vine

The Greek that is translated in English typically as “vine” is translated in Lak as къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра: “the (grape-)cluster tree.”

Vitaly Voinov tells this story:

“Laks (who live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan) historically have had no experience with planting and tending vineyards. They buy grapes at the market or the store, but that’s about all they know of grape growing. Thus, in field testing, none of the readers could picture the primary image of this chapter. The translator’s initial attempt of rendering ‘vine’ as ‘grape stalk’ met with complete non-understanding. After much discussion of the problem and potential solutions, we settled on what one of the field testing respondents suggested to remedy the problem: ‘vine’ was rendered as ‘the (grape-)cluster tree’ (къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра). Technically grapes of course don’t grow on trees, but something had to be put in the text, and it had to be said in a way that the average reader/hearer could understand it. The Lak team could have borrowed the Russian word for ‘vine’ (лоза), but since this is a very low-frequency word in the Russian language, it’s likely that many Laks wouldn’t know the Russian word either. So the team settled for a reduction of accuracy in order to achieve greater clarity. After all, the primary point of importance in this passage is not a horticultural analysis, but a metaphorical comparison to the spiritual world, to the relationship between the Father, His Son, and the followers of Jesus. This rendering allows readers to get to the core of this meaning without getting tangled up in unknown terms.”

tenants (of a vineyard) / winegrower

The Greek that is translated as “tenants (of a vineyard)” or similar in English is translated in the Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012) as Winzer and in Luxembourghish as Wënzer, both “winemaker (vintner).” The area were Pfälzisch and Luxembourghish are spoken are traditional wine making areas and this is the commonly used term.

The same term is also used in John 15:1 for (English) “winegrower.” (Source: Zetzsche)

Christ the grapevine (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of Christ as the grapevine by Ulyana Tomkevych.

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

complete verse (John 15:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:1:

  • Uma: “Yesus said: ‘I am the true tree trunk, and my Father is the owner of the field/garden.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa told a parable, he said to his disciples, ‘I am figuratively the stock of a good plant and my Father is figuratively the one who cares for this plant (lit. what is planted).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I,’ said Jesus, ‘am the trunk of the paras plant, and my Father God is the owner of the plant.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then he said illustrating, ‘I am the true/correct base of the grape-plant, and my Father is the care-taker.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus continued his teaching of his disciples though, for he was going to finish first what he wanted to say to them. He said, ‘I am the one who is the true like base and stem of an ubas plant, and as for my Father, he is the one who is the Cultivator.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I am like a vine of grapes and there is no other like me. My Father is like a worker who tends the grape garden.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 15:1

On the use of I am in the Gospel of John, see comments at 4.26; for the first use of I am with a predicate, see 6.35.

The adjective real first appears in 1.9 in the phrase “real light” (see comments there).

In the Old Testament Israel is sometimes spoken of as a vine, and sometimes as a vineyard, and that is perhaps the background of the imagery used in this verse. In these Old Testament passages two emphases are made: (1) Israel’s pure and favored origin, and (2) Israel’s degenerate nature. See, for example, such passages as Psalm 80.8-16; Isaiah 5.1-7; Jeremiah 2.21; Ezekiel 15.1-8; 19.10-14; Hosea 10.1. Similar uses of the vine imagery are found in Jewish rabbinical literature, as well as in the New Testament (Matt 21.33-46). The portrayal of Jesus as the real vine is made in order to contrast him with Israel, which God planted like “a real vine” (the Septuagint of Jer 2.21 speaks of Israel as the real vine, the same words used here), but which became degenerate and worthless. In this way John again focuses attention on Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish faith. Although in the papyri the word here rendered vine is sometimes used with the meaning of “vineyard,” in this passage the meaning vine is clear.

There are several serious complications in translating vine. Some translators make the mistake of selecting a term which indicates merely a vining plant; for example, in one language the term selected identified a sweet potato vine, and in another the term identified a kind of rattan vine which grows in the jungle but does not produce edible fruit. In yet another language the term for vine simply meant a squash vine. Obviously what is necessary is an expression which will identify a plant which produces fruit and continues year after year. The only equivalent in some languages is “a tree that produces good fruit.” In others there is a borrowed term for “grapes.” when grapes are known but not the vine which produces then. This term may be the best choice, and if it is used, a descriptive term may be added, for example, “grape tree,” where “tree” identifies any woody plant.

Another translational problem involves finding an adequate term for real. The meaning here is not that the vine actually exists, but that it is the genuine vine, in contrast with a false one. This concept of genuineness may be expressed in some languages by terms related to the meaning of “trustworthy”; that is, the real vine is literally “the vine that can be trusted,” in the sense that it can be trusted to produce good fruit, rather than bad fruit or no fruit at all.

This is the only “I am” passage in the Gospel of John where the equation is extended to include another; here Jesus is the real vine, and his Father is the gardener. The translations vary in the choice of gardener or “vinedresser” (New American Bible “vinegrower”). Elsewhere in the New Testament the word is used in 2 Timothy 2.6; James 5.7; and in the parable of the tenants in the vineyard (Matt 21.33-36; Mark 12.1-12; Luke 20.9-19). In the passages in 2 Timothy and James, Good News Translation renders it by “farmer.” while in the parable of the tenants in the vineyard it is translated “tenant.” In some languages the equivalent of gardener is simply “one who takes care of the vine,” or, in some cases, “one who takes care of the ground around the vine,” since in many languages the focus is upon care of the ground, not upon care of the plant itself.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .