Language-specific Insights

eternal life

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The Greek that is translated in English as “eternal life” is translated in various ways:

Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”

See also eternity / forever and salvation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Eternal Life in John .

is acceptable, is welcome

The Greek in Luke 4:24 that is translated as “is acceptable” or “is welcome” in English is translated as

  • “well received” (Sinhala)
  • “to be considered-good” (Tae’)
  • “to be liked” (Sundanese)
  • “to be cherished” (Chuukese)
  • “to be popular” (Pohnpeian)
  • “to be believed with respect” (Kele)
  • “to be listened to” (Tboli) (Source for this all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “is honored” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • “is not treated-according-to-custom” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)

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)

equality

The Greek that is often translated as “equality” in English is translated in Kele as likelemba, “which denotes the equal and alternate sharing of one’s share of food, wages or ration. When one has none or lacks a fair share, then a friend gives his share so that your abundance may supply their want at the present time, so that their abundance (on another occasion) may supply your need.” (source: William Ford in The Bible Translator 1957, p. 203ff. ).

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind

The phrase that is translated as “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” in English versions is rendered in Kahua with a term for belly/chest as the seat of the emotions.

The same phrase is translated into Kuy as “with all your heart-liver”to show the totality of one’s being. (Source: David Clark)

Similar to that, in Laka one must love with the liver, in Western Kanjobal with the “abdomen,” and in Marshallese with the throat.

What is translated as “soul” in English is translated as “life” in Yaka, Chuukese, and in Ixcatlán Mazatec, “that which stands inside of one” in Navajo (Dinė), and “spirit” in Kele.

The Greek that is translated in English as “strength” is translated in Yao as “animation” and in Chuukese as “ability.”

The Greek that is translated in English as “mind” is translated in Kele as “thinking,” in Chuukese as “thought(s),” and in Marathi as “intelligence.”

The whole phrase is translated in Tboli as “cause it to start from the very beginning of your stomach your loving God, for he is your place of holding.”

In Poqomchi’ (as in many other Mayan languages), the term “heart” covers both “heart” and “mind.”

(Sources: Bratcher / Nida, Reiling / Swellengrebel, and Bob Bascom [Ixcatlán Mazatec and Poqomchi’])

See also translations with a Hebraic voice (Deuteronomy 6:5), implanted / in one’s heart and complete verse (Mark 12:30), and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

For a detailed look at the relationships between the Deuteronomy 6:5 quote, its Septuagint translation and the quotations in the synoptic gospels, see Adaptable for Translation: Deuteronomy 6.5 in the Synoptic Gospels and Beyond by Robert Bascom .

came to himself / came to his senses

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The Greek in Luke 15:17 that is translated as “he came to himself” or “he came to his senses” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:

  • Sranan Tongo: “he came to get himself”
  • Tzeltal: “his heart arrived”
  • Thai (translation of 1967): “he sensed himself” (implying realization that he had done wrong)
  • Kekchí: “it fell into his heart”
  • Tagalog: “his self came back”
  • Yaka, Chuukese, Pohnpeian: “he came to wisdom (or: became wise)”
  • Kituba: “he understood himself”
  • Uab Meto: “his heart came to life again”
  • Kaqchikel: “he came out of his stupor”
  • Lomwe, Yao: “he was turned, or, aroused (as from sleep), in his heart”
  • Javanese: “he became-aware of his own condition”
  • Kele: “he thought again about his affair” (source for all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: “his own liver’s sky split” (In Mairasi, the liver is the seat of emotions) (source: Enggavoter 2004)