The Greek that is translated in English as “Here is the man” or “Behold the man” was translated in the Latin Vulgate translation of the 4th century as ecce homo.
“Ecce homo” has become to be known as an important sub-genre of Western Christian art of the 15th through the 17th century that shows the suffering Christ and again in the 20th century depicting images of human suffering in war and the holocaust.
It also is the title of Friedrich Nietzsche’s autobiography (publ. 1908).
The Greek word that mean both (the organ) “tongue” and “language” (glossa) allows for a word play in Acts 2. While English still has some traces of “tongue” also being used as “language” (such as in “mother tongue“) it is generally considered archaic in that use, although a number of modern English Bible translations (New International Version, Christian Standard Bible, English Standard Version) maintain “tongue” as the word for “language” in Acts 2:4.
Other languages have a more natural match between the words for “tongue” and “language”:
The Greek word that mean both “wind” and “spirit” (pneuma) in English allows for a number of word plays in the text of the New Testament, such as in John 3:8 and Acts 2:2 vs. Acts 2:4 (note that in the case of the example in Acts 2, two different words are used in Greek — pnoé and pneuma — but both come from the same root word).
Languages that have been able to maintain the word play — and, in the case of Acts 2 — strengthen it:
Another meaning of pnoé and pneuma in Acts 2 is “breath.” Which leads Iver Larsen to explain another translation solution: “I have been wondering why English versions translate the Greek word for breath pnoé with wind in Acts 2:2. The only other instance is in Acts 17:25: “Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath” (here and below New International Version). The verb pnéó means ‘blow’ and can be used for both a wind blowing and a puff of air from a person breathing on something or someone. Acts 2:2 is related to John 20:22: ‘And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” A different verb is used, but semantically similar. I consider this as a foreshadowing or promise of Acts 2:2, so a connection would be nice to have. In Acts 2:2 I take the one breathing mightily on the disciples to be the resurrected Christ. Only after his resurrection could Jesus release the full power of the Spirit to the disciples. These verses are also connected to Genesis 2:7: ‘God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath (Septuagint: pnoé) of life.’ In Danish there is a close connection between “spirit” (ånd) and breath/breathe (ånde). So, in Acts 2:2 we [in The Bible in Everyday Danish, 2022] use the word ‘åndepust‘ which I cannot translate properly into English, but something like ‘puff of breath/spirit.'”
The 1985 French translation by Chouraqui, which uses souffle sacré or “sacred breath” for Holy Spirit, likewise uses souffle or “breath” in Acts 2:2 (source: Laurence Belling).
The Hebrew that is translated as “stricken” or similar in many English translations was translated by the Latin Vulgate translation as quasi leprosum or “like a leper.” Most, if not all, Catholic translations into the 1950s used the Vulgate as their source text and therefore followed this translation — see the English Catholic Douay-Rheims version: we have thought him as it were a leper.
The translation was likely chosen because in other cases when the same Hebrew word is used, leprosy was implied.
In the middle ages this was interpreted as meaning that Jesus in fact had leprosy and that having leprosy was not a curse but a “Holy Disease.” (Source: Yancey 1995, p. 172f.)
See also leprosy / leprous
The Hebrew that is translated as “ornamented robe ” or similar in English is translated in Kim as mwaɗak or “multi-colored (robe),” following the traditional translation (Greek Septuagint: χιτῶνα ποικίλον; Latin Vulgate: tunicam polymitam; English King James/Authorised Version: coat of many colours; German Luther translation: bunter Rock etc.)
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Joseph and His Clothing .
The Greek that is translated as “fruit of the Spirit” in English is translated in British Sign Language with a sign that depicts the Spirit coming in to a person and then the person giving out. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Fruit of the Spirit” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated wer sich vom Heiligen Geist leiten lässt, der kann… or “whoever is guided by the Holy Spirit is able to… .”
The Latin Vulgate translation added three “fruits”: “forbearance” (longanimitas), “courtesy” (modestia), and “chastity” (castitas). This meant that all Catholic translations before app. 1950 that were based on the Latin version also had those additional attributes (English Douay-Rheims: longanimity, modesty, chastity; Spanish Biblia Torres Amat: longanimidad, modestia, castidad etc.)
Ronald Knox writes in his translation of the Vulgate (1946): “The Greek only mentions nine of the Twelve Fruits; viz. the first six, together with gentleness, faith, and temperateness. It is possible that the Latin version has accidentally included, in some cases, two renderings of the same Greek word.” Note that either earlier Latin versions (Vetus Latina) now the revision of the Vulgate of 1979 / 1986 (Nova Vulgata) have these attributes. (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
See also self-control.
The now commonly-used English idiom “eye for an eye” (meaning revenge or retribution) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 285)
Likewise in Mandarin Chinese, the phrasing that was coined to translate “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” — yǐyǎn huányǎn, yǐyá huányá (以眼还眼，以牙还牙 / 以眼還眼，以牙還牙) — has also become a Chinese proverb (see here ).
Other languages that have idioms based on the Hebrew that is translated “an eye for an eye” in English include:
In Alekano it is translated as “if someone gouges out your eye, gouge out his eye,” since in that language body parts need to have an obligatory possessive designator attached. (Source: Larson 1998, p. 42)
The Greek that is usually translated as “the whole land” in English is translated in
Catholic translations that rely on the Latin Vulgate‘s ambiguous totam terram (which, just as the Greek, could refer to the terrestrial globe or a particular place of land) tend to also stay ambiguous. The Spanish Reina Valera has toda la tierra and the English Douay Rheims likewise reads the whole earth. (Source: Knox 1949, p. 20)