In my hunt for something to do for the next couple of years, I’m planning on applying for a postdoc fellowship to translate Cyril of Alexandria’s Pauline commentaries. I was given advice that my chances of success would increase greatly if I have a publisher locked in and if I could say that I’ve already done some work on the project. After trading a couple of emails with a publisher recommended to me by a professor here, I’ve gotten a positive response on the idea but they said they would need a sample of the translation before making any commitment. I definitely don’t have enough time to translate enough to warrant a contract so they said they would make a formal ‘expression of interest’ if I can get a substantive pience done. With just a month or so before the application deadline, that is all I could ask for, so I’m shooting to do 1000 to 1500 words by the end of the month.
So, I dipped my toe in Cyril’s commentary on Romans earlier this week. After poking around my different links to sites that host copies of PG but without success because they were down, etc., I went to TLG. I was happy to find that they use the standard critical text by Pusey. I copied a chunk of the Greek into Word and tried my hand at it. I made it through a bit, and fortunately it wasn’t too bad. There were a few unknown words and a couple of optatives. The nice thing about TLG is that it is tagged so if you turn on the links it will pull up parsing and basic glosses, though sometimes you have to look up a different version of the word yourself. This TLG facility is quite helpful, and so it becomes a task of just putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Roger Pearse notes that Charles Sullivan has a 9 page document giving tips on the basic tools and techniques of translating Greek patristic writers: Translation Tips on the Greek Church Fathers. He’s got lots of detail, but let me boil down his argument and supplement it with the little bit of experience I’ve gained here at Durham:
- Look at LSJ first for words. He recommends Perseus for this, but I’ve got it on Logos/Libronix and it’s quite handy that way. I use the Logos and TLG versions in tandem because Logos is so much easier to navigate.
- If you have a particularly theological word, you may also want to look in Lampe. But know that Lampe is not exhaustive.
- Use electronic databases (like TLG, etc.) to find parallel phrases in other writers/texts that have already been translated.
- Avail yourself of the Latin translation in PG to help if you can’t figure something out in the Greek.
HT: Roger Pearse
Dunelm Road 
Thursday, 13 August 2009 at 2:59 pm
Good for you in having a go at this! So much of Cyril is inaccessible. We should remember that a research paper is only good until it is superseded, but a translation is of value until the language perishes; longer, if the original is lost.
It is very interesting to hear that the online TLG has the parsing already set up — if only the rest of us could see this.
I’d be interested to hear how you find Cyril’s style; how easy is he to translate.
The only thing that troubles me, is that you pretty much have to do the work for a given publisher, for career reasons, yet because it’s done that way no-one much will be able to read it except specialists; it won’t go online. I don’t have an answer, but there is something wrong with that setup, particularly if — as I think — it is all funded by tax money.
(NB: spelling=Pear*S*e)
Thursday, 13 August 2009 at 3:27 pm
Oops forgive the misspelling.
When I dipped into his commentary on John, I found it more difficult than this. But I’m only getting started, so we’ll see.
It would be nice to have the translation more accessible, but the demands of funding do raise a dilemma. I’m consoling myself that people can at least get it through libraries. That is, IF it actually gets accepted.
Friday, 14 August 2009 at 8:54 pm
Yes, my worry is not directed at you so much as at the system which forces every academic down this route. What’s needed is a system that allows access to the ordinary man who never buys the books or has access to the libraries. Dunno how tho.
But the thing is to get the translations made. As you say, we can always borrow them from libraries or whatever, once they exist.
Again, a great idea and go for it!
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 at 3:29 pm
Glad to hear that Cyril’s Pauline commentaries aren’t as difficult as his commentary on John. I’ve been slowly working through his John commentary this summer, and it’s pretty tough sledding. A few secondary sources I’ve seen have commented on the difficulty of his Greek. Lars Koen points out that there are over 1,000 words that appear only in Cyril, for the first time in Cyril, or more often in Cyril than in all other extant Greek literature.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 at 7:20 pm
Unfortunately the further I get into it the harder it’s gotten. Although, I haven’t had to deal with rare vocab. I’ll look forward to having a Cyril compatriot.
Thursday, 13 August 2009 at 3:05 pm
[…] Ben Blackwell is thinking about translating the commentaries of Cyril of Alexander on Romans and the…, as part of a post-doctoral project. Doing so could only benefit everyone. He discusses how he is going about it, and how the online TLG now has parsing information (if you can access it!) […]
Friday, 14 August 2009 at 8:07 am
Ben,
Do me a favour would ya. Translate Romans 1.1-7 first since I’ll need Cyril for writing my own commentary.
Friday, 14 August 2009 at 10:21 am
Will do. He’s actually pretty skimpy on the first section, focusing mostly on our adoption vs Jesus’ sonship. I’ll send over what I’ve got once I get it cleaned up near the end of the month.
Saturday, 14 September 2013 at 9:26 pm
Hey Dr. Blackwell,
Have you been able to get any more translation work done on Cyril’s Romans commentary? I am specifically looking for his comments on Romans 3 and 4. I have been doing a lot of work on justification and hope to pull Cyril’s comments into my own commentary over Romans 4 to complete a final project for class. Let me know!
Tim Wellings
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 at 11:58 am
Hi Tim, unfortunately that translation project got put on hold and I only just got to the early parts of chapter 3. In fact, only comments on a handful of verses survive from the first 3 chapters. He does talk about justification a bit in his commentary on John, but it won’t be as systematic. Hope your project goes well.