List of transliterated words
Does anyone know of a relatively complete list of transliterated words in the Bible?
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I am not really sure of what you are looking for in this request. I have heard Brill's New Pauly is a good resource. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/list-of-transliterations-ListOfTransliterations This website might have what you are looking for. https://bible.org/netbible/index.htm?hebrewtl.htm What is your purpose in finding this information? https://davidbcapes.com/2013/11/13/avoiding-transliteration-in-translating-the-bible/ I found this Hebrew frequency list. https://www.teachmehebrew.com/hebrew-frequency-list.html I am now looking for one comparable for Greek.
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Christian Alexander said:
I am not really sure of what you are looking for in this request. I have heard Brill's New Pauly is a good resource. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/list-of-transliterations-ListOfTransliterations This website might have what you are looking for. https://bible.org/netbible/index.htm?hebrewtl.htm What is your purpose in finding this information? https://davidbcapes.com/2013/11/13/avoiding-transliteration-in-translating-the-bible/ I found this Hebrew frequency list. https://www.teachmehebrew.com/hebrew-frequency-list.html I am now looking for one comparable for Greek.
I'm sorry, I should have been clearer. Some words in English translations are not translated but transliterated. This is obvious with proper names like Jesus and Jerusalem. But some other words have been transliterated that are not proper nouns: baptism, hallelujah, deacon, etc.
I'm looking for a relatively complete list of those words in English translations.
Unfortunately, none of the links you suggest fit the bill.
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This is a wonderful study Gregory but I am not familiar. Maybe someone else can help. I cannot wait to see the fruits of this study. Can I ask you what you are researching this information for?
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Gregory Lawhorn said:
Some words in English translations are not translated but transliterated. This is obvious with proper names like Jesus and Jerusalem. But some other words have been transliterated that are not proper nouns: baptism, hallelujah, deacon, etc.
I'm looking for a relatively complete list of those words in English translations.
There are a bunch of Hebrew and Aramaic words that are transliterated into Greek in the Greek NT. Lists of them can be found here: https://bibtheo.com/2020/02/04/aramaicgnt/
Some of these also come over into English as transliterations, and are often explained in footnotes in English bibles: e.g., Abba (Father), Amen, Cephas (rock/Peter), corban (offering), Gehenna, hosanna, hyssop, mammon, manna, maranatha (Our Lord, come!), mina (a unit of coinage), rabbi, sabbath, Sabaoth (of Hosts), Satan.
There are surely words transliterated directly from Hebrew into English in the Old Testament, depending on what translation you look at. For example shalom. The Hebrew יְהוָ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹם in Judges 6:24 is rendered "Yahweh-shalom" or "Yahweh Shalom" in some translations, but other translations do something different with it, e.g., "The LORD Is Peace" (ESV, NIV, NRSV) or "God's Peace" (The Message).
I can't find a list of all of these, but some I can figure out (from the Sh words in the Hebrew for Christians glossary, just as a random letter to start with):
- Shaddai (kept as a transliteration in some translations such as the New Jerusalem Bible, and in others translated as Almighty)
- shekel (a unit of money)
- Sheol (kept in many English translations, but translated as "the grave" or "death" or "the world of the dead" or some such in others)
- shofar (ram's horn)
You could poke through all the letters in that glossary and find others. I'm still not sure it would be an exhaustive list, though.
EDIT:
You might also be interested in this list of English words of Hebrew origin, though not strictly what you asked about. You'll probably recognize plenty of these as biblical words:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Hebrew_origin
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Rosie Perera said:Gregory Lawhorn said:
Some words in English translations are not translated but transliterated. This is obvious with proper names like Jesus and Jerusalem. But some other words have been transliterated that are not proper nouns: baptism, hallelujah, deacon, etc.
I'm looking for a relatively complete list of those words in English translations.
There are a bunch of Hebrew and Aramaic words that are transliterated into Greek in the Greek NT. Lists of them can be found here: https://bibtheo.com/2020/02/04/aramaicgnt/
Some of these also come over into English as transliterations, and are often explained in footnotes in English bibles: e.g., Abba (Father), Amen, Cephas (rock/Peter), corban (offering), Gehenna, hosanna, hyssop, mammon, manna, maranatha (Our Lord, come!), mina (a unit of coinage), rabbi, sabbath, Sabaoth (of Hosts), Satan.
There are surely words transliterated directly from Hebrew into English in the Old Testament, depending on what translation you look at. For example shalom. The Hebrew יְהוָ֖ה שָׁל֑וֹם in Judges 6:24 is rendered "Yahweh-shalom" or "Yahweh Shalom" in some translations, but other translations do something different with it, e.g., "The LORD Is Peace" (ESV, NIV, NRSV) or "God's Peace" (The Message).
I can't find a list of all of these, but some I can figure out (from the Sh words in the Hebrew for Christians glossary, just as a random letter to start with):
- Shaddai (kept as a transliteration in some translations such as the New Jerusalem Bible, and in others translated as Almighty)
- shekel (a unit of money)
- Sheol (kept in many English translations, but translated as "the grave" or "death" or "the world of the dead" or some such in others)
- shofar (ram's horn)
You could poke through all the letters in that glossary and find others. I'm still not sure it would be an exhaustive list, though.
EDIT:
You might also be interested in this list of English words of Hebrew origin, though not strictly what you asked about. You'll probably recognize plenty of these as biblical words:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Hebrew_origin
Thanks for responding!
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Christian Alexander said:
This is a wonderful study Gregory but I am not familiar. Maybe someone else can help. I cannot wait to see the fruits of this study. Can I ask you what you are researching this information for?
This morning, I'm preaching Matthew 25:14-30, where the word "talent" appears (Greek talenton). Most sermons and studies assume that the talents in this passage speak of the various gifts God has given us. However, the Greek word talenton is a measure of weight somewhere between 67 and 84 pounds. Many other transliterated words (baptism, sabbath, evangelist) are usually understood in a more or less biblical sense. But talent is one that we think we know without study, and so we can easily misinterpret it in this passage.
I won't have time in the sermon this morning to explore these kinds of words, but I plan to do some teaching on translation and the nature of language next Sunday night. I was simply curious as to whether anyone knew of an existing list of words that have been transliterated from the original languages into English (excepting proper names, which are obvious).
Thanks for your response!
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Sorry for being so late to the party, but in response to the first question, and in addition to some of the contributions, some words and phrases come into other languages via weird routes and may have morphed or dropped letters, such as an initial "h" along the way. Thus, Armageddon.
It is also sometimes difficult to draw a line between translated words and cognates. The "h" issue mentioned above and the sometimes seemingly odd choice for equivalence from one language to another makes this a hard thing to nail down.
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Gregory, this is a good rabbit trail and I would like to know as well. It seems to be very frutiful. As Lew stated it is hard to draw a line between translated words and cognates. Let me know how your research goes. Blessings to you.
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Gregory Lawhorn said:
excepting proper names, which are obvious
...but are they? In English, "Gregory" simply means "Gregory." But what does it mean in Greek? I think names are often MORE hidden to modern English readers.
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JT (alabama24) said:Gregory Lawhorn said:
excepting proper names, which are obvious
...but are they? In English, "Gregory" simply means "Gregory." But what does it mean in Greek? I think names are often MORE hidden to modern English readers.
And then there is the question as to when a transliterated word becomes a borrowed word ... think catamaran.
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