The Greek that is translated as “howl” or similar in English is translated in the Kölsch translation (Boch 2017) as jebröllt wie am Spieß, literally “screamed as if pierced on a skewer.” (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
Language-specific Insights
right mind / sound-minded
The Greek that is rendered as “in his right mind” or “sound-minded” in English is translated in the following ways:
- Amganad Ifugao: “his mind had returned”
- Tojolabal: “his heart was sitting down”
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “his head was healed”
- Javanese: “with a clear mind again”
- Indonesian: “come to his senses” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Marathi: “come to his cleanness/purity”
- Ekari: “his thoughts having become right”
- Sranan Tongo: “his intelligence having-become clean again”
- Batak Toba: “having-mind”
- Tae’: “settled his mind”
- Balinese: “settled/fixed” (source for this and five above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Mairasi: “had well-split vision” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Noongar: “straight inside his head” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “his thinking was proper” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Bariai: “his mind returned back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Kölsch (publ. 2017): “talk reasonable again”
kingdoms of the world
The Greek that is translated as “kingdoms of the world” is translated in Quetzaltepec Mixe with a phrases denoting “rich empires” rather than a collection of all the ethnic groups (source: Robert Bascom).
In the Kölsch translation (Boch 2017) it is translated as “all the great and beautiful things of this world” and in the Mandarin Chinese Union Version very literarily and elegantly as “the 10,000 nations and the glory and the glory of the 10,000 nations (万国与万国的荣华 — Matthew 4:8) and “the 10,000 nations under the heaven” (天下的万国 — Luke 4:5). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
In the beginning
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “In the beginning” is translated in Lisu as ꓬꓲ ꓚꓰ ꓬꓲ ꓪꓴꓸ — yi tshe yi vu: “In very early times, when there were no people.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. The same phrase is also used as a title for the book of “Genesis.” (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
In the most widely used Mandarin Chinese Bible translation, the Union Version, the term 太初 — tàichū is used in John 1:1 (but not for Gen. 1:1) — vice versa in the Yue Chinese (Cantonese) New Cantonese Bible of 1997, whereas in Hakka Chinese, 太初 — thai-chhû in Hakka — is used in both cases). Tàichū originally was used in early Daoist writings (Liezi, Zhuangzi — both 5th century BC) which is remarkable because of the connection with “dào” (道) in the same verse (see Word / Logos), suggesting connections between Chinese culture and John 1:1. (Source: Zetzsche)
Other translations include:
- Jamaican Patois: “when time started” (wen taim did staat); similarly the English translation by James A. Kleist (1954): when time began or Knox (1949): at the beginning of time
- Bariai: “prior to the coming forth of everything” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “When before still in the past” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Kölsch: “in the beginning of everything” (translation by Boch 2017)
- German: “primordial beginning” (Urbeginn) (translation by Fridolin Stier, 1989)
- English translation of the gospels of Sarah Ruden (2021, p. xlii): “inauguration” which “echoes similar connotations of a Hebrew word in Genesis”
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: In the beginning … or When God began…? (Word Study) .
hungry
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” (or: “famished”) is translated in a number of ways:
- Noongar: “without stomach” (koborl-wirt) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
- German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
- Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)
- Chechen: “blinded by hunger” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )
complete verse (2 Timothy 1:7)
Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Timothy 1:7:
- Uma: “Don’t be afraid to do that work. For if there is fear in our hearts, it is not from God. For God has given us the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives us strength to do our work, love others and hold-back our own desires.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Because the reason God gave us (dual) his Spirit is not so that our (dual) livers are easily afraid but so that we (dual) have strength to follow/obey God’s will and so that we (dual) love our fellows and we (dual) are not influenced to do bad.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For the Spirit that God has inspired us with does not make us cowardly, rather he strengthens us and gives us power so that it might be that we love our companioins and arrange properly everything we do.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Don’t be afraid to use-it, because the Ispirito Santo (Holy Spirit) whom God gave is in/with us, and what the Holy Spirit gives us, it isn’t a hesitating/timid mind, but rather our ability to serve God and to show love to our companions and to control ourselves.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “For the Espiritu Santo who was caused by God to enter-and-indwell our body, of course he doesn’t make us cowardly, but rather (to have) boldness of mind/inner-being, valuing for our fellowman and control of ourselves.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “Because God wants that you not be afraid. Therefore he strengthens you so that you do not fear the people. And he strengthens you to love people and to control well your thoughts.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “Because this thing of being afraid of things, Great Above One did not give us in our spirit. But He intended to strengthen us. And that we would desire people’s faces [love]. And also that we would control ourselves very well [have self-discipline].” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Bariai: “For the Straight Spirit which God gave to us (incl.), it’s not of being afraid, but it causes us to have great strength, and we like/love other people, and we are following good knowledge.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Kölsch: “God has given us a Spirit of hope, strength, love and understanding.” (Source: Boch 2017)