That’s not so ‘great’

Individual words in any language are usually connected to a range of meanings. For example, this is red and this is red, and yet they’re different colours, so ‘red’ defines a range of colours.

Let’s take the noun ‘tent’. It would normally be associated with words like ‘poles’, ‘ropes’, ‘pegs’, and maybe ‘canvas’, except new tents aren’t usually made of canvas, so to keep up with the times, ‘tent’ might now be associated with ‘nylon’. In our culture, it might be associated with ‘temporary’. Okay, having written that, I then looked at the Oxford dictionary which said: a portable shelter made of cloth, supported by one or more poles and stretched tight by cords or loops attached to pegs driven into the ground. However, on a recent camping trip, I came across an inflatable tent which didn’t require poles or ropes, but I’m sure most people looking at it would still call it a tent because it still has some of those associations in common like ‘portable/temporary’, ‘shelter’, and ‘pegs’.

One word that’s more common in English Bible translations than in our speech, is ‘great’. What meaning components might be associated with that? Maybe ‘large/huge’, ‘amazing’. So let’s try the Oxford dictionary again: beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable. adjective. very good. Hmmh, I think I was on the right track, so what about ‘a great pizza’. Here, ‘large’ isn’t really in focus, but rather that ‘good/delicious’ component.

Okay, now back to the Bible. Greek ‘πολὺ’ (polu) is often translated as ‘great’, e.g., ‘a great multitude’ in Mrk 3:7. (The OET-RV says ‘a huge crowd’.) Hebrew ‘הַגְּדֹלָה’ (hagədolāh) is often translated as ‘great’, e.g., ‘a great city’ in Gen 10:12. (The OET-RV says ‘the large city’.) All good so far.

But what about Rev 16:18? Many translations (including some quite modern ones like the NLT, ESV, BSB, and NKJV, all have ‘a great earthquake’. (The OET-RV says ‘a terrible earthquake’.) Imagine barely escaping from your collapsed house and standing out on the street, being careful of the downed power-lines, and saying, ‘That was a great earthquake!’

We still often use ‘great’ in English to mean ‘huge/large’, but remember the ‘great pizza’. It turns out that modern-English (as distinct from middle-English and even Elizabethan-English) mostly only uses ‘great’ when it has a positive connotation. So don’t talk to the victims’ families about ‘the great earthquake’!

The Open English Translation is aiming for the English that we actually speak.

Robert Hunt, July 2024