The Greek that is translated as “cloth” or “swaddling clothes” in English is translated in Nyongar as bwoka or “Kangaroo skin.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
heaven and earth
The Greek that is translated as “(Lord of) heaven and earth” in English is translated as “(Lord of) God’s Country and our Country” in Nyongar (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
save
The Greek term that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”
In San Blas Kuna it is rendered as “help the heart,” in Laka, it is “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver,” in Huautla Mazatec the back-translation of the employed term is “lift out on behalf of,” in Anuak, it is “have life because of,” in Central Mazahua “be healed in the heart,” in Baoulé “save one’s head” (meaning to rescue a person in the fullest sense), in Guerrero Amuzgo “come out well,” in Northwestern Dinka “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source: Bratcher / Nida), and in Nyongar barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In South Bolivian Quechua it is “make to escape” and in Highland Puebla Nahuatl, it is “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand.” (Source: Nida 1947, p. 222.)
See also salvation.
lamp
The Greek that is translated as “lamp” in English is translated in Nyongar as karla-maat or “firestick” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
music
The Greek that is translated in English as “music” is translated in Muna as “the sound of the gong and the drum.” René van den Berg explains: “There is no abstract word for ‘music’ (the footnote has the loan musik).”
In Nyongar it is translated as “singing” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Mazagway as “the sound of singing” (source: Ken Hollingsworth), in Uma as “people playing flutes” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Yakan as “playing-of-the-kulintang/gongs” (source: Yakan Back Translation), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “drum” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Mofu-Gudur as “the sound of drumming” (source: Ken Hollingsworth).
In Burmese it is “the sound of beating-blowing.” “‘Beating blowing’ is a general term for instrumental music and covers the sound of percussion instruments, wind and brass instruments which are blown, and some stringed instruments which are also ‘beaten.'” (Source: Anonymous)
lame
The Greek that is translated as “lame” in English is translated in various ways:
- Lalana Chinantec: “with a dry foot”
- Isthmus Mixe: “with a bad leg”
- Chuj: “crippled foot”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “withered legs”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “can’t walk”
- Ayutla Mixtec: “legs were drawn up” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Nyongar: maat-wara or “leg bad” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
bed
camel
The Greek that is translated in English as “camel” is translated in Muna as “water buffalo.” René van den Berg explains: “Camels are unknown; the biggest known animal is the water buffalo (though now rare on Muna).”
In Bislama is is translated as buluk: “cow” / “bull” (source: Ross McKerras) and in Bahnar as aseh lăk-đa which is a combination of the Vietnamese loan word for “camel” (lăk-đa) and the Bahnar term for “horse” (aseh) to communicate that the camel is a beast of burden (source: Pham Xuan Tin in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 20ff. ).
In Nyongar it is translated as “cangaroo” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
Some versions of the Peshitta translation in Syriac Aramaic (Classical Syriac) show an ambiguity between the very similar words for “camel” and “rope.” Some translations of the Peshitta, therefore, use the “rope” interpretation, including the Classical Armenian Bible (մալխոյ for “rope”), the English translation by George Lamsa (publ. 1933) (It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle), or the Dutch translation by Egbert Nierop (publ. 2020) (het voor een kabel eenvoudiger is het oog van een naald binnen te gaan).
intelligent
The Greek that is often translated as “intelligent” in English is translated as “of much mind” in Isthmus Mixe, “a great deal of wisdom” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, “really can think” in Lalana Chinantec (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), or “ear much” in Nyongar (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
staff, walking stick
The Greek that is translated as “staff” or “walking stick” in English is translated in Nyongar as boorn-yaniny or “wood-walking” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
altar
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “altar” in English is translated in a number of ways:
- Obolo: ntook or “raised structure for keeping utensils (esp. sacrifice)” (source: Enene Enene)
- Muna: medha kaefoampe’a or “offering table” (source: René van den Berg)
- Luchazi: muytula or “the place where one sets the burden down”/”the place where the life is laid down” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
- Tzotzil: “where they place God’s gifts” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
- Tsafiki: “table for giving to God” (source: Bruce Moore in Notes on Translation 1/1992, p. 1ff.)
- Nyongar: karla-kooranyi or “sacred fire” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “offering-burning table” (source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “place for sacrificing” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “burning-place” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:
- Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
- Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
- Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
- Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
- Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
- 1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
- Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
- Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
- Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
- Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)
See also altar (Acts 17:23).
In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.