The Greek that is translated as “a hundred sheep” in English is translated in Ekari with “sixty sheep.” In Ekari “sixty” is the highest basic unit, the equivalent of “one hundred” in Greek. The arithmetical equivalent of “hundred” would be the cumbersome “forty of the second sixty.”
While Mairasi has a set term for “hundred” (ratu, also meaning “king”), 99 is expressed more complicatedly: “four whole people and two hands and one hand and four.” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
See also body part tally systems.
The Greek in Luke 1:6 that is translated as “blameless” in English is translated as “no one could scold them” in Shipibo-Conibo or “without missing one thing of the law” in Sranan Tongo.
See also blameless (anegklétos) and blameless (Job).
The Greek in Luke 1:71 that is translated as “who hate us” is translated in some languages through the negation of its opposite, such as “who do not love/like us” (Ekari). Other solutions include “who cannot see us in the eye (i.e. who cannot stand us at any price)” (Sranan Tongo), or “the ones with swelling jugular vein (because of suppressed anger)” (Uab Meto).
See also hate.
The Greek in Luke 10:33 that is translated as “as he journeyed” or “(who) was on a journey” in English is translated as “a man from afar” (literally for “on a far journey”) in Toraja-Sa’dan, which implies that the Samaritan was a foreigner, which the priest and Levite were not.
The Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is transliterated as “paradise” in English is often transliterated in other languages as well. Translations include “Place of well-being” (Toraja-Sa’dan, Tzeltal), “abode of happiness (or: of happy people)” (Marathi), “garden of eternal life” (Uab Meto), or the name of a place where you don’t have to work and fruits drop ripe in your hand (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese it is translated as 乐园 / 樂園 (lèyuán in Mandarin, lok6jyun4 in Cantonese). This term, literally meaning “garden of joy,” originates from Buddhist terminology.
See also paradise of God.
The Greek that is translated as “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” or similar in English is translated in Muna as “what comes-out at the lips, it comes from the fullness/overflowing of the heart.”
René van den Berg explains: “It is very impolite in Muna to mention someone’s mouth (wobha) or tongue (lela). The words themselves are not taboo or obscene, but in combination with a possessor they are frowned upon and should be avoided. In fact, if you want to abuse someone, you should refer to his or her mouth or tongue. The implications for translation are obvious (…). [Sometimes] ‘mouth’ was replaced by ‘lips’ (wiwi), a perfectly acceptable term, even when possessed.”
In the German Luther Bible it says: Denn wes das Herz voll ist, des geht der Mund über or “what the heart is full of, with that the mouth flows over” (source: Zetzsche), in Uab Meto it says “his mouth says only what the heart is more than full of,” and in Tzeltal it is “in our hearts arise all those things which come out of our mouths” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and in Elhomwe it is translated literally since that exact idiom is used in that language as well (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In Cherokee, “abundance of the heart” is translated as “heart place” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 30).
The Greek that is often translates as “glutton” in English is translated with figurative expressions or descriptive phrases such as “one who has just stomach” (Navajo (Dinė)), “a stomach-for food” (Pohnpeian), “one who eats-much” (Chuukese), or “one who thinks only of eating” (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel 1971).
In Kako it is translated as “dog heart” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190).
See also glutton (Titus).
The Greek in Luke 1:41 that is often translated in English as “leap (or: leaped)” is translated with appropriate idioms as “trampled” (Javanese), “shook-itself” (Kituba), “wriggled” (Thai), “danced” (Taroko), “stirred” (Toraja-Sa’dan), “sprawled” (Batak Toba), “played” (Shipibo-Conibo). In Dan the clause has to be “her stomach moved” since “leaping” sounded vulgar. (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Elhomwe it is ahiirukunusarukunusa or “turned around.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Bill Michell (in Omanson 2001, p. 431) explains why in Cusco Quechua the women on the translation team had to intervene to correct a translation that was too literal:
“In the [Cusco Quechua] project in Peru the first draft of Luke’s Gospel was done by a man. In the case of Luke 1:41 his translation was quite literal. He had the unborn child physically jumping, unhampered and unhindered. This was met with some laughter from the women on the team. They suggested an onomatopoeic expression to communicate the sensation of a sudden movement in the womb: wawaqa ‘wat’ak’ nirqan — ‘the child said, ‘Wat’ak!” The child didn’t jump, it ‘spoke’! This times there were smiles instead of laughter as the women recognized something that was authentically their own.”
See also the Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language translation of John the Baptist.
