The Greek that is traditionally translated as “carpenter” in English is translated in the English by Ruden (2021) as “builder.” “[The Greek word] tektōn means simply |skilled workman|. I choose builder because the likelihood that Jesus| family were among local artisans employed in rebuilding the new city of Sepphoris [which was destroyed in 4 BC], close to Nazareth.” (p. xliii)
In the Finnish translation of 2020 it is translated as rakennusmies, a generic term for a construction worker. (Source: Seppo Sipilä)
One of the more well-known Bible translation stories is the Latin translation in the Vulgate (4th century by St. Jerome of Stridon) that supposedly creates a pun with the translation of “evil” in the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (translated in the Vulgate as lignumque scientiae boni et mali) and the fruit that is mentioned in Genesis 3:3, 3:6 and 3:12. According to the story, the Hebrew word that is translated as “fruit” in English was translated as mālum (“apple”), thus creating a pun with the Latin word malum which is used in the form mali in the translation for the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (see above). This in turn, according to the story, created the connection between the “forbidden fruit” and the apple in art history, anatomical terminology (“Adam’s apple” and similar expressions in many European languages for the laryngeal prominence) and the public imagination.
Alas, this turns out to be an urban myth. The Vulgate (as well as the older Vetus Latina) both use frūctus (“fruit”) in Genesis 3 for peri (פְרִי), the Hebrew word for fruit. While it’s possible that the use of malum in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was implicitly understood as pointing to an apple, it’s not likely since there is a marked difference in pronunciation: /ˈmaː.lum/ (“apple”) vs. /ˈma.lum/ (“evil”). Maybe it’s more likely that the apple was the likely choice in the European imagination because of its prominence as were grapes, figs, pomegranates, or etrogs in the Jewish imagination.
With contributions by Seppo Sipilä, Reinier de Blois, and Harry Harm.
In Low German “fruit” is translated as Appeln or “apples” in Genesis 3:3 and 3:6 (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1937, republ. 2006).
The Hebrew in Genesis 4:7 that is translated as “If you do well, will you not be accepted” or similar in English is translated in the SwedishBible 2000 as “if you do the right thing, you dare to lift up your gaze” (Om du handlar rätt vågar du lyfta blicken) and in the Dutch NBV21 as “if you act rightly, then you can look everyone straight in the eye, can’t you?” (Handel je goed, dan kun je toch iedereen recht in de ogen kijken?). (Source: Seppo Sipilä and Roelof van der Spuy in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 192ff. )
The Hebrew and Greek pesach/pascha that is typically translated in English as “Passover” (see below) is translated in a variety of descriptive ways of various aspects of the Jewish festival. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
Umiray Dumaget Agta: “the celebration of the day of their being brought out of bondage”
(source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Obolo: ijọk Iraraka — “Festival of Passing” (source: Enene Enene)
Yakan: “The festival of the Isra’il tribe which they call For-Remembering” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Wolof: “Festival of the day of Salvation” (“the term ‘pass over’ brings up the image of a person’s crossing over a chasm after death”) (source: Marilyn Escher)
Bura-Pabir: vir kucelir fəlɓəla kəi — “time-of happiness-of jumping-over house”
Sabaot: Saakweetaab Keeytaayeet — “Festival of Passing-by” (source: Iver Larsen)
Language spoken in India and Bangladesh: “Festival of avoidance”
Vlax Romani: o ghes o baro le Nakhimasko — “the Day of the Passing”
Saint Lucian Creole: Fèt Délivwans — “Feast of Deliverance” (source: David Frank)
Finnish: pääsiäinen (“The term is very probably coined during the NT translation process around 1520-1530. It is connected to a multivalent verb päästä and as such refers either to the Exodus (päästä meaning “to get away [from Egypt]”) or to the end of the Lent [päästä referring to get relieved from the limitations in diet]. The later explanation being far more probable than the first.”)
Northern Sami: beas’sážat (“Coined following the model in Finnish. The Sami verb is beassat and behaves partly like the Finnish one. Many Christian key terms are either borrowed from Finnish or coined following the Finnish example.”)
Estonian: ülestõusmispüha — “holiday/Sunday of the resurrection” — or lihavõttepüha — “holiday/Sunday of returning of meat”
Karelian: äijüpäivü — “the great day” (“Here one can hear the influence of the Eastern Christianity, but not directly Russian as language, because the Russian term is Пасха/Pasha or Воскресение Христово/Voskresenie Hristovo, ‘[the day of] the resurrection of Christ,’ but the week before Easter is called as the great week.”) (Source for this and three above: Seppo Sipilä)
Russian (for Russian speaking Muslims): праздник Освобождения/prazdnik Osvobozhdeniya — “Festival of-liberation” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Kono: laaŋumɛ̃ɛ̃ or “skip over the person” (provisional term). Alesha Hagemeyer explains in this blog post that laaŋumɛ̃ɛ̃ is a play on the term laaɲámɛ̃ɛ̃ or “to skip over the water” which is traditionally used for the sacrifice of a sheep or a goat after the death of a family member. That term literally means “to skip over the water” so that “their loved one will pass over the water and enter the presence of God”
English: Passover (term coined by William Tyndale that both replicates the sound of the Hebrew original pesah — פסח as well as part of the meaning: “passing over” the houses of the Israelites in Egypt) — oddly, the English Authorized Version (King James Version) translates the occurrence in Acts 12:4 as Easter
Many Romance languages follow the tradition from Latin that has one term for both “Easter” and “Passover” (pascha). Portuguese uses Páscoa for both, Italian uses Pascha, and French has Pâque for “Passover” and the identically pronounced Pâques for “Easter.”
In languages in francophone and lusophone (Portuguese speaking) Africa, indigenous languages typically use the Romance word for “Easter” as a loanword and often transliterate pesach/pascha. In Kinyarwanda and RundiPasika is used, in Swahili and Congo SwahiliPasaka, and in LingalaPasika. In some cases, the transliteration of “Passover” is derived from the European language, such as Umbundu’sPascoa (from Portuguese) and Bulu’sPak (from French). In languages that use Pak or similar for both “Passover” and “Easter” (such as Adioukrou), the identical spelling “serves to reinforce the idea that this is one celebration, not two distinct ones” (source: Hill 2006).
As John Ellingworth (in The Bible Translator 1980, p 445f. ) points out “in most contexts only the presence or absence of the definite article distinguishes them [in French la pâque for Passover and Pâques for Easter]. Since most African languages do not have definite articles, there remains no way to distinguish between the two terms where the general population has borrowed the word for Easter and the Bible translators have borrowed the word for Passover to use in their translation. Some even consider the references to [Passover] before the death of Christ as prophetic!”
The Hebrew that is translated as “Lord of hosts” in English (or: “Yahweh of Armies” [translation by John Goldingay, 2018], “Hashem, Master of Legions” [ArtScroll Tanach translation, 2011]) is translated in various ways:
Kankanaey: “God the Highest Ruler” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: Lord Almighty” (source: Newari Back Translation)
Kutu: Mndewa Imulungu or “Lord with all power” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Mandarin Chinese: Wànjūnzhī Yēhéhuá / Shàngzhǔ (万军之耶和华 / 上主) or “Jehovah / Lord of 10,000 [=all] armies”
Mandinka: “Yawe God of the universe” (source: Rob Koops)
German (Luther) Bible the second part of the name is transliterated: Herr Zebaoth or “Lord Zebaoth” (Swedish, Finnish and Latvian use the same translation strategy). The Russian Orthodox Synod translation uses a transliteration of the second part of the designation as well: Господь Саваоф / Gospod’ Savaof.
The traditional French translation of l’Eternel/Yahve/le Seigneur/Seigneur des armées (“Lord of the armies”) presents a problem when listened to, as Jean-Marc Babut explains (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 411ff. ):
“For the hearer, the traditional translation l’Eternel/Yahvé/le Seigneur des armées can easily be taken in a bad sense: there is nothing, in fact, to prevent the listener from hearing l’Eternel désarmé, ‘the Eternal One disarmed’ or ‘stripped of his power’! (…). Thus the Bible en français courant [publ. 1997] has decided to use the expression Seigneur/Dieu de l’univers, “Lord/God of the Universe”. This formula, which has an undeniably liturgical ring, seems to have been favorably received by users.”
Other, later French Bibles who have chosen a similar strategy, include Parole de Vie (publ. 2017) with Seigneur de l’univers or Bible Segond 21 (publ. 2007) with l’Eternel, le maître de l’univers.
The Ancient GreekSeptuagint translation “high heaven” or “the heights” (רמים) as “unicorns” or “wild oxen” (ראמים), monokeroton (μονοκερώτων) in Greek. Translations that are based on the Septuagint, including Orthodox versions of the Psalter, do therefore use “unicorn” in this verse.
Examples include
The EnglishPsalter of the Prophet and King David according to the Septuagint (Michael Asser 2005 ) for the use of the Orthodox church: “And He built His sanctuary like that of an unicorn; He established it upon the earth for ever.”
The English Septuagint translation by Nicholas King, SJ (2013): “He built his sanctuary like the place of unicorns; he founded it on the earth forever.”
The FinnishOrtodoksinen Liturginen Psalttari (2021): “And he built his sanctuary like that of the unicorns (yksisarvisille), establishing it on the earth for all time.”
Seppo Sipilä (in: The Bible Translator 2007, p. 171ff. ) comments on the choice between “unicorn” and “wild ox”: “Since the question is about the temple of the Lord, using any natural animal could be problematic in this psalm. In particular the suggestion that in (some) psalms the animal in question could be a wild ox is potentially dangerous, because the OT writers hesitate to use the ox as a symbol for the Lord.”
Following is the back-translation of Luke 7:1-10 from Finnish Sign Language (FiSL). One of the ways that distinguishes FiSL is by an intense way of using a spatial component via a signing space. Click or tap here to see more.
(Note: For a video of this passage in Finnish Sign Language, see below.)
Numbers attached with glosses refer to locations in signing space.
The English text gives a rough back translation of the FiSL behind the glosses.
Luke 7:1
JESUS TELL HUMAN GROUP HEAR>5
Jesus spoke and people listen
READY JESUS GO-1>2 CAPERNAUM INDEX>6
After he had finished Jesus went to Capernaum
(break)
Luke 7:2
ONE SOLDER LEADER OWN>6 SERVANT SICK NEARLY DIE
A servant of a military leader was sick and dying
LEADER INDEX>6 SERVANT PERSON-1 RESPECT
That leader respected his servant
(break)
Luke 7:3
INDEX>6 HEAR>5 JESUS
He heard about Jesus
PERSONx>5 ASK JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 BRING-5>1 JESUS
He asked the respected Jewish men to bring Jesus to him
SERVANT PERSON-6 SAVE
to save the servant
(break)
Luke 7:4
JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 JESUS MEET>5
The respected Jewish men met Jesus
BEG>5 SAY>5
Begging and asking:
(break)
ASK MALE INDEX>6 NEED OWN>5 HELP
Please, that man needs your help
(break)
Luke 7:5
WE HUMAN GROUP INDEX>6 LOVE
He loves our people
ALSO WE OWN>1 JEW CONGREGATION
For our Jewish congregation
INDEX>6 ALREADY BUILD HOUSE
He has built a house [= synagogue]
(break)
Luke 7:6
JESUS WITH TOGETHER-3>6 HOUSE-6 NEAR-3>6
Jesus approached the house together with others
LEADER SEND-4>5 OWN>6 FEW FRIENDx
The leader sent some of his friends
MEET-4>5
To meet Jesus:
(break)
LEADER INDEX>6 SAY
This leader says:
LORD INDEX>5 TROUBLE CLOSE-5>1 DO-NOT>5
Lord, do not trouble to come to me
Luke 7:7 (no break)
ALSO INDEX>1 CLOSE-1>5 CANNOT
As I did not come to you
(break)
[the rest of the verse moved to the end of verse 8]
Luke 7:8
COMMAND INDEX-h3>1 INDEX>1 OBEY
I am subject to command from above
ALSO SOLDER INDEX>2 INDEX>1 COMMAND INDEX-1>2
And I command solders
INDEX-2 OBEY
And they obey
(break)
OWN-1 SOLDER INDEX-2 INDEX-1 SAY
If I say to this solder of mine:
INDEX-2 GO>2
Go!
COMPLETE LEAVE-1>2
He will leave
INDEX-5 COME-5>1
Or to another: Come!
COMPLETE COME-5>1
He will come
(break)
ALSO SERVANT PERSON-2 INDEX-1 SAY
And if I say to this servant:
DO INDEXx-2
Do this!
COMPLETE DO
He will do it.
(break)
ANDx ALSO OWN>1 SERVANT PERSON-6 INDEX-5 ORDER-5>6
So, please, order this servant of mine
HEAL
And heal him.
(break)
LEADER INDEX-6 WELCOME-6>5
The leader asked Jesus to do this to him
Luke 7:9
JESUS SURPRISE>6
Jesus was surprised
TURN-6>5 HUMAN GROUP
He turned to people
SAY
And said:
LEADER OWN>6 FAITH COMPARE SAME JEW HUMAN GROUP INDEX-1 NEVER SEE-1>d
I have never seen the same faith among Jews than this leader has
(break)
Luke 7:10
FRIEND INDEXx-2 BACK-1>2>1 HOUSE-6 NEAR>6
When the friends returned to the house of the leader
SERVANT PERSON-6 ALREADY HEAL
That servant was already healthy.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 90:9:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“All our days end (while) they are under your wrath;
we finish our years with groaning.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Your anger shortens our life span.
Our lives come to an end with groaning.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“(It is) true that in your (sing.) anger we (excl.) will-die;
our (excl.) lives will-end as-if just a sigh.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“In all of our days we find your anger,
and we finish our years with groaning.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Uhai wetu unafupishwa na hasira yako,
uhai wetu unakwisha kama vile pumzi.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
FinnishOrtodoksinen Liturginen Psalttari (2021), based on the Greek Septuagint:
“All of our days are spent
and under your wrath we perish
like a hovering web are our years.” (source: Seppo Sipilä in The Bible Translator 2011, p. 12ff. )
English:
“Because you are angry with us, you cause our lives to end;
the years that we live pass as quickly as a sigh does.” (Source: Translation for Translators)