zǔzhòu (cursing 诅咒 詛咒) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
Appendix A2 of the English New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), entitled “Features of This Revision”, discusses vocabulary changes that have been made in the current revision, words that have been translated differently than before. As noted in various entries in the excellent resource Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE), Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwt) correspondingly discusses words that have been translated differently in the current revision of the Mandarin NWT Bible, compared to how they had been translated before.
Since we base what we say in Jehovah’s service on his Word the Bible, the vocabulary used in it—and the way those vocabulary words are translated—should be reflected in how we speak in our ministry, at our meetings, etc. So, it is beneficial for us Mandarin field language-learners to be familiar with the latest thinking from the organization on how Bible terms should be translated into Mandarin.
Reverse Curse
One relatively simple type of change that we should be aware of is that the ordering of the morphemes in some of the words used in previous versions of the Mandarin NWT Bible has become reversed in more modern usage.
Morphemes are the smallest units of language sound with meaning. Morphemes sometimes are words on their own, but not always. For example, “cat” is both a morpheme and a word. However, while the “s” at the end of “cats” is a morpheme (meaning that we are now talking about more than one cat), it is not a word on its own.
Regarding Mandarin morphemes, the introductions of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources point out the following:
In Mandarin, morphemes usually correspond with syllables, but some syllables are sound-only (without meaning) and thus not morphemes, and some morphemes have more than one syllable.
One example of a word that has had its morpheme order reversed in the current revision of the Mandarin NWT Bible is “zhòuzǔ (cursing 咒诅 咒詛)”. Now, “zǔzhòu (cursing 诅咒 詛咒)”, this week’s MEotW, is used instead.—Chuàngshìjì (Chuàng·shì·jì {Initiating, Creating of} · World · Record → [Genesis] 创世记 創世記) 3:14.
As used in both “zhòuzǔ (cursing 咒诅 咒詛)” and “zǔzhòu (cursing 诅咒 詛咒)”, “zǔ (cursing | {swearing (an oath)} 诅 詛)” and “zhòu (cursing; swearing [→ [incantation; spell]] 咒 咒/呪)” both mean “cursing”, and whichever one is put first, together they also mean “cursing”.