---
title: "The translation technique and the translation — Moretsi 2017"
description: "The article asks how the Syriac Peshitta (P) handled the Hebrew of Psalm 84 in the Masoretic Text (MT)."
authors: ["Lekgetho H. Moretsi"]
year: 2017
venue: "In die Skriflig 51"
source: "https://indieskriflig.org.za/index.php/skriflig/article/view/2193"
doi: "10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193"
licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; In die Skriflig)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/moretsi-2017-translation-technique-translation-verbal-forms/"
---
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# The translation technique and the translation of verbal forms in Psalm 84 of the Masoretic Text as employed by the Peshitta

**Authors:** Lekgetho H. Moretsi · **Year:** 2017 · **Venue:** In die Skriflig 51 · **Licence:** [CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; In die Skriflig)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193) · [PDF](https://indieskriflig.org.za/index.php/skriflig/article/download/2193/4555) · [DOI 10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193](https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2733913423)

**Citations:** 2 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14)

## Summary
The article asks how the Syriac Peshitta (P) handled the Hebrew of Psalm 84 in the Masoretic Text (MT). It focuses on verbs and on whether each departure reflects a different Hebrew Vorlage, influence from other versions, or the translator's own technique. Using the Leiden edition of the Peshitta psalms with BHS verse numbering, the author takes the MT as the presumed source. He compares it verse by verse with P, checks against the LXX and Targum, and looks at word order, phrasing and verbal morphology. Verses 6–8 and 10–11 get close attention, along with selected words in verses 2–5. A table sets each Hebrew verb's parsing beside its Syriac equivalent.

The conclusion is that P worked from a text close to the MT. Most divergences come from deliberate simplification and harmonisation, or from the translator misreading difficult Hebrew. The study matters for anyone using the Peshitta as an indirect witness in Old Testament textual criticism.

## Key points
- The method is comparative text-critical analysis, with the MT treated as P's hypothetical Vorlage. The LXX and Targum serve as cross-checks for possible outside influence.
- The framework draws on Weitzman's four aspects of literalism:
  - segmentation
  - quantitative correspondence
  - imitation of Hebrew form
  - consistency of equivalents

  It also cites Adair's call to measure these aspects quantitatively.
- P has no waw-consecutive and mostly uses the plain conjunctive waw. In several places (e.g. 3.3, 7.2) it puts a perfect where the MT has an imperfect, so that the verb matches its neighbours.
- P also changes how some constructions and words are arranged:
  - Hebrew participles in construct chains (vv. 5, 12, 13) become participles after the relative particle *d*, sometimes with a preposition.
  - Word order is shifted for readability in verses 3 and 4.
  - A plural suffix in verse 6 is made singular.
- In verse 4, P orders the phrase differently from the LXX, which argues against LXX influence at that point. In contrast, the "law-giver" reading in verse 7 may reflect the LXX or a later revision. The obscure verb in 7.3 looks like a misunderstanding by the translator.

## Interesting ideas
- The paper does not grade a translation on a single literal-versus-free scale; it scores several independent dimensions, so one text can be literal on one axis and free on another. — For Mova (back): score text → graph → text output separately for segmentation, quantity of material, form imitation and consistency of lexical choices, rather than with one fidelity number.
- Each divergence is attributed to one of several competing causes: a different source, outside influence, deliberate technique or plain misunderstanding. A third witness decides between them: agreeing with the LXX against the MT suggests influence, while differing from both suggests the translator's own technique. — For Mova (learn): when witness parsers disagree, use an independent extra witness to classify the disagreement as systematic dialect or genuine error before turning it into silver data or a repair rule.
- A side-by-side table aligns every verb with its full parsing in both languages, turning impressions into checkable item-level evidence. — For Mova (tokens): build aligned morphology tables when comparing tagger outputs or treebank conventions, so each feature mismatch is visible and countable.
- The translator replaced a source construction (participle in a construct chain) with a target-natural equivalent (relative clause with a preposition) while keeping the meaning. — For Mova (tree): express UD dialect conversion as construction-level rewrite rules, with each rule documented as a meaning-preserving mapping.
- Tense was harmonised so that an ambiguous verb takes its aspect from the preceding coordinated verbs in the same line. — For Mova (world): when a verb's time reference is unclear, provisionally inherit it from coordinated neighbours and mark this as an explainable, revisable inference in event ordering.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

Fields: [Linguistics & languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/linguistics/)

Topics: [Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/)

## Institutions

- [North-West University](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/north-west-university/) — University, Potchefstroom, South Africa · 4 works · 5 citations

## Cite

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{moretsi2017translation,
  title = {{The translation technique and the translation of verbal forms in Psalm 84 of the Masoretic Text as employed by the Peshitta}},
  author = {Moretsi, Lekgetho H.},
  booktitle = {In die Skriflig 51},
  year = {2017},
  doi = {10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v51i1.2193}
}
```

- [← previous Surprisal and Satisfaction: Towards an Information-theoretic Characterization of Presuppositions with a Diachronic Application](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/gergel-2017-surprisal-satisfaction-information-theoretic-characterization/)
- [next → Crossroads between contrastive linguistics, translation studies and machine translation: TC3-II](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/czulo-2017-crossroads-between-contrastive-linguistics/)
- [↑ back to papers of 2017](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2017/page/4/)

## References

32 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

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