leprosy, leprous

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The Greek and Hebrew terms that are often translated as “leprosy (or: defiling/skin disease)” or “leprous (person)” in English is translated in Mairasi as “the bad sickness,” since “leprosy is very common in the Mairasi area” (source: Enggavoter 2004).

Following are various other translations:

  • Shilluk: “disease of animals”
  • San Mateo Del Mar Huave: “devil sore” (this and the above are indigenous expressions)
  • Inupiaq: “decaying sores”
  • Kaqchikel: “skin-rotting disease” (source for this and three above: Eugene Nida in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 34f. )
  • Noongar: “bad skin disease” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Usila Chinantec “sickness like mal de pinta” (a skin disease involving discoloration by loss of pigment) (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Hiligaynon: “dangerous skin disease” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “fearful skin disease” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “terrible rotting” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Newari: “infectious skin disease” (source: Newari Back Translation)

Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Onqelos (also: Onkelos) is the name of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) probably composed in Israel/Palestine in the 1st or 2nd century CE and later edited in Babylon in the 4th or 5th century, making it reflect Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is the most famous Aramaic translation and was widely used throughout the Jewish communities. In Leviticus 13 and 14 it translates tzaraat as a “quarantining affliction” — focusing “on what occurs to individuals after they suffer the affliction; the person is isolated from the community.” (Source: Israel Drazin in this article ). Similarly, the English Jewish Orthodox ArtScroll Tanach translation (publ. 2011) transliterates it as tzaraat affliction.

See also stricken and leprosy healed.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Leprosy (Word Study) and Bible Translations Are for People .

hair (body hair)

The Hebrew that is translated as “hair” in English (relating to body hair is translated in Kwere as upipi — a word indicating small hairs. In Makonde, there is also a differentiation between body and head hair with the former being the same than animal hair. (source for both: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also (human) head hair and hairy (like Esau).

priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

complete verse (Leviticus 13:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 13:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “The priest is to examine the sick place in his body. If the hairs in that place are white and it is warped downwards more than the skin of all the other areas, it is clear that this person has a serious wound. Then the priest is to say that this person is unclean so that he must be placed aside from other people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The priest must look at the injury like this, and if, in the place affected by the disease, the hair which is sprouting looks white, or if the wound appears to be more than skin deep, it is a contagious disease. After the priest has finished examining him he must be judged unclean.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The priest will-look at his/her skin, and if the body-hairs have-turned-white and the infection has-deepened, he has a dangerous disease on the skin. And the priest then is-to-make-known/pronounce that he is dirty/unclean.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The priest must examine that part of the person’s skin. If the hair in that area has become white and it appears that the sore is deeper than just on the skin, it is a contagious skin disease. When the priest sees that, he must declare that the person must stay away from other people.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 13:3

The diseased spot: this term corresponds to the word literally translated “mark” in verse 2 above. It seems to refer to the area on the person’s body where any kind of difficulty may have been detected. One may translate “the place where the problem is” or “the sick part of the skin.”

Hair: the translation should not give the impression of a single hair, but of many. The idea here is collective.

The disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body: literally “the appearance of the sore deeper than the skin of the flesh.” The words of his body, or “of his flesh” are unnecessary in most languages, since it would be understood when “skin” or “his skin” are used. The idea here is that there is a depression in the skin. The affected area is “deeper than the surrounding skin” (Good News Translation). New Jerusalem Bible has “if the disease bites into the skin.”

It is a leprous disease: this part of the sentence may be better introduced by a word like “then” in some languages. It is the logical result of the “if” clause which it follows.

When the priest has examined him: the Hebrew repeats the same verb as in the beginning of the verse, but this does not mean that a second examination takes place. It is better in some languages to omit this second occurrence, or to say “when the examination has been completed,” or “when the priest finishes examining him,” or, as suggested by Bible en français courant, “immediately after the examination.”

He shall pronounce him unclean: is this a ritual pronouncement made only to the sick person or a formal declaration to the whole community? The latter is more likely. The person is declared unfit to participate in the rituals of the community, and all are warned to have no contact with him. It is even possible to translate “he shall be regarded as unclean” or “the whole community must see him as unclean.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .