scoundrel

The Hebrew that is translated as “scoundrel” or “worthless person” or similar in English is translated in Vidunda as “troublemaker” and Kutu as “very evil person.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Judg 19:22)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the old man.

complete verse (Judges 19:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 19:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “But/And as those visitors were relaxing/enjoying selves, some hooligans of the city came and surrounded the house where the visitors were in order to break down the door saying to the man/owner of the home, ‘Bring that man out for us to sleep with (him).’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Just while they were enjoying themselves, suddenly, some bad people of that city surrounded that house. Knocking on the door they said to the old man who owned the house — "Bring out the man who came into your house, we want to have sex with him."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “While they were-rejoicing, some wicked men suddenly surrounded the house and pounded-on the door. They were-shouting to the old-one who is the owner of the house, ‘Bring-out your (sing.) male visitor for we (excl.) will-have-sex with him.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “While they were having a good/joyful time together, some wicked men from that city surrounded the house and started to bang on the door. They shouted to the old man, ‘Bring out to us the man who has come to your house. We want to have sex with him.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.