Eugene Nida

Eugene Albert Nida ( born November 11, 1914 in Oklahoma City, † 25 August, 2011 Brussels or Madrid) was an American linguist and Bible translation theorists. He developed the theory of functional- equivalent translation of the Bible, which is determinative of modern communicative translations of biblical books today.

Life

Nida, son of the chiropractor Dr. Richard Eugene Nida and his wife, Alma Ruth McCullough finished in 1936 his studies in linguistics at the University of California. In 1937 he began studying at the private University of Southern California, where he took off in 1939 Master of Arts in New Testament Greek. In the same year he accepted a call as pastor of Calvary Church in Southern California's Santa Ana. In 1943 he received his doctorate at the University of Michigan with the letters A synopsis of English syntax in linguistics and ordained as pastor of the Northern Baptist Convention. From 1943 until his retirement in Nida worked as a linguist and translation theorist for the American Bible Society. His two works Toward a Science of Translating (1964) and The Theory and Practice of Translation (1969 ) are still considered groundbreaking for a modern communicative translation of the Bible. The Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westfälische Wilhelms- University of Münster in 1966 awarded him an honorary doctorate. Last lived Nida, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, with his second wife, the translator Elena Fernandez - Miranda, in Brussels and Madrid.

Publications (selection)

• Exploring semantic structures, Munich 1975
• Theory and practice of translation with special reference to Bible translation, London 1969
• God speaks many languages ​​, Stuttgart, 1968 ( 2nd edition)