wine

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, 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).

drink

In Telugu different verbs for humans drinking (tāgu / తాగు) and animals drinking (cēḍu / చేడు) are required.

complete verse (Genesis 19:33)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:33:

  • Kankanaey: “And-so they made-drunk their father on that night, then the older-sibling who was his child slept-with-him, but Lot didn’t know what happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “That night they gave their father new wine to drink. And the big daughter slept with him. Because he was very drunk from grape wine, he was not at all aware [that] she came to sleep, [or that] she got up and left.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore that night, they got- their father -drunk. Then the older child had-sex with her father. But because Lot was- too -drunk he was- not at all -able-to-know what had-happened.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So that night they caused their father to become drunk. And the older daughter went in and lay in bed with her father, and he had sex with her, but he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 19:33

So they made their father drink wine that night: So introduces the action that follows from the proposal made in verse 32. Made … drink wine is the same as in verse 32. Here again it will be necessary in some languages to say clearly that the wine made Lot drunk; for example, one translation says “they gave him wine, and that wine made him very drunk.” That night refers to the night of the proposal; thus the daughters immediately put the plan into action.

Went in, and lay may be considered a single event, that is “spent the night,” “slept with,” “had sex with.”

He did not know when she lay down or when she arose: Lot not being party to the scheme, and being heavily drunk, is described as being unaware of what has happened. If the Revised Standard Version wording is unclear, we may also say, for example, “Being drunk he did not know when his daughter laid down with him or when she left him.” In some languages the detail of this statement seems like unnecessary repetition of the previous clause, and translators just say, for example, “he didn’t know what she [his daughter] did because he was very drunk.”

The narrator’s description of the older daughter’s night with her father is repeated almost exactly for the second daughter in verse 35.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .