Julia E. Smith Parker Translation
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The Julia Evelina Smith Parker Translation is considered the first complete translation of the Bible into English by a woman.
Julia Smith, of Glastonbury, Connecticut had a working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Her father had been a Congregationalist Minister before he became a lawyer. Having read the Bible in its original languages, she set about creating her own translation, which she completed in 1855, after a number of drafts. The work is a strictly literal rendering, always translating a Greek or Hebrew word with the same word wherever possible. Smith accomplished this work on her own in the span of eight years (1847 to 1855). She had sought out no help in the venture, even writing, "I do not see that anybody can know more about it than I do."[1] Smith's insistence on complete literalness, combined with an odd notion of Hebrew tenses (often translating the Hebrew imperfect tense with the English future) results in a translation that is mechanical and often nonsensical.
In 1876, at 84 years of age some 21 years after completing her work, she finally sought publication. The publication costs ($4,000) were personally funded by Julia and her sister Abby Smith. The 1,000 copies printed sold for $2.50 each.
The translation fell into obscurity as it was for the most part too literal and lacked any flow.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Metzger, Bruce M., The Bible in Translation, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, 2001
[edit] External links
- http://www.polybiblio.com/pjbooks/9862.html - About Julia Smith's translation of the Bible and her family.
- http://www.bible-researcher.com/ - Overview of translations from the 19th Century
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