Reformationens danske hebraist: Hans Tausens oversættelse af De Fem Mosebøger (1535)

Resumé

The article examinesthe Danish reformer Hans Tausen’stranslation into Danish of the Pentateuch (1535). It was the first complete translation into Danish of these first five books of the Old Testament (which also was the title of the Tausen edition). The few studies in Danish church history and bible studies of this translation have all concluded the Tausen edition as primarily a translation from Hebrew into Danish rather than being an adaption into Tausen’s vernacular of Luther’s German editions. In a critical review of these older studies (primarily Wøldike 1745 and Pedersen 1917) the article points to Tausen’s dependence on Luther both theologically and linguistically. Through various examples the article illustrates the Tausen edition as a translation from Luther’s German version of the Pentateuch rather than an original translation from the Hebrew text. Tausen did consult the Hebrew Bible version, yet the article argues that the Hebrew text functioned more as an improvement, supplement and alteration of Luther’s editions in the translation into Danish by Tausen. Likewise, Tausen consulted both Vulgate and LXX in the process of translation and sometimes preferred the Greek or Latin wording to the literal Hebrew or the translation of Luther. According to Molde 1949, Tausen’stranslation, is one of the sourcesfor the first complete Danish Bible translation from 1550 (also known as the Christiern Pedersen or Christian III edition) – predominantly a translation from Luther’s complete German Bible. From this Danish 1550-version parts and expressions from Tausen’s translation has been incorporated into Danish bible language. In his introduction to a facsimile edition of Tausen’s translation from 1932, the church historian Bjørn Kornerup complained that Tausen’s well formulated Danish prose had not influenced Danish biblical language. Bertil Molde proved this wrong in his study from 1949, and the article supportsthis view and thusthe early influence on Danish bible translations from the translations by Luther. The 1535 translation by Tausen gained some popularity in the formative years of the Danish Reformation and in the years 1535-37 it wasreprinted in four to five different editions. Tausen’s edition of the Pentateuch has thus been a widespread work towards the official introduction of the Reformation of State and Church in Denmark in 1536-37 and this also explains the use of it by the translation committee of the Danish 1550-edition of the Bible.