wine

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are translated as “wine” in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “grape juice pressed long ago (= fermented)” or “strong water” (source: Daud Soesilo). In Guhu-Samane it is also translated as “strong water” (source: Ernest L. Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. ), in Noongar as “liquor” (verbatim: “strong water”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Hausa as ruwan inabi or “water of grapes” (with no indication whether it’s alcoholic or not — source: Mark A. Gaddis), in sar as kasə nduú or “grape drink” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin), or in Papantla Totonac and Coyutla Totonac as “a drink like Pulque” (for “Pulque,” see here ) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. ).

In Swahili, Bible translations try to avoid local words for alcoholic drinks, because “drinking of any alcohol at all was one of the sins most denounced by early missionaries. Hence translators are uncomfortable by the occurrences of wine in the Bible. Some of the established churches which use wine prefer to see church wine as holy, and would not refer to it by the local names used for alcoholic drinks. Instead church wine is often referred to by terms borrowed from other languages, divai (from German, der Wein) or vini/mvinyo (from ltalian/Latin vino/vinum). Several translations done by Protestants have adapted the Swahili divai for ‘wine,’ while those done by Catholics use vini or mvinyo.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 221ff. )

The Swahili divai was in turn borrowed by Sabaot and was turned into tifaayiik and is used as such in the Bible. Kupsabiny, on the other hand, borrowed mvinyo from Swahili and turned it into Finyonik. (Source: Iver Larsen)

In Nyamwezi, two terms are used. Malwa ga muzabibu is a kind of alcohol that people specifically use to get drunk (such as in Genesis 9:21) and ki’neneko is used for a wine made from grapes (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext).

In some Hindi translations (such as the Common Language version, publ. 2015 ), one term (dākharasa दाखरस — grape juice) is used when that particular drink is in the focus (such as in John 2) and another term (madirā मदिरा — “alcohol” or “liquor”) when drunkenness is in the focus (such as in Eph. 5:18).

In Mandarin Chinese, the generic term jiǔ (酒) or “alcohol(ic drink)” is typically used. Exceptions are Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deuteronomy 29:6, Judges 13:4 et al., 1 Samuel 1:15, and Luke 1:15 where a differentiation between weak and strong alcohol is needed. The Mandarin Chinese Union Version (2010) translates that as qīngjiǔ lièjiǔ (清酒烈酒) and dànjiǔ lièjiǔ (淡酒烈酒), both in the form of a Chinese proverb and meaning “light alcohol and strong drink.” (Source: Zetzsche)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about wine in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also proceeds from the vine / anything that comes from the grapevine, wine (Japanese honorifics), filled with new wine, and wine (Gen 27:28).

Translation commentary on Sirach 31:29

Wine drunk to excess is bitterness of soul, with provocation and stumbling: The rather spare grammar of this verse allows it to be understood in either of two ways: (1) The phrase with provocation and stumbling may be taken to modify drunk, so that wine, drunk (a) to excess and (b) with provocation and stumbling, leads to bitterness of soul. New Jerusalem Bible and La Bible Pléiade take it this way. The Hebrew supports this understanding, although its wording is different. (2) On the other hand, it can be taken to modify bitterness, so that wine, drunk to excess, leads to (a) bitterness of soul, which leads to (b) provocation and stumbling. New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Revised English Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible take it this way. We can avoid the whole problem by reading the Hebrew, which is done by Good News Translation, New American Bible, and Luís Alonso Schökel. (Good News Translation‘s footnote translates the Greek.)

Another problem in the Greek is that the word translated stumbling is a very rare word. Stumbling is only an educated guess. What stumbling means in Revised Standard Version is impossible to say. New Revised Standard Version seems to understand it to mean literally stumbling while drunk: “Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit, to quarrels and stumbling.”

We suggest a translation for this verse that parallels “when to drink and when to stop” in verse 28:

• … but if you drink when you are angry and upset, * and drink too much, it will make you bitterly unhappy.
* Hebrew angry and upset; Greek unclear.

This rendering understands the grammar in the first way described above, in accordance with the Hebrew. It adopts the Hebrew “angry and upset” in the absence of any other convincing explanation for the rare Greek noun. “Upset” can translate the Greek word rendered provocation. Further, “when you are angry and upset” corresponds to “when to drink” in verse 28, and “too much” corresponds to “when to stop.” The two verses together would look like this:

• If you know when to drink and when to stop, wine can make you happy and cheerful, but if you drink when you are angry and upset, * and drink too much, it will make you bitterly unhappy.
* Hebrew angry and upset; Greek unclear.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.