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.
“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)
In the 2008 MobaYendu 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)
The Greek in Luke 24:16 that is translated as “their eyes were prevented from recognizing” in English is translated with idioms in languages like Shona with “their eyes were clouded, or, shrouded/blindfolded,” Uab Meto with “their eyes were misty” or with a simile such as “their eyes were just as if they had been caused to be shut” in Marathi.
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated idiomatically with wie mit Blindheit geschlagen or “as if struck with blindness.”
“much work overwhelmed Martha” (Sranan Tongo) (source for all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“her face kept on getting turned with her work inside the house” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
“she was alone in the kitchen because she was making food for them, and there were many problems that she had with what she was doing” (Western Bukidnon Manobo) (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
“Marta’s eye was here and there with the doing of tasks” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
The Greek in Luke 11:40 that is translated as “(you) foolish people” or “(you) foolish ones” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:
San Blas Kuna: “people having a dark liver” (“incapable of intelligent, thoughtful behavior”) (See Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”)
Batak Toba: “those short-of-mind” (“mostly referring to stupidity or ignorance in general”)
Zarma: a word indicating a person who refuses to use the intelligence he has
Chichewa, Yao: expressions implying intractability and willful opposition to common interests or commonly accepted ideas (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
The Greek that is translated into English versions as “throne” is translated into Naro as ntcõó-q’oo: “he will rule.” The figure of the “throne” cannot be translated in the egalitarian Naro culture, so the idea had to be expressed more explicitly. (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
In other languages it is translated as “stool/seat of the king” (Marathi), “seat of commanding/chieftainship” (Highland Totonac, Kituba), “seat of the Supreme one (lit. of-him-who-has-the umbrella)” (Toraja-Sa’dan — the umbrella being a well-known symbol of power in various parts of South and South-East Asia), “glorious place to sit” (Ekari) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), “where God sits and rules” (Estado de México Otomi), “where God reigns” (Central Mazahua) (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.), or “bed of kingship” (Kafa) (source: Loren Bliese).
In Elhomwe it is translated as “seat of the king,” unless it refers to the throne of God (such as in Matthew 19:28. Then the translation is the “seat of God.”) (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
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’])
The Hebrew and Greek that is mostly translated as “virgin” in English can be translated as “woman that is untouched” in Batak Toba or “a woman with a whole (i.e. unopened) body” in Uab Meto.
“Similar words for ‘girl,’unmarried young woman,’ suggesting virginity without explicitly stating it, are found in Marathi, Apache, or Kituba. Cultural features naturally influence connotations of possible renderings, for instance, the child marriage customs in some Tboli areas, where the boy and girl are made to sleep together at the initial marriage, but after that do not live together and may not see each other again for years. Hence, the closest attainable equivalent, ‘female adolescent,’ does not imply that a young girl is not living with her husband, and that she never had a child, but leaves uncertain whether she has ever slept with a male person or not. Accordingly, in Luke one has to depend on Luke 1:34 to make clear that Mary and Joseph had not had sexual intercourse. A different problem is encountered in Pampanga, where birhen (an adaptation of Spanish virgen — ‘virgin’), when standing alone, is a name of the ‘Virgin Mary.’ To exclude this meaning the version uses “marriageable birhen,” thus at the same time indicating that Mary was relatively young.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel, see here)
In Navajo (Dinė), the term that is used is “no husband yet” (Source: Wallis, p. 106) and in Gola the expression “trouser girl.” “In the distant past young women who were virgins wore trousers. Those who were not virgins wore dresses. That doesn’t hold true anymore, but the expression is still there in the language.” (Source: Don Slager)
The term in Djimini Senoufo is katogo jo — “village-dance-woman” (women who have been promised but who are still allowed to go to dances with unmarried women). (Source: Übersetzung heute 3/1995)
In Igbo translations, typically a newly-created, multi-word phrase is used that very explicitly states that there has not been any sexual relations and that translates as “a woman (or: maiden) who does not know a man.” This is in spite of the fact that there is a term (agb͕ọghọ) that means “young woman” and has the connotation of her not having had sexual relations (this is for instance used by the Standard Igbo Bible of the Bible Society of Nigeria for Isaiah 7:14). Incidentally, the euphemistic expression “know” (ma in Igbo) for “having sex” has become a well-known euphemism outside of Bible translation. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )
In Chichewa, it is translated as namwali which is used to refer to a girl who has reached puberty stage and is ready to get married. Apart from the physical aspect, the word also has social implications in the sense that it is used to recognize the fact that the girl has become responsible enough to make informed decisions and take care of herself and others. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
