virgin

The Hebrew and Greek that is mostly translated as “virgin” in English can be translated as “woman that is untouched” in Batak Toba or “a woman with a whole (i.e. unopened) body” in Uab Meto.

“Similar words for ‘girl,’unmarried young woman,’ suggesting virginity without explicitly stating it, are found in Marathi, Apache, or Kituba. Cultural features naturally influence connotations of possible renderings, for instance, the child marriage customs in some Tboli areas, where the boy and girl are made to sleep together at the initial marriage, but after that do not live together and may not see each other again for years. Hence, the closest attainable equivalent, ‘female adolescent,’ does not imply that a young girl is not living with her husband, and that she never had a child, but leaves uncertain whether she has ever slept with a male person or not. Accordingly, in Luke one has to depend on Luke 1:34 to make clear that Mary and Joseph had not had sexual intercourse. A different problem is encountered in Pampanga, where birhen (an adaptation of Spanish virgen — ‘virgin’), when standing alone, is a name of the ‘Virgin Mary.’ To exclude this meaning the version uses “marriageable birhen,” thus at the same time indicating that Mary was relatively young.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel, see here)

In Navajo (Dinė), the term that is used is “no husband yet” (Source: Wallis, p. 106) and in Gola the expression “trouser girl.” “In the distant past young women who were virgins wore trousers. Those who were not virgins wore dresses. That doesn’t hold true anymore, but the expression is still there in the language.” (Source: Don Slager)

The term in Djimini Senoufo is katogo jo — “village-dance-woman” (women who have been promised but who are still allowed to go to dances with unmarried women). (Source: Übersetzung heute 3/1995)

In Igbo translations, typically a newly-created, multi-word phrase is used that very explicitly states that there has not been any sexual relations and that translates as “a woman (or: maiden) who does not know a man.” This is in spite of the fact that there is a term (agb͕ọghọ) that means “young woman” and has the connotation of her not having had sexual relations (this is for instance used by the Standard Igbo Bible of the Bible Society of Nigeria for Isaiah 7:14). Incidentally, the euphemistic expression “know” (ma in Igbo) for “having sex” has become a well-known euphemism outside of Bible translation. (Source: Uchenna Oyali in Sociolinguistic Studies Vol. 17 No. 1-3 (2023): Special Issue: Gender and sexuality in African discourses )

In Chichewa, it is translated as namwali which is used to refer to a girl who has reached puberty stage and is ready to get married. Apart from the physical aspect, the word also has social implications in the sense that it is used to recognize the fact that the girl has become responsible enough to make informed decisions and take care of herself and others. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also virgins (Revelation 14:4) and complete verse (Matthew 1:23).

forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Jeremiah 2:32)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 2:32:

  • Kupsabiny: “A young wife cannot forget her bead necklace
    and a bride does not forget her wedding clothes.
    But my people have forgotten me
    for countless days.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Does a lady forget her jewelry, or her dress for (her) wedding? But you (plur.) my people, you (plur.) have-forgotten me for a long time.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “A young woman would certainly never forget to wear her jewelry,
    and a bride would never forget to wear her wedding dress,
    but you my people have forgotten me for many years.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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”.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 2:32

Can a maiden forget her ornaments…? is stated in more contemporary English in Good News Translation: “Does a young woman forget her jewelry…?” The word translated maiden (Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible “girl”) is the same noun that appears in Zech 9.17. Obviously the meaning in the present context is “girl” or “young woman,” probably of marriageable age as the parallel bride suggests. The anticipated reply to the question is also obvious: “No, she does not forget….” Thus the question may be transformed into a strong affirmation: “A young woman would never forget….” Similarly, the next line could be “nor a bride her wedding garment.”

Attire (Good News Translation “wedding dress”; New International Version “wedding ornaments”) may refer to some sort of “sash” (New Jerusalem Bible), which was customarily worn by a bride (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the lovely sash of her wedding dress”). Since the exact nature of the item is not known, translators may use something quite general such as “wedding garment” or choose some interpretation such as “the decoration [or, sash] on her wedding robe.”

It is, of course, inconceivable that either of these two things would happen, yet the LORD’s people had constantly forgotten him. It is quite natural to use forgotten in most languages, but in some it may be better to say “put me out of their mind.”

Days without number: New English Bible translates “over and over again,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “already for many, many years.” In Good News Translation the phrase appears as “for more days than can be counted.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .