Translating Θεοτοκος / Богородица

Mon Feb 17 04:32:39 UTC 2014

Dear colleagues,

For those reading French, the page <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9otokos> seems to
explain the problem fairly well.

A Roman catholic, I tend to translate "богородица" by "Virgin Mary" (Vierge Marie), from the
Credo, which explains for the vast majority of non Christians who was the "Mother of God".

May be "Mary, Mother of God" (Marie, mère de Dieu) could be seen as an understandable
equivalent in this regard.

That is at least my to cents to this discussion

Philippe Frison
(Strasbourg, France)

-----Message d'origine-----
De : SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] De la part de Katz, Michael R.
Envoyé : lundi 17 février 2014 03:04
À : SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Objet : [SEELANGS] FW: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Богородица

Dear colleagues:

I forwarded this inquiry to one of my colleagues in the Department of
Religion at Middlebury College. This is her response, which she is willing
to share.

Michael Katz

On 2/16/14 1:05 PM, "Hatjigeorgiou, Maria" <mhatjige at middlebury.edu<mailto:mhatjige at middlebury.edu>> wrote:

>Dear Michael,
>
>thank you SO much for bringing me into this loop! This is a great
>question of interdisciplinary nature, where language is such a key
>player. I firmly believe that the translation of Θεοτοκος as "Mother of
>God" is the closest and most faithful rendering of theological meaning,
>which is also relatable to both contemporary communities of faith and
>scholarly audiences. My second vote would go to "Godbearer." There is
>plenty of recent scholarship utilizing both, but most Byzantine
>archaeologists and Orthodox theologians in the English-speaking world
>today have opted for the "Mother of God" rendering. Also: to treat the
>point that Yuliya Ballou seems to be raising, indeed there is more
>significance given to Mary by emphasizing her role of 'bearing God'
>rather than simply 'birthing God', and the early Christians of the East,
>who were thinking about those questions, were fully aware of the
>complexity of theological semantics. The intricate term 'Θεοτοκος' serves
>both semantic needs, and was devised during the 3rd Ecumenical Council of
>Ephesus (431) as a term that safeguards the unity of Christ's person. By
>proclaiming Mary Theotokos, they weren't only honoring Mary the
>historical woman, but they also solved the great theological question of
>how the Human and the Divine relate in Christ's person!
>
>Please feel free to forward my humble take to your Slavists list, or
>anyone who might find this useful.
>
>With my warmest greetings, as ever,
>Maria
>
>________________________________________
>From: Katz, Michael R.
>Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 7:32 AM
>To: Hatjigeorgiou, Maria
>Subject: FW: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Богородица
>
>Maria:
>
>I thought you might find this of interest.
>
>Michael Katz
>
>On 2/15/14 3:23 AM, "R. M. Cleminson" <rmcleminson at POST.SK<mailto:rmcleminson at POST.SK>> wrote:
>
>>The objection to all the alternatives in the list is that they sound
>>totally unnatural in English, and are, to that extent, bad translations.
>>
>>Before the Reformation expressions such as "Goddes Moder" were widely
>>current in English, but were then banished as symptomatic of what was
>>perceived as an excessive devotion to Mary, and have remained foreign to
>>the language of the Reformed tradition to this day, though an awareness
>>of equivalent expressions in other Western European languages means that
>>"Mother of God" is not unnatural in modern English, but marked as "Roman
>>Catholic".  (Slightly ironically, the original theological resonances of
>>Θεοτόκος are an affirmation of an orthodox christology - in opposition to
>>Nestorianism - that Western Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant,
>>shares.)
>>
>>It is also relevant that Russian may designate Mary as Богоматерь or
>>Матерь Божия, both expressions which are absolutely equivalent to
>>Богородица without any perceived cultural or theological nuance; that on
>>all the countless icons on which she appears she is identified as Μήτηρ
>>Θεοῦ; and that in worship conducted in English in Orthodox churches in
>>England Θεοτόκος is rendered as "Mother of God".
>>
>>I think that one can be confident, therefore, that "Mother of God" fully
>>conveys the semantics of Богородица - as fully, that is, as one can ever
>>hope to convey semantics when translating between languages and cultures.
>> The other expressions fall far short of this, partly because they sound
>>so awkward to the English ear, and partly because they point so markedly
>>(and exclusively) to certain theological technicalities in a way that
>>neither Богородица nor Θεοτόκος, as normally used in everyday language,
>>do.
>>
>>----- Pôvodná správa -----
>>Od: "Daniel Rancour-Laferriere" <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET<mailto:darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET>>
>>Komu: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU<mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU>
>>Odoslané: piatok, 14. február 2014 21:57:06
>>Predmet: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Б��городица
>>
>>Dear Slavists,
>>
>>
>>I am considering possible alternatives to "Mother of God" in translating
>>Russian "Bogoroditsa" (which is a calque on Greek "Theotokos" according
>>to Fasmer). Some possibilities:
>>
>>
>>Godbearer
>>Birth-giver of God
>>Godbirther
>>Birther of God
>>The God-bearing One
>>
>>
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