Translating 'Prophet'

Prophet derives from Greek pro before plus phanai to speak, identifying the office of someone who was
a spokesperson for the gods. Thanks !ree "nline #tymological $ictionary% &ou're a dear, dear friend.(
)ince the office was often associated with foretelling future events, and we #nglish speakers are a practical folk, we
concentrated on the result * predictions * rather than the mechanism * communication with some sacred "ther. )o the
connotation of the word prophet in popular #nglish emphasi+es foretelling the future as prophecy.
"nly students of the ,brahamic traditions -udaism, .hristianity, /slam( use the word as a technical term for people selected
by The "ne God to convey a message to a community. ,nd of course, the message in 0uestion is that same message1
worship God only and gladly obey his commands to be fair to 2im, others, and yourself.
/n .hinese, the translated term for prophet 3ian+hi gives preference to the popular meaning rather than the technical
meaning. The first half of the word means first or before and the second half means know giving this word the meaning
of a precogni+ant This translation makes the connotation of foreknowledge to completely replace the literal meaning
of spokesperson.
,pparently, translation is like a great linguistic game of telephone, with the meaning of a term being changed gradually
through conte3t and use among speakers of one language, and then more dramatically once the concept attempts to leap to
another language.
/n /slamic studies, the terms shi+he messenger for the ,rabic rasool( and shengren sage have also been
used.
The word we're translating as prophet from the 4ible and 5uran is the 2ebrew word nevi, nabi in ,rabic. 6evi may derive
from to speak enthusiastically, but in any case has been established in 4iblical tradition as having the meaning of
interpreter or spokesperson for God. Thanks 6,(.
7e should attempt to distinguish between the two meanings of prophet in #nglish by leaving the Greek word for Greek
traditions and adopting nevi8nabi as the unambiguous technical term for prophets in the ,brahamic traditions. / would also
recommend to .hinese scholars that we abandon the troubled term 3ian+hi in 4iblical and /slamic studies and replace it by
coining a new term like chuanlingcommandment conveyor.

7e need to straighten out these words, yo.

.onfucius
999
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