The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).
In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )
The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)
In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).
In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 48:33:
Kupsabiny: “The people in the land of Moab are no longer happy there is no joy in the gardens and fields. Wine no longer flows at where it is pressed, and no one is shouting there any more rejoicing as they press the wine. Even though people still shout, that shouting is no longer from happiness.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “There are no more rejoicing and marrying that can be heard in the farms and vineyards in the land of Moab. Wine is- no-longer -flow in place-for-pressing. No one tramples/treads the grapes with shouts of joy. There is-shouting indeed but not shouting for joy.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But no one will be joyful or happy in Moab now; your fruit and grapes that ripen in the summer/hot season will soon be destroyed. There will be no grape juice coming from the winepresses, so there will be no wine. People will not shout joyfully as they tread on the grapes; people will shout, but they will not be shouting joyfully.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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.
Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab is rendered fairly literally by most versions. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is an exception: “Happiness and rejoicing are a thing of the past in the orchards and vineyards of Moab.” This is a helpful model for languages where it would be unnatural to speak of happiness and joy being taken away. Another possibility is “The people no longer experience joy and happiness….” Fruitful land (see 4.26) is “a fertile land” (so Good News Translation).
I have made the wine … shouts of joy: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is also dramatic in its rendering of the last half of the verse with “No wine flows in the vat, since no one treads the grapes, and in place of the joyful shouts, one hears loud cries of mourning.” This is good, except that the Hebrew indicates that the LORD (I) is the one responsible for this condition. Translators in areas where making wine is not known can say something like “I have stopped the people from making wine. They are no longer shouting happily as they tread the grapes, and no wine is coming out of the wine presses [or, the containers where the grapes are squeezed].” For wine see 13.12.
A slight problem also exists in the Hebrew of this verse, which repeats the word rendered shouts of joy, shouting, and shout of joy. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project agrees with Revised Standard Version that the meaning is “No one shouts in joy and tramples the grapes. There is shouting, but not the shouting of joy.” Thus the shouting is not the shout of joy can be expressed as “People are indeed shouting, but not for joy.”
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 .
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