envy / envious

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “envy” or “envious” in most English translations is, according to Nida (1952, p. 134), translated into Tzeltal and Tabasco Chontal in the following manner:

“Envy is bred of covetousness and self-centeredness. The Tzeltals, who recognize a covetous man as having a ‘small heart,’ say that an envious person has ‘a greedy heart.’ ‘Small hearts’ and ‘greedy hearts’ go together, and the soul shrinks in direct proportion to its greediness. The envious person is never satisfied, for he can never keep step with his own insatiable ego.

“The Chontal Indians, living in the low, swampy delta land of Tabasco in southern Mexico, regard envy in a more subtle way. They say of the man who is envious of his neighbor, ‘He did not want to see his neighbor.’ This describes the end result of envy. People cannot bear to see others enjoying the privileges which they insist should be their own. The envious man has acquired such a self-directed stare that he cannot take his eyes off self to see another’s enjoyment.”

In Central Mazahua is is translated as “jealous of each other, their fellow people,” in Sayula Popoluca as “hate those who have something” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Matumbi as sukya, which means “envy” but also “hate” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), and in Kupsabiny as “blackstomached” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation).

See also envy.

anger

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The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

Translation commentary on Sirach 45:18

The following verses refer to a narrative in Num 16. This is a good place for a paragraph break, as in Good News Translation. Good News Translation opens with “Once,” which is a device that gives notice to English-speaking readers that a narrative is about to begin. Some such signal would be helpful in other languages also.

Outsiders conspired against him, and envied him in the wilderness: These people were Outsiders in that they were not eligible to be priests. Another way to state it is “some men who were not priests” (Contemporary English Version). In Good News Translation in the wilderness is moved forward and becomes “while the people were in the wilderness.” Why Good News Translation names Moses is puzzling. In Num 16 the rebellion is directed against both Moses and Aaron, but here we are clearly talking about Aaron, and he is the person who should be named. And since this begins a paragraph, the name is needed, rather than the pronoun him the first time it occurs. A possible alternative for the first two lines is “Once, while the people of Israel were in the wilderness [or, desert], an angry group of men who were not priests became jealous of Aaron and rebelled against him.” As in Good News Translation, this model moves up the word “angry” as a rendering of in wrath and anger from the end of the verse.

Dathan and Abiram and their men and the company of Korah, in wrath and anger: In Good News Translation their men and the company of become simply “their supporters,” which is an economical move.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Once, while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, an angry group of men who were not priests became jealous of Aaron and rebelled against him. These were Dathan [or, They were led by Dathan], Abiram, and Korah with their supporters.

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.