sorrow

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated in English as “painful” or “sorrow” is translated in Huba as “cut the insides.” David Frank explains: “Huba has just one expression that covers both ‘angry’ and ‘sad.’ They don’t make a distinction in their language. I suppose you could say that the term they use means more generically, ‘strong emotional reaction’ (source: David Frank in this blog post ). Similarly, in Bariai it is “the interior is severed/cut” (source: Bariai Back Translation).

In Noongar it is translated as koort-warra or “heart bad.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

In Enlhet it is translated as “going aside of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )

See also grieving / sorrowful.

joy

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The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various strategies:

  • Baoulé: “a song in the stomach” (see also peace (inner peace))
  • Bambara: “the spirit is made sweet”
  • Kpelle: “sweet heart”
  • Tzeltal: “the good taste of one’s heart”
  • Uduk: “good to the stomach”
  • Mískito: “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source for this and above: Nida 1952)
  • Mairasi: “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

Translation commentary on Baruch 4:11

With joy I nurtured them: The Greek verb rendered nurtured is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the verb translated “reared” in verse 8. Good News Translation “with great delight” is a more appropriate description of bringing up children than with joy. It conveys undertones of pride and satisfaction.

But I sent them away with weeping and sorrow: This does not describe a voluntary action, although there is something poignant in the picture of the mother so wanting to extend her care over her children that she speaks of their being forced away as I sent them away. Translators could try to express this with something like “I shed sorrowful tears when I said goodbye to them.” But as Good News Translation (similarly Contemporary English Version) says, “they were taken from me.” That is what it means. It is not clear from the Greek whether with weeping and sorrow describes Jerusalem or the exiles, but it is more likely that Jerusalem is meant from the parallelism with the expression with joy. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are right in making it clear that Jerusalem is the one weeping and mourning. The prisoners were probably weeping and mourning also, but that is surely not what the author is thinking of here. The translator should take note at this point that an almost identical line occurs in verse 23.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.