But perhaps we could try a bit harder.
\n<\/p>\n
For Holy Week this year we had printed booklets with all of the newly translated prayers for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, plus a selection of hymns. I don\u2019t know where the booklet came from, but it bore a \u2018Concordat\u2019 (signifying, I guess, that the prayers matched the official texts) and an \u2018Imprimatur\u2019 from a Scottish bishop. <\/p>\n
The translation of the Roman Missal was what it was, and I wasn\u2019t particularly surprised by it. But some of the hymn translations were truly dreadful. And they were not modern translations but old ones.<\/p>\n
The first howler I noticed was in a verse of the office hymn Ad regias agni dapes<\/i> (usually translated \u2018At the lamb\u2019s high feast we sing\u2019), set for Vespers from Low Sunday to Ascension Day. This was heavily revised under Pope Urban VIII. Today, only three lines remain from the original, which was titled Ad coenam agni providi<\/i> (translated by J.M. Neale as \u2018The lamb\u2019s high banquet we await\u2019).<\/p>\n
Ad regias agni dapes<\/i> has been translated many times, including one beginning with the charming line, \u2018In garments dight of virgin white.\u2019 The translation most commonly used is by Robert Campbell, a lawyer who translated Latin hymns \u2018for relaxation\u2019. He published this translation in 1850. Two years later, aged 38, he converted from the Episcopal Church of Scotland to the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t recall hearing the sixth verse before. Here is how it was printed in the booklet:<\/p>\n
Now thy banner thou dost wave;
\nVanquished Satan and the grave;
\nAngels join his praise to tell\u2014
\nSee o\u2019erthrown the prince of hell.<\/b><\/p>\n
My first, shocked thought was that the angels were praising Satan, since his name is nearest the pronoun. That, of course, could not have been the case. So why in the world didn\u2019t Campbell render it \u2018Angels join thy praise to tell\u2019?<\/p>\n
In earlier years, this hymn was published with capitalized pronouns \u2013 e.g. in Hymns of the Breviary and Missal<\/i> (Benziger, 1922), where it appears as <\/p>\n
Now Thy banner Thou dost wave;
\nVanquished Satan and the grave;
\nAngels join His praise to tell\u2014
\nSee o\u2019erthrown the prince of hell.<\/b><\/p>\n
At least in this case you can tell that the angels are praising Christ rather than the devil. But of course this wouldn\u2019t be clear when the hymn was sung.<\/p>\n
Is there anything in the Latin that would lead to such a strange translation? The verse is as follows:<\/p>\n
Victor subactis inferis,
\nTrophaea Christus explicat,
\nCaeloque aperto, subditum
\nRegem tenebrarum trahit.<\/i><\/p>\n
This is, literally, \u2018Triumphant over the vanquished of hell, Christ displays his victory monument and opens heaven; he drags behind him the conquered king of the shadows.\u2019<\/p>\n
No need to fool the listener into thinking Satan was being praised.<\/p>\n
But there was worse to come. Here is an excerpt from the same booklet, a translation of Victimae paschali laudes<\/i>, the sequence hymn for Easter Day:<\/p>\n
That guiltless Son, who bought your peace, alleluia
\nAnd made His Father\u2019s anger cease, alleluia.
\nThen, life and death together fought, alleluia
\nEach to a strange extreme was brought, alleluia
\nLife died, but soon revived again, alleluia
\nAnd even death by it was slain, alleluia<\/b><\/p>\n
This was lightly adapted from a translation by Sir Walter Kirkham Blount (d. 1717) in a book called The Compleat Office of the Holy Week : With notes and explications<\/i> published in 1687. Blount\u2019s original translation is no better:<\/p>\n
That Innocent Son who wrought your peace,
\nAnd made his Father\u2019s anger cease.
\nLife and Death together fought;
\nEach to a strange extream were brought;
\nLife died, but soon revived again,
\nAnd even by death\u2019s self has slain.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Latin isn\u2019t especially difficult:<\/p>\n
Christus innocens Patri
\nreconciliavit peccatores.
\nMors et vita duello conflixere mirando:
\ndux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus.<\/i><\/p>\n
Literally, \u2018The innocent Christ has reconciled sinners to the Father. Death and life have clashed in a marvellous duel: the leader of life has died, but now reigns, alive.\u2019 No purchased peace here, no angry Father, no strange extremes or extreams.<\/p>\n
Blount dedicated his translation to \u2018The Queen\u2019, and I can only guess that he was referring to Mary of Modena, also known as Maria Beatrice Anna Margherita Isabella d’Este (1658 \u2013 1718), Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, she reigned from 1685 to 1688 but lived in France. <\/p>\n
His \u2018epistle Dedicatory to the Queen\u2019 reminds Mary that she, herself had no need of a translation, but perhaps her subjects would:<\/p>\n
A Translation is such a kind of present to Your Majesty, as a bad copy to one who has an excellent original. \u2018Tis true, you are an absolute mistress of our language, as well as hearts, but you would never pray in an unknown tongue, though there were neither English nor Italian in the world; and translating is but telling you a story or news, which you know already, and here when you please much better told. <\/p>\n
But since what is useless to Your Majesty may be beneficial to your subjects … Your Majesty will have the goodness to reflect, that no translation can express the beauty and force of the Original … <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Perhaps not, Sir Walter, but surely you could have done better. And surely the compilers of modern service booklets could give us better translations of these beautiful Latin hymns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently published translations of two Latin hymns have terrible errors. And these are old translations, not new ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,18,22],"tags":[1928,160,1927,1929],"class_list":["post-13966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-year","category-liturgy-of-the-hours","category-music-hymns","tag-ad-regias-agni-dapes","tag-easter-vigil","tag-hymn-translations","tag-victimi-paschali-laudes"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently published translations of two Latin hymns have terrible errors. And these are old translations, not new ones.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathan Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6ae46651544bdcd42a851f0435c9038e\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":915,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Ad regias agni dapes\",\"Easter Vigil\",\"hymn translations\",\"Victimi paschali laudes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Liturgical year\",\"Liturgy of the Hours\",\"Music: Hymns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/09\\\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6ae46651544bdcd42a851f0435c9038e\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Day\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jonathan Day\"},\"description\":\"I am a writer and consultant. My church home is the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street Church) in central London, where I serve at the altar and help with adult education at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre. I recently became the chair of Council at Newman University, a small Catholic university in Birmingham. I write here in a purely personal capacity.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/jonathan-day\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home","og_description":"Recently published translations of two Latin hymns have terrible errors. And these are old translations, not new ones.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jonathan Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan Day","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/"},"author":{"name":"Jonathan Day","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ae46651544bdcd42a851f0435c9038e"},"headline":"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d","datePublished":"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/"},"wordCount":915,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Ad regias agni dapes","Easter Vigil","hymn translations","Victimi paschali laudes"],"articleSection":["Liturgical year","Liturgy of the Hours","Music: Hymns"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/","name":"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-09T16:23:15+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-10T10:03:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/09\/no-translation-can-express-the-beauty-and-force-of-the-original\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cNo translation can express the beauty and force of the Original\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ae46651544bdcd42a851f0435c9038e","name":"Jonathan Day","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jonathan-picture-96x96.jpg","caption":"Jonathan Day"},"description":"I am a writer and consultant. My church home is the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception (Farm Street Church) in central London, where I serve at the altar and help with adult education at the Mount Street Jesuit Centre. I recently became the chair of Council at Newman University, a small Catholic university in Birmingham. I write here in a purely personal capacity.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/jonathan-day\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13966"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13981,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966\/revisions\/13981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}