widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow” (source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.) and in Newari as “husband already died ones” or “ones who have no husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

complete verse (Jeremiah 49:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “Leave (plur.) your children who are orphans to me for me to guard/keep them for you
    and let your wives/women who have become widows rely/hope on me.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But leave your orphans to me for I will-take-care of them. And your widows can- surely -depend on me.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But I will protect the orphans,
    and the widows also will be able to depend on me to help them.’” (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”.

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 49:11

As verses 10-11 appear in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, the connection between them is unclear and verse 11 hardly makes sense in the context. Some translators have begun verse 11 with “No one can say.” Following Jewish tradition, both Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible interpret verse 11 as what would be said by Esau’s descendants, if any one of them were still alive. For example, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible renders the end of verse 10 as follows: “His descendants, his brothers and his neighbors are destroyed, and there is no one left to say:….”

Leave; that is, “leave in my care.”

Fatherless children is much more naturally rendered as “orphans” (Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant). Among the Hebrews, orphans and widows were considered the most helpless people in their society (see 7.6).

Let your widows trust in me: Good News Translation has “Your widows can depend on me.”

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 .