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Language: Spanish
Spanish (spa) is a(n) Indo-European language of Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Plurinational State of, Brazil, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, Morocco, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Paraguay, El Salvador, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of, marked as not endangered
The Greek word that mean both (the organ) “tongue” and “language” (glossa) allows for a word play in Acts 2. While English still has some traces of “tongue” also being used as “language” (such as in “mother tongue“) it is generally considered archaic in that use, although a number of modern English Bible translations (New International Version, Christian Standard Bible, English Standard Version) maintain “tongue” as the word for “language” in Acts 2:4.
Other languages have a more natural match between the words for “tongue” and “language”:
The Hebrew in Ezekiel 9:4 and Ezekiel 9:6 that is translated as “mark” or “sign” in Protestant English Bibles was translated in the LatinVulgate translation as signa thau or “signs of Thau.” The Hebrew had used tav (תָּו) which means “mark” or “sign,” but was interpreted here as strictly referring to tav (taw) (ת), the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
This is a tradition that Catholic Bibles, for into the 1940s which the Vulgate was the source version, have maintained until the present day. While the 16th century EnglishDhouay-Rheims version translated this directly as mark Thau, later versions either translated this as “X” (New American Bible, including its Revised Edition), but were more commonly using cross (Knox, Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Catholic Bible, Christian Community Bible). In a footnote it usually says something like this: “Literally, ‘with a tau.’ This was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in the old script a cross was the symbol for it.”
Indeed, this is what tav looked like historically:
Protestant Bibles in English, with the exception of the recent Evangelical Heritage Version (2019), all use a form of “mark.”
Other languages have the same tradition. The French Catholic La Bible de Jérusalem uses croix, the Mandarin ChineseSigao translation says 一個十字記號 (yīge shízì jìhào) or “a mark in the sign of a cross,” the PortugueseBíblia Ave Maria uses cruz, the PolishBiblia Tysiąclecia uses Taw (and mentions in a footnote that taw used to be written in the form of a cross), the German EinheitsübersetzUng has Taw as well, and the SpanishEl Libro del Pueblo de Dios has “T.”
This last translation (“T”) also found its way into a series of stained glass window from the Three choir windows in the Marienkirche, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, of the 14th century (note the “T” in the antichrist’s halo as well as on the forehead on his followers):
Incidentally, the German word for devil is “Teufel” (in the spelling “tiuvel” in the 14th century), which likely helped the choice of the “T” for the mark.
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “morning star” or similar in English is translated in Dan as “the moon’s lovely wife.” (Source: Don Slager)
In Isaiah 14:12, the LatinVulgate and, following that, the EnglishDouay-Rheims and King James Version (Authorised Version) have translated this as Lucifer, originally meaning “light bearer. In Spanish translation it is either translated as Lucero (“morning star”) or Lucifer.
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bear (a child)” or “give birth to” is translated in Mairasi as “go to the forest,” reflecting the traditional place of childbirth for Mairasi women. (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
In Spanish it is translated as dar a luz, literally “to give to light.” Likewise, in Portuguese (dar à luz) and Italian (dare alla luce). (Source: Mark Terwilliger)
The Greek that is translated in English versions as “hell” (or “Gehenna”) is translated (1) by borrowing a term from a trade or national language (this is done in a number of Indian languages in Latin America, which have borrowed Spanishinfierno — from Latininfernus: “of the lower regions”), (2) by using an expression denoting judgment or punishment, e.g. “place of punishment” (Loma), “place of suffering” (Highland Totonac, San Blas Kuna) and (3) by describing a significant characteristic: (a) the presence of fire or burning, e.g. “place of fire” (Kipsigis, Mossi), “the large bonfire” (Shipibo-Conibo), or (b) the traditionally presumed location, e.g. “the lowest place” (a well-known term in Ngäbere), “the place inside” long used to designate hell, as a place inside the earth (Aymara). (Source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
In Noongar it is translated as Djinbaminyap or “Punishing place” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang) and in Tagbanwa as “the fire which had no dying down” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
The Mandarin Chinesedìyù (地獄 / 地狱), literally “(under) earth prison,” is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32)
The now commonly-used English idiom “eye for an eye” (meaning revenge or retribution) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 285)
Likewise in Mandarin Chinese, the phrasing that was coined to translate “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” — yǐyǎn huányǎn, yǐyá huányá (以眼还眼，以牙还牙 / 以眼還眼，以牙還牙) — has also become a Chinese proverb (see here ).
Other languages that have idioms based on the Hebrew that is translated “an eye for an eye” in English include:
In Alekano it is translated as “if someone gouges out your eye, gouge out his eye,” since in that language body parts need to have an obligatory possessive designator attached. (Source: Larson 1998, p. 42)
The Greek in 1 Corinthians 4:20 that is translated “not on talk but on power” or similar in English is translated with a alliteration in the SpanishBiblia Dios Habla Hoy (“no es cuestión de palabras, sino de poder“) and the FrenchParole de Vie (“pas une affaire de paroles mais de puissance“). An early version of the GermanGute Nachricht also had an alliteration with “Wort” and “Wirkung” (source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1978, p. 225ff. )
The Greek that is translated as “fruit of the Spirit” in English is translated in British Sign Language with a sign that depicts the Spirit coming in to a person and then the person giving out. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Fruit of the Spirit” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated wer sich vom Heiligen Geist leiten lässt, der kann… or “whoever is guided by the Holy Spirit is able to… .”
The following is a stained glass window from John Hardman Powell (1827–1895) in the Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, depicting the fruit of the Spirit:
Photo and accompanying text by Andreas F. Borchert, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license
“In its centre is the Lord as Good Shepherd along with the Fruit of the Spirit, namely Love (inscription in centre), Joy & Peace (top inscription), and in clockwise direction: Longsuffering, Faith, Gentleness, Goodness, Meekness, Temperance in reference to Galatians 5:22-23, surrounded by medaillons, depicting an angel carrying a scroll with the inscription Gloria in excelsis deo (top, representing joy & peace), and then in clockwise direction: Job (upper right, representing longsuffering), Jonathan (lower right, representing faithfulness), Ruth (bottom, representing goodness and gentleness), Moses (lower left, representing meekness), and John the Baptist (upper left, representing temperance, see Matthew 3:4).”
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
The Latin Vulgate translation added three “fruits”: “forbearance” (longanimitas), “courtesy” (modestia), and “chastity” (castitas). This meant that all Catholic translations before app. 1950 that were based on the Latin version also had those additional attributes (EnglishDouay-Rheims: longanimity, modesty, chastity; SpanishBiblia Torres Amat: longanimidad, modestia, castidad etc.)
Ronald Knox writes in his translation of the Vulgate (1946): “The Greek only mentions nine of the Twelve Fruits; viz. the first six, together with gentleness, faith, and temperateness. It is possible that the Latin version has accidentally included, in some cases, two renderings of the same Greek word.” Note that neither earlier Latin versions (Vetus Latina) nor the revision of the Vulgate of 1979 / 1986 (Nova Vulgata) have these attributes. (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
