flute

The musical instrument that is most often translated as “flute” or “pipe” in English is more or less universally used, so it’s typically translated directly with the applicable term.

Since its cultural significance is sometimes different it might be translated with a different instruments is some cases (see also below). When in Matthew 11:17 and Luke 7:32 the flute is mentioned as an instrument played at a wedding, the Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) translates it as “we played the wedding drum for you” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 74), the Yakan and Kankanaey translations use “gongs” (source: Yakan and Kankanaey Back Translations), in Western Bukidnon Manobo “drumming” is used (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa “stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

Or in Jeremiah 48:36 where the flute is used for mourning, Bassa uses “funeral drum” (source: Newman / Stine) or Hiligaynon, while using “flute,” makes the meaning explicit: “like a lonely music of a flute for the dead” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation).

In the UBS Helps for Translators‘ Human-made Things in the Bible (original title: The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible) it says the following:

Description: The flute was a wind instrument consisting of a tube with a series of finger holes used to alter the tone. Some flutes were made of reed and could take several forms: the tube could be a cylinder or it could be more in the shape of a cone. There were instruments made of a single tube, while others had two tubes side by side. Often ancient double flutes or double pipes were arranged in a V-shape, with two separate reeds. One of these pipes had several holes while the other had only one hole and acted as a kind of drone, providing an unchanging tone to accompany the varying tones coming from the first pipe. Some pipes or flutes were made of other materials, such as wood, ivory, bone, or metal.

Usage: Sound was produced with the flute by blowing across an opening leading into a hole running inside the length of the instrument; in some cases the opening hole was in the end of the instrument while in others this hole was in the side of the instrument toward one end. With the reed pipe, on the other hand, a column of air was set in motion by blowing over a reed device, causing it to vibrate.

Translation: If there is no wind instrument available to translate “flute,” a different kind of wind instrument may be used.

The Hebrew word ‘ugav is usually understood to refer to a wind instrument. It is possible, however, that it is a generic term for “instrument” or even refers to a particular stringed instrument. In Job 21:12 and Job 30:31 it is identified as an instrument that expressed joy and contentment.

Psalms 5:1: The Hebrew word nchiloth appears only here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. It may mean “wind instruments” in general or “flutes” in particular. Extra-biblical evidence indicates that it may have been an instrument played for funeral laments.

Matthew 9:23: Here New Revised Standard Version, updated edition has “flute players”: According to Jewish tradition, even the poorest people were expected to have two flute players and a wailing woman for a funeral. In order to clarify the role of the flute players Good News Translation adds “for the funeral.” This information was immediately evident to a Jewish reader who was familiar with the funeral customs, but it will not be clear to other readers. Many cultures are familiar with the flute or other instruments that are played by blowing through a wooden tube. If no such instrument exists, then translators can say “those who played musical instruments for a funeral” or, as in Good News Translation, “musicians for the funeral.” See also flute players.

Men playing flutes (source: Louise Bass (c) British and Foreign Bible Society 1994)

Quoted with permission.

mourn

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Matt. 11:17 / Luke 7:32)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the multitudes).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Matthew 11:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 11:17:

  • Uma: “they say: ‘We invited you to play flutes, you did not want to be glad with us. We invited you to wail, you also did not want to weep with us.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘We beat the gongs for you, but you did not dance. We wailed but you did not cry.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘We are drumming for you, and you will not dance. We pretend mourning, and you won’t join in either.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘We (excl.) were certainly playing-the-gongs, but you refused to dance. Therefore we (excl.) sang-funeral-songs, but you still refused to join in.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They’re saying, ‘Whatever we (excl.) do, it doesn’t suit you (pl.). We play stringed-instruments for you but you don’t dance. We sing songs sung at burials but you don’t cry.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “‘We blew the flute for you to dance but you wouldn’t dance. And we sang sad songs, but you wouldn’t cry,’ they said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

second personal pronoun with casual register

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 choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses the casual variant kimi (君) is used, reflecting the casual nature of the children referring to one another. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 Translator 2002, 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.

Translation commentary on Matthew 11:17

We piped to you (Good News Translation “We played wedding music for you”): the “pipe” was in all likelihood a type of primitive clarinet, though it is impossible to define with precision what instrument is meant. Therefore it may be best to follow the example of those translations which generalize with a verb construction: “We played you a happy tune” (Barclay) and “we played at weddings for you” (Phillips). In those languages that cannot say “played” without indicating the instrument, translators can say “played on our flutes” or “played our instruments for weddings.”

Dance would be the round dance, performed by men on the occasion of the wedding.

We wailed (New English Bible “wept and wailed”) is translated “We sang dirges” by New Jerusalem Bible, “We sang you a dirge” by New American Bible, and “We played at funerals” by Phillips. The Greek verb may mean either “sing a funeral song” or “mourn.” This activity was the responsibility of the women at the funeral. To say “we sang funeral songs” for we wailed will probably be a good solution in many languages. The custom is widely enough practiced that even cultures that do not do it will often understand the meaning of the expression.

And you did not mourn is translated “but you wouldn’t cry” by Good News Translation and Phillips. New Jerusalem Bible attempts to reproduce the funeral scene: “and you wouldn’t be mourners.” Whatever is appropriate behavior at a funeral can be used here, as in “and you wouldn’t cry like you should at funerals” or “… wouldn’t cry like mourners.”

This verse will probably be in direct speech, although there will be languages where the most natural way is to say “one group shouts to the other that they played wedding music for them but the others didn’t dance, and they sang funeral songs but the others wouldn’t cry like mourners.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .