differentiated 3rd person plural pronoun

Balinese uses four different third-person pronouns: two to indicate important and very important persons (dane and ida), one to speak of a person of lower standing but in a familiar manner, and one to speak of such a person in a polite manner (ia and ipun). In the case of the Greek that is translated into English as “they had come down,” the Balinese translators translated rikala Ida sareng sisian Idane sane tetiga punika tedun saking gununge punika, akeh anake pada rauh nangkilin Ida: “when He (Ida) came down, followed by his three disciples” because Jesus could not be mentioned with the same pronoun as the disciples.

Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 158ff.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments