The literary aesthetics in the seventh edition of the New Testament translated by Rev. Eugeniusz Dąbrowski on the basis of lexemes, expressions and phrases selected from the four Gospels Cover Image

Estetyka literacka w siódmym wydaniu Nowego Testamentu w przekładzie ks. Eugeniusza Dąbrowskiego na podstawie leksemów, wyrażeń i fraz wybranych z czterech Ewangelii
The literary aesthetics in the seventh edition of the New Testament translated by Rev. Eugeniusz Dąbrowski on the basis of lexemes, expressions and phrases selected from the four Gospels

Author(s): Bartłomiej Kuźnik
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion
Published by: Księgarnia Świętego Jacka
Keywords: biblical translation; literary aesthetics; archaism

Summary/Abstract: The New Testament translated by Rev. Eugeniusz Dąbrowski, professor at the Catholic University of Lublin, is a part of the canon of Polish translations of the Bible. This is a translation from Latin version by St. Hieronymus, just as the first Polish translation of the Bible, also from Vulgate, by Father Jakub Wujek. The intention of D ąbrowski was primarily a pastoral one. He wanted to make the reader enter into a relationship with Christ and the authors of the biblical texts through reading the Bible. Therefore the translator’s priority was, on the one hand, to maintain a language available for the then contemporary postwar generation, and on the other to use a linguistic aesthetics that conveys a particularities of the sacral language and remain free of colloquial forms. That is why the translation seems to be the resultant of the archaic translation by Wujek and the more contemporary translation by the Benedictines of Tyniec Abbey. Comparison of fragments of the translation by Dąbrowski with the said translations and shows the translator’s struggles to keep communicativeness of the text and its sacral character at the same time. For this reason the analysed translation becomes a part of a constantly up-to-date discussion of linguists concerning decisions of translators of the biblical texts. Each new decade and generation they face the task to keep both clarity and sacred character of the text.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 131-145
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish