widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow.” (Source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.)

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

complete verse (Mark 12:42)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:42:

  • Uma: “At that time, a widow also came who was poor [lit., whose life was pitiable], she also put in her offering money. What she put in was two bronze coins, worth very little.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then a widow woman arrived, very poor. She dropped two red coins, very little in value.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There came there a widow woman who was very poor. She put in two copper coins of very little value.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But then a poor widow arrived who inserted two five-centavo-pieces whose value is the lowest.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There approached a widow who dropped just a few centavos.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 12:42

Exegesis:

mia ‘one’: the pronoun is here equivalent, as often in Mark, to the indefinite pronoun tis ‘a’ (only here, however, does it function as an adjective: elsewhere it is a pronoun – cf. 5.22; 9.17; 10.17; 12.28).

ptōchē (cf. 10.21) ‘poor.’

lepta duo ‘two small copper coins’: the lepton was the smallest coin in circulation. It is impossible precisely to determine the actual value of the coin. Manson estimates it to have been worth 1/96 of a denarius (cf. 6.37 for the denarius).

ho estin kodrantēs ‘which is a quadrans’: this is added for the benefit of Graeco-roman readers, who would not have been acquainted with the lepton. The word kodrantēs is a Latin loan word quadrans, i.e. ‘one-fourth’ of an assarion (the assarion was estimated to be one-sixteenth of a denarius). As may be seen, the equivalence between two lepta and one kodrantēs is not exact.

Translation:

The relationship between the two copper coins and a penny is described in Inupiaqas ‘put in two little copper pieces of money which is equal to only the cheapest kind of money.’ In Cashibo-Cacataibo one may say ‘two little pieces of money which have the value of a centavo,’ in which case centavo is borrowed from Spanish.

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 .