Language-specific Insights

here I am with you according to your desire

The Hebrew that is translated as “here I am with you according to your desire” in some English versions is translated into Anuak as “whatever is in your liver I will do.”

For other translations using the term “liver” in Anuak see here and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

The concept of “mind” or “desire” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-kokoro (お心), combining “heart” (kokoro) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

house (descendants)

The Hebrew that is translated as “house” in many English versions is translated into Anuak as “mouth of your house” (= descendants). (Source: Loren Bliese)

by his gods

The Hebrew that is translated as “by his gods” in many English versions is translated into Anuak as “by the names of his gods.” (Source: Loren Bliese)

love your neighbor as yourself

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “love your neighbor as yourself” is translated in Shilluk, Anuak, and Nuer as “love your neighbors as yourselves.” In those and other languages a plural form has to be used if it is to be applied to more than one person where in English a singular can stand for many (compare everyone, each, whoever, any). (Source: Larson 1998, p. 42)

See also he who / whoever and neighbor.

Seat of Emotions, Seat of the Mind

Cultures and languages equate different parts of the human body with the seat of the mind. Following is a theoretical framework that categorizes different approaches:

“[We] use the word ‘mind’ as a shorthand term for ‘ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling’ of which different cultures, or different periods of the same culture, may have different understandings. (…) Cultural models of the mind and more scientific approaches in philosophy and/or medicine have in various cultures invoked central parts of the human body as the locus of the mind. The major loci have been the abdomen region, the heart region and the head region or, more particularly, the brain region. These three types of conceptualizations can be labeled ‘abdominocentrism’, ‘cardiocentrism’, and ‘cerebrocentrism’ (or ‘cephalocentrism’), respectively. These three labels only intend to capture the idea that the region in question is the main centre, which does not exclude a similar role for body parts in other regions.”

(Source: Sharifian, Farzad et al. (eds.) Culture, Body, and Language: Conceptualizations of Internal Body Organs across Cultures and Languages. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2008. p. 3f.)

Equally, and related to that, the seat of emotions is located in many different, culture-specific parts of the body. Bratcher / Nida (p. 78) say: “Though the heart is spoken of in the Bible as the center of intellectual and emotive elements of human experience, in other languages the heart may have no such value. In some languages the corresponding centers are the viscera (Western Kanjobal), the liver (Laka), the stomach (Uduk), the gall (Toraja-Sa’dan) and the head (Anuak), though in the neighboring Shilluk demons may be in one’s head, but the liver and heart are the center of most other psychological activities. Whether one is to use ‘heart’ or some other part or organ of the body depends entirely upon the manner in which in any language such psychological experiences are described.”

For an article on Biblical anthropology, see Biblical Anthropology and Ancient Science by John Roberts.

wicked, worthless

The Hebrew that is translated as “worthless” or “wicked” in many English versions is translated into Anuak as “whose head is bad” (1Sam. 25:17) or “people whose intentions are black” (i.e., greedy) (1Sam. 30:22).

conspire

The Hebrew that is translated as “conspire” in many English versions is translated into Anuak as “tie the mouth.”

See also conspire (Shilluk).