# worse than the men



## Ali Smith

שלום

My textbook contains the following phrase in the exercises: _worse then the men_

Which translation is more appropriate for _classical_ Hebrew?

רע מן־האנשים
רשע מן־האנשים

I put the מַקֵּף‎ (also known as מַקָּף) there because I think it's required.

אני מודה לכם מאוד


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## Drink

It depends on what you mean by "worse"...


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## Ali Smith

I don't really know the authorial intent here. The French edition has _pire que les hommes_ while the German edition has _schlimmer als die Männer_.


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## Drink

In that case, probably רע is more likely to be the one. רשע is more like "evil".


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## Ali Smith

Thanks! I might add that my textbook translate רע as 'wicked, evil, bad' while it translates רשע as 'evil, bad, criminal'.


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## Drink

Yes there is a lot of overlap in the meanings. But רשע always has a connotation of evil or wickedness (meaning even when it is translated as "bad", it means "bad" in the sense of "evil" or "wicked"). Whereas רע does not always have that connotation.


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## slus

Is this a textbook for teaching Biblical Hebrew?
Because in modern Hebrew worse is יותר גרוע.


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## Ali Smith

slus: Yes, it is. I have never come across the word גרוע in classical (biblical) Hebrew!

Drink: It seems you were right, for my German textbook translates רע as 'schlecht' and רשע as 'frevlerisch'. Thanks again!


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## Ali Smith

Drink: But today I came across the phrase העיר הרעה, meaning "wicked city". Would not העיר הרשעה have been a better translation for "wicked city"? I came across this phrase in a biblical Hebrew textbook.


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## Drink

Hebrew is not merely a translation of English. It's its own language. So you can't ask "But would X have been a better translation of English Y?" Because it's not a translation. It's a native phrase.

That aside, please reread my previous comment carefully to clear up any confusion.


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## Ali Smith

Thank you, Drink! I just noticed that one of my textbooks says:

רָשָׁע bezeichnet (typischerweise) die Eigenschaft von Personen, רָע von Personen oder Sachen.

רָשָׁע describes (typically) the characteristic of people, רָע that of people or things.


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## JAN SHAR

Interesting, Ali Smith. What is the name of your German textbook?


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## Ali Smith

Lehrbuch Bibel Hebräisch by Lambdin. The translator is Heinrich von Siebenthal. It was originally written in English.


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