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 Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

See also formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese).

hungry

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” (or: “famished”) is translated in a number of ways:

  • Noongar: “without stomach” (koborl-wirt) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
  • Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chechen: “blinded by hunger” (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )

The Works of Mercy

The following is a stained glass window showing some of the works of mercy by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, 1884 for the All Saints’ church, Mountfield, England:

Photo by Julian P Guffogg, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0 license

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

complete verse (Matthew 25:35)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:35:

  • Uma: “For when I was hungry you have me food. I was thirsty, you gave me drinking water. I passed by your house, you had-me-stop-in.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For I was hungry and you fed me, and I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you treated-me-according-to-custom.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because when I was hungry, you fed me, and when I was thirsty, you let me drink. Even though you did not know me, you received me into your house.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “For I was hungry and you fed-me, and I was thirsty and you gave-me-a-drink. I was also a visitor/stranger in your place and you showed-me-hospitality.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because when I was hungered, you fed me, thirsty, you caused me to drink, I was a stranger/visitor, you welcomed me well.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me water to drink. When I was walking in a strange land, you gave me a resting place.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.