Rendering of the Verbs and Verbals of Saying in the Georgian Versions of the Books of the Minor Prophets

Abstract

It is well known that the Septuagint  Greek is characterized by the use of more than one (as a rule, two) verbs and verbals (participles) of saying before the direct speech, which is a Hebraism,  for instance: καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Αμως καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς Αμασιαν …] Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah… [Amos 7:14].  The aim of the given paper is to analyze the issue of rendering of the verbs and participles of saying into Georgian. With this aim, I have compared the old Georgian translation/edition (X-XI cc.) of all the twelve books of Minor Prophets with the Georgian version of the Hellenophile period (XII –XIII cc.). Observation of the Georgian versions of the Bible has proved that the earlier translator takes more account of the nature of the Georgian language. Therefore, the old versions of the Bible occupy a somewhat intermediate position between the formal and dynamic translations, whereas the translator-revisor of the Hellenophile period tries hard to preserve formal-structural or semantic equivalence with the Greek language.