kiss

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The Hebrew and the Greek that is usually directly translated as “kiss” in English is translated more indirectly in other languages because kissing is deemed as inappropriate, is not a custom at all, or is not customary in the particular context (see the English translation of J.B. Phillips [publ. 1960] in Rom. 16:16: “Give each other a hearty handshake”). Here are some examples:

  • Pökoot: “greet warmly” (“kissing in public, certainly between men, is absolutely unacceptable in Pökoot.”) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
  • Southern Birifor: puor or “greet” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Chamula Tzotzil, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Tojolabal: “greet each other warmly” or “hug with feeling” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Afar: gaba tittal ucuya — “give hands to each other” (Afar kiss each other’s hands in greeting) (source: Loren Bliese)
  • Roviana: “welcome one another joyfully”
  • Cheke Holo: “love each other in the way-joined-together that is holy” (esp. in Rom. 16:16) or “greet with love” (esp. 1Thess. 5:26 and 1Pet. 5.14)
  • Pitjantjatjara: “when you meet/join up with others of Jesus’ relatives hug and kiss them [footnote], for you are each a relative of the other through Jesus.” Footnote: “This was their custom in that place to hug and kiss one another in happiness. Maybe when we see another relative of Jesus we shake hands and rejoice.” (esp. Rom. 16:16) (source for this and two above: Carl Gross)
  • Kamba: “greet with the greeting of love” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Balanta-Kentohe and Mandinka: “touch cheek” or “cheek-touching” (“sumbu” in Malinka)
  • Mende: “embrace” (“greet one another with the kiss of love”: “greet one another and embrace one another to show that you love one another”) (source for this and two above: Rob Koops)
  • Gen: “embrace affectionately” (source: John Ellington)
  • Kachin: “holy and pure customary greetings” (source: Gam Seng Shae)
  • Kahua: “smell” (source: David Clark) (also in Ekari and Kekchí, source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • San Blas Kuna: “smell the face” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff.)
  • Chichewa: “suck” (“habit and term a novelty amongst the young and more or less westernized people, the traditional term for greeting a friend after a long absence being, ‘clap in the hands and laugh happily'”)
  • Medumba: “suck the cheek” (“a novelty, the traditional term being ‘to embrace.'”)
  • Shona (version of 1966) / Vidunda: “hug”
  • Balinese: “caress” (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel; Vidunda: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Tsafiki: earlier version: “greet in a friendly way,” later revision: “kiss on the face” (Bruce Moore [in: Notes on Translation 1/1992), p. 1ff.] explains: “Formerly, kissing had presented a problem. Because of the Tsáchilas’ [speakers of Tsafiki] limited exposure to Hispanic culture they understood the kiss only in the eros context. Accordingly, the original translation had rendered ‘kiss’ in a greeting sense as ‘greet in a friendly way’. The actual word ‘kiss’ was not used. Today ‘kiss’ is still an awkward term, but the team’s judgment was that it could be used as long as long as it was qualified. So ‘kiss’ (in greeting) is now ‘kiss on the face’ (that is, not on the lips).)
  • Kwere / Kutu: “show true friendship” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth and kissed (his feet).

Translation commentary on Job 31:26 - 31:27

These two verses refer to the worship of nature. If I have looked at the sun when it shone: as Revised Standard Version indicates, sun translates the Hebrew for “light.” The accompanying verb, and moon in the following line, justify translating as sun. Looked does not by itself suggest to look on with awe or reverence, but means “when I looked at the shining sun” or “when I saw the sun shining in the sky.”

Or the moon moving in splendor: in splendor is literally “as a precious thing” and is used of precious stones. This qualification accompanies the Hebrew verb “walk,” and so depicts the moon as walking majestically across the heavens. New English Bible translates “or the moon moving in her glory,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “and watched the moon along its course in full splendor.” In some languages the line may be expressed, for example, “or if I have watched the beautiful moon in the sky” or “or if I have gazed up at the beauty of the moon.”

And my heart has been secretly enticed: Job denies that the sun and the moon have tempted him to worship them. The worship of heavenly bodies is condemned in Deuteronomy 4.19; 17.2-7; 2 Kings 23.5; and Jeremiah 8.1-3. Enticed is in the sense of “tempted, allured,” or as Good News Translation says, “led astray.” Secretly, as in 13.10, probably refers to the secret manner of some cult worshipers in Job’s time. “I have not been led astray secretly,” or more fully, “I have not been tempted to worship them secretly.”

And my mouth has kissed my hand translates the Hebrew clause “and my hand has kissed my mouth.” The reference is to the worshiper kissing his hand and holding it out for the sun or moon to receive. The idea is clear enough but is rendered in various ways in different translations. For example, New Jerusalem Bible has “so that I blew them a kiss,” New International Version “and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,” New American Bible “to waft them a kiss with my hand,” Good News Translation “by kissing my hand in reverence to them.” Bible en français courant avoids kissed my hand by translating “Have I taken them for gods and have I worshiped them?” In languages in which kissing is unfamiliar, it may be necessary to provide another gesture; for example, “and I have not folded my hands to honor them” or “I have not bowed down to show them reverence.” It may also be possible to retain the kiss gesture by adding the purpose, as in Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .