Featured Idioms

So if an idiom like "you're making a mountain out of a molehill" were to be 'translated' according to your guidelines your Bible would say "making a mountain out of a molehill" and have an asterisk referring to a footnote where the footnote would say, what, exactly?

 

And what do you do with an idiom such as "whiter than snow", when a language has no word for snow as it never snows in that region?

 

One problem is knowing exactly which phrases in an ancient language are actually idioms; and second, what did they mean?

 

Idioms do not mean what they say. That's why most translations need to have the meaning in the text and the so-called 'literal' in the footnotes.

 

Not to be picky, but actually, that's not an idiom, but a literal statement. An idiom is a word or words that mean something different from the literal meaning, but "whiter than snow" actually means what it says, since snow is actually white. So the statement is a metaphor, not an idiom. The translation choices are then literal or free or DE.

“Idiom: (1) Any expression peculiar to a language, conveying a distinct meaning, not necessarily explicable by, occasionally even contrary to, the general accepted grammatical rules.—(2) The idiom is a term denoting the general linguistic or grammatical character of a language” (Dictionary of Linguistics, by Pei and Gaynor, p. 95).

 

Actually, the Greek and Hebrew idioms are understood quite well by profs and scholars. There are several books out listing all of the ancient language idioms.

 

The choices for translating that idiom would be: literal if there is the same idiom in the target language (it happens); literal if the meaning makes sense in the target language ("kick against the goads"); an equivalent idiom in the target language; restating the meaning in the target language without an idiom.

Please see my essay at: http://paroikosmissionarykid.blogspot.com/2013/03/translating-idioms-guest-essay-by.html

 

"Making a mountain out of a mole hill" is not an idiom. It's something like a hyperbolic adage... or just call it an expression. An idiom is something like "There was a a man who....." In another language that would come out "A man was in that place who...." "There" does not a mean a specific. but unmentioned, place in that case, but it is an idiom meaning the man in question existed. But in English it would sound awkward to say "A man existed who...."

Another common idiom is "I'm fixing to go to....." It doesn't mean you're repairing anything; just planning to go shortly-- which doesn't mean you're not wearing high heels.

Just one more... I remember having a little trouble around junior high school if we were assigned reading by British authors and their use of the phrase, "to be sure." I tried to fit that as meaning "checking" or "rechecking." before I finally discovered it just means "certainly," or "of course!"

 

So, if your Bible literally translated the idiom "making a mountain out of a molehill" as text and have an asterisk referring to a footnote, what would the footnote say, exactly?

 

Merrian Webster defines idiom: an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own

"Making a mountain out of a mole hill" CAN be understood from the meanings of its separate words.

 

I quoted four DICTIONARIES OF IDIOMS and "mountain out of a mole hill" was an entry. I think that ought to settle the question!

 

Forgive me, but I think you are mixing up the two meanings of idiom Pei and Gaynor which I gave in post #8. As has been pointed out, "Make a mountain out of a molehill" is an idiom according to first definition. However, saying "a man who" is rather to be called "the idiom of the language," or how that languages phrases things, rather than a word or words with a different meaning than the literal one.

Here is the definition once again: “Idiom: (1) Any expression peculiar to a language, conveying a distinct meaning, not necessarily explicable by, occasionally even contrary to, the general accepted grammatical rules.—(2) The idiomis a term denoting the general linguistic or grammatical character of a language” (Dictionary of Linguistics, by Pei and Gaynor, p. 95).

I would call that a regional dialect rather than an idiom.

 

Any idiom can be understood in a literal way, which then is the wrong meaning. Understanding this idiom in a literal way would mean to literally find a molehill and pile dirt on it until it is a mountain. However, hearing the idiom, no one would understand it that way, but would rather understand it to mean making a minor matter into a major one.