The phrase that is translated in English versions as “in travail” or “in the pain of childbirth” is rendered in Kahua as “like a woman whose back is cracking.”
Language-specific Insights
kiss
The Hebrew and the Greek that is usually directly translated as “kiss” in English is translated more indirectly in other languages because kissing is deemed as inappropriate, is not a custom at all, or is not customary in the particular context (see the English translation of J.B. Phillips [publ. 1960] in Rom. 16:16: “Give each other a hearty handshake”). Here are some examples:
- Pökoot: “greet warmly” (“kissing in public, certainly between men, is absolutely unacceptable in Pökoot.”) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
- Southern Birifor: puor or “greet” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
- Chamula Tzotzil, Ixcatlán Mazatec, Tojolabal: “greet each other warmly” or “hug with feeling” (source: Robert Bascom)
- Afar: gaba tittal ucuya — “give hands to each other” (Afar kiss each other’s hands in greeting) (source: Loren Bliese)
- Roviana: “welcome one another joyfully”
- Cheke Holo: “love each other in the way-joined-together that is holy” (esp. in Rom. 16:16) or “greet with love” (esp. 1Thess. 5:26 and 1Pet. 5.14)
- Pitjantjatjara: “when you meet/join up with others of Jesus’ relatives hug and kiss them [footnote], for you are each a relative of the other through Jesus.” Footnote: “This was their custom in that place to hug and kiss one another in happiness. Maybe when we see another relative of Jesus we shake hands and rejoice.” (esp. Rom. 16:16) (source for this and two above: Carl Gross)
- Kamba: “greet with the greeting of love” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
- Balanta-Kentohe and Mandinka: “touch cheek” or “cheek-touching” (“sumbu” in Malinka)
- Mende: “embrace” (“greet one another with the kiss of love”: “greet one another and embrace one another to show that you love one another”) (source for this and two above: Rob Koops)
- Gen: “embrace affectionately” (source: John Ellington)
- Kachin: “holy and pure customary greetings” (source: Gam Seng Shae)
- Kahua: “smell” (source: David Clark) (also in Ekari and Kekchí, source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- San Blas Kuna: “smell the face” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff.)
- Chichewa: “suck” (“habit and term a novelty amongst the young and more or less westernized people, the traditional term for greeting a friend after a long absence being, ‘clap in the hands and laugh happily'”)
- Medumba: “suck the cheek” (“a novelty, the traditional term being ‘to embrace.'”)
- Shona (version of 1966) / Vidunda: “hug”
- Balinese: “caress” (source for this and three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel; Vidunda: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Tsafiki: earlier version: “greet in a friendly way,” later revision: “kiss on the face” (Bruce Moore [in: Notes on Translation 1/1992), p. 1ff.] explains: “Formerly, kissing had presented a problem. Because of the Tsáchilas’ [speakers of Tsafiki] limited exposure to Hispanic culture they understood the kiss only in the eros context. Accordingly, the original translation had rendered ‘kiss’ in a greeting sense as ‘greet in a friendly way’. The actual word ‘kiss’ was not used. Today ‘kiss’ is still an awkward term, but the team’s judgment was that it could be used as long as long as it was qualified. So ‘kiss’ (in greeting) is now ‘kiss on the face’ (that is, not on the lips).)
- Kwere / Kutu: “show true friendship” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth and kissed (his feet).
lion
There are no lions in Bawm country, so the Bawm Chin translation uses “a tiger with a mane” where the Greek term for “lion” is used and in Sranan Tongo the “roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8 is a krasi tigri, an “aggressive tiger.”
In the Kahua culture, lions are not known either so the Kahua translation used “fierce animal.”
In 1 Peter 5:8, the Uripiv translation uses “a hungry shark” instead of a roaring lion.
Sources: David Clark for Bawm Chin and Kahua, Japini 2015, p. 33, for Sranan Tongo, and Ross McKerras for Uripiv)
sister
The Greek term that is translated as “sister” in English is rendered “elder sister” in Kahua because the church associated with the apostle John was assumed to be senior.
jewelry
In the Kahua culture, the generic term for jewelry refers only to things worn at weddings, so the Greek phrase that is translated as “jewelry” or “gold jewelry” is translated in Kahua as earrings and clamshells worn on the arms and legs.
keep warm
The Greek phrase that is translated as “keep warm” into English was translated into Kahua as “dress well” since “keep warm” sounds very strange in the permanently hot local climate.
Syzygus
The Greek “Syzygus” (from “syzyge”) may be a proper name, but this exegesis was not acceptable in Kahua because its equivalent form, Sisiko, means “farting” (source: David Clark) Most English translation translate it as something like “true companion.”
sporting analogies
In the Kahua translation sporting analogies are avoided because they imply that winning involves putting other people down.