purple

The Greek that is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).

In Kasua was a little bit more involved, as Rachel Greco recalls (in The PNG Experience ):

“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.

“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.

“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.

“God did not disappoint.

“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.

“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.

“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.

“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?

“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.

“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”

The poor man (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1979).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

 

 

The Rich Man and Lazarus (image)

The parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus is illustrated for use in Bible translations in West Africa by Wycliffe Cameroon like this:

Illustration 1999 Mbaji Bawe Ernest, © Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. Used with permission.

every day

The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “every day” in English is translated in Chichewa as “day and day.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Luke 16:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 16:19:

  • Noongar: “‘A man had much money. He wore beautiful clothes every day, and he ate and drank everything he wanted.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘There was a rich man. His clothes were like the clothes of a king, all of them were expensive. His everyday life was like a person-having-a-feast.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then Isa said, ‘There was a rich man who always dressed in very expensive clothes and every day his food was only good. He had nothing lacking.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus spoke again, ‘There was a man who was very rich, and this rich man was dressed in very expensive cloth, and every day he only ate those things which were very expensive and very delicious.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then Jesus related-a-story and said, ‘There was a rich-man who wore the most-expensive clothes and was always giving-feasts and making-merry.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus also included in his teaching this illustration of his which was like this. He said, ‘There was a rich person whose clothes were wholly of first-class material, and well, because he was rich, he really had-as-much-as-he-wanted of good foods every day.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 16:19

Exegesis:

anthrōpos de tis ēn plousios ‘there was (once) a rich man.’ No connexion with the preceding is indicated or suggested. Cf. also on v. 1.

kai enedidusketo porphuran kai busson ‘and he used to dress in purple and fine linen.’ The imperfect tense suggests habitual conduct.

endiduskomai ‘to dress oneself.’

porphura ‘purple,’ hence ‘purple garment,’ here referring to the upper garment.

bussos ‘fine linen,’ hence ‘fine linen cloth,’ here referring to the undergarment. Both words suggest expensive clothing.

euphrainomenos kath’ hēmeran lamprōs ‘enjoying himself splendidly every day.’ The participial clause is syntactically subordinate to the preceding clause but semantically of the same order. euphrainomenos refers probably to the feasts which the rich man gives.

lamprōs ‘splendidly,’ ‘luxuriously.’

Translation:

Who was clothed (or, used to dress) in purple and fine linen, or, ‘his garments were of purple (cloth) and fine linen.’ One may have to shift to terms for garments, and or/material known in the culture as expensive and luxurious, e.g. ‘in silk and satin’ (Tae’ 1933), or to make that connotation explicit, e.g. .’.. in expensive red and white cloth’ (cf. Kekchi), ‘beautifully dressed in a smooth sarong of fine cloth’ (cf. South Kekchi), ‘in a luxurious robe and shirt,’ “in the most expensive clothes” (Good News Translation).

Feasted sumptuously, or, ‘was having (lit eating) big feasts’ (Sranan Tongo), and cf. the note on “making merry” in 12.19.

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.