For more information see wisluthsem.org/grow-in-grace/courses-instructors/ernst-wendland/
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone gone in Song of Songs 1:7 to describe the ease with which the king was reclining. Gone is an ideophone that is normally used for being stretched out or something that is fully relaxed and here refers to a leisurely, luxurious posture. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophones neng’a and chezichezi in Song of Songs 7:5. Neng’a is used to emphasize something perfectly shaped with refined poise (“your head is nobly poised”) and chezichezi describes a light, continuous wave with a cascading motion (“your long hair flows and shimmers downward”). (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
See also his locks.
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone tolotolo in Song of Songs 3:6 to describe billowing curls of smoke. Tolotolo is generally used for a swirling and spiraling upward motion and evokes curling incense smoke and visual and olfactory richness. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone see in Song of Songs 7:9 to describe the notion of long, straight, smooth, and penetrating (“when you kiss me, I feel it go straight down my throat”). (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
Sere also your neck is like an ivory tower.
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone pekupeku in Song of Songs 4:1 to describe the ripples and tumbles of the hair (“Your hair ripples and tumbles like a flock of goats”). Pekupeku is generally used for a swaying, bouncing, and flapping motion and here evokes the flowing and lively movement of hair down the slopes. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone laŵilaŵi in Song of Songs 8:6 to describe the notion of a sparkling, fiercely flickering, and flaring light. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The phrase that is rendered in English versions as “land flowing with milk and honey” (“milk and syrup” in Goldingay [2018]) is translated into Afar as niqmatak tan baaxoy buqre kee lacah meqehiyya: “a blessed land good for fields and cattle.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
In the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) it is translated with the existing proverb dziko lamwanaalirenji or “a land of what (type of food) can the child cry for?” (i.e. there is more than enough to eat). (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107 )
In Kwere it is “good/fertile land.” (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew word for “honey”, devash, is also used for syrup extracted from figs, dates, and grapes, or from certain types of palm tree. The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” refers to a land that is fertile and thus rich in pasture, fruit, and the grain and flowers from which bees make honey. (Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators) )
In Russian, the phrase молоко и мед (moloko i med) or “milk and honey” is widely used as an idiom in every-day life. (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 67)
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Milk and Honey in Ancient Israel .
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone kwe in Song of Songs 4:9 to describe “being hooked (by love).” Kwe is generally used a sudden catch or jerk and often used for being “hooked” or startled. A possible translation into English of the Chichewa translation might “you have made my heart go snap! (i.e. you’ve captured it completely).” (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)