neighbor

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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).

witness

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated in these ways:

  • “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca
  • “telling the truth regarding something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something” in Lalana Chinantec
  • “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “we ourselves saw this” in Desano
  • “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “ones who will confirm that these-things that you have seen are true” in Kankanaey (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • “ones who are to testify about these things, because it all happened before your eyes” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

complete verse (Proverbs 25:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 25:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who makes false accusation causes pain to people like when a knife has stabbed you, and/or if/when you are beaten with a big stick or like when an arrow has hit you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Accusing a friend falsely
    is like chopping him with a sword,
    It is like piercing [him] with a spear,
    It is like shooting [him] with an arrow.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “A man who witnesses a lie against his fellowman can-harm like a sword, something-to-hit, and bow.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It is as if you (sing.) have clubbed and wounded your (sing.) friend with a sword or arrow if you (sing.) story something that is not true concerning him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “To falsely accuse others in court
    is like attacking them with a war-club or a sword or a sharp arrow.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 25:18

“A man who bears false witness against his neighbor”: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation reverse the Hebrew line order, placing the comparison in the second line. For “false witness” see 6.19, where the same Hebrew expression is used. To “bear false witness” means to lie as a court witness against a “neighbor”, which has the sense here of “companion” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “friend” (Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version). See Exo 20.16, the ninth commandment, for a similar expression.

“Is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow”: Lying as a witness is compared with weapons of war, things that injure and kill people. “A war club” renders a term that means “that which shatters.” It is a weapon usually fashioned from a heavy stick or tree branch. The words “sword” and “arrow” are the names of other weapons. In translation it may be necessary to make clear the nature of the comparison, which Good News Translation calls “deadly as.” We may translate this saying, for example, “If you tell lies about someone, it is like attacking them with a war club, a sword, or with sharp arrows.”

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 .