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 .

complete verse (Leviticus 13:42)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 13:42:

  • Kupsabiny: “But if a pink/purple wound develops there on the bald area, it is becoming a serious wound.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But if in the space where it is smooth and he has no hair, from the front of his head or from the back of his head, a reddish or whitish wound appears, it is a contagious disease.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But if there-is a reddish swollen-sore on his bald-head, he must show this to the priest. And if the reddish swollen-sore (is) a dangerous disease on the skin, the priest will-let-it-be-known/will-pronounce that he is dirty/unclean.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But if he gets a bright/shiny sore on his bald head or on his forehead, he has a contagious skin disease.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 13:42

But: contrary to the case of normal baldness, this verse introduces the idea of baldness due to disease, which was thought to make the person unclean. The transition word should indicate this contrast.

On the bald head or the bald forehead: since both types of baldness are being discussed here, it may not be necessary in some languages to distinguish them and mention each one explicitly. The use of “the bald spot” in Good News Translation covers both cases. In some languages one may say “the place where there is no hair” or “the place where the hair has fallen out.”

A reddish-white diseased spot: same expression as in verse 24.

Leprosy: see verse 2 and the introduction to this chapter.

Breaking out …: see verse 12. The repetition of the location of the baldness may be omitted if it would be awkward in the receptor language.

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 .