30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
The phrase that is translated into English as “a colt that has never been ridden” can be translated in Kalmyk much more succinctly than even the original Greek text since Kalmyk as arkhlata (архлата) a specific word for an unbroken colt. (source: David Clark)
In the Arhuaco translation of Luke 19:35 (in the English translation: “after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.”) the co-translator knew how unruly unbroken colts are so they translated “they held the donkey steady so that Jesus could get on it.” (source: Paul Lundquist in The Bible Translator 1992, p. 246 .)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:30:
Noongar: “He told them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter, you will see a young donkey tied up which no-one has mounted. Untie the donkey and bring it to me.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “He said to them: ‘Go to the town that we are in front of there. When you enter into the town, you will see a young [lit., child] donkey that is tied. That donkey has not yet one time been ridden. Open/Untie its rope and bring it here.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He said to them, ‘Go to the village in front of you, and when you arrive there you will see the child of donkey tied, which nobody has yet ridden on. Untie it and bring it here.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He said, ‘You go into the village ahead of us, and when you arrive there you will see a young donkey tied up, that has never been ridden on since it was born. Untie it and bring it here.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Go to that town across-the-way. Right when you arrive there, you will come-upon a child of a donkey that has not been ridden that is tethered. Untie it to bring it here.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He said to them, ‘Go to that bario of Betfage. When you get there, you will see a young-one of a (type of) horse which is an asno tethered, which hasn’t yet been broken-for-riding. Untie it and bring it here to me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Bariai: “and said, ‘The two of you go to the village in front of us(incl) here, and then when you go arrive, you’re going to see a newly grown donki on which no one got up on yet and they’ve tied it with a rope. Untie its rope and then bring it to come.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “’Go to the village over there. When you arrive there, you will find a young donkey (colt) tied which has not gone with a person before. Untie it and and bring it to me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Mairasi: “’Go over there to that village in front of you!’ says Yesus to them. ‘Go until you get there [then] enter it, and you guys will soon find a small keledai [donkey] tied up. This keledai is one upon which people have not climbed up [and] walked around. Untie this keledai and bring it. ” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Hiligaynon: “He said to them, ‘You (pl.) go-ahead there to the next barrio. As you (pl.) enter, you (pl.) will-see a young ass that is-tied. It has never/[intensifier] been ridden. You (pl.) untie and bring (it) here.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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 Translator2002, 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 most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
hōs ēggisen eis Bēthphagē kai Bēthania ‘when he approached Bethphage and Bethany,’ two villages on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
pros to oros to kaloumenon Elaion ‘at the mountain called (Mount) of Olives,’ or, with different accentuation of Elaiōn (cf. Nestle), ‘Olive-grove’ (hence Revised Standard Version‘s “Olivet”), preferably the former. The phrase pros to oros is directly dependent on ēggisen and hence parallel to eis Bēthphagē kai Bēthania.
(V. 30) hupagete eis tēn katenanti kōmēn ‘go to the village opposite (you).’ For hupagō cf. on 8.42.
katenanti adverb ‘opposite,’ here used as an adjective with a noun.
en hē eisporeuomenoi heurēsete ‘in which you will find when you enter,’ taking en hē with heurēsete.
heurēsete pōlon dedemenon ‘you will find a colt tethered, or, tied up,’ preferably the latter.
pōlos ‘colt (of a horse),’ or ‘foal of an ass,’ or, in a more general meaning, ‘young animal.’ Though the exact meaning is difficult to ascertain, the first of the above interpretations appears preferable.
eph’ hon oudeis pōpote anthrōpōn ekathisen ‘on which no one has ever sat (with the purpose of riding it),’ hence ‘which no one has ever ridden.’
kai lusantes auton agagete ‘and, after you have untied it, bring it.’ kai connects the future heurēsete ‘you will find’ and the imperative agagete. lusantes has also the force of an imperative.
Translation:
Draw near, see on 7.12.
At the mount that is called Olivet, preferably, ‘to the mount (or, hill, or, place) called the Mount of Olives,’ the phrase “of Olives” characterizing the mountain or hill as a place well known for its olive trees. The rendering of this geographic name is sometimes a transliteration of the form used in the language of prestige in the area, cf. e.g. Olèfbergi in Sranan Tongo, but often it is some kind of translation, cf. ‘(the mount) of the olive-trees’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘the hill with the oil-trees’ (Tae’). In predominantly Muslim countries it may be better not to use a term built on the borrowing ‘olive,’ but on the borrowing zaitūn, the Arabic name for this fruit and its tree.
(V. 30) Opposite, or, “that lies in front of you” (An American Translation), ‘there before us’ (Leyden).
Where on entering you will find a colt tied, usually better a new sentence, ‘when you enter (it) you will come upon (or, you will see there) a colt that is tied.’ For find cf. on 7.10. A colt. Where horses are unknown, one may use a descriptive rendering, e.g. ‘a young riding-animal,’ or a borrowed term with or without classifier. Tied, or, ‘that is (or, is standing) tied up.’ The term used in some Indonesian languages refers to the pole or post to which the animal is tied up, e.g. Balinese (lit. ‘having-a-post’).
On which no one has ever yet sat, or, ‘no one has ever used it yet to ride upon.’
Untie it, or, ‘untie (or, make loose) its rope’ (Bahasa Indonesia).
Bring, sometimes a specific term, e.g. for leading an animal by a rope (Tae’ 1933).
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.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.