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

Research output: ThesisDoctoral Thesis

1963 Downloads (Pure)

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...
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDoctor of Philosophy
Publication statusUnpublished - 2013

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Metaphor in biblical translation: a study of the translation of metaphorical concepts in the Fourth Gospel in modern Italian Bibles'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this