Tag: (E) heaven

(2020) English, Arabic, Hebrew – Religion

Habib, Sandy (2020). Heaven and hell are here! The non-religious meanings of English heaven and hell and their Arabic and Hebrew counterparts. In Bert Peeters, Kerry Mullan, & Lauren Sadow (Eds.) (2020). Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Vol. 2. Meaning and culture (pp. 149-165). Singapore: Springer.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9975-7_8

Abstract:

The religious meanings of English heaven and hell, Arabic الجنة aljanna and الجحيم jahannam الجحيم,  and Hebrew גן העדן gan eden and גֵיהִנוֹם geyhinom have been explored in previous work. The aim of the present chapter is to throw light on their non-religious meanings, which turn out to be identical across the three languages. The six words are explicated using the simple, universal terms of the NSM approach. This results in explications that are easily understood and readily translatable into all languages, giving cultural outsiders an insider’s view of these concepts.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2018) English, Hebrew, Arabic – Folk religious concepts

Habib, Sandy (2018). Heaven and hell: A cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural places. RASK, 48, 1–34.

Open access

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to devise a cross-linguistic semantic template for supernatural place terms. To achieve this objective, six supernatural place concepts were analysed, and an explication for each concept was built. Comparing the explications yielded a seven-part semantic template. The usefulness of this semantic template is threefold. First, it eases the task of explicating supernatural place concepts because the parts of the template can serve as guidelines to be followed while constructing the explications. Second, it makes it easier to compare related supernatural place concepts from different languages. Third, it unveils the devices that are embodied in the structure of supernatural place concepts and that enable people to use these complex concepts without difficulty.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(1999) Religion, religious understanding

Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). What did Jesus mean? The Lord’s Prayer translated into universal human concepts. In Ralph Bisschops, & James Francis (Eds.), Metaphor, canon and community: Jewish, Christian and Islamic approaches (pp. 180-216). Canterbury: Peter Lang.

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is not to suggest that Bible translators around the globe should henceforth start translating the Lord’s Prayer into universal concepts, avoiding culture-specific images and metaphorical terms such as father, kingdom, or bread. Images and terms of this kind are part and parcel of Jesus’ teaching, and some equivalents for them must be forged in any language into which the Gospels are translated.

The intended meaning of these images and terms, however, can be further elucidated in a language so simple that even a child can understand it, and based on concepts that are universally available. It is also important to recognize that behind the use of imagery and metaphor lie very specific messages – messages that can be reconstructed in a largely non-metaphorical language, and in any case without any metaphors that are not universal.

More information:

An earlier version of this chapter was published in 1995 and reissued in 2011 (with different pagination) in the LAUD Working Papers, Series A, General and Theoretical Papers, 360.

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Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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(2011) English, Hebrew, Arabic – Religion

Habib, Sandy (2011). Contrastive lexical-conceptual analysis of folk religious concepts in English, Arabic, and Hebrew: NSM approach. PhD thesis, University of New England, Armidale.

Abstract:

The primary aim of this dissertation is to explore a number of religious concepts in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. It is the first detailed study of folk religious concepts from a linguistic vantage point. The concepts included in the study are those behind the English words angels, the devil, God, heaven, hell, martyr, sin, and grace, as well as their Arabic and Hebrew near-equivalents. The theoretical framework is that of the NSM approach.

To lay the groundwork, Arabic and Hebrew versions of NSM are established, which had not been done before. Semantic explications of the target religious concepts are then developed in terms that are both comprehensible to ordinary people and translatable between the three languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew). This allows for easy identification of the similarities and differences among the various concepts in the languages under investigation.

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Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners

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