wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in various ways:

  • Amganad Ifugao / Tabasco Chontal: “(big) mind”
  • Bulu / Yamba: “heart-thinking”
  • Tae’: “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Palauan: “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton)
  • Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
  • Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
  • Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
  • Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Uma: “clearness” (source: Uma Back Translation)

In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and Andrea Bokros):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

wisdom ("heart wisdom")

In the Tzeltal translation for the dialectal variant of Highland Tzeltal (Biblia Tzeltal yu’un Oxchuc soc Tenejapa, 2001) the translation team used three different words to translate the Hebrew term that is translated as “wisdom” or “wise” in English. For the verses referenced here, it uses p’ijil-o’tanil or “heart wisdom.”

For the complete story and more background, please see wisdom (Proverbs).

understanding ("head wisdom")

In the Tzeltal translation for the dialectal variant of Highland Tzeltal (Biblia Tzeltal yu’un Oxchuc soc Tenejapa, 2001) the translation team used three different words to translate the Hebrew term that is translated as “wisdom” in English. One of them is p’ijil jol or “word wisdom” which is also used for “understanding,” good sense,” “intelligent,” or “insight.”

For the complete story and more background, please see wisdom (Proverbs).

complete verse (Proverbs 8:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 8:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “Please, listen to what wisdom announces/calls out and listen to what understanding/experience says.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Listen! Wisdom has been calling.
    Foresight has been proclaiming loudly.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Wisdom and understanding are like a man who preaches.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Listen because wisdom is calling/inviting, understanding raises (lit. does-strongly) its voice.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Proverbs 8:1

“Does not wisdom call”: The whole verse is a rhetorical question in Hebrew, and this feature is reproduced by Revised Standard Version and some others. However, the effect of the rhetorical question is to draw attention to the speaker and the speech that follows in the rest of the chapter; and many languages do this in other ways. In English, for instance, Good News Translation has “Listen! . . .” and Revised English Bible “Hear how wisdom calls. . ..” “Wisdom” is as in 1.2 and is again personified as in 1.20-33. For “call” see 1.21, where Revised Standard Version renders the same Hebrew verb “cries out.” In some languages that require an object for the verb “call,” translators say something like “. . . calls out for us [plural, inclusive] to listen to her.”

“Does not understanding raise her voice?”: “Understanding” is as in 2.2. “Raise her voice” is the same as in 1.20. Since this line is very similar to line 1, some translations combine the two lines to say, for instance, “Everybody, listen! Wisdom is like a woman who stands and calls out to us.”

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 .