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)
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 Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar
In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)
The Hebrew in Genesis 35:18 that is translated “her soul was departing” or similar in English is emphasized in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) with the ideophone ŵefuŵefu (“she was panting her last ŵefuŵefu“). An ideophone is a word that expresses what is perceived by the five senses. (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107)
The Hebrew in Genesis 27:40 that is translated “yoke” or similar in English is translated in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) with goli or “slave-stick.” (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107)
The Hebrew in Genesis 6:14 that is translated “cypress wood” or “gopher wood” in English is translated in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) with mnjale or “(boards of the) canoe tree,” a tree that grows along the banks of rivers and is used to make boats.
Ernst Wendland (in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107) explains: “Some might argue that the use of such local substitutes constitutes a misrepresentation of the biblical setting in that they give the impression that the indigenous item was actually found in the Holy Land. That may be true, but difficulties also arise with alternative solutions. Use of a generic term (e.g. ‘good timber’ — Good News Translation) is probably the safest, but this procedure, if overused, produces a dull text due to the lack of descriptive detail. A generic word modified by a descriptive word/phrase is also possible, but it is not very easy sometimes to find an expression that fits neatly into the account. (…) Frequently a generic or qualifying phrase turns out to be rather awkward and tends to upset the smooth flow of the discourse. They are particularly unnatural in dialogue since they can make the speaker (or his addressee) sound as if he doesn’t know his own language properly (e.g., build a ship with the boards of a tree like the mnjale…”). A loanword, unless it is one that is widely circulated in the speech community, is the least satisfactory as a descriptive term. Either its referent lies completely outside the experience of the receptors, or it is strongly associated with life in the twentieth century, hence an obvious anachronism.”
The Hebrew in Genesis 6:14 that is translated “pitch” or “tar” in English is translated in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) with phula or “bees wax,” which is often as a generic term for any type of adhesive substance. (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107)
The Hebrew in Genesis 43:23 that is rendered in English as “rest assured, do not be afraid” or similar is translated in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as musade nkhaŵa, mitima yanu ikhale pansi or “do not be black with anxiety and let your hearts sit down.” (Source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 1981, p. 107)
