bread, loaf

The Greek term that is translated in English as “bread” or “loaf” is translated in Samo, it is translated as “Sago,” which serves “like ‘bread’ for the Hebrews, as a generic for food in the Samo language. It is a near-perfect metonymy that has all the semantic elements necessary for effective communication.” (Source: Daniel Shaw in Scriptura 96/2007, p. 501ff.)

In Chol it is translated as waj, the equivalent of a tortilla. (Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)

John Beekman (in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 180f. ) explains: “The word ‘bread’ in Scripture primarily occurs as either a specific term for bread (including the Lord’s Supper), or as a generic term for food. It is not surprising, however, the some aboriginal groups use something other than bread as the staff of life. The Chols, with their cultural focus in the cultivation of corn, use waj, a type of thin corn flake. Since a meal is not complete without this main item of food, the term has been extended to include any other foods which may be served along with waj. While bread is known to them, its use is limited to a few occasions during the year when it functions as a dessert. In translating this term in the Chol New Testament, consistent use has been made of the word waj whenever the function of bread as a basic food was in focus. John 6:35, “I am the bread of life,” was thus translated with this word. If the word for bread had been used, it was feared that the Chol would compare Christ to the desirable, but not absolutely necessary, dessert.”

Robert Bascom adds his thoughts to this in relation to other Mayan languages (in Omanson 2001, p. 260): “In many Mayan languages, ‘bread’ can be translated waj or kaxlan waj. The first term literally means anything made from corn meal, while the second term literally means ‘foreigner’s waj,’ and refers to the local wheat-based sweet breads which are so popular within the broader European-influenced culture of the region. On the one hand, waj would be a better dynamic equivalent in cases where ‘bread’ meant ‘food,’ but in cases where the focus is literal or the reference well-known, kaxlan waj would preserve a flour-based meaning (though in biblical times barley was more in use than wheat) and not insert corn into a time and place where it does not belong. On the other hand kaxlan waj is not the staff of life, but refers to a local delicacy. In cases such as these, it is even tempting to suggest borrowing pan, the Spanish word for ‘bread,’ but native speakers might respond that borrowing a foreign word is not necessary since both waj and kaxlan waj are native terms that cover the meaning (though in this case, perhaps not all that well).”

complete verse (Mark 7:27)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:27:

  • Uma: “That’s why Yesus said to her: ‘I, I help the Yahudi people now. It’s not good to take children’s food and feed it to dogs.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa spoke to her in a parable, he said, ‘The children should be fed first because it is not right to take the food from the children and to throw it to the dogs.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus spoke to her, he said, ‘The children are fed first because it is not good if we take the food of the children and give it to the dogs.’ Jesus meant that he would first help the Jews and then those who are not Jews.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon Jesus said, parabling, ‘Wait so-that first the children who are eating will-get-full, because it is emphatically not right if the children’s food is fed to dogs.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But Jesus replied, ‘It’s necessary to cause the children to eat-to-the-full first. It’s not possible/acceptable to grab away what the children are eating and throw it there to their dogs.’ He meant, the Judio were the ones he was going to first. Not yet those who weren’t Judio.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tsafiki: “Now Jesus thus said: First I must do things for the Jewish people. I must not do things for other people before doing it for the Jewish people. If I did things for you first, it would be like giving children’s food to dogs.”
  • Palantla Chinantec: “Jesus said to the woman in double talk [= parable] Let me help my countrymen first, because it isn’t right to give what the children should eat to dogs, is it?” (Source for this and above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on Mark 7:27

Exegesis:

aphes (cf. 2.5) ‘allow,’ ‘permit,’ ‘let.’

chortasthēnai (cf. 6.42) ‘be fed,’ ‘be satisfied,’ ‘be filled.’

ta tekna (cf. 2.5) ‘the children’: here figuratively for the Jews (in contrast with the Gentiles, ‘the dogs’).

kalon (cf. 4.8) ‘right,’ ‘fitting.’

tois kunariois (7.28) ‘to the (little) dogs’: the word is a diminutive and indicates a house dog, or lap dog, in contrast with the fierce dogs that roamed the streets.

It is, of course, possible that the final clause should be interpreted as a question, perhaps rhetorical, e.g. ‘It is not right, is it, to…?’

Translation:

Let the children first be fed may, in a literal translation, give rise to a wrong interpretation, i.e. ‘permit the children to eat first and then the dogs.’ The meaning is more accurately conveyed in some languages by ‘first of all, the children should eat’ or ‘first, the children should be given food.’

Though the word dogs, in its regular form would be the common term used by Jews in speaking disrespectfully of the Gentiles, Jesus may have softened the term – or perhaps, even here with an understanding smile, have taken all the harshness out of the term, by using the diminutive ending, which may have carried associations of endearment, e.g. ‘the puppies.’ In some languages there are certain parallel distinctions, e.g. in Spanish (in contrast with the regular perros ‘dogs’), there are two diminutive forms perrillos and perritos, the latter of which implies endearment.

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 .