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).

complete verse (Romans 13:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 13:10:

  • Uma: “If we love our companion, we will of course not do evil to our companion. So if we are loving, we fill-up/fulfill the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because if we (dual) really love our (dual) fellow-(men) we (dual) will really not do bad to him. Therefore if we (dual) love our (dual) fellow-(men) we (dual) (happen to) obey/follow all the commandments of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because if we hold our companions dear, then we cannot do harm to them, and we have already obeyed in this, all of the Law.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because if we love our companions, we will do them absolutely no evil, so we will thus obey all God’s commands.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because the person who loves his fellowman will not do any evil to him. Therefore the person who loves his fellow man may be said to know well the law because that which the law says to do is just what he is doing.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Romans 13:10

In Greek the first part of this verse is stated in the abstract (literally “love does not do wrong to the fellow-man”), but it is removed from the abstract by the Good News Translation. It is obvious that “love” refers to “the person who loves,” and so the Good News Translation makes this specific: Whoever loves his fellow-man will never do him wrong.

The last part of this verse literally reads “love is the fulfilling of the Law.” As in verse 8, the Good News Translation here takes “fulfilling” in the sense of “obeying” and the Law as a reference to the Jewish Law. The nouns “love” and “fulfilling” are rendered as infinitives: to love and to obey. The relations between to love and to obey may be variously expressed as means-result and condition-result—for example, “By loving one’s neighbors, one obeys the whole Law” or “If one loves one’s neighbors, one obeys the whole Law.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .