divorced (woman)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “divorced woman” in English is translated in Newari as “a woman who has been rejected by her husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

See also divorce.

widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow” (source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.) and in Newari as “husband already died ones” or “ones who have no husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

complete verse (Leviticus 22:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 22:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “But if (she) returns home after having become a widow or the husband has chased (her) away and she does not have a child, she may eat that food like if she was still a girl (at home).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But if the husband of the daughter of the priest dies, or if the husband causes her to leave, and she had no children, if she is living in her father’s home as before she got married, it is OK [for her] to eat her father’s food. But it is not OK for anyone else except for the members of the priest’s family and his slaves to eat from it.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But if she is-widowed or she and her husband/[lit. they of her husband] separate-from-each-other/divorce-each-other and/wherein they have-no child, and she will-live again with her father, she may-eat the food her father receives as priest.
    [You (plur.)] observe/heed carefully that you (plur.) the priest and your household only (are) the-(ones-who) may-eat the portion/share of the offerings which (are) for you (plur.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But if a priest’s daughter who has no children becomes a widow or becomes divorced, if she returns to her father’s house to live there like she did when she was young, she may eat the same food that her father eats. But no other person is permitted to eat any of it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 22:13

But: contrasting the case of a daughter who is still living with her layman husband, and the situation in which death or divorce has separated her from her husband before she had any children. If such a woman returned to her father’s house and submitted herself to his authority once again, she would again be permitted to eat the food provided for the priestly family. She was in effect reintegrated into the priestly family. This may have applied also to women who had had children who had died. The point is that she is childless at the time of her divorce or of her becoming a widow, and thus she has no one to care for her.

As in her youth: or “as she was before she got married,” indicating her renewed dependence on her father.

Outsider: see verse 10. Here again Good News Translation has rendered the idea more positively.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .