Saint Jerome: The Man Who Transliterated A Lie - Part 1

I read somewhere that the dictionary was a compendium of Satan’s lies. After seeing for myself that the claim was true, I put forth extra effort in studying the Hebrew and Greek grammar. For me, it has been something that I felt led to do in early 1999, but I began that journey in 2015. Since then, I have been translating both the Hebrew and Greek texts, and I’m amazed at how Satan uses translators to obscure things. So, if you fully trust any translation, I’ll be honest, you’re somewhat at a loss, but it’s not the end of the world. Greek and Hebrew grammar studies are not exciting for everyone, but trusting the translations of others makes studying a bit harder. You never know if their interpretation is honest and correct, but I digress.

Between 383 and 404 AD, a man by the name of St. Jerome translated the Greek New Testament. Because I am a peculiar person, I wanted to see how Jerome chose to translate a very important event from the book of Acts. Remember when I said that if you don’t know Hebrew or Greek, you must trust the translator’s interpretation? Well, I’m going to show you what this translator did. First, let’s look at the event that took place in the book of Acts:

“Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. 20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.  22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”  Acts 11:19-26 KJV

I want to see how Jerome translated the bold portion of this text. A very familiar one too! Let’s take a look at the Latin translation:

“26

et annum totum conversati sunt in ecclesia et docuerunt turbam multam ita ut cognominarentur primum Antiochiae discipuli Christiani [Latin]

And they conversed there in the church a whole year: and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians.” [English]

The first thing you should notice is that the English translation of the Latin Vulgate, which appears below the Latin translation, transliterates the Greek term into the Latin as “Christiani.” In English, it is Christians. Latin and English share the same consonants. Now it has been said that Jerome was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, so he must have known the difference between a translation and a transliteration. The Oxford Dictionary provides us with this meaning of the word "translation":

noun: translation

1.

the process of translating words or text from one language into another.

"Constantine's translation of Arabic texts into Latin"

• a written or spoken rendering of the meaning of a word, speech, book, or other text in another language.

And here is the meaning of "transliteration":

Transliteration is the process of transferring a word from the alphabet of one language to another. Transliteration helps people pronounce words and names in foreign languages.

It is clear that in English the word “Christian” is a transliteration of the Latin “Christiani.” There is no denying that, but the big question is this:

Did Jerome—who was fluent in the Greek and Hebrew languages—transliterate or translate the Greek word from which he got the Latin "Christiani"? Let’s see! I want to provide the Greek version of Acts 11:26:

“καὶ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ἤγαγεν αὐτόν εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν ἐγένετο δὲ αὐτούς ἐνιαυτὸν ὅλον συναχθῆναι ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ διδάξαι ὄχλον ἱκανόν χρηματίσαι τε πρώτον ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τοὺς μαθητὰς Χριστιανούς.”

My purpose is not to provide my version of a translation for this verse. I just want to show you—by way of bolding—the Greek word “Χριστιανούς.” The transliteration of this word is in the bolded portion of the Greek word “Christianous.” I bolded that part because it is always transliterated in the Latin and English Bible. The entire word is the accusative plural form of the root word “Christos/Χριστός.” This is why in Latin it is transliterated with the vowel “i” at the end of “Christiani.” It is the plural form of the Latin transliteration. So you need to ask yourself again, “Why did Jerome—a man who was fluent in Hebrew and Greek—transliterate the Greek word ‘Χριστιανούς?”

Before we answer that, allow me to translate the Greek word “Χριστιανούς.”

• First, you need to know that the root word for '“Χριστιανούς' is “Χριστός” or “Christ.”

• Second, you need to know that Χριστός has the suffix “-ιανός” added to it, and that suffix has a meaning. These combined create “Χριστιανούς.”

• Third: The suffix in Χριστιανούς means “belonging to or follower of,” and obviously they are following Christ, which means "anointed one."

So the meaning of Χριστιανούς is “A follower of the Anointed One.” Jerome, when translating the text, should have translated it in Latin like this:

“et annum totum conversati sunt in ecclesia et docuerunt turbam multam ita ut cognominarentur primum Antiochiae discipuli sectatores Unctus unus” [Latin] or something like it because "Anointed" in Latin is “Unctus” and “Followers of” is “sectatores.”

So again, why would Jerome deliberately transliterate the Greek word that should be translated in English as “a follower of the anointed one?”

We will talk about it in part 2 of this article!