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).

pride

The Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “pride” in English is translated as

  • “continually boasting” (Amganad Ifugao)
  • “lifting oneself up” (Tzeltal)
  • “answering haughtily” (Yucateco) (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “unbent neck” (like llamas) (Kaqchikel) (source: Nida 1952, p. 151)
  • “praising oneself, saying: I am better” (Shipibo-Conibo) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237).
  • “bigness of head” (existing idiom: girman kai) in the Hausa Common Language Bible it is idiomatically translated as or (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • “trying to make yourself the leader” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “make oneself important” (sick upspeeln) in Low German (source: translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “a haughty liver” in Yakan (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • “lift head” in Upper Guinea Crioulo (source: Nicoleti 2012, p. 78)

See also proud / arrogant.

neighbor - relative

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” or “relative” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) and the Buku Lopatulika translation (1922/2018) with just one word: nansi. This word can also be translated as neighbors whom you share a blood relation with because in Chewa context a community is mostly comprised of people of blood relations. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

complete verse (Psalm 101:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 101:5:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Anyone who slanders his relative in secret
    that one I will stop him;
    anyone who has arrogant eyes and proud heart,
    that one I will not let him scot-free.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “I will destroy those who speak lies about their neighbors.
    I will not tolerate proud and arrogant people.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “I will-destroy whoever keeps-speaking evil concerning his fellowman.
    I will- not -allow the deeds of the proud ones and the arrogant/[lit. ones-who-think-highly-of-themselves].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “A person who slanders his neighbor secretly,
    I will remove him to away,
    I will not tolerate a person
    who is proud in his heart.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Ambaye anamsengenya mwenzake sirini,
    nitakuja kumwangamiza.
    Mwenye kiburi na majivuno,
    sitakuja kumwacha.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “I will get rid of anyone who secretly slanders someone else,
    and I will not tolerate/allow to be near me anyone who is proud and arrogant.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 101:4 - 101:5

In verse 4a it is not certain whether the psalmist is talking about himself or of others in the statement “A crooked heart will depart from me”; the former is favored by the majority of commentators and translators. And in verse 4b the Hebrew for evil may be evil people or evil as such. The Hebrew verb “to know” in this line has the meaning of “to have experience of, to participate in”; so New English Bible and Good News Translation “have no dealings with.”

In verse 5 the king promises to destroy slanderers in his court (literally “to silence”; see “wipe them out” in 94.23). The meaning of “to silence” in other contexts makes it likely that here the meaning is also “to destroy, to kill,” which seems harsh (see “destroyed” in 18.40; “put an end to” in 54.5 and 73.27; “wipe them out” in 94.23; and “destroy” in verse 8, below). Some (New English Bible, Bible en français courant, New International Version, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) have simply “I will silence.”

In the second part of verse 5 the king promises to banish from his court anyone who is “proud and arrogant” (literally “haughty eyes and a proud heart”). Endure translates the Masoretic text verb yakal “to be able, to endure”; by using other vowels with the same Hebrew consonants, New English Bible (following the Septuagint) gets a form of the verb ʾakal “to eat”: “I will not sit at table with proud and pompous men.” Most translations have “endure, tolerate.” The proud person in verse 5 is described twice with expressions having the same meaning, and in some languages it may be necessary to have only one term or figure of speech.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .