Linguist who translated the Bible into hundreds of tongues, taking its message from the ice cap to the desert
The Rev Eugene Nida
THE REVEREND EUGENE NIDA, who has died aged 96, helped translate the Bible into more than 200 languages, enabling the world's most popular book to be understood by remote populations from the icy wastes of the Arctic Circle to the deserts of Africa.
Key to his work was the concept of "functional equivalence". Instead of using literal translations, his idea was to incorporate native culture and idiom into the Bible story. Using this system, translators could rearrange sentences in the Bible to convey more clearly its meaning and intention in any given language.
Nida travelled far and wide, visiting more than 85 countries to recruit native speakers to help with translations. His longest project, begun in 1978, was to translate the Bible into Inuktitut, the tongue spoken by the Inuit people who live in the Arctic; it took 24 years to complete.
This was because the Bible story is set among palm trees, olive groves and sandy deserts and features donkeys, cattle and goats, none of which makes sense to the Inuit, who live amid vast expanses of snow and are more familiar with seals and walruses. As Nida explained: "You can't translate without cultural context."
He also helped write the Good News Bible, applying his system to break down large words into smaller, clearer ideas. So, for example, the word "multitude" became "crowd," "covetous" became "greedy", and "take heed" became "watch out".
Though such changes rankled with believers who revel in the beauty and rolling cadences of the King James Version, Nida was unfazed. To him, the key to the Bible was not poetry, but comprehension. The sole aim, he insisted, should be "to read it, to understand it and be transformed by its message. Meaning is found not in dictionaries, grammars and encyclopedias, nor in texts nor even in contexts, but in our heads."
Eugene Albert Nida was born on November 11 1914 in Oklahoma City, where his father was a chiropractor. When he was five, the family moved to California, and while studying Latin in high school Eugene was already anticipating being able to translate Scripture as a missionary.
He duly graduated in Greek and Latin at the University of California at Los Angeles, and in 1939 received a Master's degree in New Testament Greek from the University of Southern California.
In 1943 he was ordained as a Baptist minister and in the same year earned a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. He also joined the American Bible Society, becoming head of its translation programme three years later.
Though Nida was a prolific linguist, fluent in at least eight languages, he needed a system to understand the languages of many peoples around the world. His technique was to point to something on the ground and ask locals what they called it. This way, he explained, the word was not a literal translation but a reflection of their culture.
He would then compile a vocabulary and incorporate his understanding of the language and culture into his translations. But he was not vain about his efforts. "There is no such thing as a definitive translation, since there are constant advances in Biblical scholarship as well as changes in all living languages," Nida once said. "No major translation should last more than 50 years."
He retired from the American Bible Society in the early 1990s, but remained busy, conferring with translators around the world. He wrote more than 40 books on languages, translations and Bible scholarship.
Although the Bible's origins date back more than 2,000 years, Nida believed that the book had an enduring relevance. "People are discovering that the Bible has a significant message for the present day," he said. "While this is an age of technology, urbanisation and change, the world hasn't invented a new sin in 2,000 years."
Eugene Nida, who died on August 25, was predeceased in 1993 by his wife of 49 years, Althea Sprague. He is survived by his second wife, Elena Fernandez-Miranda of Brussels, a translator and interpreter, whom he married in 1997.
Eugene Albert Nida was born on November 11 1914 in Oklahoma City, where his father was a chiropractor. When he was five, the family moved to California, and while studying Latin in high school Eugene was already anticipating being able to translate Scripture as a missionary.
He duly graduated in Greek and Latin at the University of California at Los Angeles, and in 1939 received a Master's degree in New Testament Greek from the University of Southern California.
In 1943 he was ordained as a Baptist minister and in the same year earned a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. He also joined the American Bible Society, becoming head of its translation programme three years later.
Though Nida was a prolific linguist, fluent in at least eight languages, he needed a system to understand the languages of many peoples around the world. His technique was to point to something on the ground and ask locals what they called it. This way, he explained, the word was not a literal translation but a reflection of their culture.
He would then compile a vocabulary and incorporate his understanding of the language and culture into his translations. But he was not vain about his efforts. "There is no such thing as a definitive translation, since there are constant advances in Biblical scholarship as well as changes in all living languages," Nida once said. "No major translation should last more than 50 years."
He retired from the American Bible Society in the early 1990s, but remained busy, conferring with translators around the world. He wrote more than 40 books on languages, translations and Bible scholarship.
Although the Bible's origins date back more than 2,000 years, Nida believed that the book had an enduring relevance. "People are discovering that the Bible has a significant message for the present day," he said. "While this is an age of technology, urbanisation and change, the world hasn't invented a new sin in 2,000 years."
Eugene Nida, who died on August 25, was predeceased in 1993 by his wife of 49 years, Althea Sprague. He is survived by his second wife, Elena Fernandez-Miranda of Brussels, a translator and interpreter, whom he married in 1997.
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