“Brothers” has to be translated into Naro as “younger brothers and older brothers” (Tsáá qõea xu hẽé / naka tsáá kíí). All brothers are included this way, also because of the kind of plural that has been used. (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
This also must be more clearly defined in Yucateco as older or younger (suku’un or Iits’in), but here there are both older and younger brothers. Yucateco does have a more general word for close relative, family member. (Source: Robert Bascom)
The Hebrew and the Greek that is usually directly translated as “kiss” in English is translated more indirectly in other languages because kissing is deemed as inappropriate, is not a custom at all, or is not customary in the particular context (see the English translation of J.B. Phillips [publ. 1960] in Rom. 16:16: “Give each other a hearty handshake”). Here are some examples:
Pökoot: “greet warmly” (“kissing in public, certainly between men, is absolutely unacceptable in Pökoot.”) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
Cheke Holo: “love each other in the way-joined-together that is holy” (esp. in Rom. 16:16) or “greet with love” (esp. 1Thess. 5:26 and 1Pet. 5.14)
Pitjantjatjara: “when you meet/join up with others of Jesus’ relatives hug and kiss them [footnote], for you are each a relative of the other through Jesus.” Footnote: “This was their custom in that place to hug and kiss one another in happiness. Maybe when we see another relative of Jesus we shake hands and rejoice.” (esp. Rom. 16:16) (source for this and two above: Carl Gross)
Mende: “embrace” (“greet one another with the kiss of love”: “greet one another and embrace one another to show that you love one another”) (source for this and two above: Rob Koops)
Gen: “embrace affectionately” (source: John Ellington)
Kachin: “holy and pure customary greetings” (source: Gam Seng Shae)
Kahua: “smell” (source: David Clark) (also in Ekari and Kekchí, source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Chichewa: “suck” (“habit and term a novelty amongst the young and more or less westernized people, the traditional term for greeting a friend after a long absence being, ‘clap in the hands and laugh happily'”)
Medumba: “suck the cheek” (“a novelty, the traditional term being ‘to embrace.'”)
Balinese: “caress” (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel; Vidunda: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Tsafiki: earlier version: “greet in a friendly way,” later revision: “kiss on the face” (Bruce Moore [in: Notes on Translation 1/1992), p. 1ff.] explains: “Formerly, kissing had presented a problem. Because of the Tsáchilas’ [speakers of Tsafiki] limited exposure to Hispanic culture they understood the kiss only in the eros context. Accordingly, the original translation had rendered ‘kiss’ in a greeting sense as ‘greet in a friendly way’. The actual word ‘kiss’ was not used. Today ‘kiss’ is still an awkward term, but the team’s judgment was that it could be used as long as long as it was qualified. So ‘kiss’ (in greeting) is now ‘kiss on the face’ (that is, not on the lips).)
The Hebrew phrase that is translated in English as “of Abraham, your father” is translated into Bukusu as “Abraham your grandfather.” In many languages this is a more correct way of expressing the relation between Abraham and Jacob.
The Hebrew that is translated in English versions as “secrets of wisdom” is translated into Sena (Chisena) as pagona nzeru: “where wisdom sleeps,” a natural expression for the origins of wisdom.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English translations as “Judges” (as the title of the biblical book) of “judges” (in Judg 2:16 and 2:17 Ruth 1:1, and in Acts 13:20) is translated into Bukusu as “leaders” (in the case of the title of the book ‘The book of Leaders’). In light of this, there is no real need to explain that these persons were not judges of a court of law, but leaders.
In Isthmus Mixe it is also translated as “leaders,” in Morelos Nahuatl as “authorities,” and in Eastern Highland Otomi as “judges who were the rulers of the people.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “The ancient type of leader called judges in the bible (described in the Book of Judges) presents its own problems in a translation like this. Calling them ‘judges’ simply doesn’t work because that was such a small part of what they did. We discussed this at length but never came up with anything better than ‘leader’.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
The Hebrew that is rendered in English translations as “double-minded” or “vain thoughts” is translated into Yao (ChiYao) as ŵandu ŵa unakunaku: “people of double-double.”
The Greek that is rendered in English versions with “grace to you” is translated into Naro with cgóm̀, “a word that expresses pity, but also love and care for people. It is the best solution in the Naro culture.” (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
The Hebrew that is rendered in English versions as “our life for yours!” (meaning “if you let us live, we’ll let you live”) is translated into Bukusu as “our lives are on you, and your life is on us.”