[Lexicog] Law of Synonyms

[Fritz Goerling]

Bill,

 

Let me comment within your mail below.

Bill Poser wrote:

With regard to the Arabic words for "love", it is certainly
possible that no two of them are synonyms. 

   The same applies, of course, to my Dutch examples.

I don't know Arabic nearly well enough to know. My point is only that there
CAN be
synonyms. Whether in any particular case word conventionally
glossed the same way actually are synonyms will depend on the
case.

    It would have been easier if I had just used a few English words to make
my point.

    Let's take love, affection, appreciation, fondness, liking. In a
romantic context, what word/verb

    would lovers most likely use and want to hear? I guess 'I love you'. The
other words are

    just not "synonyms" in such a context.

 But, another point to note is, insofar as only one Arabic word is
appropriate for translating "God is love" in the New Testament,
that might be due to a differences in truth conditional meaning
(perhaps the other words all imply a sexual aspect) or connotation,

    Right.

but I can imagine that only one word is appropriate simply because
it is the only word that belongs to the appropriate register. 

   Right.

Here is an interesting example from the New Testament that demonstrates the
issue of our discussion:

"In John 21:15-17, in the interchange between Jesus and Peter the occurrence
of agapao and phileo poses a well-known exegetical problem. Exegetes and
translators do not agree whether there is a deeper meaning in Jesus' use of
the verbs agapao and phileo. The majority of interpreters (to which I
belong) think that the theme of the passage is love. By his threefold
question Jesus tests Peter's love who had denied him three times. The
different choice of verbs has to do with the style of John, the author of
the Gospel, who has a tendency to vary his style to say the same thing.
Therefore I recommend that the two different Greek verbs are rendered by the
same verb in English." (adapted from an article I have written on the
subject).

You see I am not dogmatic in my definition of "synonyms." I even propose to
translate agapao (to love) and phileo (to be a friend; to like) in this
context by the same verb for good exegetical reasons. So I would consider
the two verbs here as quasi-synonyms. I could equally defend to translate
them differently for good exegetical reasons. It all depends on context.

Best wishes,

Fritz

 

 

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