Diferencias en la traducción de términos griegos del campo léxico ‘mujer’ en la Biblia gótica de Úlfilas1

Abstract

In any language, we expect a given term or expression to be used when referring to the same thing. Something similar is to be expected of a translation. However, in certain translations of religious texts featuring the Virgin Mary, this does not seem to apply. Apparently, the choice of words used for the lexical field of “woman” varies when it is referring to the Virgin Mary. This difference of usage is shown by the fact that in this type of texts, there are certain terms related to the lexical field of “woman” that are never used with reference to the Virgin Mary, whereas some others are used only with reference to this figure, and not to other women. In this paper, my aim is to show this circumstance, using fragments from the Gothic Bible, translated from Greek by the Arian bishop Ulfilas (4th century). I will gather the terms that are used in gothic to refer to a woman, whether it is the Virgin Mary or not, and I will also analyse the contexts in which these terms are used, in order to discover what specific terms are used only with reference to the Virgin Mary, and in which specific contexts, and what terms are not used with reference to her. Finally, I will attempt to explain the reasons that might reasonably have given rise to these distinctions. Key words: Biblical Translation, terminological distinctions, Virgin Mary, gothic language, lexical field, woman.