Language-specific Insights

glutton

The Greek and Ge’ez that is often translates as “glutton” in English is translated with figurative expressions or descriptive phrases such as “one who has just stomach” (Navajo (Dinė)), “a stomach-for food” (Pohnpeian), “one who eats-much” (Chuukese), or “one who thinks only of eating” (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel 1971).

In Kako it is translated as “dog heart” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190).

See also glutton (Titus).

hearts burning

The Greek in Luke 24:32 that is often translated as “Were not our hearts burning within us?” is translated as

  • “a boiling comes to our hearts inside” in Marathi (an idiom for joy and enthusiasm)
  • “drawn, as it were, our mind” in Balinese
  • “hurt (i.e. longing) our hearts” in Ekari
  • “something was-consuming in our-heart” in Tae’ (an idiom for “we were profoundly moved”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “O, how sweet coolness did our hearts feel” in an early version of the Bible in Sranan Tongo. “The translator “did this to avoid misunderstanding. In Sranan Tongo, when one says ‘my heart is burning’ he means ‘I am angry.'” (Source: Janini 2015, p. 33)
  • “Wasn’t it as rain coming down on us?” in Afar. “Heat is bad, rain is good in the desert.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • “our interiors bubbled up” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “Weren’t our hearts constricted within us?” in Khakas (source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

In the 2008 Moba Yendu Kadapaaonn translation it is translated as “were not our hearts encouraged (literally: made strong)?” While Moba has a rich metaphorical library using the concept of “heart” (pal) it follows very different paradigms compared to Greek, Hebrew and English concepts. (Source: Bedouma Joseph Kobaike in Le Sycomore 17/1, 2024, p. 3ff. .) (See also I hold you in my heart)

hundred sheep

The Greek that is translated as “a hundred sheep” in English is translated in Ekari with “sixty sheep.” In Ekari “sixty” is the highest basic unit, the equivalent of “one hundred” in Greek. The arithmetical equivalent of “hundred” would be the cumbersome “forty of the second sixty.”

While Mairasi has a set term for “hundred” (ratu, also meaning “king”), 99 is expressed more complicatedly: “four whole people and two hands and one hand and four.” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also body part tally systems.

hate

The Greek in Luke 1:71 that is translated as “who hate us” is translated in some languages through the negation of its opposite, such as “who do not love/like us” (Ekari). Other solutions include “who cannot see us in the eye (i.e. who cannot stand us at any price)” (Sranan Tongo), or “the ones with swelling jugular vein (because of suppressed anger)” (Uab Meto).

See also hate.

paradise

The Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is transliterated as “paradise” in English is often transliterated in other languages as well. Translations include “Place of well-being” (Toraja-Sa’dan, Tzeltal), “abode of happiness (or: of happy people)” (Marathi), “garden of eternal life” (Uab Meto), or the name of a place where you don’t have to work and fruits drop ripe in your hand (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

In Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese it is translated as 乐园 / 樂園 (lèyuán in Mandarin, lok6jyun4 in Cantonese). This term, literally meaning “garden of joy,” originates from Buddhist terminology.

See also paradise of God.

breathed his last

The Greek that is often translated in English as “he breathed his last” is translated with idioms that include “his life-force broke-off” (Indonesian, Balinese), “his breath stopped (or: was-exhausted” (Ekari, Sranan Tongo), or “his breath (and body) parted-with-each-other” (Toraja-Sa’dan). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

In Anindilyakwa it is translated as nu-werrikarrnga or “his chest-cut/broke.” (Source: Julie Waddy in The Bible Translator 2004, p. 452ff. )

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is idiomatically translated with er hauchte sein Leben aus or “he breathed out his life.”

bread of the presence, consecrated bread, showbread

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “showbread,” “bread of the presence,” or “consecrated bread” in English is translated as:

  • “bread set before the face of God” (Luvale)
  • “loaves which are laid before the face (of God)” (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “bread to-do-homage” (Tae’)
  • “holy bread” (Pohnpeian, Chuukese)
  • “placed bread” (Ekari)
  • “church-bread” (Sranan Tongo) (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “loaves offered to God” (interconfessional Chichewa translation; source: Wendland 1998, p. 110)
  • “bread that was sitting on the altar” (Low German) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “bread that only (the) priests were permitted to eat” (Kupsabiny) (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “offering bread which was remaining in Deo’s sight” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “bread that was offered/sacrificed to God” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • [“bread which is the thank-offering to God” (tip_language language=”6194″]Tagbanwa[/tip_language]) (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

See Mark 2:23-28 in Russian Sign Language for the Russian Sign Language translation of “showbread.”

idle tale

The Greek in Luke 24:11 that is translated into English as “nonsense” or “idle tale” is translated as

  • “empty talk” (Uab Meto)
  • “wind talk” (Indonesian)
  • “carried-around story” (Ekari)
  • “purposeless talking” (Kele)
  • “words that-frighten without-reason” (Toraja-Sa’dan)
  • “talk without foundation” (Pohnpeian, Chuukese) (source for all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “telling a fairy tale” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
  • “women’s gossip” (Weibergeschwätz) (German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord, publ. 1999)
  • “weird talking” (dwatsche Snack) (Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “what-they-had-made-up” (Tagbanwa) (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • “silly talking” (Noongar) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • “baseless talk” (wújīzhī tán / 無稽之談  / 无稽之谈) (traditional idiom in the Mandarin Chinese Catholic Sigao version)

See also idle talkers.