INTRODUCTION
According to Lev 25:10 ff. Israel was to proclaim a
Jubilee year every 50th year after successful completion of the
conquest under Joshua. During this year
all debts between Israelites were to be cancelled, and all land that had
changed hands for whatever reason was to return to the family to which it had
been originally assigned. In this way no
family would lose permanent access to their land inheritance. The tern in Hebrew for this year-long
celebration was יובל and the corresponding term in essentially
every modern translation is Jubilee. The
Hebrew term means ram’s horn, which was used as the designation for the
entire year, because its commencement was to be announced by a blast on a ram’s
horn. The English term jubilee
essentially means a big celebration, particularly one on a significant
anniversary. It is worth examining how
the original Hebrew term became rendered by one so completely unrelated to it.
HORNS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
There are several different terms used in the Hebrew
bible for horns of different types, and all of them had specific
official/religious uses.
שופר Shophar – This term occurs 72 times
and is attested in other Semitic languages.
Apparently, it might be made from any animal wild or domestic, but
according to rabbinic tradition it must not be made from a cow’s horn due to
Israel’s sin with the golden calf. It
was used for making public announcement of various sorts. It appears in some places as a generic term,
and a subsequent term identifies a particular type of horn.
חצצרה Chatsotsrah
– This term occurs 29 times and refers to a metal trumpet consisting of a single
long tube with a faired bell on its end.
It was used primarily in associated with worship and religious festivals.
יובל Iovel – This term occurs 27 times
and it refers specifically to a ram’s horn.
This particular type of horn was employed by Joshua during the battle
against Jericho, and it was to be used to announce the start of each Jubilee
year. Evidently, the Israelites never kept
the sabbatical years or the jubilees from 1300 BCE to the Babylonian captivity,
and this was the reason for the 70-year exile (Jer 25:12, 29:10, 2 Ch 36:20,
21).
LXX USAGE FOR יובל
The LXX treats יובל, meaning ram’s
horn, differently from its usage for the signal for the Jubilee year. In some instances, it is not represented by
any Greek term, and it at least one case the verse is omitted entirely. In several instances where the Hebrew text is
שופר יובל the Greek text has just the appropriate
form of σαλπιξ, or horn. Evidently,
the Greeks had no tradition of using an animal horn in this way. In eight verses יובל is
unambiguously used as the designation for the Jubilee year. In Lev 25:10 and 11 the term is not
translated. In the remaining passages it
is translated by the appropriate form of απεσις, return. This is not a translation of the term but a
description of what was to take place at the start of this moed.
VULGATE USAGE FOR יובל
The vulgate exhibits the same divisions in its
translation for the term. In those
passages where it is clearly used as a musical instrument the translation is bucinius,
trumpet. In the remaining verses the
term is not always translated, but when it is it takes the form of iobilaeus. This is a transliteration and not a
translation. Because it did not have any
origination from within Latin, its meaning was inferred from context.
JUBILEE
This has become a modern term for a big celebration,
usually one associated with a special anniversary of some major even. The English term was first attested in 1350-1400
CE. The Middle English form was iubile,
iubilee. The Middle French form
was jubilee. This is further
connected with the Latin iubilare, to shout for joy.
CONCLUSION
This is an excellent example of how biblical
translations have influenced the development of spoken languages. The term jubilee has neither semantic nor
linguistic connection with יובל, but it has become the definition for this
moed for those who read the text only in translation. As such it is one of a fairly large number of
“religious terms” whose use in modern languages has net to nothing in common
with is original meaning. Refer to
previous blog texts for further examples of this phenomenon.
