with a pure heart. Thus, I choose guileless, a rare but positive word. In the context of Judaism, this is a virtue.

On the subject of virtue, at least one gravestone mentionedחסוד  [hasud] as a trait of the deceased. The two most obvious meaning are demure and pious. The former implies self-defacement in a negative way while the second is a bit vague to my ears, although it would also be appropriate. I choose virtuous as it expresses the idea that the person strove to live his/her life according to the values of the religion.

The last matter I had to consider was how to relate to the abbreviation ז"ל placed after the name of the father to mark his prior death. In some documents, it is possible to write the late, as in “the last John Smith bequeathed his money….” That term does not read well on a gravestone. Neither did RIP as there is a bit of sarcasm there. I instead chose of blessed memory, which is both a literal translation and appropriate.

Thus, translation is the art of choosing the appropriate word or phrase, taking into account all aspects of both the source and target language. This complex matching makes it both interesting and challenging to create a proper translation. If you need an accurate translation and are tempted to use AI or Google, remember your child’s rendition of a dog hanging on the refrigerator.