Now we are transitioning to narrative style manuscripts, specifically books of Miracles. I decided to try this style because I felt like I should learn to translate different types of texts. Also within narrative style you get a context that you may not have with poetry. The chronological nature and the specific actors within a story lend itself to a more informed translation. While outside references may be considered the most important thing is the content of the narrative which is not always the case to understanding poetry.
We are starting with a story from the book of Miracles of St Urael which outlines the life of the author Abba Giorgis zeGasicha. He is one of the greatest authors who wrote original works in Ge’ez. Of course they are all considered inspired and he is a saint of the Church, but he created a large body of work that changed the history of the Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some of which are used in daily praises such as Anqetse Berhan “The Door of Light”, Widasie Mesqel “Praises of the Cross”, Seatat “The book of Hours”. Authorship is a very obscure thing in Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox texts because out of humility, authors are known to ascribe their writings to someone else or completely omit a/their name. However, Abba Giorgis includes a miracle that tells of his life in this miracle book that we are translating. Though, this piece has already been translated and it is serving just as a means to practice by. Abba Giorgis names himself in some of his works as the lowly servant of God and includes many important facts about himself such as birth place, lineage, and upbringing.
His style can be described as heavily using repetition, obscure references, amazing vocabulary (in Ge’ez, Greek, Hebrew), both capturing hymnology and theology in his works.
We are using a transcript compiled by Getatchew Haile which compares 4 different manuscripts using one as the primary text. It is absolutely fascinating the work that goes into this. “Getatchew Haile is an Ethiopian-American philologist widely considered the foremost scholar of the Ge'ez language alive today. He was acknowledged for his contributions to the field with a MacArthur Fellows Program "genius" award and the Edward Ullendorff Medal from the Council of the British Academy.” My language mentions him a lot but I never realized how much of a leading scholar he is! Looking at his body of work, recognitions, vast deep and wide experiences, and continued work till this day is amazing. His work may be a project I want to look in for my final project. It actually makes me even more interested to study linguistics even further into my career whether it is in a self directed fashion as I am now or a formal way. This is definitely something I am interested in exploring. What I know for sure is that I don’t want to stop learning Ge’ez and working on translating.
Comments
Hey Mehreen! I actually have tried but it isn't very good yet :) though it is a fun exercise and really makes me think outside of the box.