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).
Usila Chinantec “sickness like mal de pinta” (a skin disease involving discoloration by loss of pigment and that also involved social isolation) (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.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 14:32:
Kupsabiny: “This is the law about a person who is weak who has a serious wound but is unable to bring the big things that are needed to be used as sacrifices for making him clean.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “These are the regulations for poverty-stricken patients who have caught a contagious skin disease must be made clean.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “These are the regulations/[lit. what-is-to-be-followed] concerning the becoming-clean of a person who has a dangerous disease on the skin and what he is-to-do if he can- not -afford the offerings required/necessary for becoming-clean.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘Those are the regulations for anyone who has a contagious skin disease and who is poor and cannot afford the usual offerings, in order that he can be with people again.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Yucateco as “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198), and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
McKnight’s English translation (publ. 2023) has it as Covenant Code. He explains (p. 301): “The law of Moses was a covenantal arrangement by God with the people of Israel. This code of conduct expected of them was not the same as law in the Roman world or what law means to us today. It is a revelation of God’s will for God’s covenant people but requires ongoing interpretation and adjustments.”
This is the law: New Jerusalem Bible translates “Such shall be the ritual…,” which seems to be closer to the intent of the writer. In the receptor language it may be advisable to use a plural such as “These are the regulations…” (New International Version). Compare 6.2 and 11.46-47.
A leprous disease: see the comments at the beginning of chapter 13 regarding the terms leprous, “leper,” and “leprosy.”
Cannot afford: see the similar expressions in verses 21, 22, and 30.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.