A Language Update of Graydon Snyder’s Translation of The Shepherd of Hermas
This is a minor language update of a translation of the Shepherd of Hermas taken from The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, Volume 6: The Shepherd of Hermas, originally published in 1968. The original translation and commentary are by Graydon F. Snyder. This update contains only the translation and not the commentary that originally accompanied it.
The language update was done with two goals: 1. to remove words or phrases which might be hard to understand for some readers so that this translation could be read and easily understood by a broad audience. 2. to remove words that have a very narrow or technical definition in English but which are used to translate words that have a broad and non-technical meaning in Greek.
When updating Graydon Snyder’s translation, nine other English translations were consulted to ensure that the changes made are reasonable translations of the underlying Greek and Latin text. A complete list of translations consulted is listed in an appendix. In a few places where Graydon Snyder’s original translation differed from the majority of other translations in a way that gave a different meaning, it was updated to be consistent with the majority.
The following words, which were transliterated^[Transliteration is where the sounds of a word in one language are represented in the sounds of another language, rather than translating the meaning of the word. For example, the Greek word APOSTELOS, which means an envoy, delegate or messenger, is often transliterated to the English word apostle.] from Greek in the original translation have been changed to give the meaning of the Greek words they represent:
- apostles has been changed to envoys
- deacons has been changed to assistants
- angel(s) has been changed to messenger(s)
The following words, which have a very narrow meaning in English, have been changed to words which have a similarly broad meaning to the Greek word they represent:
- church has been changed to assembly
- bishop has been changed to overseer
- Scriptures has been changed to writings
Graydon Snyder’s family has released this translation into the public domain. The changes made to this translation in the language update are also in the public domain. This translation may be freely used without restriction.
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