Il campo semantico della sordità: ricerca e studio sinottico in Siracide e Qohelet

This project investigates the rich and various world of images and hidden symbolic-metaphorical meanings derived from the semantic field of deafness opposed to listening in Christian Literature, with specific regard to Siracide and Qohelet. In this respect, in Wisdom Literature, listening appears meaningful, referring to the action of listening to the knowledge useful to human life: first of all, the wise man needs to listen carefully in order to act wisely. On the other side, not to listen (the deafness) acquires instead a negative connotation, which changes meaning due to different contexts, but identifies the constant dualism between wisemen and fools. The present study researchs and assesses espressions referred to the semantic field of deafness in the book of Ben Sira. Indeed, Ben Sira's book was well known and transmitted among the jewish community, and represents an interesting and complex example of the traditional culture of the semantic field of deafness due to the different ways the text has been handed down and translated over the centuries. The comparison between the different translations, which were based on refined stylistic selections, has been enriched by recognizing the same semantic field in the book Qohelet, which has been thought to have an influence on Sirach: Ben Sira seems to know the text and compares his book with it. In particular, these parts from Sirach text have been analysed: 13,13-14 LXX (13,16-18 VL), 19,27 LXX (19,24 VL),20,20 LXX (20,22 VL), 21,24 LXX (21,27 VL), 27,14 LXX (27,15 VL), 28,24 LXX (28,28 VL) e 29,23 LXX (29,30 VL); from Qohelet 7,5 TM-LXX (7,6 VG), 7,21 TM-LXX (7,22-23 VG), 9,16-17 e 12,4. This study analyzes the various translations the text had been going through, and finds analogies between different texts, then compares the similar expression included in the same manuscript or in contemporary literature and in old testament. The synopsis between different translations aims to interpret the original meaning of the lost jewish manuscript; on the other hand, this investigation analyzes the precise stylistic choices the different authors made to express their novelty or to respect the authenticity of the original text.