The Hebrew and Greek that is translated literally as “horn of salvation” and less metaphorically as “mighty savior” in some English versions is translated along those lines in many languages as well:
- Uma: “a powerful War chief who brings salvation”
- Una “a very powerful Person to us who will rescue people” (source for this ans above: Dick Kroneman)
- Elhomwe “powerful savior” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Mairasi: “the strong One Who will save us” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Bariai: “this man came to retrieve us back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
In Uab Meto, however the term for “horn” is also used metaphorically for “hero” and in Balinese the term for “tusk,” which suggests “champion/hero” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) it is translated as “our mighty Saviour.” Ernst Wendland (1998, p. 155f.) explains: “A literal rendering of the Greek ‘horn of salvation’ causes real problems in Chichewa due to the strong association that an animal ‘horn’ has with the local practice of sorcery (e.g. a ‘sorcerer’ is referred to as wanyanga ‘person of a horn’). Since the horn was a symbol of strength in biblical times, [we] translated this metonym as ‘our mighty Saviour.'”
