The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar
In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)
The Greek in Matthew 7:6 that is translated as “do not give what is holy to dogs” or similar in English is translated in Saint Lucian Creole French as “do not take things that are for God alone and give it to people who don’t appreciate it.” (Source David Frank)
The Greek in Luke 2:46 that is often translated in English as “on the third day” is translated in Saint Lucian Creole French as apwé dé jou or “after two days,” taking into account the traditional way of including the day when counting starts as a full day. (Source: David Frank)
The Greek in Luke 1:59 that is often translated in English as “on the eighth day” is translated in Saint Lucian Creole French as “after seven days,” taking into account the traditional way of including the day when counting starts as a full day. (Source: David Frank)
The Hebrew and Greek pesach/pascha that is typically translated in English as “Passover” (see below) is translated in a variety of descriptive ways of various aspects of the Jewish festival. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
Umiray Dumaget Agta: “the celebration of the day of their being brought out of bondage”
(source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Obolo: ijọk Iraraka — “Festival of Passing” (source: Enene Enene)
Yakan: “The festival of the Isra’il tribe which they call For-Remembering” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Wolof: “Festival of the day of Salvation” (“the term ‘pass over’ brings up the image of a person’s crossing over a chasm after death”) (source: Marilyn Escher)
Bura-Pabir: vir kucelir fəlɓəla kəi — “time-of happiness-of jumping-over house”
Sabaot: Saakweetaab Keeytaayeet — “Festival of Passing-by” (source: Iver Larsen)
Language spoken in India and Bangladesh: “Festival of avoidance”
Vlax Romani: o ghes o baro le Nakhimasko — “the Day of the Passing”
Saint Lucian Creole: Fèt Délivwans — “Feast of Deliverance” (source: David Frank)
Finnish: pääsiäinen (“The term is very probably coined during the NT translation process around 1520-1530. It is connected to a multivalent verb päästä and as such refers either to the Exodus (päästä meaning “to get away [from Egypt]”) or to the end of the Lent [päästä referring to get relieved from the limitations in diet]. The later explanation being far more probable than the first.”)
Northern Sami: beas’sážat (“Coined following the model in Finnish. The Sami verb is beassat and behaves partly like the Finnish one. Many Christian key terms are either borrowed from Finnish or coined following the Finnish example.”)
Estonian: ülestõusmispüha — “holiday/Sunday of the resurrection” — or lihavõttepüha — “holiday/Sunday of returning of meat”
Karelian: äijüpäivü — “the great day” (“Here one can hear the influence of the Eastern Christianity, but not directly Russian as language, because the Russian term is Пасха/Pasha or Воскресение Христово/Voskresenie Hristovo, ‘[the day of] the resurrection of Christ,’ but the week before Easter is called as the great week.”) (Source for this and three above: Seppo Sipilä)
Russian (for Russian speaking Muslims): праздник Освобождения/prazdnik Osvobozhdeniya — “Festival of-liberation” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Kono: laaŋumɛ̃ɛ̃ or “skip over the person” (provisional term). Alesha Hagemeyer explains in this blog post that laaŋumɛ̃ɛ̃ is a play on the term laaɲámɛ̃ɛ̃ or “to skip over the water” which is traditionally used for the sacrifice of a sheep or a goat after the death of a family member. That term literally means “to skip over the water” so that “their loved one will pass over the water and enter the presence of God”
English: Passover (term coined by William Tyndale that both replicates the sound of the Hebrew original pesah — פסח as well as part of the meaning: “passing over” the houses of the Israelites in Egypt) — oddly, the English Authorized Version (King James Version) translates the occurrence in Acts 12:4 as Easter
Many Romance languages follow the tradition from Latin that has one term for both “Easter” and “Passover” (pascha). Portuguese uses Páscoa for both, Italian uses Pascha, and French has Pâque for “Passover” and the identically pronounced Pâques for “Easter.”
In languages in francophone and lusophone (Portuguese speaking) Africa, indigenous languages typically use the Romance word for “Easter” as a loanword and often transliterate pesach/pascha. In Kinyarwanda and RundiPasika is used, in Swahili and Congo SwahiliPasaka, and in LingalaPasika. In some cases, the transliteration of “Passover” is derived from the European language, such as Umbundu’sPascoa (from Portuguese) and Bulu’sPak (from French). In languages that use Pak or similar for both “Passover” and “Easter” (such as Adioukrou), the identical spelling “serves to reinforce the idea that this is one celebration, not two distinct ones” (source: Hill 2006).
As John Ellingworth (in The Bible Translator 1980, p 445f. ) points out “in most contexts only the presence or absence of the definite article distinguishes them [in French la pâque for Passover and Pâques for Easter]. Since most African languages do not have definite articles, there remains no way to distinguish between the two terms where the general population has borrowed the word for Easter and the Bible translators have borrowed the word for Passover to use in their translation. Some even consider the references to [Passover] before the death of Christ as prophetic!”
The Greek in 2 Corinthians 4:6 that is often translated in English as “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” is translated in Saint Lucian Creole French as “for us to be able to see that light and understand how great God is great.”
David Frank (in: Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project , 1998) explains: “Greek is rich in abstract nouns, and that was another problem area when translating into St. Lucian Creole. [Since many] abstract nouns are semantically related to verbs, adjectives, or adverbs that do exist in Creole, the best solution is often to adjust the sentence to use a part of speech other than a noun to translate an abstract noun. To express ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ (…) after a great deal of study and thought we came up with pou nou sa wè klèté sala épi kopwann mizi gwan Bondyé gwan, ‘for us to be able to see that light and understand how great God is great.’ Here the abstract noun ‘knowledge’ was translated by a verb meaning ‘understand,’ and ‘the glory of God’ was translated as ‘how great God is great,’ using an adjective and an idiomatic grammatical construction that is natural in Creole.”
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 1:16:
Uma: “For there is the Word of God that was written long ago that says: ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “For it is written hep in the holy-book, it says, ‘Don’t sin,’ says God, ‘because I do not have sin.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is a written word of God which says, ‘It must be that there is nothing in our actions to scold you for just like there is nothing in my actions to scold me for.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because there is that which God caused-to-be-written which says, ‘You must be holy, because I, I am holy.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For that is in harmony with his written word which says, ‘You must live lives which are far from all sin, because as for me, I really am very far from whatever sin.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “In the Holy Book it is written, ‘Do that which is supremely good, because I am supremely good,’ says God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Saint Lucian Creole French: “… ‘You must separate yourselves from wickedness just as I God am separate from wickedness.” (Source: David Frank)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 2:5:
Uma: “so that you also are made by him to be like living stones that are used to build the worship house to God. He also made you holy priests. For like priests offer offerings/sacrifices to God, so also you offer your hearts to God, you consider it your offering to him. And that offering of yours does gladden his heart, because of the mediation of Yesus Kristus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Now you have already new life from God. Let yourselves be used by God figuratively as stones for building his house. The meaning of God’s house is all the people who follow/obey him and are ruled over by his Spirit. And work also for God figuratively like priests (imam) chosen by him. Your work for him is thanking and praising God. And your thanksgiving and your praise God will accept because of Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for us (incl.) also who have been given life forever, let us submit ourselves to Him so that we also might become like building stones for a house where God will be worshipped. And in that house of His, He will make us to become sacrificers whom He has chosen. And then by means of the help of Jesus Christ, we can offer sacrifice. And the sacrifice which He desires is: we will worship Him by means of the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because of your coming-near to him, you also can-be-compared to living stones, because you are being used in-being-built-into a spiritual (naispiritoan) temple. You are also serving as God’s holy priests who are offering to him spiritual offerings with which he is content/pleased through Jesu Cristo.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well since you are now submitting to him, he has given you renewing of your lives, and a likeness of you also is smoothed rocks/stones too which the Lord is using as materials with which he is building a house which is a worship-place to God. He is also making you like priests who are secured/dedicated as belonging to God. However, what you(emph) are-to-be-using-to-worship is your serving and praising him, which pleases him because of what was done by Jesu-Cristo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “You must want that God makes you to be a stone for the building of God’s house of prayer. And you are as though priests in order for you to pray to God. God approves of this because you believe in Jesus Christ.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Saint Lucian Creole French: “You are rocks that are living also, so let God use you in that house he is building with his Spirit. You are priests God has set apart to do his work. God’s Spirit made it possible for you to be able to offer sacrifices God will accept for the sake of what Jesus Christ did.” (Source: David Frank)