quietness

The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone bata to describe complete quietness. (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 105)

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

Mark 4:35-41 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 4:35-41 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

It was evening. Jesus got into a boat and called the disciples with him. The disciples got into the boat and they rowed off. The disciples rowed. Jesus took a mat and put it under his head and fell asleep. The disciples continued rowing. Suddenly a strong wind arose and the water began to boil. The wind grew stronger and stronger, and a storm began. Water began to get into the boat. The disciples tried to scoop out the water, but it still fell into the boat. The disciples began to call out to Jesus:

— What should we do? The water is pouring into the boat, we are going to drown, we are going to die!

Jesus woke up and saw that the wind was blowing and the storm was raging. He got up and said:

— Wind, be still! Waves, be silent!

The wind immediately ceased and the storm subsided. The boat sailed on calmly.

Jesus looked at the disciples and said:

— Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?

The disciples were very much afraid, seeing all this, and began to say to one another:

— Who is he that the wind obeys him?!

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Наступил вечер. Иисус сел в лодку и позвал с собой учеников. Ученики тоже сели в лодку, и они поплыли. Ученики гребли. Иисус взял подстилку, положил себе под голову и уснул. Ученики продолжали грести. И вдруг поднялся сильный ветер, вода стала бурлить. Ветер все усиливался, началась буря. Вода стала попадать в лодку. Ученики пытались воду вычерпать, но вода все равно попадала в лодку. Ученики стали звать Иисуса:

— Что нам делать? Вода заливает лодку, мы утонем, мы погибнем!

Иисус проснулся, увидел, что ветер дует и буря бушует. Он встал и сказал:

— Ветер, усмирись! Волны, умолкните!

Ветер тут же исчез, буря улеглась. Лодка спокойно поплыла дальше.

Иисус посмотрел на учеников и сказал:

— Чего же вы боитесь? Разве у вас нет веры?

Ученики очень сильно испугались, видя все это, и стали говорить друг другу:

— Кто же он такой, что ветер подчиняется ему?!

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 4:33-34 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 5:1-20 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 4:35-41 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 4:35-41 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:


© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)

Jesús estaba sentado en el barco y seguía a contar historias a todas las personas, después al anochecer ya acabó y les saludó, y dijo a los discípulos: “vamonos, acompañenme a otro lugar allá.”

Los discípulos subieron en el barco y el barco iba, y otras personas copiaron la idea y también subieron en sus barcos e iban, y otras personas también copiaron la idea y subieron en el barco e iban.

El barco iba y los discípulos estaban sentados, y Jesús estaba acostado en una almohada, profundamente dormido. El barco iba y después venía un viento fuerte y las olas crecían y el barco se movía violentamente en las olas y el agua entraba el barco.

Los discípulos estaban espantados y tenían miedo y dijeron: “Maestro nosotros vamos a hundir, a morir, ¿no te importa?”

Jesús se paró (y dijo): “Calmate, silencio” y el viento desvaneció y las olas grandes se calmaron y el barco movía suavemente.

Jesús preguntó: “¿Porqué tenían miedo, no tienen fe? Los discípulos lo miraban espantados y se veían uno al otro y dijeron: “¿Él, Jesús, qué clase de persona es? Él puede mandar que el viento obedezca y desvanece, y las olas se calman.” Todos lo miraban y estaban espantados y con miedo.


Jesus was sitting in the boat and continued to tell stories to all the people, and when the night came he finished and said goodbye to them and said to his disciples: “Let’s go, accompany me to another place, over there.”

The disciples got in the boat and the boat took off, other people copied the idea and also got in their boats and took off, and other people took the idea and also got in their boats and took off.

The boat sailed and the disciples were sitting and Jesus was lying down on a pillow, fast asleep. The boat sailed and afterwards a strong wind came and the waves got bigger and the boat was thrown about wildly on the waves and water entered the boat.

The disciples were scared and afraid and said: “Teachers, we are going down, we will die, don’t you care?”

Jesus got up (and said): “Calm down, be still” and the wind disappeared and the big waves calmed down and the boat moved gently on the waves.

Jesus asked: “Why were you afraid, don’t you have any faith? The disciples watched him with fright and they looked at each other and said: “This Jesus, what sort of person is he? He can order the wind to obey and it disappears, and the waves calm down.” They all looked at him with fear and terror.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 4:21-25 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 5:1b-5 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 4:39)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:39:

  • Uma: “Yesus got up and he rebuked the wind and waves, he said: ‘Stop, wind! Be-quiet waves!’ The wind did stop, and suddenly the lake became-still again.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa got up and he stopped the wind. And he spoke to the lake, he said, ‘That’s enough. Be calm.’ Immediately the wind stopped and the lake was very calm.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus woke and got up, and he told the wind and the waves to stop. And the wind stopped and the water became very peaceful.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then he got-up and he commanded the wind saying, ‘You (sing.) stop.’ He also said to the waves, ‘You be-still.’ Then the wind stopped and the waves also got-still.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, Jesus got up. After getting up, he spoke sternly to the wind, saying, ‘Die down now!’ And he also said to the lake, ‘Calm down!’ Well suddenly/unexpectedly the wind died down and it calmed absolutely.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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 are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 4:39

Exegesis:

diegertheis (only here in Mark) ‘awakening,’ ‘arousing.’

epitimēsen (cf. 1.25) ‘he stopped,’ ‘he checked.’

pephimōso (cf. 1.25) ‘Be silent!,’ ‘Be quiet!’ (used with the unclean spirit in 1.25).

ekopasen (6.51) ‘it abated,’ ‘it ceased,’ ‘it stopped.’

galēnē (only here in Mark) ‘calm,’ ‘stillness.’

Translation:

Rebuked is equivalent in some instances to ‘scold,’ but in many instances must be translated as ‘commanded the wind strongly.’

The sea is ‘the lake’ or ‘the water in the lake.’

Peace is often translated by two different types of expressions: (1) a term indicating cessation of war and (2) one denoting quietness, inactivity, or calm. It is the latter meaning which is important here, e.g. ‘be quiet,’ ‘be calm.’ In Southern Subanen one may say ‘calm; that’s enough.’

In Greek the word translated in the Revised Standard Version as be still refers primarily to quietness, in contrast with noise. However, in some languages the figure of cessation of violent movement (speaking of the waves) would be more meaningful, especially as the second part of the command to the waters of the lake.

The wind ceased is expressed in a number of ways ‘the wind stopped,’ ‘the wind went down,’ ‘the wind stood still,’ ‘the wind passed over’ (Tabasco Chontal), and ‘the wind healed’ (South Bolivian Quechua).

There was a great calm is in Piro ‘the water was doing nothing at all.’ ‘There were no waves’ can also be used.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .