SEMANTICS OF GREEK BIBLICAL EXPRESSIONS IN THE KING JAMES BIBLE

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of the semantic content of Greek biblical expressions in the process of their rendering from the source text into the target text within the English biblical tradition. The relevance of the study is by the absence of a unified text-critical paradigm regarding the New Testament text and the coexistence of different text-critical approaches to the reconstruction of its original meaning, which directly affects the formation of biblical expressions and their semantic variability in translation. The author proceeds from the assumption that the problem of establishing the authentic text of the New Testament remains unresolved due to the coexistence of competing textual traditions, in particular Textus Receptus and the Majority Text, which structure the manuscript heritage differently and generate divergent interpretative models. In this context, the King James Bible is viewed as a key translation project of the early modern period, integrating Greek, Hebrew, and earlier translation traditions, and exerting a decisive influence on the subsequent development of English biblical discourse. Particular attention is paid to the concept of “light” as a representative of a lexical-semantic field, which makes it possible to trace the mechanisms of preservation and transformation of the semantic core of biblical expressions. It is established that the process of translation involves not only the reproduction of the original meaning but also its contextual reorganization within the Anglocentric linguistic worldview, resulting in the emergence of new semantic emphases. The article substantiates the claim that biblical expressions do not lose their connection with the source text but retain a semantic core within the lexicalsemantic field while exhibiting a variable peripheral zone of meanings, despite differences in translation strategies and textual traditions. The analysis is conducted within the framework of discourse-functional and linguocultural approaches, taking into account the anthropocentric paradigm of contemporary linguistics. It is demonstrated that the semantics of Greek biblical expressions is shaped through the interaction between the source text and the translation tradition, where each new translation not only reproduces but also partially modifies the semantic structure of the biblical utterance. The study concludes that the investigation of the semantic dynamics of biblical expressions within the conceptual domain of “light” makes it possible to identify stable mechanisms for preserving the semantic core alongside its adaptation to different linguocultural contexts