Illustration by Annie Vallotton, copyright by Donald and Patricia Griggs of Griggs Educational Service. More images can be viewed at rotation.org .
The following is a church window based on another image of Annie Vallotton of the same scene. This is installed in a church of the Union des Églises Baptistes du Cameroun in Mowo (Mokong), Cameroon.
Photo and the following description by Ken Hollingsworth
“The windows are open with no screens or glass. The pictures were fabricated by projecting the picture using an overhead projector on a piece of plywood. They were drawn on the plywood with charcoal. Then the fabricator cut pieces of iron rebar to make the picture. Then the iron pieces were welded together. Later, when the pictures were installed, they were painted with different colors to help the people ‘see’ the picture.”
The Greek that is often translated in English as “he breathed his last” is translated with idioms that include “his life-force broke-off” (Indonesian, Balinese), “his breath stopped (or: was-exhausted” (Ekari, Sranan Tongo), or “his breath (and body) parted-with-each-other” (Toraja-Sa’dan). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is idiomatically translated with er hauchte sein Leben aus or “he breathed out his life.”
The Greek that is typically translated as “spirit” in English is translated in Warao as “obojona.” Obojona is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions.” (Source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “with a loud voice” in English is translated in Low German idiomatically as luuthals or “loud-throated” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).
In Hindi a differentiation is made between the way that the different persons of the Trinity are addressed by a regular person or by another person of the Trinity. When Jesus addresses God the Father or when God the Father addresses Jesus, a familiar form of address is used, unlike the way that any of them would be addressed with a honorific (pl.) form by anyone else.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:46:
Noongar: “Jesus cried out loudly, ‘Father! I put my spirit into your hands!’ He said this and he died.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “After that, Yesus shouted loudly, saying: ‘My Father, I offer my spirit into your (sing.) hands!’ After he spoke like that, he died [lit., his breath broke].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Isa called loud, he said, ‘O Father, I give my soul into your holding/power.’ When he had said this, his breath snapped (euphemism for death).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus shouted out saying, ‘Father, I’m letting you take hold of my soul.’ And that was that, and his breath left him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus raised his voice saying, ‘Father, I entrust my spirit to you (sing.).’ He said that, then died.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus called out, saying, ‘Father, I commit/hand-over my spirit to you now.’ Straight away he then released (lit. caused-to-spring-out, fig.) it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, to-rare-ru (取られる) or “take” is used.
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