A A A
Forum Scope






Start typing a member's name above and it will auto-complete

Match



Forum Options



Min search length: 3 characters / Max search length: 84 characters

Lost password?
sp_TopicIcon
The word gentiles
Avatar
Hellenist Disciple
Level 0
21 Posts
(Offline)
1
September 26, 2021 - 11:32 am

Maybe a Christianese word, most of the times used in place of the more literal word "nations".

Avatar
Berean Patriot (admin)
Level 10
25 Posts
(Offline)
2
September 26, 2021 - 6:09 pm

While I agree it's a bit Christianese, I'm not sure of a word or phrase to replace it with.  The trouble with just "nations" is that it more properly means "non Jewish nations" or "non-Jewish people", which is a mouthful, and is what "gentile" means.  Again, "non-Jewish nations" or "non-Jewish people" would work in many places, but is a mouthful.  Do you have a more concise alternate suggestion?

Avatar
Hellenist Disciple
Level 0
21 Posts
(Offline)
3
September 28, 2021 - 6:30 pm

The Greek word in isolation means "nations" and in many places is translated as just "nations" (and not "people", which is a different word). Who is to say when it is used to refer to non-Jewish ones? Possibly a footnote, but not the text itself (at least not in a word-for-words translation). For example, the word for "Greek(s)" is left untouched, no matter that in many instances it really means "non-Jew(s)" and thus "gentile(s)". The same way that keeping "Greek(s)" in these instances may be useful for the reader to know that (Koine) Greek was the international language of the time (and the language of the New Testament), keeping "nations" may also be useful to know that Jews had incorporated their chauvinism in the meanings of some words.

Avatar
Berean Patriot (admin)
Level 10
25 Posts
(Offline)
4
September 29, 2021 - 9:34 am

You make some good points.  I'll add it to the list of words I keep to go back through and double check after I'm done my editing pass of the currently translated text.  I'd want to look at all the places it's used at once to get a better sense of the word. 

Forum Timezone: America/Chicago
All RSSShow Stats
Administrators:
Berean Patriot (admin)
Top Posters:
Hellenist Disciple: 21
FrancisJ: 3
dontknowgreek: 1
NWiebe: 1
Newest Members:
NWiebe
Vessel_of_Mercy
JDKnight
FrancisJ
Clipham
Chris
vrijechristenen
Rowenabiari
AmberTeava
Lucillestich
Forum Stats:
Groups: 2
Forums: 7
Topics: 10
Posts: 49

 

Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 0
Members: 241
Moderators: 0
Admins: 1
Most Users Ever Online: 35
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 3
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)