island, Samothrace

The Greek that is transliterated as “Samothrace” in English is translated more specifically as “the island of Samothrace” in some languages. Isthmus Mixe has “the land of Samothrace [which is] in the midst of the sea” and Eastern Highland Otomi uses “little land of Samothrace which sits in the water.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

See also Cyprus.

Sabbath

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”).

(Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)

In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ​ថ្ងៃ​ឈប់​សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (​ថ្ងៃ​សប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff.)

In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original. Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:


“Sabbath” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Acts 16:13)

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, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Acts 16:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 16:13:

  • Uma: “On the Sabat Day, we (excl.) went to the banks of a stream outside town, because we (excl.) knew that there was a praying-place of the Yahudi people there. So, we (excl.) sat with several women and spoke to them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When it was Saturday, we (excl.) went out from that city to the riverside because we (excl.) assumed that there was a place there where the Yahudi prayed. We (excl.) sat there and spoke to the women gathered there.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then on Saturday which is the Day of Rest, we went out of the village and we went to the shore of the river because we wanted to see if there was there a place where the Jews gathered to pray to God. There were some women who were gathered there, and we sat down and talked to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “On the day for-resting, we (excl.) left the town, and we (excl.) went to the edge of the river, because that reportedly was the praying-place of the Jews. We (excl.) sat-down and conversed-with the women who had gathered there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “We(excl.) found out that there was indeed a prayer-place there in Filipos, but it was on the shore of the river outside the city. Therefore, when it was the Day of Rest, we (excl.) went there. On our (excl.) arrival, they were already gathered. They were all women. Well, we (excl.) sat down with them and taught them the Good News.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 16:13

The Sabbath day referred to is evidently the first Sabbath day after their arrival in the city. Out of the city is literally “out of the gate” but the gate referred to is the “city gate” (New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible). The river mentioned is the Gangites (or Angites).

Place for prayer (see Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Barclay) translates a word which generally means merely “prayer,” but here and in verse 16 it means “place for prayer,” a meaning which is also attested outside the New Testament. It is better to translate this term in the generalized sense of “a place for prayer” rather than with a specific meaning of “synagogue,” since Luke did use the word synagogue elsewhere and could have used it here had he so desired.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .