Language-specific Insights

anxious and bothered about so many things

The Greek in Luke 10:41 that is translated as something like “worried (or: anxious) and bothered about many things” is translated in Tzeltal as “doing all kinds of things has gone to your heart and you have difficulty because of it” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Bariai as “You are concerned (lit. your interior is here and there) and worried (lit. you have various interiors) about very many things” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated idiomatically as ich will dir anerkennen, dass du vor lauter Machen und Tun nicht weiß, wo dir der Kopf steht or “I will acknowledge that you don’t know where your head is because of all the doing and making.”

The term that is translated as “worried (or anxious)” in English is often translated idiomatically. Examples include “eating for oneself one’s heart” (Shona, version of 1966), “black with worry” (Chichewa), “breaking one’s head” (Sranan-Tongo), “hanging up the heart” (Bulu), “crumbling in one’s abdomen” (Western Kanjobal), “one’s stomach is rising up” (Farefare), or “one’s mind is killing one” (Navajo (Dinė)). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

See also troubled / perplexed and worry and see also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

their eyes were prevented from recognizing

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.”

slow of heart

The Greek in Luke 24:25 that is often translated as “slow of heart” in English is translated as

  • “the heart is hard” in Zarma
  • “very heavy in heart” in Uab Meto
  • “blocked-hearted” in Indonesian
  • “lazy to think” in Tae’
  • “having a heart that delays” in Shona (translation of 1963)
  • “failing-heart-people” in Adamawa Fulfulde (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “hard-headed” in Kupsabiny (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • “You guys tuberfully-dug are beeswax” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “dull heart” in Low German (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)

    • acknowledge, confess

    The Greek that is translated as “acknowledge” or “confess” in English is rendered as “say openly … that they have believed” (Tzeltal), “approves” (Chichewa), “declares/mentions (my) name” (Kekchí, Sranan Tongo), “talks (my) good name” (Northern Grebo), “testifies to (me)” (Zarma, Pohnpeian), “takes (my) side” (Shona, translation of 1966), or “speaks for (me)” (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

    kiss

    Click here to view graphically

    The Hebrew and the Greek that is usually directly translated as “kiss” in English is translated more indirectly in other languages because kissing is deemed as inappropriate, is not a custom at all, or is not customary in the particular context (see the English translation of J.B. Phillips [publ. 1960] in Romans 16:16: “Give each other a hearty handshake”). Here are some examples:

    • Pökoot: “greet warmly” (“kissing in public, certainly between men, is absolutely unacceptable in Pökoot.”) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
    • Southern Birifor: puor or “greet” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
    • Chamula Tzotzil, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Tojolabal: “greet each other warmly” or “hug with feeling” (source: Robert Bascom)
    • Afar: gaba tittal ucuya — “give hands to each other” (Afar kiss each other’s hands in greeting) (source: Loren Bliese)
    • Roviana: “welcome one another joyfully”
    • Cheke Holo: “love each other in the way-joined-together that is holy” (esp. in Romans 16:16) or “greet with love” (esp. 1 Thessalonians 5:26 and 1 Peter 5:14)
    • Pitjantjatjara: “when you meet/join up with others of Jesus’ relatives hug and kiss them [footnote], for you are each a relative of the other through Jesus.” Footnote: “This was their custom in that place to hug and kiss one another in happiness. Maybe when we see another relative of Jesus we shake hands and rejoice.” (esp. Rom. 16:16) (source for this and two above: Carl Gross)
    • Kamba: “greet with the greeting of love” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
    • Balanta-Kentohe and Mandinka: “touch cheek” or “cheek-touching” (“sumbu” in Malinka)
    • Mende: “embrace” (“greet one another with the kiss of love”: “greet one another and embrace one another to show that you love one another”) (source for this and two above: Rob Koops)
    • Gen: “embrace affectionately” (source: John Ellington)
    • Kachin: “holy and pure customary greetings” (source: Gam Seng Shae)
    • Kahua: “smell” (source: David Clark) (also in Ekari and Kekchí, source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
    • San Blas Kuna: “smell the face” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
    • Chichewa: “suck” (“habit and term a novelty amongst the young and more or less westernized people, the traditional term for greeting a friend after a long absence being, ‘clap in the hands and laugh happily'”)
    • Medumba: “suck the cheek” (“a novelty, the traditional term being ‘to embrace.'”)
    • Shona (version of 1966) / Vidunda: “hug”
    • Elhomwe: “show respect by hugging” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
    • Balinese: “caress” (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel; Vidunda: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
    • Tsafiki: earlier version: “greet in a friendly way,” later revision: “kiss on the face” (Bruce Moore [in: Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.] explains: “Formerly, kissing had presented a problem. Because of the Tsáchilas’ [speakers of Tsafiki] limited exposure to Hispanic culture they understood the kiss only in the eros context. Accordingly, the original translation had rendered ‘kiss’ in a greeting sense as ‘greet in a friendly way’. The actual word ‘kiss’ was not used. Today ‘kiss’ is still an awkward term, but the team’s judgment was that it could be used as long as long as it was qualified. So ‘kiss’ (in greeting) is now ‘kiss on the face’ (that is, not on the lips).)
    • Kwere / Kutu: “show true friendship” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

    In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as heiliger Kuss or “holy kiss” in the epistles. The translators note (p. 62): “It is possible that this is an early practice in which Christians communicate the Holy Spirit to one another or rekindle it.”

    See also The kiss of Christian love (image), Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth and kissed (his feet).

    hoopoe

    There is unanimous agreement today about the meaning of this word.

    The Hoopoe Upupa epops is so named to represent its call, which has been described as hoop-hoop, poop-poop, or similar sounds. Its name is even similar in some African languages, such as Shona mupupu and Tswana pupupu. [The German name Wiedehopf (ˈviːdəhɔpf/) is onomatopoetic as well. (Source: Zetzsche)]

    It is a bird about the size of a large dove, with a ginger colored head and body, and with wings and a tail that have black and white stripes. It has a long slender beak that curves slightly, and a long crest on its head, which it can erect into a fan shape.

    The hoopoe has rather floppy wings and rises and falls as it flies. As soon as it lands, it erects its fan-shaped crest briefly. It spends a lot of time walking around on the ground looking for food. It nests in any suitable hole in a tree or in the ground and may raise two or three broods in a season. Unlike most other birds, it does not remove the nestlings’ droppings from the nest, and the nest smells badly as a result. Hoopoes eat insects and their larvae, termites, worms, small frogs, and beetles.

    It is listed as an unclean bird.

    The hoopoe is found all over Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East; across tropical Asia in savannah, but not rain forest areas; in Japan; and in southern Europe. In these areas a local name should not be difficult to find. Elsewhere, a name that approximates its call can usually be used, such as “hoopoo bird”, “pupu bird”, or something similar.

    Hoopoe, Wikimedia Commons

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

    neighbor

    Click here to view graphically

    The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)

    In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).

    In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)

    In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).