Language-specific Insights

stork

The Hebrew that is translated as “stork” in English is translated in Maan as “big water bird,” as the stork is not locally know. (Source: Don Slager)

In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with mulungu wachilendo it is translated as kakowa or “egret.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

 

There is almost complete agreement that chasidah is the stork. There are two species of stork that pass over Israel, where they stay for a few days as they migrate from Europe to Africa and vice versa. These are the White Stork Ciconia ciconia and the Black Stork Ciconia nigra.

Both of these storks are large birds with long legs and long necks. They are heavier than most herons or cranes. The white stork has a white body, black wings, and a red beak and legs. The black stork is a glossy brownish black color with a white belly. It also has a red beak and legs. These storks migrate from central and eastern Europe to East and Central Africa, occasionally reaching Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa in good rainy seasons. Both types spend most of the time on the ground or in shallow water searching for food. The white stork eats mainly locusts, grasshoppers, and other insects, as well as frogs, lizards, and the chicks of ground-nesting birds. The black stork prefers fish and frogs but also eats the same things as the white stork.

When storks are about to move to another feeding ground, they usually soar around in upward currents of air called thermals, reaching great heights, and then they soar off in the direction they have chosen, conserving their energy by only occasionally beating their wings.

It is possible that the name chasidah is derived from the word chesed, meaning “kindness” or “faithfulness”, perhaps a reference to the fact that they seem to take especially good care of their young when nesting.

Storks of various species are found in most parts of the world, and many of them have migrating habits. There are species of stork that migrate from Europe to India and the Far East, some that migrate from Southeast Asia to Australia, and one, the Abdim’s Stork Ciconia abdimii, which migrates from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe and Botswana, signaling the arrival of the rainy season wherever it goes.

In the few areas where storks are not known, a borrowed word or a transliteration can be used, perhaps with a footnote to indicate that this is a big bird that migrates long distances over Israel.

White stork, Wikimedia Commons
Black stork, Wikimedia Commons

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

See also snow (color).

familiar friend

The Hebrew in Psalm 55:13 that is translated as “familiar friend” or similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with bwenzi langa la pondaapanʼpondepo, lit. “a friend of step-here-I-also-step-there,” i.e. someone with whom one is a deep friendship with. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also close friend.

bread of the presence, consecrated bread, showbread

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “showbread,” “bread of the presence,” or “consecrated bread” in English is translated as:

  • “bread set before the face of God” (Luvale)
  • “loaves which are laid before the face (of God)” (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “bread to-do-homage” (Tae’)
  • “holy bread” (Pohnpeian, Chuukese)
  • “placed bread” (Ekari)
  • “church-bread” (Sranan Tongo) (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “loaves offered to God” (interconfessional Chichewa translation; source: Wendland 1998, p. 110)
  • “bread that was sitting on the altar” (Low German) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “bread that only (the) priests were permitted to eat” (Kupsabiny) (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “offering bread which was remaining in Deo’s sight” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • “bread that was offered/sacrificed to God” (Uma) (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • [“bread which is the thank-offering to God” (tip_language language=”6194″]Tagbanwa[/tip_language]) (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

See Mark 2:23-28 in Russian Sign Language for the Russian Sign Language translation of “showbread.”

stronghold

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “stronghold” is translated in Chichewa with linga. In Chewa culture, the word has its background in the context of war. Before the 1950s, there were a lot of tribal wars. The word “linga” was used to refer to a place, mostly a cave in a mountain or hill, where people were hiding in times of wars. Sometimes they used this place to hide their weapons. This was a safe place to be in times of danger. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also fortress.

rightly do they love you

The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone / intensifier kaone in Song of Songs 1:4 at the end of the phrase “all the women love you,” resulting in a meaning like “all the women adore you — indeed they do!” or “all the young women are crazy about you — just look at them!” (Source: Ernst Wendland)

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

they gathered together against me

The Hebrew that is translated as “they gathered together against me” or similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with the metaphor “pouring war against me,” used in Chichewa to refer to an act of waging war against someone. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

maidens without number

The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone tayetaye in Song of Songs 6:8 to describe a “teeming multitude” (“the king also has young women beyond counting”. (Source: Ernst Wendland)

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

curse you to your face

The Hebrew in Job 1:11 that is translated as “curse you to your face” in English is translated in the Chichewa Buku Lopatulika translation (publ. 2018) with pamaso panu or “(curse you) in your eyes,” i.e. publicly. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)