Language-specific Insights

perplexed

The Greek that is translated into English as “perplexed” is translated as

  • “his heart was gone” in Tzeltal
  • “hard chased” (as in animals in a hunt) in Piro
  • “his mind was killing him” in Navajo (Dinė)
  • “his stomach rose up” in Farefare
  • “he was very irresolute” (i.e. “it was all wrong with him”) in Indonesian
  • “his heart was very divided” in Javanese (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida 1961)
  • “confused his head” in Hiligaynon (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • “his heart was agitated” in Uma (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • “his thinking was difficult” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling” as well as perplexed, perplexed / puzzled, or troubled / perplexed,

vain (worship)

The Greek that is translated into English as “vain” or “in vain” in English is (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Guhu-Samane: “with the front teeth of their mouths they worship me” (“‘In vain’ caused puzzlement [because] why should their efforts to worship God produce no results, try as they may? [But the idiom] ‘with the front teeth of their mouths they worship me’ comes from the picture of one who is making a pretense at eating food, hence their deceit is apparent.’ Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “say I am important, but they do not believe it”
  • Kekchí: “has no meaning when they praise me”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona: “uselessly”
  • Copainalá Zoque: “uselessly they remember”
  • Farefare: “their religion is their mouth”
  • Southern Subanen: “their worship has no meaning”
  • Tzotzil: “they say they love me, but this means nothing”
  • Southern Bobo Madaré: “they worship me but they do not mean what they say”
  • Central Mazahua: “it is of no value that they honor me”
  • San Blas Kuna: “their thinking is not in their hearts” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Mairasi: “tribute of theirs for me [which] will-be-on-their-own” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

worries of the world / cares of this age

The Greek that is translated as “worries (or: cares) of the world (or: this age)” in English is (back-) translated in a number of ways:

  • Kekchí: “they think very much about these days now”
  • Farefare: “they begin to worry about this world-things”
  • Tzeltal: “their hearts are gone doing what they do when they pass through world” (where the last phrase is an idiomatic equivalent for “this life”
  • Mitla Zapotec and San Mateo del Mar Huave: “they think intensely about things in this world”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi and Pamona: “the longing for this world”
  • Tzotzil: “they are very occupied about things in the world”
  • Central Tarahumara: “they are very much afraid about what will happen in the world”
  • Shilluk: “the heavy talk about things in the world”
  • Bariai: “things of the earth are making them worried (lit. to have various interiors)” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also end of the age / end of the world.

anxious and bothered about so many things

The Greek that is translated as something like “worried (or: anxious) and bothered about many things” is translated in Tzeltal as “doing all kinds of things has gone to your heart and you have difficulty because of it” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Bariai as “You are concerned (lit. your interior is here and there) and worried (lit. you have various interiors) about very many things” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated idiomatically as ich will dir anerkennen, dass du vor lauter Machen und Tun nicht weiß, wo dir der Kopf steht or “I will acknowledge that you don’t know where your head is because of all the doing and making.”

The term that is translated as “worried (or anxious)” in English is often translated idiomatically. Examples include “eating for oneself one’s heart” (Shona, version of 1966), “black with worry” (Chichewa), “breaking one’s head” (Sranan-Tongo), “hanging up the heart” (Bulu), “crumbling in one’s abdomen” (Western Kanjobal), “one’s stomach is rising up” (Farefare), or “one’s mind is killing one” (Navajo (Dinė)). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

See also troubled / perplexed and worry and see also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”