straight / vertical

In Gbaya, the notion of being straight or vertical is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophone zééŋ (or: zéŋ).

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Acts 14:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 14:10:

  • Uma: “That is why he said loudly: ‘Stand up straight!’ Up he stood, and he walked back and forth.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then Paul spoke loudly. ‘Stand up,’ he said to the crippled man. Immediately the man sprang up to stand and he walked.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “and made his voice loud, and he said, ‘Stand up straight.’ And then he stood up and he walked around.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So he raised (lit. made-strong) his voice saying, ‘Stand-up!’ Right-then he stood-right-up and walked.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “and spoke loudly saying, ‘Go ahead! Stand up now!’ Without anything further, that person jumped up, and straight away he could walk.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

For the Old Testament quote, see Ezekiel 2:1.

Translation commentary on Acts 14:10

The phrase stand up straight is not a reference to his posture but to the fact that he should stand up fully on his feet rather than lean against something or perhaps crouch over. In some languages this may be equivalent to “stand up fully” or “stand up to your full height.”

On jumped up and started walking around see 3.8.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .