The Greek that is translated in English as “mustard seed” is translated in Muna as “wonolita seed.” René van den Berg explains: “The mustard plant rarely exceeds 50 cm in height. A wonolita is a big forest tree growing from a tiny seed.”
In the Bislama and Uripiv translations it is translated as “banyan.” “The banyan tree is one of the biggest in the islands, and it grows from a tiny seed. We (Uripiv) added a footnote to explain to more advanced readers what we had done: ‘Here Matthew compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, but since mustard doesn’t grow here, we put banyan, so that Matthew’s meaning will be clear.’” (Source: Ross McKerras)
In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree seed” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Yakut as “larch seed,” a small seed which does indeed grow into a large tree” (source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. ),
In Gbaya is is translated with the ideophone kɛ̧́ɛ̧́ which “denotes a very tiny and barely visible object. (…) The Gbaya team applied it to faith instead of referring to a mustard seed which is unknown to Gbaya readers.” Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Greek that is translated as “wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” or similar in English is translated in Mairasi a lot more specific as “if you see the mother of flocks of corpse-eating birds, Long-tailed Buzzard, Grey-faced Buzzard, White-breasted sea Eagle, or Brahminy Kite, then there is something dead and rotting, a dead person’s body, or a dead wilderness animal is over there.” (Aij ner nenem naa, tuao, iamba, sende fut namba in netomwan andani, orom umburu joet tan, nere neavo, sas warenar joetnyaa fovar atat.)
In Tangoa, a cultural substitute is used: “When you see the flying foxes flying to one location, you know that there is a ripe mango tree there” (Vara ko hite na karai la lo avu vano hin te jara, o pa levosahia vara te pahai mo mena atu.). A footnote explains in that translation that “when the last days come close, and people see all these things happening, they can be sure that it won’t be long before the Son of Man appears on the earth.” (Source: Ross McKerras)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as “wherever there is carrion, the vultures will gather in the blink of an eye (blitzschnell).”
For Yakut neither eagles nor vultures are known, so the translation became “ravens,” which are known. In Chechen, the term chosen was “crows.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )
The Greek in Luke 12:37 that is translated as “fasten his belt” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Kellnerschürze umbinden or “tie on the waiter’s apron.”
The Greek in Luke 12:35 that is translated as “be dressed for action” or literally as “gird your loins” in English is translated idiomatically in the FrenchNouvelle Français Courant as “roll up your sleeves” and in Yakut as “have your belts done up tight,” both of which are idioms in their respective languages. (Source: Katie Badie [French] and David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. ) [Yakut])
The Greek in Luke 19:22 that is translated as “wicked slave” in English is translated idiomatically in Yakut as “you fellow with black thoughts.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “scorpion” in English is translated in North Tanna as “centipedes” (e.g. Luke 10:19) or “millipede” (e.g. Luke 11:12) (source: Ross McKerras).
The translation in Noongar is nirnt-daalang or “tail-tongue” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Uma it is translated as “stinging-caterpillar” (source: Uma Back Translation) and in Yakut and Chechen as “poisonous spiders” (source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. ).
There is complete agreement that these words refer to the scorpion. Many scholars accept that ‘aqrav was also a nickname for a type of whip used for punishing criminals.
The scorpion is an eight-legged creature. In the land of Israel it grows to about 13 centimeters (5 inches) long, but in some tropical countries scorpions can be up to 18 centimeters (7 inches) long. The front pair of legs has claws similar to those on a crab, and the tail, which it can arch over its head, carries a fierce sting. It feeds on other insects and on small reptiles, such as baby lizards. It grasps its prey in its claws and stings it with its tail, either killing it or paralyzing it.
In the Hebrew Bible the scorpion epitomizes harsh, inhospitable living conditions.
Scorpions are found almost worldwide, except in the Arctic tundra and on some islands. In most places, therefore, a local word will be available.
David Clark (in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 54ff. ) writes this about the translation of “Niger” in Acts 13:1 into various languages: “(…) Difficulty arose with handling Symeon’s second name (or nickname?), ‘Niger.’ As Good News Bible indicates with ‘called the Black,’ this name carries a meaning, and some translators may decide that in such a case a translation of the meaning is more relevant than a transcription of the spelling. It is interesting that in this case, Niger is a Latin word which is retained in the Greek text and is not translated into Greek, as it easily could have been. Perhaps the fact that the Latin name was used even in a predominantly Greek-speaking cultural context is an indication that Symeon came from an area where Latin was more commonly spoken, such as North Africa. As to the significance of this name or nick- name, one can only speculate. It could well reflect Symeon’s ethnic origin: he might have been a black man either from Africa himself or of African descent, presumably through his father. He might perhaps just have had a darker complexion than most of his fellows. Or Niger might have been a completely irrational nickname for which there was no remembered explanation. The fact that Symeon is mentioned next to ‘Lucius of Cyrene,’ who explicitly came from North Africa and also has a Latin name, suggests (though it does not prove) that Symeon may have been from that area too.
In Kalmyk, the translators considered translating the meaning of the name, but eventually decided that for readers with no Christian tradition, it was simpler just to transcribe the Latin form into the modified Cyrillic script that the language uses (Нигер), with no footnote or other explanation. In Yakut, where there is an Orthodox Christian tradition, the decision was to keep Niger, but to add an explanatory phrase ‘that is, Black.’ In Kahua and Tachelhit a similar explanatory phrase was included. In Mal, the translators discussed the possibility of translating Niger not by the Mal word for ‘black’ but by the Thai word for black (dam / ดำ), which happens to have become a nickname in Mal whereas the Mal word has not. In the end they decided to retain the form Niger, adapted to the phonology of Mal.”
