For more information see wisluthsem.org/grow-in-grace/courses-instructors/ernst-wendland/
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 Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
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 Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone mvee in Song of Songs 4:11 to describe the thick and rich honey dripping from the lips. Mvee is generally used for dense, viscous abundance (oozing / glistening) as well as for sensory overload (sweetness / richness / seduction. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophones pisu and phwii in Song of Songs 5:4. Pisu is used to emphasize soft, sliding, stealthy motion of the hand slipping in (and suggest intimacy, gentleness, and expectancy) and phwii describes a sudden pop in the chest, a rush of emotion (“heart exploded”), creating a tense juxtaposition of emotions. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central 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 ideophones noninoni and chuchuchu in Song of Songs 5:5. Noninoni is used to emphasize a smooth and slippery substance with a tactile and sensual component (“my hands were slick with myrrh”) and chuchuchu describes a the sound of a gentle, continuous dropping. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone fumu in Song of Songs 5:6 to describe a sudden drop and a lovesick weakening (“As he spoke, my heart collapsed within me”). (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone tseketseketseke in Song of Songs 2:3 to describe exquisite sweetness (“you can almost feel it crackle/tingle”), pleasant sharpness, juicy delight. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)