The features of the translation of biblical social realities into English in I-II Samuel and I-II Kings

the research of the biblical tradition in the historical and cultural context realizes great importance. An appropriate understanding of the Old Testament social realities is a very important aspect to the research biblical texts because linguistic data includes a source of knowledge about the social structure of native speakers. The article examines the peculiarities of the translation into English of the lexis characterizing the social realities of Ancient Israel XI – VI BC in the biblical books Samuel and Kings. The purpose of the research is to analyze the reflection features of words and expressions describing this group of socionyms. The research shows the specifics of the translation, identifies the characteristic features of the lexis denoting the tribal structure of society, and concludes that strategies are used to translate it in the English texts of the Old Testament. The author believes that the translation of these socionyms is dominated by the techniques calque and partially equivalent lexemes. There are rarely examples of using descriptive and approximate translation. Synonyms are often found among partial equivalents. Difficulties in clearly defining the meaning can be caused by the phenomenon of polysemy. This research can be useful for anyone interested in the problem of reconstructing the historical and cultural world of the Bible and ways to translate its lexis denoting historical realities into English.

social realities, Bible, Old Testament, Ancient Israel, English, lexeme, translation, synonyms, polysemy