bread, loaf

The Greek term that is translated in English as “bread” or “loaf” is translated in Samo, it is translated as “Sago,” which serves “like ‘bread’ for the Hebrews, as a generic for food in the Samo language. It is a near-perfect metonymy that has all the semantic elements necessary for effective communication.” (Source: Daniel Shaw in Scriptura 96/2007, p. 501ff.)

In Chol it is translated as waj, the equivalent of a tortilla. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)

John Beekman (in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 180f. ) explains: “The word ‘bread’ in Scripture primarily occurs as either a specific term for bread (including the Lord’s Supper), or as a generic term for food. It is not surprising, however, the some aboriginal groups use something other than bread as the staff of life. The Chols, with their cultural focus in the cultivation of corn, use waj, a type of thin corn flake. Since a meal is not complete without this main item of food, the term has been extended to include any other foods which may be served along with waj. While bread is known to them, its use is limited to a few occasions during the year when it functions as a dessert. In translating this term in the Chol New Testament, consistent use has been made of the word waj whenever the function of bread as a basic food was in focus. John 6:35, “I am the bread of life,” was thus translated with this word. If the word for bread had been used, it was feared that the Chol would compare Christ to the desirable, but not absolutely necessary, dessert.”

Robert Bascom adds his thoughts to this in relation to other Mayan languages (in Omanson 2001, p. 260): “In many Mayan languages, ‘bread’ can be translated waj or kaxlan waj. The first term literally means anything made from corn meal, while the second term literally means ‘foreigner’s waj,’ and refers to the local wheat-based sweet breads which are so popular within the broader European-influenced culture of the region. On the one hand, waj would be a better dynamic equivalent in cases where ‘bread’ meant ‘food,’ but in cases where the focus is literal or the reference well-known, kaxlan waj would preserve a flour-based meaning (though in biblical times barley was more in use than wheat) and not insert corn into a time and place where it does not belong. On the other hand kaxlan waj is not the staff of life, but refers to a local delicacy. In cases such as these, it is even tempting to suggest borrowing pan, the Spanish word for ‘bread,’ but native speakers might respond that borrowing a foreign word is not necessary since both waj and kaxlan waj are native terms that cover the meaning (though in this case, perhaps not all that well).”

In Mairasi it is translated bread tubers. Tubers are the main food staple and are therefore synonymous with food. (Source: Enggavoter 2004). In Yagaria, Kâteand Yabem it is translated as “taro cake.” (Source: Renck, p. 101)

Translation commentary on Sirach 20:16

A fool will say, “I have no friend: A fool is literal, but Good News Translation‘s opening, “Then that fool,” is perceptive. It pictures this verse as describing the attitude of the fool of verses 13-15 (“that fool”) when he discovers what people really think of him (“Then that fool”). He has been described by Good News Translation as “A stupid person” (verse 13), but in this climactic verse, the insulting noun is used (“that fool”). This pathetic fellow, who has given little and criticized loudly, who has lent things and then wanted them back, all the while thinking he was being so nice, can’t understand why he has no friends, and wails, I have no friend. Good News Translation translates this “Nobody likes me.” By making “Nobody” the subject of this clause rather than I, Good News Translation has the fool shift the blame away from himself to the other people. Contemporary English Version uses indirect speech for this line: “Fools think they have no friends.” This sounds flat and colorless.

And there is no gratitude for my good deeds: As we have seen (verses 13-15), this person has really not done any good deeds, but he thinks of them that way. Good News Translation “what I do for them” is equivalent to my good deeds. Using direct discourse here will be a dramatic and natural way to translate in most languages; for example, “No one thanks me for the good things I do!”

Those who eat my bread speak unkindly: Those who eat my bread can be taken fairly literally to mean “those who eat at my table,” “the guests in my home,” but Good News Translation takes it more broadly to refer to those for whom the fool has done all the nice things mentioned (see the comments on courtesies in verse 13), so it says “They’ll take what I give them.” “What I give them” would include not only food (bread), but anything mentioned in verses 13-15. Speak unkindly is literally “are evil with tongue.” The Greek does not say that the recipients speak about the fool “behind his back” (so Good News Translation). However, in this situation folks are going to do their talking behind the fool’s back (that is, when he is not present), and when people talk, at least in English, about someone “behind their back,” they are not speaking kindly. A conservative model for this line might be “People eat food that I set before them, and then say ugly things about me.”

Concerning the last line of this verse, there is an important textual note to make for translators who have the Greek text before them: be aware that both Rahlfs and Ziegler have emended the text to say “those who eat his bread are evil with tongue.” This is not what the manuscripts say (they say “my bread”), and it is hard to imagine why this emendation has been made. (The basis for it is the Latin, but it really makes no sense without emending the previous two lines to agree with the Latin also; in the Latin the fool is not quoted at all.) Translators are urged to avoid it, and read the text translated by both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (also New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Revised English Bible, Box and Oesterley).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.