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)
  • Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)

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 HSL Bible Translation Group):


“Wisdom” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

See also wisdom (Proverbs) and knowledge.

Translation commentary on Wisdom 14:2

For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel: The writer looks at the ship from three viewpoints. Here in this line the focus is on those who planned the ship and paid for it. They did so as an investment; they thought the ship would make a profit. (It is not really a reference to those who actually designed the vessel, as Good News Translation has it.) One possible approach is “Some people had the ship built [or, had people build the ship] because they wanted the profit [or, money] it would bring them.” The connector For may be omitted.

And wisdom was the craftsman who built it: The first line of the verse speaks of the financing of the boat building project; this second line speaks of the actual construction. There is a textual problem here involving a change of only one letter, but it creates a very different understanding. Revised Standard Version is reading a text in which the word craftsman is feminine, referring to Wisdom. Many manuscripts, however, have “and a craftsman built it with his wisdom.” This is preferred by Good News Translation, New English Bible, Revised English Bible, Reider, New Jerusalem Bible, and the Handbook. Vílchez does not make a textual change, but interprets the line to refer not to the divine wisdom, but to “technical skill.” Translators could say “and someone used his technical skill to construct it.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.