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 )
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “shepherd” in English is translated in Kouya as Bhlabhlɛɛ ‘yliyɔzʋnyɔ — ” tender of sheep.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains:
“Then one day they tackled the thorny problem of ‘shepherd’. It was problematic because Kouyas don’t have herdsmen who stay with the sheep all the time. Sheep wander freely round the village and its outskirts, and often a young lad will be detailed to drive sheep to another feeding spot. So the usual Kouya expression meant a ‘driver of sheep’, which would miss the idea of a ‘nurturing’ shepherd. ‘A sheep nurturer’ was possible to say, but it was unnatural in most contexts. The group came up with Bhlabhlɛɛ ‘yliyɔzʋnyɔ which meant ‘a tender of sheep’, that is one who keeps an eye on the sheep to make sure they are all right. All, including the translators, agreed that this was a most satisfactory solution.”
In Chuj, the translation is “carer” since there was no single word for “shepherd” (source: Ronald Ross), in Muna, it is dhagano dhumba: “sheep guard” since there was no immediate lexical equivalent (source: René van den Berg), in Mairasi it is translated with “people who took care of domesticated animals” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar as kookendjeriyang-yakina or “sheep worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), and Kwakum as “those-who-monitor-the-livestock” (source: Stacey Hare in this post ).
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:18:
Noongar: “The couple were surprised when they heard these things, everything the shepherds said.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “All the people who heard the words of those shepherds were surprised.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And all who heard the news/information of those shepherds, were very amazed/wondered very much.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And everybody who heard the news that the ones pasturing animals had given, they were very much surprised.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and all who heard were amazed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “All who heard what those shepherds related were amazed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
pantes hoi akousantes ‘all who heard,’ without specific object; this is either the shepherds, cf. “them” (Phillips, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée) or what the shepherds told, cf. “it” (Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, Zürcher Bibel), preferably the latter.
peri tōn lalēthentōn hupo tōn poimenōn pros autous lit. ‘about the things that had been told by the shepherds to them.’
Translation:
Some possibly necessary changes of the sentence structure are, ‘the things the shepherds had told them astonished all people who had heard them’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘all who heard what the shepherds told wondered (at it).’
Wondered at, see on 1.21.
What (or, the things/matter) the shepherds told them, or ‘the words of the shepherds (to them),’ ‘the shepherds’ story’ (Javanese).
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.
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