The Power of Prepositions

Lost in Translation #113

The verses in the Nicene Creed concerning the Incarnation, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ contain a number of expressive prepositions. Prepositions, though usually diminutive in size, can be surprisingly difficult to translate, perhaps because they express a relation between two or more things, and relations are understood differently by different cultures. For example, to say in Latin that “The glass is on the table” I must say that “The glass is in the table” (poculum in mensa est), and I would use the same formulation to say that there an inlaid stones in the table (tesserae in mensa sunt). And were I to use another preposition like supra for the glass’s location, a Roman would picture a glass hovering over a table.

De and Ex

The verse concerning the Incarnation has two prepositions denoting the relationship between Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The original Greek is:

σαρκωθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα,

And the Latin translation is:

Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine: et homo factus est.

Which I translate as:

And He was incarnated by the Holy Ghost from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

De is the Latin translation for the Greek ἐκ while ex is the translator’s way of signifying that Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου (“of the Virgin Mary”) is in the genitive case. One would have thought that the Latin ex would be used for the Greek ἐκ since they are etymologically kindred. And one can translate into Latin “of the Virgin Mary” without the explicit use of a preposition, as does the original Greek.

Although the choice of de and ex are surprising, the prepositions successfully accentuate certain aspects of the Incarnation. De is a preposition that can mean both “the material of which any thing is made” and “the producing cause or reason.” [1] The Second Person of the Holy Trinity is of the same material, so to speak, as the Third, and the Third Person was instrumental in incarnating the Second Person when He (the Holy Spirit) overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary at the moment of Christ’s conception. (see Luke 1, 35)

The older official English translation and the current Italian translation add “by the power of the Holy Spirit” (e per opera dello Spirito Santo), probably as a nod to Luke 1, 35: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee.” The addition, however, obscures the double meaning of de, and upon closer analysis it is not faithful to the biblical narrative either, for in the Gospel according to Saint Luke the Holy Spirit does not act by the power of the Most High; the Holy Spirit is the power of the Most High. The 2011 ICEL translation is a welcome improvement: “And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

Ex, on the other hand, “denotes out from the interior of a thing,” and it too can “indicate the material of which any thing is made or consists.” [2] In His divinity, Jesus Christ is consubstantial with the Father and Holy Spirit, while in His humanity He is consubstantial with mankind in general and the Blessed Virgin Mary in particular. For while we take 50% of our DNA from our father and 50% from our mother, Jesus took 100% of his DNA from His mother. Hence the official French translation: Par l’Esprit Saint, il a pris chair de la Vierge Marie, “By the Holy Spirit, He took flesh of/from the Virgin Mary.”

On a different note, most of the older English translations of the Creed render et homo factus est as “and [He] was made man.” The 2011 ICEL translation and its predecessor, on the other hand, have “and [He] became man.” “Became” is a perfectly acceptable way of translating the passive voice of facere, but it loses a connection to the other references to “making” in the Creed, which are significant. God the Father is the Maker (factor) of Heaven and earth, while His Son is begotten, not made (genitum non factum) and He through whom all things were made (per quem omnia facta sunt). And yet this same Unmade, Maker-of-All Son was made something, He was made a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. Translating factus est as “made man” rather than “became” highlights this profound paradox.

Etiam

The next line is Crucifixus etiam pro nobis or “He was crucified also for us.” “Also” or etiam is not a preposition but a conjunction, which is used here to translate the Greek -τε (“and”). Curiously, the current English, French, Italian, and German translations of the Missal omit the word altogether.

One wonders why the Latin translator chose etiam when he could have used several other words for “and” (et, atque, ac, etc.) or another word for “also” such as quoque. Whatever his reasoning, etiam has added meaning because it can be used to introduce a more important idea and thus has the sense of “and even” or “nay.” [3] And if this meaning is kept in mind, etiam here expresses astonishment at the Christ event from beginning to end. “The eternally begotten Son of God,” the text seems to be saying, “became a lowly human being. And as if that weren’t enough, He was even crucified for our sake!”

Sub

The next line is Sub Pontio Piláto passus, et sepultus est or “Under Pontius Pilate, He suffered and was buried.” Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36, is no doubt mentioned by name to stress the historicity of the Crucifixion. As we have seen in other parts of the Mass, care is taken to remind the believer that he believes in historical reality rather than instructive myth. The preposition sub is small but powerful, for it can mean “subject to” or “in the time of.” [4] In this case, it means both.

Still, Pontius Pilate is the only proper name of a person in the Ordinary of the Mass that I can think of who is not a Divine Person, an Angel, or a Saint. A Greek Orthodox priest friend told me that he was trained in seminary not to mention anyone in the homily who was not holy, for the mere mention of someone’s name triggers the image of that person in the listener’s mind, and if that person is not a living icon of Christ, it is a distraction. It would seem that for the most part a similar logic is at play in the Ordinary of the Roman Mass.

But Pontius Pilate is an exception. Not only is he not holy, but he has the blood of the innocent Lamb on his hands, despite his vain efforts to wash it off. The Coptic Church believes that Pilate repented and died a Saint, but personally, I have my doubts. While the Passion of Our Lord caused Peter to repent and weep bitterly, it incited Pilate to become friends with the despicable Herod, who had formerly been his enemy. (Luke 23, 12) The historian Josephus claims that Pilate was dismissed from his post for cruelly suppressing a Samaritan revolt; and if you are considered cruel by the Romans who, in the words of Tacitus “make deserts and call it peace,” you must be very cruel indeed. At the very least, even if the Coptic tradition is true, the Pilate at the time of the Crucifixion, the one on whose orders Jesus Christ suffered, died, and was buried, was a baddie. And so in the Ordinary, Pilate’s name sticks out like a fly on a wedding cake.

And God help me—and dear reader, please forgive me—this anomaly reminds me of the song “Pilate’s Dream” from the utterly atrocious but occasionally astute Jesus Christ Superstar.

I dreamt I met a Galilean,

A most amazing man.

He had that look you very rarely find,

The haunting, hunted kind.

I asked him to say what had happened,

How it all began.

I asked again; he never said a word,

As if he hadn’t heard.

And next the room was full

Of wild and angry men.

They seemed to hate this man.

They fell on him and then

They disappeared again.

Then I saw thousands of millions

Crying for this man.

And then I heard them mentioning my name,

And leaving me the blame.

We know, of course, that it was Pilate’s wife who had a dream. Nonetheless, the closing image is chilling. Thanks to the recitation of the Creed, millions of Catholics every Sunday cry for the God-Man, and leave Pontius Pilate the blame.

Notes

[1] “De,” 2.I.C.3 and 5, Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879), 513-14.

[2] “Ex,” intro and III.C, Ibid., 669-70.

[3] “Etiam,” II.A, Ibid., 662.

[4] “Sub,” I.C.3, Ibid., 1772.