The Hebrew proverb that is translated as “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” in English is rendered in Medumba with the existing proverb “They, the others, have eaten caterpillars; And we have got a stomachache.”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 146ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as “you have loosed my sackcloth” in English is rendered in the Bamileke language Medumba with the existing expression “you have taken the bag of mourning from my hand” (“because Bamileke women in mourning normally carry a raffia bag slung over the arm.”) (Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 107ff and Nida / Reyburn, p. 56)
See also sackcloth.
The Hebrew that is translated as “the cords of Sheol” in some English versions is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression “the odor of death.”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 107ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as “he puffs (or: snorts) at all his foes” in some English versions is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression “he spits on all his adversaries.”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 107ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as “the gates of death” in English is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression “the mouth of death.”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 107ff.
“It was interesting to find how similar some of the Hebrew ways of expression are to Bari idiom. (…) [For instance], in Genesis 49:14 (‘Issachar is a strong(-boned) donkey’) Hebrew literally has ‘a bony donkey.’ In English this would convey the opposite meaning, as we associate ‘bony’ with ‘thin’; but when we came to translate this, Daniele [the language assistant] told me that Bari says ‘You are a man with bones,’ or ‘You have ribs,’ meaning that you are strong. So it seems that it is the bones and ribs in Bari which denote strength, as seems to be the case in Hebrew, rather than the muscles, as in English.” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. )
The Samaritan Pentateuch reads this as “ass of sojourners” ( חמר גרים ) or more probably “castrated ass,” which is the meaning that the New English Bible (1961/1970) follows with “gelded ass.” (Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 107ff. )
The Hebrew that is translated as “you hold my lot” or “you support my lot” in English is rendered in Medumba as “you guard the back of me,” “that is to say my posterior from my head to my heels. The predominant idea in this expression is one of protection, while continuing action is indicated by the verb ‘to keep.'”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 143ff.
The Hebrew that is often translated in English as “throw (or: cast) my shoe” (“symbolizing taking possession of the territory”) is translated into Bamun as “I plant my war spear (in the land of Edom)” (“In the Bamun culture occupation or possession is indicated by planting a spear in the enemy’s territory.”)
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 143ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as something like “the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands” in English is rendered in Medumba as “the works of the hands of the wicked man throw him into the pit” (“‘To throw into the pit’ is a figure of speech for ‘betraying’, ‘condemning’, and the pit symbolizes a difficult situation from which there appears to be no way out.”)
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 143ff.
The Hebrew that is translated as “I will throw filth on you” in English (referring to the treatment of a prostitute) is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression “throw filth (ashes) at one’s back.” (“This is the way in which ‘children’ — but there is of course no age limit! — are punished by parents for having violated the existing order or some particular — sexual or non-sexual — taboo. However, at the same time, the expression ‘throw ashes at one’s back’ has entered the language in a figurative way, having the extended meaning of ‘making someone ridiculous.’ In fact, both components of punishment and making ridiculous are present here.”)
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 146ff.
The Hebrew proverb that is translated as “like mother, like daughter” in English is rendered in Medumba with the existing expression tshu’ fu ngùt: “the character (nature) resembles the lineage.”
Source: Jan de Waard in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 146ff.