【Genesis 8:8, 9 李杜圣经札记】

8 他又放出一只鸽子去，要看看水从地上退了没有。 

9 但遍地上都是水，鸽子找不着落脚之地，就回到方舟挪亚那里，挪亚伸手把鸽子接进方舟来。 

ERV:

 8 Noah also sent out a dove. He wanted it to find dry ground. He wanted to know if water still covered the earth.

9 The dove could not find a place to rest because water still covered the earth, so the dove came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and caught the dove and brought it back into the boat.

NIV:

8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 

9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 

点评：

我注意到：这句经文里的鸽子，所有的英文版本都用“dove”, 不是“pigeon”。

尽管没有科学依据，大多数人对两者区别的了解，是dove，为白色，显得纯洁美丽；而pigeon，灰色，体型较大，庸常无奇。

在圣经的其他段落里，有时未作区分，会说“two doves, or pigeons”。

在英语里，和pigeon有关的词，很多具负面意义。比如“pigeon-toed, （走路）内八字”，“pigeon-chested, 鸡胸”，“pigeon-holed, 束之高阁；被局限于某种刻板角色中”等等。

我想，英语版本这里如果用“pigeon”，放飞鸽子的美好画面恐要大打折扣。