„Psy i okaleczeńcy”

Abstract

„Psy i okaleczeńcy”. Translating Paul’s Invectives against Judaizers (Gal. 3:3; Phil. 3:2) Insults (contumelia) and invectives (invectiva oratio) were known to inspired authors, but their overtones in modern translations usually lose their strength. Should a translator avoid harsh words contained in the original invectives, or should he remain faithful to them? It is shown by analyzing Paul’s invectives in Phil. 3:2 and in Gal. 3:1.3. The author claims that: 1) avoiding the invectives in the translation weakens a message of the original text (Gal. 3:1.3); 2) the translational consistency (“źli pracownicy”; Phil. 3:2) favors understanding of the invectives; 3) the invectives that exist in Polish, when their scope deviates from the Greek original, require clarification in footnotes (“psy”; Phil. 3:2); 4) the multitude of hapax legomena in the Bible justifies the use of neologisms, as long as they accurately reflect the content of the original (“przerzezanie”; Phil. 3:2).

Keywords

• invective
• Bible translation
• Polish Bibles
• Phil. 3:2
• Gal. 3:1.3