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Dead Metaphors
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### Description
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one concept (an "image") stands for another (the "topic"), and in which there is at least one point of comparison between the two. In other words, in metaphor, someone speaks of one thing as if it were a different thing because there is an important way that those two things are alike.
#### Kinds of Metaphors
There are two basic kinds of metaphors: "dead" metaphors and "live" metaphors. They each present a different kind of translation problem.
##### Dead Metaphors
A dead metaphor is a metaphor that has been used so much in the language that its speakers no longer regard it as one concept standing for another. Dead metaphors are extremely common. Examples in English are "table leg," "family tree," "leaf" meaning a page in a book, and "crane" meaning a large machine for lifting heavy loads. English speakers simply think of these words as having more than one meaning. Examples in Biblical Hebrew are "hand" to mean "power," "face" to mean "presence," and speaking of emotions or moral qualities as if they were "clothing."
To learn how to deal with dead metaphors, see [Dead Metaphor](../figs-metaphordead/01.md)
##### Live Metaphors
These are metaphors that people recognize as one concept standing for another concept, or one thing for another thing. They make people think about how the one thing is like the other thing, because in most ways the two things are very different. People also easily recognize these metaphors as giving strength and unusual qualities to the message. For this reason, people pay attention to these metaphors.
Live metaphors are the metaphors that need special care to translate correctly. To do so, we need to understand the parts of a metaphor and how they work together to produce meaning. See [Metaphor Parts and Purposes](../figs-metaphorparts/01.md)
The rest of this topic deals with live metaphors.
### Reasons this is a translation issue
* People may not recognize that something is a metaphor. In other words, they may mistake a metaphor for a literal statement, and thus misunderstand it.
* People may not be familiar with the thing that is used as an image, and so not be able to understand the metaphor.
* If the topic is not stated, people may not know what the topic is.
* People may not know the points of comparison that the speaker wants them to understand. If they fail to think of these points of comparison, they will not understand the metaphor.
* People may think that they understand the metaphor, but they do not. This can happen when they apply points of comparison from their own culture, rather than from the biblical culture.
### Translation principles
* Make the meaning of a metaphor as clear to the target audience as it was to the original audience.
* Do not make the meaning of a metaphor more clear to the target audience than you think it was to the original audience.
### Examples from the Bible
>Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; <u>we are the clay</u>. <u>You are our potter</u>; and we all are the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8 ULB)
The example above has two related metaphors. The topics are "we" and "you," and the images are "clay and "potter." The intended point of comparison between a potter and God is the fact that both make what they wish out of their material: the potter makes what he wishes out of clay, and God makes what he wishes out of his people. The point of comparison between the potter's clay and us is that neither the clay nor God's people have a right to complain about what they are becoming.
>... Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you <u>to kick a goad</u>. (Acts 26:14 ULB)
A goad is a pointed stick that a person pokes his cattle with to make them move in a certain direction. Sometimes cattle resist their master and kick the sharp stick and hurt themselves. Instead of following Jesus, Paul was persecuting people who followed Jesus. He was resisting Jesus. So Jesus spoke about Paul resisting him as if he were an ox resisting its master and kicking the sharp stick.
>Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of <u>the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees</u>." The disciples reasoned among themselves and said, "It is because we took no bread." (Matthew 16:6-7 ULB)
Jesus used a metaphor here, but his disciples did not realize it. When he said "yeast," they thought he was talking about bread, but "yeast" was the image in his metaphor, and the topic was the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Since the disciples (the original audience) did not understand what Jesus meant, it would not be good to state clearly here what Jesus meant.
### Translation Strategies
If people would understand the metaphor in the same way that the original readers would have understood it, go ahead and use it. Be sure to test the translation to make sure that people do understand it in the right way.
If people do not or would not understand it, here are some other strategies.
1. If the target audience does not realize that it is a metaphor, then change the metaphor to a simile. Some languages do this by adding words such as "like" or "as." See [Simile](../figs-simile/01.md).
1. If the target audience would not know the **image**, see [Translate Unknowns](../translate-unknown/01.md) for ideas on how to translate that image.
1. If the target audience would not use that **image** for that meaning, use an image from your own culture instead. Be sure that it is an image that could have been possible in Bible times.
1. If the target audience would not know what the **topic** is, then state the topic clearly. (However, do not do this if the original audience did not know what the topic was.)
1. If the target audience would not know the intended **point of comparison** between the topic and the image, then state it clearly.
1. If none of these strategies is satisfactory, then simply state the idea plainly without using a metaphor.
### Examples of Translation Strategies Applied
1. If the target audience does not realize that it is a metaphor, then change the metaphor to a simile. Some languages do this by adding words such as "like" or "as."
* **Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; we are the <u>clay</u>. You are our <u>potter</u>; and we all are the work of your hand.** (Isaiah 64:8 ULB)
* Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; we are <u>like</u> clay. You are <u>like</u> a potter; and we all are the work of your hand.
1. If the target audience would not know the **image**, see [Translate Unknowns](../translate-unknown/01.md) for ideas on how to translate that image.
* **... Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you <u>to kick a goad</u>.** (Acts 26:14 ULB)
* ... Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to <u>kick against a pointed prodding stick</u>.
1. If the target audience would not use that **image** for that meaning, use an image from your own culture instead. Be sure that it is an image that could have been possible in Bible times.
* **Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; we are the <u>clay</u>. You are our <u>potter</u>; and we all are the work of your hand.** (Isaiah 64:8 ULB)
* Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; we are the <u>wood</u>. You are our <u>carver</u>; and we all are the work of your hand.
* Yet, Yahweh, you are our father; we are the <u>string</u>. You are the <u>weaver</u>; and we all are the work of your hand.
1. If the target audience would not know what the **topic** is, then state the topic clearly. (However, do not do this if the original audience did not know what the topic was.)
* **Yahweh lives; may <u>my rock</u> be praised. May the God of my salvation be exalted.** (Psalm 18:46 ULB)
* Yahweh lives; <u>He is my rock</u>. May he be praised. May the God of my salvation be exalted.
1. If the target audience would not know the intended **point of comparison** between the topic and the image, then state it clearly.
* **Yahweh lives; may <u>my rock</u> be praised. May the God of my salvation be exalted.** (Psalm 18:46 ULB)
* Yahweh lives; may he be praised because he <u>protects me like the rock under which I can hide from my enemies</u>. May the God of my salvation be exalted.
* **... Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you <u>to kick a goad</u>.** (Acts 26:14 ULB)
* ... Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? You <u>fight against me and hurt yourself like an ox that kicks against its owner's goad</u>.
1. If none of these strategies are satisfactory, then simply state the idea plainly without using a metaphor.
* **... I will make you <u>fishers of men</u>.** (Mark 1:17 ULB)
* ... I will make you <u>people who gather men</u>.
* ... Now you gather fish. I will make you <u>gather people</u>.
To learn more about specific metaphors, see [Biblical Imagery - Common Patterns](../bita-part1/01.md).

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### Description
A dead metaphor is a metaphor that has been used so much in the language that its speakers no longer regard it as one concept standing for another. Dead metaphors are extremely common. Examples in English are "table leg," "family tree," "leaf" meaning a page in a book, and "crane" meaning a large machine for lifting heavy loads. English speakers simply think of these words as having more than one meaning. Examples in Biblical Hebrew are "hand" to mean "power," "face" to mean "presence," and speaking of emotions or moral qualities as if they were "clothing."
**Patterned Pairs of Concepts acting as Metaphors**
Many ways of metaphorical speaking depend on pairs of concepts, where one underlying concept frequently stands for a different underlying concept. For example, in English, the direction UP often stands for the concept of MORE or BETTER. Because of this pair of underlying concepts, we can make sentences such as "The price of gasoline is going *up*," "A *highly* intelligent man," and also the opposite kind of idea: "The temperature is going *down*," and "I am feeling very *low*."
Patterned pairs of concepts are constantly used for metaphorical purposes in the world's languages, because they serve as convenient ways to organize thought. In general, people like to speak of abstract qualities, such as power, presence, emotions, and moral qualities, as if they were objects that could be seen or held, as if they were body parts, or as if they were events that could be watched as they happened.
When these metaphors are used in normal ways, it is rare that the speaker and audience regard them as figurative speech. Examples of metaphors in English that go unrecognized are:
* "Turn the heat *up*." MORE is spoken of as UP.
* "Let us *go ahead* with our debate." DOING WHAT WAS PLANNED is spoken of as WALKING or ADVANCING.
* "You *defend* your theory well." ARGUMENT is spoken of as WAR.
* "A *flow* of words" WORDS are spoken of as LIQUIDS.
English speakers do not view these as unusual or metaphorical expressions, so it would be wrong to translate them into other languages in a way that would lead people to pay special attention to them as figurative speech.
For a description of important patterns of this kind of metaphor in biblical languages, please see [Biblical Imagery - Common Patterns](../bita-part1/01.md) and the pages it will direct you to.
When translating something that is a dead metaphor into another language, do not treat it as a metaphor. Instead, just use the best expression for that thing or concept in the target language.
### Reasons this is a translation issue
* People may not recognize that something is a metaphor. In other words, they may mistake a metaphor for a literal statement, and thus misunderstand it.
### Examples from the Bible
> In the past ages, he allowed all the nations <u>to walk</u> in their own ways. (Acts 14:16 ULB)
> ... so also we might <u>walk</u> in newness of life. (Romans 6:4 ULB)
In the Bible, behaving in certain ways is often spoken of as walking in certain ways.
>Do you not know that his kindness is meant <u>to lead</u> you to repentance? (Romans 2:4 ULB)
>Many false prophets will rise up and <u>lead</u> many <u>astray</u>. (Matthew 24:11 ULB)
In the Bible, teaching is often spoken of as leading, and believing or doing the wrong thing is often spoken of as going astray.
>Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, <u>put on a heart of</u> mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12 ULB)
> Therefore <u>take off</u> all sinful filth and abundant amounts of evil. (James 1:21 ULB)
In the Bible, attitudes and emotions are often spoken of as if they were clothing that could be put on or taken off. Putting on an attitude represents starting to have that attitude, and taking off an attitude represents stopping having that attitude.
### Translation Strategies
If people would understand the metaphor in the same way that the original readers would have understood it, go ahead and use it. Be sure to test the translation to make sure that people do understand it in the right way.
If people do not or would not understand it, here are some other strategies.
1. If the metaphor is a common expression in the source language or expresses a patterned pair of concepts in a biblical language (a "dead" metaphor), then express the main idea in the simplest way preferred by your language.
### Examples of Translation Strategies Applied
1. If the metaphor is a common expression in the source language or expresses a patterned pair of concepts in a biblical language (a "dead" metaphor), then express the main idea in the simplest way preferred by your language.
* **... so also we might walk in newness of life.** (Romans 6:4 ULB)
* ... so also we might behave according to new way of living.
* **Do you not know that his kindness is meant <u>to lead</u> you to repentance?** (Romans 2:4 ULB)
* Do you not know that his kindness is meant to teach you to repent?
* **Many false prophets will rise up and <u>lead</u> many <u>astray</u>** (Matthew 24:11 ULB)
* Many false prophets will rise up and teach many people to believe lies.
* **... <u>put on a heart</u> of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.** (Colossians 3:12 ULB)
* be merciful, kind, humble, gentle and patient.