Cucurbita super caput ionae Translation and Theology in the Old Latin Tradition

Author: Bazzana, Giovanni B.

Source: Vetus Testamentum, Volume 60, Number 3, 2010 , pp. 309-322(14)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

The present paper aims at examining one passage in the Old Latin and Vulgate translations of the Book of Jonah, where Jerome inserted a controversial change by translating the Hebrew qyqywn with the Latin haedera instead of the usual cucurbita. The reasons for this variation are neither immediately evident nor directly stated by the translator, but an analysis of iconographical documents will show that Jerome wanted to exclude the possibility of a millenarian interpretation, which, after the conversion of Constantine, he had to deem heretic.

Keywords: Jonah; Old Latin; Vulgate; Jerome; early Christian art

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853310X499862

Affiliations: 1: Harvard Divinity School USA

Publication date: 2010-01-01