The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “go in peace” into English is an idiomatic expression of farewell which is translatable in other languages as an idiomatic expression as well:
The Greek that is translated as “centurion” in English is translated in Noongar as “boss of the Roman soldiers (lit.: ‘men of fighting’)” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Uma as “Roman army warchief” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “a person who was not a Jew, the captain of a hundred soldiers” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Mairasi “leader of Roman warriors” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated literally as “horn of salvation” and less metaphorically as “mighty savior” in some English versions is translated along those lines in many languages as well:
Una “a very powerful Person to us who will rescue people” (source for this ans above: Dick Kroneman)
Elhomwe “powerful savior” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Mairasi: “the strong One Who will save us” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Bariai: “this man came to retrieve us back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
In Uab Meto, however the term for “horn” is also used metaphorically for “hero” and in Balinese the term for “tusk,” which suggests “champion/hero” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) it is translated as “our mighty Saviour.” Ernst Wendland (1998, p. 155f.) explains: “A literal rendering of the Greek ‘horn of salvation’ causes real problems in Chichewa due to the strong association that an animal ‘horn’ has with the local practice of sorcery (e.g. a ‘sorcerer’ is referred to as wanyanga ‘person of a horn’). Since the horn was a symbol of strength in biblical times, [we] translated this metonym as ‘our mighty Saviour.'”
The Greek that is usually translated as “the whole land” in English is translated in
Uma as “all over the village” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan as “that whole place/country” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo as “the whole world” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi as “all the earth” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Catholic translations that rely on the LatinVulgate‘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 SpanishReina Valera has toda la tierra and the EnglishDouay Rheims likewise reads the whole earth. (Source: Knox 1949, p. 20)
