Calvin 2

In John's original post he wrote,

The Latin lacks an explicit note to the effect that the two sides of the epistemological coin “form a unity with one another.” On the other hand, the Latin uses a precise expression – “give birth from itself” (“from itself” is in all English translations to date) – that is lacking in the French

Then I wrote to John offering this translation from the French,

“As to the rest, inasmuch as they are united, one another, by many links, it is not always easy to discern which one goes ahead and produces the other.”

And this one from the Latin,

As to the rest, inasmuch as they are interconnected by many links, it isnot always easy to discern which of the two goes before and produces from itself,

They are very close to my mind. He responds,

That is more literal, but also more stilted, than the translation I offer. “Go ahead (of)” I take in the sense of “prepare.” She notes that in the parallel Latin text, the verb pario (from which we get the expression “postpartum”) probably has a washed-out sense of “produce” in this context. I concur. It’s just that the translation “give birth” also has a washed-out sense of “produce” in context. Hence my retention of vehicle and tenor.

My point is that I sent John a literal translation because he has deliberately created two divergent translations from the Latin and the French. It is not a matter of "vehicle and tenor" but that he has used the flowery metaphor "give birth" in one translation and the utilitarian "produce" in the other to create a divergent effect when the French and Latin simply do not warrant this.

He created the phrase "form a unity" but I am not sure how he did that. Once again it creates the appearance of divergence which does not exist in the original Latin and French.

I do admit that the Latin has "from itself" in it and this is indeed a divergence between the Latin and French. I think that there is a fair bit of work to be done at the ground level on these translations. Calvin is really not an interest of mine, but I do look him up if someone cites him and I question it for some reason. I was trained in a Swiss Bible school and still have my Instituts in French from when they were handed out to me on entry into the school