The Hebrew that is translated as “fine leather” or “badger/porpoise skin” in English is translated in Kutu as ng’hwembe ya mhala or “skins of bushbuck” (for bushbuck, see here ). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Yao, it is translated as “soft leather of a big sea animal” (source: UBS, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), in Newari as “dolphin skin” (source: Newari Back Translation), in Kupsabiny as “hides of a hippo” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation), and in Opo as “soft skins” (source: Opo Back Translation).
The English Jewish Orthodox ArtScroll Tanach translation (publ. 2011) transliterates it as tachash-hide. (Source: Zetzsche)
The Tigris river , which flows from today’s Turkey through Syria and Iraq was transliterated in many early English translations and most other languages with a long translation history as Hiddekel or similar from the Hebrew Ḥiddéqel before using the current geographic designation of today. An exception is the European Portuguese 2009 edition of the “Good News Bible” (BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum) that reverted back to Hidéquel, partly because the geographical Portuguese term “Tigre” also means “tiger” (as in the large cat).
A new oral translation into Yao / Ciyawo, spoken in Mozambique, uses Dijlah, a transliteration of the Arabic دِجلَة. Tobias Houston (2025, p. 236) explains: “On a practical level, ḥiddeqel, Tigris, and Tigre are unfamiliar to the Yawo as names of a real river in modern-day Iraq. Although the actual river in Iraq is indeed called Tigre in Portuguese and Tigris in English, this holds little significance for most Yawo people, who are unacquainted with either term. Consequently, to align with the Yawo’s Islamic identity and the reality of influence from the Arabic language, the new Mozambican Ciyawo translation of Genesis has opted for a different approach by using the term Dijlah (دِجلَة), the contemporary Arabic name for this very same river. The name Dijlah appears to derive from earlier etymologies. It bears some resemblance to the Aramaic Diglath (דִּגְלָת)—a form carried over into Greek texts such as Josephus’s Antiquities, also transliterated as Diglath (Διγλἀθ). Given the Yawo people’s predisposition to Arabic influences in their language, and considering that Yawo men, in particular, occasionally travel to the Middle East to study Arabic and Islam, the choice of Dijlah is both logical and practical. Indeed, this translation strategy demonstrates a keen awareness of the Yawo’s existing cultural and religious narrative frames and that their frames are not our frames.”
The Hebrew in Psalm 119:113 that is rendered in English translations as “double-minded” or “vain thoughts” is translated into Yao (ChiYao) as ŵandu ŵa unakunaku: “people of double-double.”
The Greek that is translated into English as “gnashed their teeth” or “ground their teeth” is translated in Pwo Karen as “their eyes were green/blue with anger” (source: David Clark), in Yao as “they had itchy teeth” (“meaning they very anxious to destroy him”) (source: Nida / Reyburn, p. 56), in Estado de México Otomi as “gnashed their teeth at him to show anger” (to specify their emotion) (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.), in Coatlán Mixe as “ground their teeth in anger like wild hogs,” in Rincón Zapotec as “showed their teeth (like a dog) because of their anger” (source for this and before: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Gullah as suck dey teet or “suck their teeth” (source: David Frank).
In the the widely-used Mandarin ChineseUnion Version it is translated with an existing Chinese proverb: yǎoyá qièchǐ (咬牙切齿 / 咬牙切齒) or “gnash teeth, grind teeth.” (Source: Zetzsche)
The Greek in Luke 11:40 that is translated as “(you) foolish people” or “(you) foolish ones” is (back-) translated in a number of ways:
San Blas Kuna: “people having a dark liver” (“incapable of intelligent, thoughtful behavior”) (See Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”)
Batak Toba: “those short-of-mind” (“mostly referring to stupidity or ignorance in general”)
Zarma: a word indicating a person who refuses to use the intelligence he has
Chichewa, Yao: expressions implying intractability and willful opposition to common interests or commonly accepted ideas (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
The phrase that is translated as “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” in English versions is rendered in Kahua with a term for belly/chest as the seat of the emotions.
The same phrase is translated into Kuy as “with all your heart-liver”to show the totality of one’s being. (Source: David Clark)
Similar to that, in Laka one must love with the liver, in Western Kanjobal with the “abdomen,” and in Marshallese with the throat.
What is translated as “soul” in English is translated as “life” in Yaka, Chuukese, and in Ixcatlán Mazatec, “that which stands inside of one” in Navajo (Dinė), and “spirit” in Kele.
The Greek that is translated in English as “strength” is translated in Yao as “animation” and in Chuukese as “ability.”
The Greek that is translated in English as “mind” is translated in Kele as “thinking,” in Chuukese as “thought(s),” and in Marathi as “intelligence.”
The whole phrase is translated in Tboli as “cause it to start from the very beginning of your stomach your loving God, for he is your place of holding.”
In Poqomchi’ (as in many other Mayan languages), the term “heart” covers both “heart” and “mind.”
(Sources: Bratcher / Nida, Reiling / Swellengrebel, and Bob Bascom [Ixcatlán Mazatec and Poqomchi’])
The Greek terms that are translated as “five thousand” and “four thousand” in these verses have to be translated descriptively in some languages, such as “ant heap” (Shona) or “large/uncountable number” (Chichewa, Yao).
