Elements of the official style as means for lexical and stylistic modernization of biblical translation – based on «The Gospel of Mark – private ecumenical translation»

There are several words and phrases in the above mentioned private ecumenical translation of the Gospel of Mark (Mk EPP, 2012, 1st ed. 1993) which are typical of the official style. Since the vocabulary characteristic of this style has started to spread in modern Polish biblical translations, checking its validity seems to be a worthwhile task for a linguist. Combining the lexical components of the biblical style, which is classified as the grand style, with elements of the low and plain styles is traditionally considered as an argument to deem such a text stylistically incoherent. Linguists used to treat any official or colloquial expression as violation of the stylistic norm of the Polish biblical language and as evidence of translators’ stylistic incompetence. Nevertheless, the contextual analysis of the official vocabulary in the Mk EPP translation indicates that, if skillfully used, elements of the official style may be considered as means for successful modernization of the Polish biblical language.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00