‘To repent’ in the New Testament in Greek and Latin: the use of constructions with a support verb in the translation of the Vulgate

Abstract

In this paper, our purpose is to analyze the linguistic reasons why the Greek verbs of the New Testament μετανοέω and μεταμέλομαι (‘to repent’) are translated in the Vulgate, either as a simple verb (paenitere), or, most frequently, as different collocations: paenitentiam agere, paenitentiam habere, paenitentiā ductus and paenitentiā motus. In order to understand better the criteria that guide the Latin translation, we will analyze, on the one hand, the differences between μετανοέω and μεταμέλομαι, and, on the other hand, the criteria for using the double syntactic construction of paenitere (impersonal and personal) and the different collocations with paenitentia in the New Testament and throughout the history of Latin.