The Greek that is translated as “lilies” in English is translated in Kalmyk as “tulips” (lilies are not known). “These have grown in the area for a very long time (since before the tulip mania of the 1630s in Western Europe) and have spread widely. Nowadays they provide a very colorful addition to the steppe in spring time, and fit the context of what Jesus was saying just as well as lilies.” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )
formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). This disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
glory
Since Saint Lucian Creole French does not have one term for the Greek that is typically translated as “glory” in English, David Frank (in: Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project , 1998) gives examples on how varied that term is translated in its many mentions in Luke:
“The primary meaning of that Greek word is ‘bright, visible splendor.’ The same word has a variety of secondary and extended senses. Since there is not a well-understood Creole word for ‘glory’ and we had to translate it according to meaning, the renderings of ‘glory’ in Creole were diverse, as the following examples, all from the book of Luke, show:
- Luke 2:9: èvèk klèté Bondyé té ka kléwé toupatou anlè yo (‘and God’s light was shining everywhere on them’)
- Luke 2:14a: An syèl yo ka glowifyé Bondyé, yo ka di i gwan (‘In heaven they are praising God, they are saying he is great‘)
- Luke 2:32b: èk i kay fè Izwayèl on plas pou moun konnèt (‘and he will make Israel a place for people to know‘)
- Luke 4:6a: Mwen kay ba’w tout pouvwa èk wichès sé wéyòm sala (‘I will give you all power and riches of these kingdoms’)
- Luke 9:26b: lè mwen kay vini an pouvwa mwen ka kléwé kon zéklè (‘when I will come in my power shining like lightning‘)
- Luke 12:27b: pa menm Sòlomonn an tout wichès li ki té sa abiyé otan bèl kon yonn anpami yo (‘not even Solomon in all his riches was dressed as nice as one of them’)
- Luke 14:10b: Sa kay ba’w lonnè wèspé an zyé lézòt sé moun-an (‘That will give you honor respect in the eyes of the other people’)
- Luke 17:18: ki viwé di Bondyé mèsi (‘who returned to tell God thank you‘)
- Luke 19:38b: Annou glowifyé Bondyé (‘Let’s praise God’)
- Luke 21:27: épi pouvwa èk gwan klèté (‘with power and great light‘)
- Luke 24:26: èk apwé sa i kay jwenn wèspé (‘and after that he will get respect‘)
complete verse (Luke 12:27)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:27:
- Noongar: “See the flowers in the bush! They don’t work. They don’t make clothes to wear. I tell you, King Solomon had much wealth but he did not have more beautiful clothes than these flowers.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “Consider the lives of flowers. They do not work, they do not make their clothes. But I say to you, even King Salomo with all of his riches, his clothes were not as pretty as those flowers.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Look at the flowers as to how they grow. They don’t work, they don’t weave. And-what’s-more I tell you, even King Sulaiman who was rich in old times, his clothes were not as good/nice as one of these flowers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Look at the flowers, how they are growing — they do not work; they do not weave, but in spite of that, I tell you that even King Solomon long ago, who was very rich and famous, the beauty of his clothing did not amount to even a little fingernail, compared to these flowers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “‘Look at the way the flowers get-big. They don’t work and weave their clothes, but I tell you that even King Solomon whose wealth was excessive, he had no clothes whose beauty equaled that of one of these flowers.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “And another thing, think about flowers. Isn’t it so that they don’t work hard or make cloth? But it’s the truth, even king Solomon who was spoken highly of for the big-size of his wealth, he indeed couldn’t dress to surpass one of these flowers in looking nice.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Solomon
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Solomon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wise” referring to 1 Kings 3:12. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
“Solomon” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about King Solomon (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Solomon .
1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)
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.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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