demon

The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated/transliterated in English as “demon” is translated in Central Mazahua as “the evil spirit(s) of the devil” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).

In Sissala it is translated with kaŋtɔŋ, which traditionally referred to “either a spirit of natural phenomena such as trees, rivers, stones, etc., or the spirit of a deceased person that has not been taken into the realm of the dead. Kaŋtɔŋ can be good or evil. Evil kaŋtɔŋ can bring much harm to people and are feared accordingly. A kaŋtɔŋ can also dwell in a person living on this earth. A person possessed by kaŋtɔŋ does not behave normally.” (Source: Regina Blass in Holzhausen 1991, p. 48f.)

In Umiray Dumaget Agta it is translated as hayup or “creature, animal, general term for any non-human creature, whether natural or supernatural.” Thomas Headland (in: Notes on Translation, September 1971, p. 17ff.) explains some more: “There are several types of supernatural creatures, or spirit beings which are designated by the generic term hayup. Just as we have several terms in English for various spirit beings (elves, fairies, goblins, demons, imps, pixies) so have the Dumagats. And just as you will find vast disagreement and vagueness among English informants as to the differences between pixies and imps, etc., so you will find that no two Dumagats will agree as to the form and function of their different spirit beings.” This term can also be used in a verb form: hayupen: “creatured” or “to be killed, made sick, or crazy by a spirit.

In Yala it is translated as yapri̍ija ɔdwɔ̄bi̍ or “bad Yaprija.” Yaprijas are traditional spirits that have a range presumed activities including giving or withholding gifts, giving and protecting children, causing death and disease and rewarding good behavior. (Source: Eugene Bunkowske in Notes on Translation 78/1980, p. 36ff.)

In Lamnso’ it is translated as aànyùyi jívirì: “lesser gods who disturb, bother, pester, or confuse a person.” (Source: Fanwong 2013, p. 93)

In Paasaal it is translated as gyɩŋbɔmɔ, “beings that are in the wild and can only be seen when they choose to reveal themselves to certain people. They can ‘capture’ humans and keep them in hiding while they train the person in herbalism and divination. After the training period, which can range from a week to many years, the ‘captured’ individual is released to go back into society as a healer and a diviner. The gyɩŋbɔmɔ can also be evil, striking humans with mental diseases and causing individuals to get lost in the wild. The Pasaale worldview about demons is like that of others of the language groups in the area, including the Northern Dagara [who use kɔ̃tɔmɛ with a similar meaning].” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)

See also devil and formal pronoun: demons or Satan addressing Jesus.

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 32:17

This verse is one sentence in Hebrew, but in some languages more than one sentence may be needed. Translators should use a style that is appropriate and natural in their language.

They sacrificed to demons: “to sacrifice” means to offer sacrifices, usually of animals. Only here and in Psa 106.37 does this noun occur. Demons refers to the “foreign gods,” who were thought of as representing demons. Some translators may wish to keep the word demons (“dirty or evil spirits”) and translate similarly to Contemporary English Version:

• You offered sacrifices
to demons, those useless gods

Which were no gods: that is, they were not really divine, but demonic; so Good News Translation says “gods that are not real.” But the Hebrew text may be translated “not to God” (New Revised Standard Version), and this seems preferable. See 1 Cor 10.20. So “rather than offering them [the sacrifices or animals] to God” will be a good model.

Gods they had never known: see 9.24.

New gods that had come in of late: that is, gods they got to know after they had settled in Canaan. This does not mean that those gods had arrived recently in Canaan, but that they had recently become known to the Israelites. So we may say “gods they [or, you] had just come to know.”

Whom your fathers had never dreaded: the verb is more or less parallel with never known of two lines above. It is used of religious awe, reverence, or respect. As elsewhere, fathers means ancestors.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They [or, You] offered sacrifices to foreign gods
rather than offering them to God.
These were gods that they [or, you] had just come to know,
gods that your ancestors had never worshiped.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .