This study deals with the difficulties faced when translating the high priest's second query to Jesus (Mk 14:61b) and his subsequent response and declaration before the Sanhedrin (v. 62b) into an honorific language. Translating Biblical Greek into hon...
This study deals with the difficulties faced when translating the high priest's second query to Jesus (Mk 14:61b) and his subsequent response and declaration before the Sanhedrin (v. 62b) into an honorific language. Translating Biblical Greek into honorific languages is especially complex for Asian Bible translators. In particular, Korean addressee honorifics, viz. the honorific second person pronouns and the honorific verb ending forms, are the most complex systems among the honorific languages. The difficulty lies in the fact that the translator's selection of the addressee honorifics is indeterminable in the grammar and syntactic structure of the source text, which does not include the grammatical morpheme.
In order to translate into the proper addressee honorifics, this study first analyzes the biblical text with an established criteria and a theoretical framework for translating into addressee honorifics. Second, the paper also discusses the possible selections of addressee honorifics for a new Korean church translation. After dealing with the formality of the situation, the dialogues (Mk 14:61b, 62b) are analyzed according to the following criteria: (1) social relationship of interlocutors, (2) cultural expectation in social settings, and (3) social variables of a speaker's assumption and intention toward the addressee(s).
After examining the source text, the formal limited non-deferential tangsin and hao forms are suggested as the most appropriate forms for the high priest's second query to Jesus (Mk 14:61b) and his response and declaration before Sanhedrin (v. 62b). Although it is possible that modern readers may regard these forms as too archaic or authoritative, the forms appropriately express the assumed authority of the high priest and Jesus' decisive declaration that he is the Messiah and divine Son. The selection of the addressee honorifics is based on the translator's exegetical research such as the formality of the situation, examination of textual variants, the allusions to the Old Testament, etc.