Andy Warren-Rothlin is a UBS Global Translation Consultant assisting projects in Chad, Pakistan and the Afghan diaspora. He previously studied European literature, did a PhD on Modality, Reference and Speech Acts in the Psalms (1998) and has published on OT textual criticism, Hebrew grammar, idioms, pragmatics, Arabic script use and Muslim-idiom translation.
Like a tree': mixed metaphors and miscollocations
Abstract
The healthy tree image is frequent in OT poetry (Ps 1; 52; 92; Dan 4; Ezk 31; Hos 14). Several texts leave unclear where the referent ends and the image begins, resulting in strange collocations in Hebrew and in translation. This paper examines these texts using Ancient Near Eastern imagery and Hebrew poetic forms and offers suggestions for equivalent translation.
About the Author
United Bible Societies