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).

Translation commentary on Proverbs 26:18-19

Verses 18-19 are a four-line saying in the form of a simile. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew order of the lines.

“Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death”: “A madman” is a crazy person, someone who lacks control over his acts. “Firebrands” is literally “flaming or burning arrows.” “Firebrands, arrows, and death” may be expressed as “deadly burning arrows” or “fiery arrows that kill people.” For people who do not understand “flaming arrows,” it may be possible to say “throws fire sticks” or “shoots deadly arrows.”

“Is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!””: “The man who deceives his neighbor” is a person who makes someone else believe something that is not true. The deceiver or joker cannot foresee the damage he is causing and so is like the crazy person shooting burning arrows in line 1. Contemporary English Version translates verses 18-19 “It is no crazier to shoot sharp and flaming arrows than to cheat someone and say, ‘I was only fooling!'”

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 26:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 26:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person who deceives another person and then says he was joking,
    is like a crazy person who plays with sharp weapons.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “People who deceive others and say
    "I was only joking"
    are like madmen holding torches
    and dreadful bows and arrows.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “A man who cheats his fellowman, and then he says that was just a joke, he is like a mad/[lit. bad head] man who shoots a blazing bow-and-arrow that can-kill.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “is the one who deceives his companion then he says that it was a (lit. his) joke.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “are as foolish as those who deceive someone else
    and then say, ‘I was only joking.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)