complete verse (Luke 1:61)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:61:

  • Noongar: “So they said to her, ‘None of your relatives are called ‘John’.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “They answered: ‘But there have never been any of your relatives named that!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘Why?’ they said. ‘There is, surprise, not even one among your relations who is called that.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they said to Elizabeth, ‘Why? There isn’t even one of your relatives with that name!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘How come? Absolutely none of your (pl.) relatives is named that!’ they said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Those who had gathered all said, ‘But it’s like you have no relatives named like that.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 1:61

Exegesis:

hoti marks here the beginning of direct speech.

oudeis estin ek tēs suggeneias sou hos kaleitai tō onomati toutō ‘there is nobody of your relatives who is called by that name.’ ek tēs suggeneias sou ‘of your relatives’ goes with oudeis and stands for a partitive genitive, meaning ‘belonging to,’ or ‘being a part of.’

suggeneia ‘kinship,’ here in the concrete and collective sense ‘relatives,’ cf. on v. 36 (suggenis).

Translation:

None of your kindred. The partitive, often expressed by prepositions, cf. “in” (New English Bible), ‘among’ (Bahasa Indonesia), may also be indicated by simple juxtaposition of the collective noun and the reference to the part, e.g. ‘all your-relatives no one’ (Javanese, Toraja-Sa’dan). For kindred cf. on “kinsfolk” in v. 58.

None … is called by this name, or, ‘not one is called/named that way’ (Apache), “there is no one … who bears that name” (An American Translation), ‘no one … we (inclus.) call thus, or, by that name.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 1:61

1:61

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who bears this name.”: In 1:61 the people disagreed with what Elizabeth said in 1:60. They thought that the baby should not be named John because none of their relatives had that name. Some English versions express this as a contrast by using the word “but” at the beginning of what the people said. For example:

They said to her, “But you don’t have any relative with that name!” (Good News Translation)

Connect these verses in a way that is natural in your language.

There is no one among your relatives who bears this name: This statement implies that the people expected the baby to be given the name of someone in the family. In some languages it may be helpful to add implied information to make that clear. For example:

⌊We expected you to name the baby after a relative, and⌋ none of your relatives have that name.
-or-

⌊But don’t you want to name the baby after someone in your family?⌋ No one in your family has that name.

your relatives: The pronoun your is singular. It may refer only to Elizabeth’s relatives. However, it probably includes both her relatives and Zechariah’s. This is because Elizabeth and Zechariah were related by marriage. It was also common to name a son after his father or grandfather (father’s father). In some languages it may be more natural to use a dual or plural form here. For example:

your(plur)
-or-
your(dual)

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