Vox clamantis in deserto

[Stefano MacGregor]

On a bumper sticker today, I saw "Vox Clamantis in Deserto". My first
thought was, "Voice Calling in the Desert", but then it hit me that
that would be "Vox Clamans in Deserto". "Clamantis" appears to be
genitive. Wouldn't this have to be "Voice of the One who Calls in the
Desert"?

It's a biblical quote, from Matthew III:3:

Hic est enim, qui dictus est per Isaiam prophetam dicentem:
"Vox clamantis in deserto:
'Parate viam Domini,
rectas facite semigas eius!'"

Mark I:3 and Luke III:4 read a little differently, but the OT quote is
identical.

John I:23 is a little shorter:

Ait:
"Ego vox clamantis in deserto:
'Parate viam Domini',
sicut dixit Isaias propheta".

Some translations of Luke III:4 follow:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make his paths straight. (KJV)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the
Lord, make his paths straight. (RSV and NKJ)

A voice cries in the wilderness, "Prepare the way for the Lord; clear
a straight path for him." (REB)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the
Lord, make His paths straight. (NAS)

A voice of one calling in the desert, "Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him." (NIV)

Es ist eine Stimme eines Predigers in der Wüste: Bereitet den Weg des
Herrn und macht seine Steige eben! (nach ML)

A kol ruft in der midbar, macht gleit dem weg fun Got, gleicht aus
zeine stegn. (Einspruch)

And comparing to the original,

phone bontos en te eremo: hetoimasate ten hodon kuriou, eutheias
poieite tas tribous autou,

It looks like the bumper-sticker quoted the passage correctly.

[mb]

Stefano MacGregor wrote in message
<***@posting.google.com>...
...

Post by Stefano MacGregor
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the

...

Post by Stefano MacGregor
And comparing to the original,
phone bontos en te eremo: hetoimasate ten hodon kuriou, eutheias
poieite tas tribous autou,
It looks like the bumper-sticker quoted the passage correctly.

Of course it was the Latin translation itself. But this gives us a glimpse
on the possible disasters which could follow the EU concept of "translating
over a working language". The L is a translation of a translation (Grk, by
especially clumsy, at any rate non-mother tongue translators) of a
translation (? Aram. or direct from the Hebr?), which renders almost exactly
"boontos" (apart from the "lowing" connotation of the verb chosen by the
translator in the NT text), at any rate it leaves no doubt about who or what
is hollering, while according to Richter, who seems to know his Hebrew, the
original was more indetermined.

[Douglas G. Kilday]

On a bumper sticker today, I saw "Vox Clamantis in Deserto". My first
thought was, "Voice Calling in the Desert", but then it hit me that
that would be "Vox Clamans in Deserto". "Clamantis" appears to be
genitive. Wouldn't this have to be "Voice of the One who Calls in the
Desert"?

Yes. Or also, "Voice of a Caller in the Desert".

That would be "Vox Clamatoris in Deserto".

(I'm not sure how Latin would distinguish here a "verbal" from a
"substantival" particip...)

The distinction is between a present active participle and a nomen actoris,
not between two participles.

DGK