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영어

The Issue of the Translation of 'maskil' in Proverbs Jinkyu Kim, Ph.D. Professor, Dept. of Christian Studies Baekseok University The goal of this study is to find out the fittest Korean word for the Hebrew word ‘maskil.’ This study narrowly focuses on the translation of ‘maskil’ (hiphil, participle, absolute form) in the Book of Proverbs. There are only six cases of this form in Prov (10:5; 10:19; 14:35; 15:24; 17:2; 19:14), besides two cases with a preposition (16:20; 21:12). The best translation for this word would be ‘prudence/prudent’ as many English Bible versions rendered this way. (The authoritative English translations such as ESV, RSV, NRSV, and NASB were selected to compare with Korean versions.) However, New Korean Revised Version (NKRV) never uses this term for ‘maskil’ in this form. NKRV largely translates this word into ‘widom/wise.’ BDB and TDOT offer the best translation for the definition of ‘maskil’ in context. BDB provides six definitions for the hiphil form of ‘sakal’ as follows: (1) “look at,” (2) “give attention to, consider, ponder,” (3) “have insight, comprehension,” (4) “cause to consider, give insight, teach,” (5) “act circumspectly, prudently,” (6) “prosper, have success” (BDB, #7919). BDB pinpoints the definition of the substantive form of ‘makil’ belongs to the fifth category among these (Prov 10:5, 19; 14:35; 15:24; 17:2; 19:14; Job 22:2). TDOT also gives a similar definition for the hiphil form of ‘sakal’ when used absolutely. It means “be reasonable, act reasonably,” “be prudent, act prudently” (TDOT 14:118). Other dictionaries such as NIDOTTE, THAT, and TWOT do not give such a precise definition for ‘maskil’ in the hiphil substantive form. Above all, B. Waltke gives the most inspiring definition for 'maskil.' In his excellent commentaries on Proverbs, he defines “being prudent” is the most important meaning for ‘maskil.’ Though the Korean word for ‘prudence’ (shinjung) may not be a precise word for ‘maskil’ because of the slight differences of the semantic fields between two languages (however, it is unavoidable in many cases), but this word is its fittest term for 'maskil' among Korean wisdom-related words.

한국어

이 논문의 목적은 히브리어 ‘마스킬’를 위한 가장 적합한 한국어를 찾는 것이다. 이 논문에서 필자는 잠언에 나오는 ‘마스킬’(히필, 분사, 절대형)의 번역에 초점을 맞추고 있다. 이 표현은 전치사와 함께 나오는 두 곳(16:20; 21:12)을 제외하고, 잠언에 단지 여섯 군데에(10:5; 10:19; 14:35; 15:24; 17:2; 19:14) 나온다. 필자는 이 논문에서 ‘마스킬’을 위한 최상의 번역은 ‘신중/신중함’이라는 의미임을 밝힌다.