If Jean-Baptiste Glaire was a Hebraist, why is this translation called a Vulgate?

[DavidHaslam]

Surely this notable French translation of the Bible was not simply a translation from the Latin Vulgate, even though it matches the canon and versification of the Vulgate!

Jean-Baptiste Glaire was a Hebraist and professor of Oriental Languages at the Sorbonne.

He would certainly have used his knowledge of the Hebrew Bible in his work of translating the Old Testament.

Isn't it therefore somewhat misleading to call it VulgateGlaire ?

Better, rather, to call it La Bible Glaire, IMHO.

[DavidHaslam]

Aside: I've sometime heard it expressed the sentiment that "la Bible" is a Protestant word, and that Catholics often prefer the term "les Écritures". Be that as it may, it shouldn't be used as a putative reason for French speaking Catholics not using the word "Bible", n'est-ce pas?

[MarjorieBurghart]

Hi David!

No, this translation definitely is a translation of the Vulgate. It is a rather literal translation of the Latin Vulgate into French, and that is the main reason why I got interested into it in the first place (since I work on texts using the Latin Vulgate). Even if Glaire was a Hebraist, it stands to reason that a learned 19th cleric was also fluent in Latin.

As for "Bible" vs. "les Écritures" in French, I have never heard of such a difference between Catholics and Protestants, to me the former is the mist common name, and the latter a more literary phrase.

[DavidHaslam]

Thanks for the explanation. @MarjorieBurghart

Best wishes,

David