© 2014 Jean Royer
© 2014 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Some women are outraged that the revised version kept the term “excited” in UB 190:2.5 “It has not been seen only by excited women; even brave men have begun to see it. I expect to see it myself.”
They find that it would have been better to translate “excited” as enthusiastic. However, we must always remember that the text must take into account the period. Those who speak are rough Galileans from the first century. If they were people from the 19th century, we would have found the word ‘hysterical’ there. The term is known from the Urantia Book, it is found in UB 90:1.2. But there is also the linguistic aspect that must be taken into account. If “exciting” used as an adjective means exciting, excited does indeed mean excited. Here is what the Larousse dictionary says about this term: excited [Ik’saıtıd] adjective
And here is what the Merriam-Webster writes: “being in a state of increased activity or agitation”; Synonyms agitated, excited, frenzied, heated, hectic, hyperactive, overactive, overwrought.
Refusing excitées would be a bit like refusing the word ‘bitch’ in Zola’s text on the pretext that it is often pejorative. Or even refusing the use of the word ‘comrade’ in UB 120:1.1 to translate “comrade”, on the pretext that it is recently associated with a communist connotation.
On this subject, I rediscovered that life is made of false memories. I was convinced that I had seen a note on the translators’ site about the word “comrade”; well, this note does not exist and, I beat my breast, the translators let the translation of the previous editions pass without comment. Certainly, this does not change the general meaning of the text but it seems to me that it makes it less striking.
JW translated “comrade” as ‘my dear companion’ and the proofreaders kept this name, wrongly, in my opinion. It also seems that the French translation influenced the other translations because we find the expression “compaňero mio” in Spanish, “irmāo e companheiro” in Portuguese and even “Freund” in German. As for Italian it is: “mio caro compagno”, a copy of French.
The English text is not prudish. In UB 147:5.3, it is a question of “brothels” that is to say brothels. The French did not dare to use the term and said house of prostitution, just like the Poles “domów publicznych” the Romanians “_case de toleranţ̣̆ _” The Spanish say “burdeles” and the Italians “bordelli” the Portuguese “bordéis” the Germans “Edelbordells” the Dutch “bordelen” the Swedes “bordeller” the Estonians “bordelli”.
Jean Royer