In Gbaya, the notion of the color of the woman’s skin is described as a bronze and beautiful complexion by emphasizing it Song of Songs 1:5 with ɓɔ́í̧ɔ̧m. Ɓɔ́í̧ɔ̧m is an ideophone that refers to refers to the bronze, beautiful complexion of a personʼs skin.
The color of “the tents of Kedar” is emphasized with ɓɔ́íɔ̧m, another ideophone that is used to describe a beautiful bronze or glowing brown (like the outer leather covering the tents of the Kedar people).
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. Since the subject matter of Songs of Songs is particularly conducive to the use of ideophones, there are a total of 30 ideophones in the Gbaya Bible in that short biblical book alone. (Source: Philip Noss)
Gbaya uses a lot of ideophones (words that express what is perceived by the five senses) which naturally also has an impact on translation. In the case of the two different versions of Jesus’ parable of two house builders in Matthew and Luke, two different ideophones are used to capture the fall of the house and differences in the Greek text.
Philip Noss (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 423ff. ) explains: “The story is short and dramatic, building up from the wisdom of the first man to the foolishness of the second. In addition to using literary and dramatic narrative style to recount the plot line, the Gbaya translators used ideophones to depict the final drama of both versions of the account.
Matt. 7:27: ɓɛɛ tua’i gbin a nù gɛ́tɛ́-gɛ́tɛ́ (‘… and it fell—and great was its fall!’ (NRSVue))
Luke 6:49: ɓɛɛ tua’i gbin a nù nɛ oi-aa lɛŋ mútú-mútú (‘… and it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.’ [NRSVue])
“In both accounts [many English versions] use the verb ‘fall.’ Gbaya also has a verb ‘to fall,’ but it cannot be used here because the houses did not fall from anywhere. They were on the ground and they broke apart or collapsed. This is expressed in Gbaya by a serial verb construction ‘break-put ground.’ To express Luke’s stronger form of the Greek verb, the Gbaya team added ‘completely.’
“Following the Greek text, [most] English versions add a final emphatic clause which Gbaya expresses by an ideophone. To translate Matthew’s version, the Gbaya team said gɛ́tɛ́-gɛ́tɛ́ which depicts the action of breaking apart, of scattering in small pieces. To emphasize Luke’s portrayal of collapse and total ruin, the Gbaya team said mútú-mútú which describes total destruction, something being crushed and ground to pieces. The Gbaya use of the ideophone is more economical and direct than the Greek original and the English translation which both require an additional term and, in the latter, even an exclamation mark.”
In Gbaya, the notion of wet hair (“my head is wet with dew”) in Song of Songs 5:2 is emphasized with ɗùkùyùkù, an ideophone used to describe the color and texture of his moist hair, also implying her anticipation.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. Since the subject matter of Songs of Songs is particularly conducive to the use of ideophones, there are a total of 30 ideophones in the Gbaya Bible in that short biblical book alone. (Source: Philip Noss)
In Gbaya, the notion of “my inmost being yearning” in Song of Songs 5:4 is described as a pounding heart (lit. “liver”) emphasized with mgbut-mgbut, an ideophone used to describe the pounding feeling inside one’s chest.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. Since the subject matter of Songs of Songs is particularly conducive to the use of ideophones, there are a total of 30 ideophones in the Gbaya Bible in that short biblical book alone. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Greek that is translated in English as “mustard seed” is translated in Muna as “wonolita seed.” René van den Berg explains: “The mustard plant rarely exceeds 50 cm in height. A wonolita is a big forest tree growing from a tiny seed.”
In the Bislama and Uripiv translations it is translated as “banyan.” “The banyan tree is one of the biggest in the islands, and it grows from a tiny seed. We (Uripiv) added a footnote to explain to more advanced readers what we had done: ‘Here Matthew compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, but since mustard doesn’t grow here, we put banyan, so that Matthew’s meaning will be clear.’” (Source: Ross McKerras)
In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree seed.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Gbaya is is translated with the ideophone kɛ̧́ɛ̧́ which “denotes a very tiny and barely visible object. (…) The Gbaya team applied it to faith instead of referring to a mustard seed which is unknown to Gbaya readers.” 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)
In Gbaya, the notion of the light and suspended fringe in Numbers 15:38 is emphasized with mbɛlɛ-mbɛlɛ, an ideophone used to describe something light that is suspended, such as a tassel.
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)
In Gbaya, the notion of “weighed down with sleep” in Luke 9:32 is emphasized with gbéyéŋ, an ideophone used to describe something falling to the ground.
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)
In Gbaya, the notion of the clearness, cleanness, and spotless perfection of the “ruddy” lover (i.e. a person with a lighter skin color) in Song of Songs 5:10 is emphasized with boɗoe, an ideophone used to describe something clear and clean, like a beautiful, spotless face, a body in perfect health.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many Central African languages. Since the subject matter of Songs of Songs is particularly conducive to the use of ideophones, there are a total of 30 ideophones in the Gbaya Bible in that short biblical book alone. (Source: Philip Noss)
