sb. [a. F. version (= It. versione, Sp. version, Pg. versão), or ad. L. versiōn-, versio, noun of action from vertĕre to turn.]
1. A rendering of some text or work, or of a single word, passage, etc., from one language into another; a translation; also (rarely), the action or process of translating.
Freq. with adjs. denoting the language into which the translation is made.
1582. N. T. (Rhemish), Pref. b ij. Trusting that it may giue occasion to you … to lay away at lest such their impure versions as hitherto you haue ben forced to occupie.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 435. I vtterly seclude al their opinions, which translate this word Arabian wolues, for the Hebrew notes cannot admit such a version or exposition.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), II. 61. Things translated into another tongue lose of their primative vigor and strength, unless a paraphrasticall version be permitted.
1682. Grew, Anat. Plants, Pref. The Second Lecture … is also translated into French, by Mons. Mesmin,… whose Version is very well approved by those who are competent Judges.
1718. Prior, Poems Several Occas., Pref. His excellent Version of the Carmen Seculare.
1794. Burke, Pref. to Brissot’s Addr. Constit., Wks. VII. 327. The translator has only to say for himself, that he has found some difficulty in this version.
c. 1806. H. K. White, Rem. Eng. Poets, Remains (1825), 156. None of our better versions have been able to preserve the original graces of these verses [of Ps. xviii].
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. India, I. III. vi. 293. Such of those literal versions as we possess in English (which are mostly from the ‘Rámáyana’).
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 1. 448. The English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the English tongue.
b. Sc. A translation from English into Latin prose done as a school or university exercise; a piece of English prose set for translation into Latin.
1711. Burgh Rec. Aberdeen (1872), II. 345. Ther proficiency in themms, versions, poeticall composurs, and orations.
c. 1850. Hurry, in Walker, Bards Bon-Accord (1886), 629. When we our versions wrote, nae Lexicon had we To help us.
2. The particular form of a statement, account, report, etc., given by one person or party; an account resting upon limited authority or embodying a particular point of view.
1788. in Ld. Auckland’s Corr. (1861), II. 93. The version which we received here respecting the famous Scarborough cruise.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xviii. IV. 214. The Whig version of the story was that the old robber Mac Ian had laid an ambuscade for the soldiers…. The Jacobite version … appeared in the Paris Gazette of the seventh of April.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xi. 140. The version generally received of what he actually did say.
1907. Verney Mem., II. 154. Sir Roger sends his version of the reconciliation between Monk and the City.
b. A special form or variant of something.
1835. I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., viii. 345. To see Christianity freed from the bonds of every peculiar version.
1858. Masson, Milton (1859), I. 679. In the cause of true religion, or of the Scottish version of it.
1908. Sir H. Maxwell, Guide Holyrood, 20. This painting is a larger version of one at Windsor Castle.
† 3. A turning about; a change of direction. Obs.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Viciss. of Things (Arb.), 571. What Kinde of Comet, for Magnitude, Colour, Version of the Beames,… or Lasting, produceth what Kinde of Effects.
1706. Congreve, Disc. Pindaric Ode, A j b. The first was call’d the Strophé, from the Version or circular Motion of the Singers in that Stanza from the Right Hand to the Left.
b. Obstet. The operation of manually turning the child so as to facilitate delivery.
1853. J. Y. Simpson, Obstet. Path. & Pract., 17. I now found an obstruction to the complete version of the infant.
1889. Buck’s Handbk. Med. Sci., VII. 628/2. The term version is applied to all operations by which the long axis of the child is changed in its relation to the long axis of the uterus.
† 4. Conversion, transformation. Obs.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 27. Springs, which the Ancients thought … to be made by the Version of Aire into Water. Ibid. (1626), New Atl., Magn. Nat., g iij. Version of bodies into other Bodies.
1666. Boyle, Orig. Forms & Qual., 407. As to the version of Water into Earth, by a seemingly slight Operation.
Hence Version v. trans., to translate. Versional a., pertaining to a version or translation. Versioner, Versionist, one who produces a version; a translator. Versionize v. trans., to render into another tongue, to translate.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., III. Arianism, 19. Biddle’s brief Scripture-Catechism was caus’d to be *version’d into Latin.
1884. Advance (Chicago), 3 Jan. At the time the Scriptures had been versioned into the King James version.
1871. Independent (N. Y.), 23 March (Cent.). All the suggestions for emendations [of the Bible], whether textual or *versional.
1910. Expositor, Nov., 409. The versional variants rest on divergent Hebrew texts.
c. 1806. in H. K. White’s Rem. (1825), 159. Our *versioner, by adding an s to it, has rendered them both plurals.
1782. Elphinston, trans. Martial, Pref. p. iv. His [sc. Martial’s] Editor and *Versionist.
1811. R. Dixon, Interpr. Sixty-eighth Ps., 46, note. All the ancient versionists seem to have thought, that the valley in this verse received its name [etc.].
1861. I. Taylor, Spir. Hebr. Poetry, 338. Serviceable as Jewish versionists … are, it was not their function to concern themselves with the soul … of the national literature.
1874. H. Coppée, Eng. Lit. (ed. 3), 52. Wace’s poem … was soon again, to be *versionized into English.
