Sir, Does Nicholas Hinde’s case — for literal translation of the Roman liturgy into English — really stand up (letter, Sept 5)? Latin is the editio typica, true — but for its authentic sense, not its Latin idiom. The more idiomatic the English version, and the clearer the expression, the more firmly Mr Hinde’s hypothetical Latinless translator into a local language can grasp that sense. Unfamiliar syntax, idiom and imagery must puzzle and mislead.
Vietnam — Mr Hinde’s example — has good Latinists, but would otherwise translate from French, not English. And Europe’s churchmen are shakier Latinists than he thinks. As published in March 2001, the Roman Curia’s Instruction, Liturgiam Authenticam, which decreed this new literal translation, got its Latin grammar wrong more than once.
Tom McIntyre
Frome, Somerset
Sir, As a Roman Catholic I am pained by the distraction that is the new liturgy. Agonising over semantic detail while avoiding the urgency of fundamental reform fosters further irrelevance to everyday life.
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It is fiddling while Rome burns.
Barry M. Rogers
Kew, Richmond upon Thames