beside himself, out of his mind

The Greek that is translated as “beside himself” or “lost his mind” or other variations in English is (back-) translated by the following languages like this:

  • Tzeltal: “his head had been touched” (“an expression to identify what might be called the half-way stage to insanity”)
  • Amganad Ifugao: “he acts as though he were crazy”
  • Shilluk: “he is acting like an imbecile”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “his thoughts have gone out of him”
  • Pamona: “he is outside his senses”
  • Indonesian: “he is not by his reason” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961)
  • Mairasi: “his vision/thinking dried up” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

love (Jesus for young / rich man)

The Greek that is translated as “Jesus loved him” in most English translations is translated as “his heart burned for” in Guerrero Amuzgo, “he hurt in his heart” (Tzeltal), “his heart went away with” (Mitla Zapotec), “his abdomen died for him” (Western Kanjobal), “his thoughts were toward him” (Cashibo-Cacataibo), “put him in his heart” (Toro So Dogon) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “desired his face” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).

See also love (by God).

with you/whom I am well pleased

The Greek that is translated as “with you (or: whom) I am well pleased” in English is often translated in other languages with figurative expressions

    “you are the heart of my eye” (Huastec)

  • “you arrive at my gall” (with the gall being the seat of the emotions and intelligence) (Mossi)
  • “I see you very well” (Tzotzil)
  • “my bowels are sweet with you” (Shilluk) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “you pull at my heart” (Central Pame)
  • “my thoughts are arranged” (Mashco Piro)
  • “my heart rests in you” (Wè Southern) (source for this and two above: Nida 1952, p. 127).

doubt

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “doubt” in English versions is translated with a term in Tzeltal that means “heart is gone.” (Nida 1952, p. 122)

In other languages it is represented by a variety of idiomatic renderings, and in the majority of instances the concept of duality is present, e.g. “to make his heart two” (Kekchí), “to be with two hearts” (Punu), “to have two hearts” (Maan), “to stand two” (Sierra de Juárez Zapotec), “to be two” or “to have two minds” (Navajo (Dinė)), “to think something else” (Tabasco Chontal), “to think two different things” (Shipibo-Conibo), “to have two thoughts” (Yaka and Huallaga Huánuco Quechua), or “two-things-soul” (Yucateco).

In some languages, however, doubt is expressed without reference to the concept of “two” or “otherness,” such as “to have whirling words in one’s heart” (Chol), “his thoughts are not on it” (Baoulé), or “to have a hard heart” (Piro). (Source: Bratcher / Nida, except for Yucateco: Nida 1947, p. 229, Huallaga Huánuco Quechua: Nida 1952, p. 123, and Maan: Don Slager)

In Elhomwe the same verb for “to doubt” and “to be amazed” is used, so often “to ask questions in heart” is used for “to doubt.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Chokwekwalajala is ‘to doubt.’ It is the repetitive of kuala, ‘to spread out in order, to lay (as a table), to make (as a bed),’ and is connected with kualula ‘to count.’ [It is therefore like] a person in doubt as one who can’t get a thing in proper order, who lays it out one way but goes back again and again and tries it other ways. It is connected with uncertainty, hesitation, lack of an orderly grasp of the ‘count’ of the subject.” (Source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. )

adulterer

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adulterer” in English would imply “I only take unmarried girls” in Telugu, so it was necessary to be more generic and say “I go after other women” (source: David Clark).

In Central Subanen an “adulterer” is “one who can’t be trusted” (source: Bratcher / Nida) and in Yagaria as “woman-theft man” (source: Renck 1990, p. 139)

See also adulteress and adultery.

adultery

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “adultery” in English (here etymologically meaning “to alter”) is typically understood as “marital infidelity.” It is (back-) translated in the following ways:

  • Highland Totonac: “to do something together”
  • Yucateco: “pair-sin”
  • Ngäbere: “robbing another’s half self-possession” (compare “fornication” which is “robbing self-possession,” that is, to rob what belongs to a person)
  • Kaqchikel, Chol: “to act like a dog” (see also licentiousness)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “to measure the depth of the river of (another’s) marriage”
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “married people using what is not theirs” (compare “fornication” which is “unmarried people using what is not theirs”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Purari: “play hands with” or “play eyes with”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “talk secretly with spouses of our fellows”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “go in with other people’s spouses”
  • Tzeltal: “practice illicit relationship with women”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “live with some one who isn’t your wife”
  • Central Tarahumara: “sleep with a strange partner”
  • Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and seven above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • German: Ehebrecher or “marriage breaker” / Ehe brechen or “breaking of marriage” (source: Zetzsche)
  • In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source: David Clark)
  • In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)
  • Likewise in Hiligaynon: “commit-adultery-with-a-man or commit-adultery-with-a-woman” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

See also adultery, adulterer, adulteress, and you shall not commit adultery.

hypocrite

The Greek and Hebrew terms that are translated as “hypocrite” in English typically have a counterpart in most languages. According to Bratcher / Nida (1961, p. 225), they can be categorized into the following categories:

  • those which employ some concept of “two” or “double”
  • those which make use of some expression of “mouth” or “speaking”
  • those which are based upon some special cultural feature
  • those which employ a non-metaphorical phrase

Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

The Latvian term liekulis was likely coined by the Bible translation of Ernst Glück (1654–1705) in the late 17th century and is still being used today (source ).

The English version of Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “play-actor.” She explains (p. li): “A hupokrites is fundamentally an actor. The word has deep negativity in the Gospels on two counts: professional actors were not respectable people in the ancient world, and traditional Judaism did not countenance any kind of playacting. I write ‘play-actor’ throughout.”

See also hypocrisy.

compassion, moved with compassion

The Greek that is translated with “moved with compassion (or: pity)” in English is translated as “to see someone with sorrow” in Piro, “to suffer with someone” in Huastec, or “one’s mind to be as it were out of one” in Balinese (source: Bratcher / Nida).

See also compassion.