neighbor

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).

In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)

In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

Translation commentary on Proverbs 25:17

“Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house” is literally “Make your foot precious from the house of your neighbor” and means to make your visits rare; that is, “Don’t go too often into your neighbor’s house.” The reason for this advice is given in the next line.

“Lest he become weary of you and hate you”: “Lest” opens the second line in the same way as the second line of verse 16. “Become weary” is the same verb as “be sated” in verse 16, but here it has the sense of “get tired of you” or “get too much of you.” “Hate” is kept in many translations, but some feel the sense in this saying is “dislike.” Contemporary English Version translates “Don’t visit friends too often, or they will get tired of it and start hating you.” Scott links this verse with verse 16 and translates “So be infrequent in visiting your neighbor’s home, lest he see too much of you and begin to dislike you.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

complete verse (Proverbs 25:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 25:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do not go to your neighbor’s house all the time, because (it) may make him despise you and begin to refuse you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Don’t go too often to your relatives’ place.
    If you do you it will make them annoyed [with you].” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Like also if you (sing.) keep visiting your (sing.) neighbor, for he might get-tired-of-it and hate you (sing.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Do not continually go to the house of your (sing.) friend because he will become-tired-of you (sing.) and will not-like you (sing.).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “Do not go to your neighbor’s house very often to talk with him;
    if you go very often, he will get tired of listening to you and start to hate you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)