Differing translations of the Glory Be?

[Chris_Burgwald]

There’s a question I’ve had for some time that I’m hoping someone here might be able to help me with…

In latin, the Glory Be reads, “Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.”

The “common” translation (the one I think most of us are most familiar with) is “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

But in the Liturgy of the Hours, the translation is, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.”

Apart from the missing “be” in the latter, the conclusion of the prayer is somewhat different. It seems to me that the “common” translation is a better translation, but the latter is the “official” one (not that that means its better).

My question is, does anyone know the history of and/or reasons for the differing translations?

 

[Marie]

Chris Burgwald:

There’s a question I’ve had for some time that I’m hoping someone here might be able to help me with…

Apart from the missing “be” in the latter, the conclusion of the prayer is somewhat different. It seems to me that the “common” translation is a better translation, but the latter is the “official” one (not that that means its better).

My question is, does anyone know the history of and/or reasons for the differing translations?

When the prayers were revised after the Second Vatican Council, newer translations were adapted which were supposedly more faithful to the Latin texts. In 1971, this prayer was updated and no longer has the “BE” in it. Thats the short history. Is that what you were asking? I think it maybe part of the tussel the Vatican is trying to correct now though. There is another thread on the ICEL somewhere discussing that. I think it is in the Liturgy Forum.

For a better understanding this is a good place to start.

Vatican on Translations

 

[akemner]

Chris,

The new translation expresses the prayer more faithfully in modern, as opposed to mediaeval, idiom. The mediaeval mind in the West tended to express abstractions like these in concrete terms (another example: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory as physical places with real fire, real clouds and so on). “in saecula seculorum” litterally translates as “in the ages of (the) ages” which means simply, “forever.” “Age” is a span of time, and when there is a construction like this in a Classical language (we see the exact same construction in the Greek version of the prayer), this is a superlative, and indicates there is no boundaries to the superlative. Thus an "‘age’ without bounds, or “forever.”

There is another thread about the small Doxology in this forum.

In Christ,
Adam

 

[Marie]

akemner:

Chris,

There is another thread about the small Doxology in this forum.

In Christ,
Adam

Thanks,
Your right. The doxology one is Here

I think there is another one in the Liturgy Forum also (may have been moved though.) At one time we had three threads going on the Glory Be. The above linked thread is a good one for further information.