respectful form of "say/speak" (ossharu )

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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, ossharu (おっしゃる), the respectful form of iu (言う) or “say / speak” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Mark 5:30 – 5:31

Exegesis:

epignous en heautō (cf. 2.8 epignous … tō pneumati autou) ‘perceiving in himself,’ ‘sensing in himself.’

tēn ex autou dunamin exelthousan ‘the power from him which had gone out’: the meaning here, clearly, is ‘sensing that (the) power had gone out from him.’ Taylor, however, following Swete, argues that ex autou ‘from him’ is an additional statement concerning the power that resided in Jesus, and defends the American Standard Version rendition ‘the power proceeding from him had gone forth.’ As Field points out, however, what is said is not that Jesus was conscious of his power: he was conscious that it had gone forth. This is the meaning that practically all modern translations give to the phrase.

dunamis ‘power,’ ‘strength’ is used in Mark in three ways: (1) in the sense of ‘power’ as such, 5.30; 9.1; 12.24; 13.26; (2) with the meaning ‘miracle’: in the sg. 6.5; 9.39, in the pl. 6.2, 14 (3) personalized, 13.25 (‘the powers in the heavens’) and 14.62 (‘the Power,’ i.e. God).

epistrapheis (cf. 4.12) ‘turning,’ ‘turning around’ – here in a physical sense.

sunthlibonta (v. 24) ‘pressing,’ ‘crowding,’ ‘jostling.’

Translation:

Power must be translated with care, since a literal rendering may result in bad distortion of the meaning of the passage. For example, in Loma (Liberia) a literal rendering would denote that Jesus had lost his strength, i.e. had become helpless. In another language, this expression about ‘power going out of a person’ is a euphemistic, but common, way of speaking about the male function in sexual intercourse. In some languages, therefore, certain adaptations must be made, e.g. ‘person-heal-power’ (Loma (Liberia)) and ‘medicinal power,’ in which ‘medicinal’ means essentially ‘healing’ (Tabasco Chontal), and ‘know-how’ (Highland Oaxaca Chontal) in which one must use ‘know-how’ rather than literally ‘power’ or ‘strength,’ for the latter would be equivalent to saying that having lost his strength, he could do nothing in the future, until this was magically recovered – a parallel to common practices in witchcraft. Pamona renders ‘a miracle-power had gone out from Him,’ a precise and accurate expression.

It is not easy to render the obvious irony in the voice of the disciples who exclaim and yet you say…. This may be approximated in some languages by employing a double question, e.g. ‘You see the crowd pressing around you; then how can you say, Who touched me?’ Cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘But you see that the crowd is pressing round you, and then you say….’

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 5:31

5:31a

His disciples answered: Some translations place the phrase his disciples answered after what they said. In the Greek text, it comes before the speech begins. Place it where it is most natural in your language.

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples means “learners” who are in a relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him and live according to his teaching and example. In the New Testament disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went.

Here are some other ways to translate disciples:

• Use a term that refers to people who learn from a teacher or an expert. It is helpful if the term also implies that the learners are often with their teacher. For example:

learners/students
-or-
apprentices

Be careful not to use a term that would refer only to a student in a school or classroom.

• Use a term that refers to people who follow a teacher or leader by obeying his teaching. It is helpful if this term also implies learning from the teacher and actually following the teacher wherever he goes. For example:

followers
-or-
those who are committed/faithful (to a teacher/leader)

See how you translated this term in 2:15b. See also disciple in the Glossary.

answered: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as answered is literally “said.” In some languages a word like “said” may be more natural than “answered” because the disciples did not really answer the question “Who touched me?”

pressing in on You: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pressing in on is the same one that was translated “pressed around” in 5:24b. See how you translated it there.

5:31b

and yet You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’: In 5:31b the disciples asked a rhetorical question about Jesus’ real question in 5:30b. In their question the disciples repeated what Jesus had asked (but changed the words “my clothes” to the word Me).

The disciples used this rhetorical question to express their surprise at what Jesus had asked. There were so many people crowding around Jesus that his question seemed strange or unnecessary.

There are at least two ways to translate this rhetorical question.

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

And yet do you ask, “Who touched me?”
-or-
Why do you ask, “Who touched me?”
-or-
How can it be that you ask such a question as “Who touched me?”

• As a statement. For example:

It is very strange that you should ask “Who touched me?”
-or-
We do not understand why you ask “Who touched me?”

Use whichever form is most natural in your language for this kind of restatement.

In some languages it may be more natural to make 5:31b into an indirect question. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

How can you ask who touched you?

In some languages, “touching” a man or woman is a euphemism for sex. If this is true in your language, you may rephrase the disciples’ words to repeat the words that Jesus used in his question. For example:

…touched my clothes?

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.