ABSTRACT
Bolo so, ‘back-word,’ will build on and include knowledge learned about the nature of the divine in African societies in a general way to study the nature and meaning of the divine in Kemet. Serge Sauneron (1960) is aware of the concern for translations of Medu Neter, since he quotes the passage from Hermetic writings [tract XVI, 1-2]:
Hermes [Thoth], my master, in the frequent conversations that he had with me . . . used to tell me that those who read my books found their composition very simple and clear, even when, on the contrary, it is obscure and hides the meaning of the words, and it will become even more obscure when the Greeks, later, will get it into their heads to translate from our language to theirs, which will end in a complete distortion of the text and in full obscurity. By contrast, expressed in the original language, this discourse preserves in full clarity the sense of the words; and in fact, even the particularity of sound and the proper intonation of Egyptian terms retain in themselves the force of things said (pp. 126-127).
