The Greek transliteration of the Aramaic kanan (קַנָאַן) has the same meaning than the Greek zēlōtḗs (Ζηλωτὴν) (see Zealot) but is often transliterated itself in English Bible translations as “Cananaean” or similar. Some modern English translations, however, translate the Aramaic form identical to the way they translate the Greek term in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. The Good News Bible (publ. 1966/1976), for instance, uses “Patriot” for both and the Contemporary English Version (publ. 1995) uses “Eager One.”
Likewise, Yakan translates it as “challenger” in both cases and Kankanaey as “Patriot because he had-concern-for his country.” (Source: Back translations)
In Iyojwa’ja Chorote, the translation for the Aramaic term is “one who fought against the Romans who had made themselves chiefs of the Jews” (and for the Greek: “who belonged the parties of the Zealots.”) (Source: Roger Omanson in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 416ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:34:
Uma: “‘Don’t say like this, that I have come to make-in-harmony people. No! I have come to cause-differences among people / make people disagree.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Is it that you mistakenly-think I come to bring peace to the world? I did not come to bring peace but I came to bring a reason for opposition/resistance.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Don’t you think that I came here to the world so that there would be no trouble for mankind. I didn’t come here so that there would be peace, for because of my coming here, people will be against each other.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus also said, ‘Don’t say that I came to bring peace to this earth, because the truth of it is that I came to bring quarreling/fighting and separating of people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s necessary that you don’t think that I came here to bring peace so that people here in the world will be harmonious. Because some will believe in me, others not. Therefore it’s like a bladed-weapon is what I have brought when I came here, because the outcome will be conflict.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Do not think that I came to earth so that you would not suffer anything at all. That is not right. Rather there will be wars (all kinds of enmity between people).” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Martu Wangka: “I came to the ground to tell you all the Father’s talk. Some people will hear that talk and rejoice and live for the Father, and others will hear that talk and will dislike the Father. Those ones will also dislike the Father’s relatives.” (Source: Carl Gross)
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 6:10:
Uma: “He died one time only to defeat the power of sin forever. And at this time he lives on-and-on following the desire of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He died and sin was really done away with by him. Now he is alive and all his deeds praise God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He died only once as a substitute for all people and that was sufficient and because of this His being troubled by our sins has now been removed from Him. And now He is raised from the dead and His life has become that which is the reason for God to be praised.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because his death was only once. He will not repeat his bearing of sin. And his living now/today is so that he will serve God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because Christ one time only died for the sins of the people. Now that he lives, he is living to do the will of God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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)
The Greek in Luke 5:10 that means “catch (or: capture) alive” is usually translated as “catch (people)” of “fish (for people)” in English which implies the fact that the captured or caught are still alive.
The Syriac Aramaic (Classical Syriac)Peshitta translation, however, makes the meaning of “catch alive” more explicit by translating ṣāeḏ ləẖayye (ܨܳܐܶܕ݂ ܠܚܰܝܶܐ) or “catch alive.” Following that translation, other translations that are based on the Peshitta, including the Classical Armenian Bible (vorsayts’es i keans [որսայցես ի կեանս] or “catch for life”), the Afrikaans PWL translation (publ. 2016) (mense vang tot verlossing or ” catch [people] to salvation”), the Dutch translation by Egbert Nierop (publ. 2020) (vangen tot redding or “catch to save”) or various English translations (see here ) explicitly highlight the “alive” as well. (Source: Ivan Borshchevsky)
Some languages have to find strategies on how to deal with the metaphor of “catching.” “In some cases the metaphor can be rendered rather literally, cp. ‘seeking for men’ (Kekchí, where ‘to seek fish’ is the idiomatic rendering of ‘to catch fish’). In several other languages, however, more radical adjustments are necessary, such as making explicit the underlying simile, ‘you will catch men as if you were catching fish’ (Inupiaq); or a shift to a non-metaphorical rendering, sacrificing the play-on-words, e.g. ‘you will be a bringer of men’ (Northern Grebo). In some cases the durative aspect of the construction is best expressed by n occupational term, e.g. ‘youwill be one-whose-trade-is catching men’ (Tae’ and Toraja-Sa’dan).” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Other translations include:
Uma: “teach people to become my followers” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “fetch people to follow me” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “look for people so that they might be my disciples” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “persuade people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “as-it-were catch/hunt/fish-for” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek in Luke 15:25 that is translated in English as “music” is translated in Muna as “the sound of the gong and the drum.” René van den Berg explains: “There is no abstract word for ‘music’ (the footnote has the loan musik).”
Mairasi: “the sound of songs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Hiligaynon: “sounds” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Burmese: “the sound of beating-blowing” (“‘Beating blowing’ is a general term for instrumental music and covers the sound of percussion instruments, wind and brass instruments which are blown, and some stringed instruments which are also ‘beaten.'” — source: Anonymous)
