The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “covet” in English is translated as “bulge your eyes over what is someone else’s” in Isthmus Zapotec (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Bura-Pabir with ngguka or “have strong desire for” which differentiates from silka or “jealous,” which refers not to one’s jealous attitude to one’s neighbor (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), and in Newari´as “cause your eye to go to” (source: Newari Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 16:3:
Kupsabiny: “A person who leaves it to God to rule/guide all his plans becomes strong.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Hand over to the Lord whatever work you do, and all your work will succeed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Commit to the LORD all you (sing.) are-planning to do, and you (sing.) will-be-successful.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If you (sing.) entrust your (sing.) plans to God, they will be fulfilled.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “Request/Rely on Yahweh to direct what you plan to do; if you do that, you will succeed in what you plan.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “lyre” or “lute” in English is translated in the following ways:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: pangwe (a musical instrument that is made from a hollow tube filled with pellets or small stones to create a rain-like sound) or “five stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “guitar” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “sitar ” (source: Newari Back Translation)
Description: The lyre consisted of a sound box out of the ends or sides of which projected two arms. The arms supported a crosspiece. Strings descended from the crosspiece over the sound box. As with the nevel, the number of strings could vary. Their varying thickness and tension gave the instrument a range of notes. The lyre was normally made of wood. The strings were made of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep).
Usage: The strings were normally plucked with the fingers. The kinor in particular is frequently depicted as an instrument that accompanied singing.
Job 21:12: For the stringed instrument (kinor in Hebrew) accompanying the tambourine, French Common Language Version has “guitar” and the French La Bible de Jérusalem has “zither,” which seems to be an instrument used in 1 Samuel 10:5. The first line of this verse may also be rendered “The children sing as people play the tambourine and the lyre.” In some languages these instruments will be a local drum and a stringed instrument; the latter may be a guitar. If no instruments can be found to render any of the instruments in this verse, the translator may have to express the whole verse differently; for example, “The children dance and sing and make joyful sounds/music.”
The identity of the instrument called sabka’ in Aramaic in Daniel (Hebrew) is uncertain. New Revised Standard Version, updated edition renders it “trigon,” which is a small triangular lyre-type instrument with four strings. Probably trigon is technically correct, but it is unknown to the average English reader. Good News Translation has attempted to find a better-known equivalent with “zither,” but the zither has far too many strings (over thirty). Some translations use “lyre” for sabka’ and render the Aramaic word qathros before it as “zither”. Revised English Bible has “triangle,” but most readers will wrongly identify that as a percussion instrument. Common English Version avoids the problem by rendering only the first three instruments in the list and grouping the last three together, including sabka’ as follows: “Trumpets, flutes, harps, and all other kinds of musical instruments.”
Lyre (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).
The musical instrument that is most often translated as “harp” or “large lyre” in English is translated in the following ways:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016: “two stringed instrument” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “instruments which have strings to praise you,” “beautiful to-be-listened-to instruments,” or kudyapi (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Description: The exact identification of the nevel is very problematic. Some take it to be a kind of harp. The harp consisted of a neck projecting out of a soundbox. Strings were stretched from the extremity of the neck down its length and into the sound box. The body of the harp was made of wood and its strings of animal intestines (perhaps from sheep). The number of strings varied.
Others place the nevel in the category of lyres, where the strings are stretched over top of and parallel to the soundbox. While this is the interpretation preferred here, we will discuss the harp-type of instrument, since the identification is problematic and many translations have preferred “harp” for nevel.
Usage: The strings were plucked either with the fingers or with a thin piece of ivory or metal to give a resonating sound, probably in a lower register than that made by the kinor.
Translation: In several Psalms (33.2; 92.3; 144.9), the nevel is linked to the Hebrew word ‘asor, which could indicate it was “ten-stringed.”
Some degree of cultural adaptation must be made in the translation of these stringed instruments since cultures differ from each other in the shape, the number of strings, and the function of their instruments. Translators will have to select an equivalent instrument in the receptor language. In most passages the most accurate translation for nevel will be “guitar” or some equivalent medium-sized stringed instrument on which the strings are stretched over a sound box and are plucked.
In those passages where nevel and kinor appear together it is recommended that the translator use an instrument that can vary in size and then render the two words as “large and small X,” for example, “large and small guitars.” Alternately, it may be possible to select two stringed instruments that are similar in construction but different in size, for example, “guitar and lute.” It is also possible to say “large and small stringed instruments” or to combine the two, saying “stringed instruments.”
Psalms 33:2: “Praise the LORD with the lyre” (New Revised Standard Version, updated edition) contains two major translation problems. The first problem is that in many languages, the phrase “with the lyre” must be changed into a verb phrase or clause; for example, the whole line may be rendered “Praise the LORD by playing music on the lyre” or “Make music with the lyre, and praise the LORD.” The second problem, which applies also to the second line of this verse, is the terms to be used for the musical instruments here. In languages in which there are several stringed instruments, translators may use one of the smaller ones for kinor (“lyre”) and a larger one for nevel (“harp” in New Revised Standard Version, updated edition). In languages where there is little or no choice, they should use the known local stringed instrument for the kinor, and a more generic expression for the nevel. Where there are no known stringed instruments, it will often be necessary to say “small instruments with strings” for kinor and “large instruments with strings” for nevel.
Harp (source: Knowles, revised by Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 107:36:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“there He brought hungry people that they stay there,
and they built a city where they would settle.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“He puts the hungry ones there,
and built a city for them to live in.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“He causes- those (who) are-hungering -to-dwell in that place
and they build there a city where they can-live/settle.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He gave people who were hungry to live there,
and they build a city for them to live.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Anawakalisha huko wenye njaa,
wanajenga mji wa kukaa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“He brings hungry people into that land, to live there and build cities there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 109:12:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Let there be completely no one who would be kind-hearted to him
or feeling sorry for his orphaned children.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“May no one even have mercy on him.
May no one even show kindness to his orphaned sons and daughters.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“May-it-be that no-one take-pity/have-compassion on him and on his fatherless children when he dies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“You would give any person not to be merciful to him,
would you give any person not to be merciful to his sons,
who do not have their father.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Asiwepo mtu wa kumhurumia,
au wa kuwaonea huruma watoto wake yatima.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Cause that while he is still living no one will be kind to him,
and after he dies, cause that no one will pity his children.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
