wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in various ways:

  • Amganad Ifugao / Tabasco Chontal: “(big) mind”
  • Bulu / Yamba: “heart-thinking”
  • Tae’: “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Palauan: “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton)
  • Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
  • Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
  • Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
  • Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Uma: “clearness” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)
  • Isthmus Mixe: “have a lot of mind”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “head is very good”
  • San Mateo Del Mar Huave: “have a great deal of understanding”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “be alert”
  • Desano: “very intelligent”
  • Highland Popoluca: “understand what God wants” (Source for this and five above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

complete verse (Ecclesiastes 2:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ecclesiastes 2:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “I saw that wisdom is better that foolishness, as light is better than darkness.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I saw this– Just as white light is very much better than darkness,
    so wisdom is better than foolishness.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And I saw that wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:13

The difference between wisdom and folly is like that between light and darkness. Wisdom and folly are absolutely different. The comparison also means that wisdom is the superior or positive value, and folly all negative. The verb saw can be rendered as “realized” or “discovered.”

Wisdom excels folly is a comparative expression that places wisdom above folly. The phrase is literally “there is a lasting benefit [yithron] to wisdom more than to folly.” The nature of the Hebrew comparative form makes it clear that only wisdom has this benefit; folly is of no value at all. Some languages will find it more natural to say that “wisdom is good and folly is not” or some similar contrasting expression. As yithron is a keyword in this book, it will be well to make this idea clear in the translation. The use of abstract nouns wisdom and folly may be unnatural in some languages, in which case verbal expressions could be used: “Being wise has lasting benefit; being foolish has none.”

As light excels darkness draws on the metaphor of light and dark, which frequently appears in the Scriptures and marks an absolute contrast. Like the opening phrase, this one also is literally “as the lasting benefit of light over darkness.” This then becomes a powerful statement to the effect that only wisdom can produce any lasting benefit. This concept may be difficult to render in several languages where the terms of comparison are different. We may be able to speak of the “lasting benefit” of wisdom over folly, but not of the “lasting benefit” of light over dark. Our translation can make the point easily with a phrase like “Then I realized that lasting benefit comes only through being wise, never through folly. That is because wisdom and folly are as different as day and night” or “Then I knew that wisdom could bring lasting benefit; folly never will. Wisdom and folly are as different as light is to darkness.”

In some languages it may be more effective for the comparison to come before the statement: “As light excels darkness, so wisdom excels folly” or “As light is opposite to darkness, so wisdom [or, being wise] is opposite to folly [or, being foolish].”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Ecclesiates. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Ecclesiastes 2:13

2:13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:

I have concluded that it is better to be wise than to be foolish, just as light is better than darkness.
-or-
I know that light is better than the dark. And I discovered that it is better to be wise. To be a fool is worse.

© 2006 by SIL International®
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Commentaire sur la traduction de l'Ecclésiaste 2.13

Voici ce que j’ai vu est litt. « et j’ai vu moi », ce qui peut indiquer dans certaines langues le début d’un nouveau paragraphe ou d’une strophe. Le « moi » emphatique pousse certaines versions à exprimer une emphase : « Bien sûr » (Bible en français courant) ; « C’est vrai » (Parole de Vie). Néanmoins on pourrait rester proche de l’hébreu comme la Nouvelle Bible Segond, « Et moi, j’ai vu ceci : … » Le verbe ne décrit pas un acte physique mais une réflexion. On pourrait dire « j’ai constaté ».

On profite de la sagesse plus que de la sottise est litt. « il y a un profit (יִתְרוֹן yitrôn) pour la sagesse plus que (pour) la stupidité ». Ceci veut dire qu’être sage a des avantages par rapport à la sottise. Autrement dit, agir d’une manière sage profite à une personne par rapport à un comportement insensé. Pour profit, voir Introduction au commentaire de traduction de l’Ecclésiaste et Ecc 1.3. Les traducteurs devraient trouver une manière naturelle dans leur langue pour exprimer une telle comparaison, qui est, d’ailleurs un style préféré de Qohéleth. La Nouvelle Bible Segond dit que « la sagesse l’emporte sur… la folie », la La Bible du Semeur, qu’elle est « plus avantageuse que la déraison », et la Bible en français courant, « préférable à la sottise ». Mais toutes ces traductions perdent le terme clé, יִתְרוֹן yitrôn, « profit ». Si les traducteurs visent une traduction qui garde certaines caractéristiques de l’hébreu, ils pourraient trouver une manière de retenir le mot, en disant, par exemple, « la sagesse profite plus/rend plus de profit/avantage/bénéfice (à quelqu’un) que la sottise ».

La sagesse et la sottise rendent les même mots en hébreu qu’en Ecc 2.12.

comme on profite de la lumière plus que des ténèbres est litt. « comme le profit de la lumière que les ténèbres ». Cette proposition est donc parallèle à la précédente, mais dans beaucoup de langues, il vaudrait mieux inverser celles-ci. Ainsi on pourra dire « tout comme la lumière est plus avantageuse que les ténèbres, la sagesse est plus avantageuse que la folie ». La Parole de Vie dit, par exemple, « la lumière vaut mieux que l’obscurité, ainsi la sagesse vaut mieux que la bêtise ».

lumière… ténèbres (אוֹר ʾôr… חֹשֶׁךְ ḥôšèk) : les traducteurs devraient trouver une paire naturelle dans leur langue, « lumière… obscurité », etc. Dans beaucoup de langues, ces mots auront la même connotation, positive-négative. Dans certaines langues, les ténèbres seront « le noir ». Ces mots évoquent aussi l’opposition entre le jour et la nuit, mais si possible, on restera proche du texte en hébreu.

Source: Zogbo, Lynell. L’Ecclésiaste – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.