Semantic Analysis

Several Assamese terms in this Language Package carry a narrower or broader semantic range than their English source word, which affects how consistently they can be used across contexts.

Narrower-than-English terms

• পবিত্ৰ লোক (saints): English “saints” can informally mean “especially holy people,” but পবিত্ৰ লোক must be used for all believers corporately (Romans 1:7), never for an elite class of realized devotees — that narrower, elevated sense belongs to ভক্ত or সন্ত, both explicitly rejected for this use.
• মতা / মতনি (called/calling): the same English word “called” covers at least three distinct senses in Romans (called to apostleship in 1:1, called to be saints in 1:7, and effectual calling to salvation in 8:28–30). The Assamese rendering is context-sensitive and must be checked against which sense is active in each verse, not applied uniformly.

Broader-than-English terms

• ঈশ্বৰৰ শক্তি (power of God): unlike Hindi’s শক্তি/शक्ति, which carries a strong Shakti-goddess association in everyday religious register, Assamese শক্তি is the unmarked, unavoidable word for power in ordinary theological usage. Its broader range is an advantage here, but it must still always be anchored with ঈশ্বৰৰ (of God) so it reads as God’s own power rather than an impersonal force.
• বিশ্বাস (faith): covers both “belief” and “trust” in Assamese, which is an advantage here — Romans uses “faith” to mean active, personal trust in Christ, not mere intellectual assent, and বিশ্বাস’s broader range captures both without needing two separate words.

Implication

Where an Assamese term’s semantic range differs from its English source, the glossary’s notes field (see translation_memory.json) exists specifically to flag the mismatch for translators, so a term isn’t applied mechanically in a context its actual Assamese meaning doesn’t support.