Proper Interpretation is Vital

Here is a silly example of why knowledge of the source language and customs are important when interpreting writings from the past.

In English we use the term "put down" to mean at least three different things depending on the context.

1. "Put the baby down", meaning to lay the baby in his bed for a nap.


2. "Put the dog down", meaning to inject the dog with a drug to make him die.

3. "Put a person down", meaning to verbally demean someone.

If we didn't know the context of these phrases we might interpret "put the baby down", thinking it meant to kill the baby.

Or, we might think to "put the dog down" meant to lay the dog in a bed for a nap or speak in a demeaning way to the dog.

Or, we might think "put the person down" means to kill the person or put the person down for a nap.

Context is everything! And, we can have words that are exactly the same sound but different meanings such as the word "road."

We may tell someone which "road" to take to get to our house, or we may tell someone they are going down the wrong road, meaning that they are doing things that will cause them trouble in their life.

When we are reading a text from another culture in another time, there must be continual evaluation of the words used to stay closely to the original meaning of the text of origin. When we have favorite words that we cannot let go of, but the culture has changed the meanings of those words over time, even opposite of what was originally meant, then we have a serious problem.

It is more important to convey the original message than it would be to keep certain familiar words that no longer mean what they used to mean.

Hanging on to old words that are comfortable and seemingly more eloquent might be satisfying but if they don't convey the true message and meanings then they are nothing more than personal dead preferences. I say go ahead and enjoy those words however, it makes more sense to become up to date in language to be able to impart wisdom to a world that doesn't know those lovely words and expressions.

I found a web site that shows how important it is to know the context and culture of origin when reading any written work.
At the end of the article is an interesting video.