sheep

“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)

In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCAM, p. 70)

Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).

See also lamb.

complete verse (Luke 17:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 17:7:

  • Noongar: “‘If one of you has a servant and he is digging outside or perhaps looking after the sheep. When he comes in, you tell him to hurry into the house and eat his meal, do you?” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘For example there is a slave who farms or who watches livestock. When he returns from his work, what to we say to him? Do we say thus: ‘Hurry, come eat’?” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa said yet, ‘If for example one of you has a servant and his work is to plow the field or to care for the animals. When he arrives from his work do you say to him, ‘Na, eat now.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said again, ‘For example, if any one of you have a servant, and his work is to plough or to take care of your domestic animals, and he has just returned home in the afternoon, it’s not possible that you will say to him, ‘You eat first and then I’ll eat.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus continued to say, ‘If for-example one of you has a servant who is ploughing or pasturing sheep, if that servant of yours (sing.) arrives from where he was working, do you (sing.) do-you-suppose say to him, ‘Come right-away to eat’?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Think about this. Supposing there is one of you who has a slave who ploughs or tends sheep, what will you (sing.) order him to do when he returns from the field? Will you say at once to him, ‘Come here, eat’?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 17:7

Exegesis:

tis de ex humōn … hos … erei lit. ‘who of you (is there) … who will say?,’ with estin understood, more emphatic than ‘who of you will say?’ The expected answer is: no. humōn points back to pros tous mathētas autou in v. 1.

doulon echōn arotriōnta ē poimainonta ‘having a slave ploughing or tending sheep,’ describing the background circumstances of the subsequent narrative. The emphasis is on doulon as shown by its position before echōn.

arotriaō ‘to plough.’

poimainō ‘to tend (sheep).’

hos eiselthonti ek tou agrou erei autō ‘who when he comes in from the field will say to him.’ eiselthonti goes with autō which refers to doulon.

eutheōs parelthōn anapese ‘come along at once and lie down (at the table).’ parerchomai means to go to the place where one is going to do something, cf. on 12.37. For anapiptō cf. on 11.37.

Translation:

For the rendering of such rhetorical questions with suppositional force cf. on 11.5.

A servant ploughing or keeping sheep (i.e. as his habitual duty) may have to be recast, e.g. ‘a slave working for him at the plough or with the sheep, or, who ploughs for him and tends his sheep’ (cf. Nieuwe Vertaling), ‘the servant he employs as ploughman and herdsman’ (Willibrord); and cf. below, the quotation from Tzeltal. Ploughing, or, ‘who hoes’ (West Nyanja), ‘tilling the fields,’ ‘who turns the soil for him’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘who works the garden (with a hoe)’ (Kele), ‘farming’ (Zarma). To keep the sheep, i.e. ‘to be a shepherd’ (cf. 2.8), or more generically, ‘to tend the flock (cf. ibid.), or, the (small) cattle.’ For sheep see references on 15.4.

Field here refers both to the fields tilled (cf. 15.25) and those used for pasturage (cf. 2.8); to cover both by one term one may say, ‘the open’ (Fulah), ‘where he had been working’ (cf. Ekari), ‘his work’ (Tae,’ similarly in Tzeltal, which, moreover, transposes the reference to the jobs, cf. ‘if your servant arrives from work, from ground-breaking or caring-for-cattle for you…’).

At once, or, ‘without delay,’ ‘quickly.’

Sit down at table, cf. on 7.36.

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.