circumcise, circumcision

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The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “cut the flesh”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo (Dinė): “cut around”
  • Javanese: “clip-away”
  • Uab Meto: “pinch and cut” (usually shortened to “cut”)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun, Western Highland Purepecha: “put the mark”
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
  • Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
  • Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
  • Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
  • Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
  • Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Central Mazahua: “sign in his flesh”
  • Hopi: “being cut in a circle in his body” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mandarin Chinese: gēlǐ (割礼 / 割禮) or “rite of cutting” (Protestant); gēsǔn (割损 / 割損) or “cut + loss” (Catholic) (Source: Zetzsche)
  • Tibetan: mdun lpags gcod (མདུན་​ལྤགས་​གཅོད།), lit. “fore + skin + cut” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Kutu: “enter the cloth (=undergarments)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .

complete verse (Genesis 17:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 17:27:

  • Kankanaey: “And as for Abraham, he immediately obeyed what God had commanded to him. Because on that day, he circumcised Ismael and all his male slaves that were born in his house and all also that he had bought. On that very same day, Abraham also had-himself-circumcised, so they all were-at-the-same-time to be circumcised. Ninety and nine were the years of Abraham upon his being circumcised. Ismael also his child, he yeared ten and three.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “And all the men living in his house, servants born in his house and servants bought and brought along, all had the sign put in [their] bodies along with them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “At that very day that God commanded that all males should be-circumcised, Abraham and Ishmael were-circumcised including all the slaves of Abraham who were-born in his household and the slaves whom he had-bought from-the-other places.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “And all the males in his household, the ones who had been born there and those who had been bought from foreigners, were also circumcised.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 17:27

Verse 27 refers again to the rest of the males who were circumcised, and repeats what has been said in the previous verses.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .