redeemer

The Hebrew that is translated as “redeemer” in English is translated the following way in these languages:

In Luba-Katanga it is Mukuji, a traditional term for “Kinsman Redeemer.” “In Luba-Katanga the first word used was derived from the background of slavery. This first word. however, proved inadequate. Mr. Clarke [who worked on the first Luba-Katanga Bible] tells in his own words how he found the perfect term: ‘There came a lad weeping, with body cruelly lacerated, saying to me, ‘See how cruel my master is to me!’ and I said, I will redeem you’. With piteous tears, he cried, ‘You are not able to redeem me. A great price only can be paid for my redemption’. ‘What shall I pay?’ I asked, ‘I can give calico and a gun if need be — I shall certainly redeem you,’ but once more came the cry, ‘You are not able to redeem me, for you are no relation of mine. If you would help me, go to my father and mother, and bring them here with the ransom for my redemption. Only my parents or one of my relatives can redeem me. You may buy me, but I would be your slave’. So, after years of waiting, we found the word Mukuji, which brought to us the significance of the ’Kinsman-Redeemer’.” (Source: Wilfred Bradnock in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 49ff. )

In Tai Dam the translation is “Lord-come-seek-buy.” “This is the Lord who came and sought us, and then bought us for Himself. Just “to buy a person” might imply acquiring a personal slave. But one comes seeking in order to buy is one who is earnestly looking for the straying sheep who is lost in the mountainside in his own sinful wandering away form the Shepherd of his soul.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 139.)

See also redeem / redemption and next-of-kin / kinsman-redeemer / close relative.

he is our peace

The Greek in Ephesians 2:14 that is translated as “(he is our) peace” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane as “He is our peace-feather.”

Richert explains: “This affords a delightful cultural and physical ‘exegesis’ for the future teachers, who apply it in this manner. They have an idiom, ‘he is my pinion,’ meaning ‘he is my mainstay;’ for no bird can fly without its pinion feathers. Therefore they first apply this to Christ in his relationship to mankind before the event of Calvary. Then as the feather must be carved in order to be the effective symbol of peace, so Christ was crucified in order to bring peace on earth. In the context of Eph. 2 this is very meaningful to the Guhu-Samanes.”

Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff.

majestic

The Hebrew in Psalm 8:1 that is translated as “majestic” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane as “the quality of the bull-roarer call.” Ernest Richert explains: “In searching for a suitable equivalent for ‘majestic’ it was learned that the bull-roarer had the important function not only of announcing poro ceremonies [poro is the traditional religion], but also the arrival of a great or important person. Of a notable man it is said that his name had the quality of the bull-roarer call. Thus the passage is translated: ‘O Lord, our Lord in all the great earth your name has the quality of the bull-roarer call’.” Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff.

See also majestic / glorious (Japanese honorifics).

fox (Herod)

The Greek in Luke 13:32 that is translated in virtually all English translations as “fox” (exceptions: Passion Translation of 2014 with “deceiver” and The Voice of 2012 with “sly fox”) presents an intriguing example of the complexity of translation and meaning across different cultures.

Edward Hope (2005, p. 64ff.) describes the occurrence of the fox and its meaning in the Bible as an inferior rather than crafty animal (see jackal / fox).

Due to a lack of understanding of the differences in the meaning of “fox” as a metaphor in Hebrew and Greek culture, early versions of translations tended to emphasize the craftiness of the metaphor:

Harry McArthur (in Notes on Translation 1992, p. 16ff), who had worked on a translation of the Aguacateco New Testament in the 1970s and then revised that version in the 1990s describes the original translation of this passage as one of “the few places where, when I was translating, I did not understand the original text (or the translations of it). (…) The helps we had at that time told us that the point of comparison was that Herod was a ‘cheater.’ We have since come to understand from the use of the word ‘fox’ on many other Biblical passages that Jesus was calling him a small or inconsequential man: a better rendering would be “go tell that poor benighted soul…”

An early Swati version translates “fox” as nyoka: “snake” (in the 1996 Swati translation it says mphungutja: “jackal”). Eric Hermanson comments on this:

“This change, however, rather than bringing out what was intended in the original utterance, made it suggest even more strongly that Jesus was calling Herod a twisty schemer than is indicated when ‘fox’ is used as a metaphor in English. What happened in this case. then, was that replacing a metaphor from the original language with a different metaphor from the second language resulted in readers and hearers having different thoughts and ideas than were intended by the original author. (…)

“In Zulu and other African languages, however, itnpungushe (‘the jackal’) is also seen as an insignificant animal; and referring metaphorically to a king as itnpungushe instead of as iSilo or iNgonyama (‘the lion’), the normal praise-names of a paramount chief, has the same effect (…) that was intended by Jesus.” (Source: Eric Hermanson in The Bible Translator 1999, p. 235 ff. )

The German translation by Jörg Zink (1965) translates “dieser Fuchs, dieser Verderber”: “that fox, that spoiler (or: destroyer).”

In Meyah, it is translated as “evil person” (source: Gilles Gravelle in Kroneman 2004, p. 502).

See also complete verse (Luke 13:32) and jackal / fox.

wounds

The Greek in Luke 10:34 that is translated in English as “wounds” is translated into Folopa as nopulu daayale tiki: “where the clubs stood” (= wounds caused by clubs).

Translator Neil Anderson tells the story on how this was decided:

I knew no word for wounds and I had a difficult time getting one. I said, “The word is for things like sores, but they’re not sores; it’s like injuries, but not accidental.”

They were trying to grasp it. “Read it again,” they said. So I read it again, explaining as I went.

“These thieves had jumped him,” I said, “and he’s down, and now he’s lying there with these . . . problems . . . these results of what was perpetrated upon him. But what’s the word?”

“What did they use on him?”

“I don’t know what they used on him. What does it matter?”

“We have to know what they used on him or we can’t tell you the word.”

“Why not?”

“Because it all depends. If he was speared we say, ‘where the spear stood;’ if he was shot with an arrow we say, where the arrow stood;’ if he was axed we say, ‘where the axe stood.’ You tell us what they used on him and well tell you how to say it.”

Apparently there was no generic word for “wounds” and this was the best we were going to do. The only trouble was, Scripture didn’t tell how it happened. In the original telling, it wasn’t important.

So we tried to figure it out.

“Let’s say it was a spear,” I said.

“Okay,” the old ones said, the ones with the most experience with this kind of thing, “did the man live?”

“Yes, he lived,” I said.

“Then it wasn’t a spear. If it was a spear he would have most likely died.”

“Maybe it was an arrow,” I offered.

“No, if it had been by arrows they would have pulled them out. Does it say anything about pulling arrows out?”

“No. What about a dagger?”

“No,” they said, “if it had been a dagger he probably would have never recovered either.”

“Then what about an ax?”

“No way. If they had axed him that would have been the end of him right then!”

“Well then, maybe they just beat him up with their hands,” I said.

“No,” they protested, “when you do that the person may be covered with lumps and bumps but there’s nothing open, nothing for the Samaritan to pour medicine into.”

“Then you tell me,” I said.

“Well, he was lying there on the road, half dead, bleeding but still alive. He must have been beaten with clubs.” With general agreement on that I wrote it down: nopulu daayale tiki “where the clubs stood.” We were off and moving again.

(Source: Anderson / Moore 2006, p. 165ff.)

blood, body, flesh

Fijian uses four noun classes:

(1) Possible items in general, taking normal or “neutral” pronoun forms
(2) Edible items, to which are linked “edible” pronoun forms
(3) Drinkable items, to which are linked “drinkable” pronoun forms
(4) Body parts and kinship, taking “familiar” pronoun suffixed forms.

The Greek terms that are translated as “body (or: flesh)” and “blood” used in John 6:52-56 “as symbols of Christ’s sacrifice are not treated by either version as edible and drinkable objects, even though they are said in the text to be eaten and drunk. The apparent reason is that the passage is taken to be about the institution of a memorial and not about the actions of eating and drinking themselves. Hence the translators use the familiar pronoun for the body part (lewequ ‘my body’) and the neutral pronoun for the blood part (noqu dra ‘my blood’).”

Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 419ff.