divorce

In Ghari different words are used for a husband divorcing a wife and a wife divorcing a husband. (Source: David Clark)

In Mairasi the term that is used means “discard.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

adultery

The Greek that is translated as “adultery” (typically understood as “marital infidelity”) in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:

  • Highland Totonac: “to do something together”
  • Yucateco: “pair-sin”
  • Ngäbere: “robbing another’s half self-possession” (compare “fornication” which is “robbing self-possession,” that is, to rob what belongs to a person)
  • Kaqchikel, Chol: “to act like a dog”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “to measure the depth of the river of (another’s) marriage.”
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “married people using what is not theirs” (compare “fornication” which is “unmarried people using what is not theirs”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • In Purari: “play hands with” or “play eyes with”
  • In Hakha Chin the usual term for “adultery” applies only to women, so the translation for the Greek term that is translated into English as “adultery” was translated in Hakha Chin as “do not take another man’s wife and do not commit adultery.”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “talk secretly with spouses of our fellows”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “go in with other people’s spouses”
  • Hopi: “tamper with marriage” (source for this and two above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • In Falam Chin the term for “adultery” is the phrase for “to share breast” which relates to adultery by either sex. (Source for this and three above: David Clark)
  • In Ixcatlán Mazatec a specification needs to be made to include both genders. (Source: Robert Bascom)

See also adulterer, adulteress, and you shall not commit adultery.

complete verse (Mark 10:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 10:12:

  • Uma: “So also a woman who divorces her husband and marries again with another man, she also commits adultery.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Likewise also if a woman divorces her husband and marries another one, she commits adultery.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the woman also, if she divorces her husband and is married to another man, she sins against her divorced husband.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And any woman also who divorces her husband and then marries another man, she sins against her husband by committing-adultery (lit. man-with).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, it’s like that too for a woman who will divorce her husband and marry someone else, she really has-behaved-immorally.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 10:12

Text:

Instead of autē apolusasa ‘she divorcing’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus, Lagrange, and Kilpatrick have gunē apolusē … kai ‘a woman should divorce … and’; Taylor has gunē exelthē apo tou andros kai ‘a woman should abandon her husband and.’

Instead of gamēsē ‘she should marry’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has gamēthē ‘she should be married.’

Exegesis:

As the commentators point out, this saying has in view Graeco-Roman customs: in Jewish law only the husband could get a divorce.

kai ean autē ‘and if she’: in the general sense of ‘and if a woman’ (not ‘she’ the woman in v. 11 who has been divorced by her husband).

Translation:

She may be translated as ‘a woman’ or ‘any woman.’

For divorces see 10.4.

Commits adultery may need to be translated as ‘is guilty of adultery’ or ‘is guilty of sin,’ since the previous clause may describe quite clearly what she has done, e.g. ‘leaves her husband and lives with another man.’

Marries is always translatable, but in a variety of ways, depending upon such factors as (1) whether a man or woman is spoken of, (2) the consent or agreement of the clan (in this type of context clan consent would not be likely), and (3) whether or not a previous marriage has been contracted.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .