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 8:17

Once again the mature Solomon speaks. He tells us that once he, as a young man, determined to become wise, he then decided that the only way to do so was to ask God to give him Wisdom.

When I considered these things inwardly, and thought upon them in my mind: This begins a long When clause that does not end until the main clause of the sentence appears at the end of verse 18. It is desirable to break this into more manageable units. Good News Translation has combined these first two lines into a single brief statement, “And so I thought it over.” We may also say something like “And so I thought deeply about these things.”

The first clause in Good News Translation is then followed by the content of what Solomon thought about, which is expressed in a series of five independent clauses with the same infinitive structure: “To do x is to do y.” The conclusion (verse 18e) is handled as a separate sentence. This works well in English, but there will be other possible approaches.

That in kinship with wisdom there is immortality: The Greek does not indicate what kind of relationship is meant by kinship with wisdom. However, Good News Translation draws from the larger context in which the author describes Wisdom as a bride (verses 2, 9), so it speaks of marriage here: “to be wedded to Wisdom is to live forever.” Another possible model is “to have Wisdom as my bride [or, wife] means that I will live forever.”

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.