stealthy

In a Fang oral adaptation the Hebrew in 1 Samuel 24:4 that is translated in English as “stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak” is translated in a culturally specific way.

Case / Case (2019) explain: “In order to communicate the stealth of David’s actions, [the oral interpreter] Acacio added a colorful image of the sneakiest animal of the jungle doing the sneakiest of actions: David snuck up behind Saul ‘like a chameleon drawing a hunting bow to shoot an arrow.'”

David cuts Saul's robe (image)

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Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .

For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

complete verse (1 Samuel 24:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 24:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “David was told by his people that, ‘This is the day God said that, ‘I will place your enemy in your hands so that you do to him whatever you want.’ ’ Then David went stealthily and cut off a corner of Saul’s coat without him realizing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “David’s men said to him, "This is that very day about which the LORD has spoken. He has delivered your enemies into your hand and you can do to them what you like." Without Saul’s being aware, David went, bent down quietly and cut off the border of his shawl.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The men of David said to him, ‘This is now the time the LORD spoke-(about) that he would-hand- your (sing.) enemies -over to you (sing.) and its-up-to you (sing.) what you (sing.) wish/want/desire to-do with him.’ Then David crawled towards Saul and he cut-(off) an edge/(hem) of the garment of Saul unnoticed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “David’s men saw Saul and whispered to David, ‘Today is the day that Yahweh spoke about when he said, ‘I will enable you to defeat your enemy.’ You can do to him whatever you want to!’ So David crept toward the entrance of the cave and with his knife he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

David

The name that is transliterated as “David” in English means “beloved.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elizabeth” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In German Sign Language it is only the sling. (See here ).


“David” in German Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

The (Protestant) Mandarin Chinese transliteration of “David” is 大卫 (衛) / Dàwèi which carries an additional meaning of “Great Protector.”

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about David (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: David .

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

2nd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person. In these verses, however, the more venerable anata-sama (あなた様) is used, which combines anata with the with a formal title -sama.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also formal 2nd person pronoun (Spanish) and the formal vs. the informal pronoun in the Gospels in Tuvan.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )