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Re: Translation challenge: Fiat lingua

From:And Rosta <and.rosta@...>
Date:Saturday, July 8, 2006, 12:21
What does "fiat lingua" literally mean in Latin? In other words, what meaning does
matrix clause present subjunctive express? Desideration? Or more generally
irrealis?

And what does mainstream exegesis hold the textual meaning of "fiat lux" in
Genesis to be? Does the act of wishing bring into being what is wished for? Or
is the element of wishing lost, so that the illocutionary (perlocutionary)
function is simply that of making itself true. And if so, is that at all part
of the sentence meaning?

And lastly, does the translation challenge wish us to translate the literal
meaning of the Latin, or to produce an analogue of how "fiat lux" in Genesis
would be translated?

--And.

Replies

Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Sai Emrys <sai@...>
R A Brown <ray@...>