Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 John (Complete Book)
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning the entirety of 2 John’s single chapter (vv. 1–13), including both the core passage (1:4–11) and the salutation/closing (1:1–3, 12–13). Per the hard rule governing this package, any term already recorded in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json is reused exactly, spelling and register included, and is marked “BASELINE — reuse exactly” in the Status column. New terms follow the baseline’s documented phonological adaptation conventions (apocope, -en>-a/-n reduction, intervocalic lenition, a>o/oa shift, von>vo/vom contraction) and its stated preference for retaining borrowed standard-German abstractions over inventing folksy coinages for doctrinal vocabulary.
Note on scope: 2 John has exactly one chapter. This glossary therefore represents complete full-book coverage, not a partial excerpt.
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (no changes)
| English Term | Bavarian Rendering | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verses in 2 John | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| grace | Gnad | High | Grace | 1:3 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| peace | Friad | Low | Peace with God | 1:3 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| jesus | Jesus | Critical | Lordship/Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:7 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| (christ, proper name) | Christus | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | BASELINE transliteration standard — reuse exactly |
| god | Gott | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| father | Voda | High | Sonship of Christ / Adoption | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| son_of_god (doctrine family) | Sohn vo Gott | Critical | Sonship of Christ | (doctrinal cross-reference; cf. new phrase “Sohn vom Voda” 1:3) | BASELINE — reuse exactly where phrase matches |
| election | Erwählung / erwählt (adj.) | High | Election / Sainthood | 1:1, 1:13 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| incarnation | Menschwerdung | Medium (Critical in context of 1:7) | Incarnation | 1:7 | BASELINE — reuse exactly |
| fellowship (positive sense only) | Gmoaschaft | Medium | Christian Fellowship | (contrast term for 1:11 — see Part C) | BASELINE — reuse exactly, and NOT for 1:11’s negative sense |
| exhort (pattern reference) | ermahna (-en>-a pattern) | Low | Mutual Edification | (pattern basis for “bekenna,” “mitmacha”) | BASELINE — pattern reused |
B. New Terms — Core Passage (2 John 1:4–11)
| English Term | Greek (transliteration) | Bavarian Rendering | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verse | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| walking (conduct) | περιπατέω / peripateō | wandln | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 4, 6 | Collision risk with Bavaria’s literal hiking/“Wandern” culture; always anchor with “in da Woahrheit” |
| truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | Woahrheit | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 | Book’s dominant keyword; risk of flattening to mere factual correctness |
| commandment | ἐντολή / entolē | Gebot | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | 4, 5, 6 | Distinguish from baseline “Gsetz” (Mosaic Law) |
| lady (address) | κυρία / kyria | Frau | High | (addressee title) | 1, 5 | NEVER “Herrin” — risks colliding with Christ’s exclusive “Herr” title |
| ask/request | ἐρωτάω / erōtaō | i bitt di | Low | — | 5 | Pastoral entreaty register |
| new (contrastive) | καινός / kainos | neu | Low | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 5 | Weight carried by “vo Anfang o” contrast, not this word alone |
| from the beginning | ἀρχή / archē | vo Anfang o | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 5, 6 | Apostolic-origin sense, not creation-beginning; gloss on first use |
| love | ἀγάπη / agapaō | Liab / liab ham | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 3, 5, 6 | Risk of collapsing covenantal love into romantic/familial sentiment; always pair with “Woahrheit” |
| one another | ἀλλήλους / allēlous | oanand | Low | — | 5 | Stable reciprocal pronoun |
| deceiver | πλάνος / planos | Verführer | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 7 | Risk of flattening to generic con-man/seducer sense |
| world | κόσμος / kosmos | Welt | Medium | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 7 | Johannine “arena of conflict” sense, not neutral “planet” |
| confess | ὁμολογέω / homologeō | bekenna | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 7 | Public doctrinal affirmation; teach alongside Romans 10:9 confession |
| coming in the flesh | ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί / erchomenon en sarki | im Fleisch kemma | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 7 | Must categorically exclude any docetic reading; ties to baseline Menschwerdung |
| antichrist | ἀντίχριστος / antichristos | Antichrist | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 7 | Alpine/Bavarian folk-apocalyptic “Antichrist” legend tradition (Ludus de Antichristo, peasant almanac lore) risks a singular-end-times-figure misreading vs. John’s diffuse “many antichrists” category |
| watch yourselves | βλέπετε ἑαυτούς / blepete heautous | gebt’s fei Acht auf enk | Low-Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 8 | Idiomatic Bavarian preferred over literal calque |
| work/labor (ministry) | ἐργάζομαι / ergazomai | erarbeit ham | Low | — | 8 | No doctrinal collision |
| full reward | μισθὸν πλήρη / misthon plērē | an vollen Lohn | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 8 | Flag alongside baseline grace-vs-merit escalation rule |
| goes ahead / beyond | προάγω / proagō | (descriptive) der weiter geht, ois wia’s recht is | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 9 | No single-word equivalent; avoid sounding like praise for “progress” |
| abide/remain | μένω / menō | bleib’n | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 9 | Must always appear as “bleib’n in da Lehr,” never bare, to retain Johannine covenantal-abiding sense |
| teaching/doctrine | διδαχή / didachē | Lehr | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 9, 10 | Fixed apostolic doctrine, not a personal teaching style |
| has God / has Father and Son | θεὸν… ἔχει / patera… huion echei | hat Gott / hat den Voda und’n Sohn | Medium (idiom) / Critical (content) | Sonship of Christ (cross-reference) | 9 | ”Having” = covenant relationship, not literal possession |
| bring (teaching) | φέρω / pherō | bring’n | Low | — | 10 | Standard verb |
| receive into house | λαμβάνω εἰς οἰκίαν / lambanō eis oikian | ins Haus aufnehma | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 10 | Collides with strong Bavarian rural Gastfreundschaft ethic; must be framed as a narrow doctrinal exception |
| greeting formula (“Greetings!“) | χαίρειν / chairein | koan Griaß (withheld) — AVOID “Grüß Gott” as the illustrative example | Critical | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 10, 11 | Sharpest cultural-collision risk in the curriculum: “Grüß Gott” is Bavaria’s default everyday greeting; route to theologian + native-speaker review jointly |
| share/participate (negative) | κοινωνέω / koinōneō | mitmacha | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 11 | Deliberately distinct from baseline’s positive “Gmoaschaft” family — do not use fellowship vocabulary here |
| evil works | ἔργα πονηρά / erga ponēra | schlechte Wea / böse Taten | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 11 | Register must reflect serious moral harm, not petty wrongdoing |
C. New Terms — Chapter 1 Remainder (2 John 1:1–3, 12–13)
| English Term | Greek (transliteration) | Bavarian Rendering | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verse | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the elder (office) | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | da Ältere (+ clarifying gloss) | Medium | (authorial authority) | 1 | Bare form defaults to “the older person”; gloss with Gmoaschaft/Kirch framing |
| elect/chosen (adj.) | ἐκλεκτός / eklektos | erwählt | High | Election / Sainthood | 1, 13 | Reuses baseline’s register-gap finding for Erwählung |
| mercy | ἔλεος / eleos | Barmherzigkeit | Medium | Grace (cross-reference) | 3 | Register-gap borrowed term, but grounded positively via the Mass’s Kyrie eleison tradition |
| Son of the Father | υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός / huiou tou patros | Sohn vom Voda | Critical | Sonship of Christ | 3 | Distinct phrase from baseline’s “Sohn vo Gott” but must carry identical Critical doctrinal weight |
| paper and ink | χάρτου καὶ μέλανος / chartou kai melanos | Papier und Tinte | Low | — | 12 | Material/cultural note only |
| face to face | στόμα πρὸς στόμα / stoma pros stoma | vo Angsicht zu Angsicht | Low | — | 12 | Idiom substitution preferred; literal calque risks modern first-aid association |
| joy fulfilled/complete | χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη / chara peplērōmenē | Freid ganz voll | Medium | — | 12 | Watch for satiety-connotation drift in “voll” |
| children (of the sister) | τέκνα / tekna | Kinda | Low-Medium | — | 1, 13 | Distinguish literal children here from baseline “Kindschaft” adoption doctrine |
| sister | ἀδελφή / adelphē | Schwesta | Low | — | 13 | Stable |
| send greetings | ἀσπάζομαι / aspazomai | grüaßt | Low | — | 13 | Deliberate contrast with the withheld χαίρειν of vv. 10–11 |
D. Risk Summary
| Risk Tier | Count (new terms, Parts B+C) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 (im Fleisch kemma, Antichrist, hat Gott/Voda und Sohn [content], Sohn vom Voda, koan Griaß/χαίρειν) | Human theologian required |
| High | 11 | Human theologian required |
| Medium | 9 | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | 9 | Automated / native-speaker spot-check |
(Note: “im Fleisch kemma,” “Antichrist,” “hat Gott/Voda und Sohn,” “Sohn vom Voda,” and “χαίρειν/koan Griaß” are all listed as Critical — five entries — reflecting this short book’s unusually high concentration of Critical-tier doctrinal content relative to its length.)
E. Cross-Reference to Baseline Doctrine Risk Registry
The following 2 John doctrines map onto doctrine categories already tracked in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json and should be added as new entries following that file’s schema in a subsequent step, rather than duplicating existing Romans entries:
- Walking in Truth and Love — new doctrine, related to but distinct from baseline’s “Faith” and “Christian Fellowship”
- Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation — new doctrine, directly extending baseline’s “Incarnation” and “Deity/Sonship of Christ” entries into a polemical-warning context
- Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment — new doctrine, related to but distinct from baseline’s “Christian Fellowship”; introduces the unprecedented-in-Romans “Grüß Gott” collision risk
- Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ — new doctrine, related to but distinct from baseline’s “Sanctification” and “Christian Identity in Christ”
Critical Risk Terms
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Sohn vo Gott
Transliteration: Sohn vom Gott
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: ‘von’ contracts to ‘vo’ per regular Bavarian preposition contraction; full phrase required, conveying eternal, unique Sonship. 2 John context: doctrinally identical to the new phrase ‘Sohn vom Voda’ (1:3) and reinforced at 1:9 (‘has … the Son’); the two phrases must be taught as carrying identical Critical weight, never as a stronger vs. weaker pair.
Christ
Approved rendering: Christus
Transliteration: Christus
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
New TM entry establishing enforcement for this curriculum. The baseline Romans AI requirements document listed ‘Christ = Christus’ only as a transliteration standard in its Transliteration Standards section, without a dedicated translation_memory.json entry; recorded here as a full TM entry for consistent Phase 2 enforcement. Used throughout 2 John combined with ‘Jesus’ (1:3, 1:7) and alone (1:9, ‘da Lehr vom Christus’).
Coming In The Flesh
Approved rendering: im Fleisch kemma
Transliteration: im Fleisch kumma
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, new term (1:7). Must categorically exclude any docetic reading (Christ only seeming to be human) or a temporary/repeatable divine appearance. Functions as the negative-warning counterpart to the baseline’s positive ‘Menschwerdung’ doctrine (Romans 1:3, 8:3); reuse that framework explicitly when teaching this verse.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: Antichrist
Transliteration: Antichrist
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, new term (1:7). Alpine/Bavarian rural folk culture carries its own vivid apocalyptic ‘Antichrist’ legend tradition (the medieval Ludus de Antichristo, tied to 12th-century Bavarian monastic circles; peasant-almanac end-times lore still present in rural Altbayern memory). Risks a singular-future-figure default rather than John’s diffuse ‘many antichrists’ category (cf. 1 John 2:18). Mandatory corrective gloss required on every teaching occurrence.
Greeting Formula
Approved rendering: koan Griaß
Transliteration: koa Gruaß
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: Grüß Gott (FORBIDDEN as the illustrative withheld greeting — Bavaria’s default reflexive daily greeting; using it here risks sounding socially unthinkable or trivializing the text)
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Church
CRITICAL, new term (1:10, 11). The sharpest cultural-collision risk in this curriculum. Use the formal-register phrase ‘koan Griaß und koan guaten Wunsch’ with a mandatory explicit teaching note that this is a narrow doctrinal exception, never a rule about ordinary ‘Grüß Gott’ usage. Route to human theologian AND native-speaker review jointly, every occurrence.
Son Of The Father
Approved rendering: Sohn vom Voda
Transliteration: Sohn vom Voter
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, new phrase (1:3), distinct from the baseline’s ‘Sohn vo Gott’ but must carry identical eternal, unique, co-equal Sonship doctrine. Never treat as a lesser or merely relational/descriptive alternative.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Gnad
Transliteration: Gnod
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace in Greeting
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: final -e dropped, a regular Bavarian apocope pattern (Gnade > Gnad). Bavarian Catholic folk piety (Wallfahrt, pilgrimage vows, indulgence-adjacent devotional practice) can carry a transactional ‘grace obtained through devotion’ undertone; must render as wholly unmerited and apart from any devotional transaction. 2 John context: appears in the salutation triad (grace, mercy, peace; 1:3); the same devotional-transaction caution applies with equal force in this brief greeting formula.
Election
Approved rendering: Erwählung
Transliteration: Erwöahlung
Doctrine: Divine Election of Believers
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: HIGH RISK is a pure register gap, not a competing doctrinal tradition — Bavarian Catholic dialect culture has no lived predestination-controversy tradition. 2 John context: the noun form underlies the adjectival ‘erwählt’ used at 1:1 (‘elect lady’) and 1:13 (‘elect sister’); see new entry ‘elect_chosen’ for the adjectival form.
Gospel Truth
Approved rendering: Woahrheit
Transliteration: Woahrhaid
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
New term. The letter’s dominant keyword (5 of 13 verses: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6). Everyday Bavarian already uses ‘woahr’/‘des is woahr’ loosely for simple factual correctness, risking flattening of the letter’s weighty doctrinal sense (fidelity to apostolic teaching about Christ’s true identity). Every occurrence must be treated as doctrinally load-bearing, not just the first.
Love
Approved rendering: Liab
Transliteration: Liabe
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Faith
New term. Verb phrase ‘liab ham’ (1:5). Everyday colloquial ‘Liab ham’/‘gern ham’ spans romantic, familial, and merely affectionate senses; risks collapsing covenantal agapē into sentiment. Must always be paired with ‘Woahrheit’ in doctrinal statements (1:3, 5-6).
Walking In Truth
Approved rendering: wandln
Transliteration: wandeln
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
New term (1:4, 6). Bavaria’s unusually strong living hiking/‘Wandern’ culture risks a literal-rambling default rather than habitual moral-doctrinal conduct. NEVER leave bare; always anchor with ‘in da Woahrheit.‘
Lady Address
Approved rendering: Frau
Transliteration: Frau
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority of the Elder
Rejected alternatives: Herrin (rejected — echoes Christ’s exclusive title ‘Herr’)
Original: κυρία
Category: Church
New term (1:1, 5). κυρία is the feminine of κύριος, the very word rendered ‘Herr’ for Christ’s exclusive Lordship in the baseline (Critical there). A literal feminine calque ‘Herrin’ must be avoided under all circumstances — hard fence, not stylistic preference.
Deceiver
Approved rendering: Verführer
Transliteration: Verfiahra
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: πλάνος
Category: Sin
New term (1:7). Colloquial ‘Verführer’ also carries a romantic-seduction sense (‘a Verführer’ = a seducer); must always co-occur with explicit doctrinal content (denial of the incarnation) so the seduction sense cannot stand alone as the definition.
Confess
Approved rendering: bekenna
Transliteration: bekennen
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: i moan / i glaab (rejected — reduces to private opinion, not formal public affirmation)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
New term (1:7), formed via the baseline’s -en>-a pattern. Must not be softened to private belief; teach alongside the baseline’s Romans 10:9 confession (‘Da Jesus is da Herr’) as the same doctrinal-confession category.
Abide In The Teaching
Approved rendering: bleib’n
Transliteration: bleibn
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
New term (1:9, x2). Bare colloquial ‘bleib’n’ reads as mere spatial staying (‘i bleib daheim’); doctrinal weight must always be carried by the full collocation ‘bleib’n in da Lehr vom Christus,’ never the bare verb, to retain the Johannine covenantal-abiding sense (John 15).
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: Lehr
Transliteration: Lea
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: διδαχή
Category: Faith
New term (1:9, 10). Must not be reduced to ‘a lesson’ or a personal teacher’s style/opinion (‘sei Lehr’); pair with ‘vom Christus’ or ‘de apostolische Lehr’ to block that reading — this denotes the fixed, apostolic, Christ-centered body of doctrine.
Goes Ahead Beyond
Approved rendering: der, der weiter geht, ois wia’s recht is
Transliteration: der, wo weiter geht, wia’s recht war
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Fortschritt-based single-word coinage (rejected — sounds like praise for progress rather than warning)
Original: προάγω
Category: Sanctification
New term (1:9). No single-word Bavarian equivalent captures the irony of ‘progress’ that is actually departure from truth. Required descriptive phrase must always be taught antithetically paired with ‘bleib’n’ in the same unit.
Hospitality Reception
Approved rendering: ins Haus aufnehma
Transliteration: ins Haus aufnehmen
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: λαμβάνω εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Church
New term (1:10). Collides with the strong, still-living rural Bavarian Gastfreundschaft ethic (‘der Gast ist König’). Must always be framed explicitly as a narrow doctrinal exception (an incarnation-denying false teacher, v. 7), never a general principle about houseguests or strangers.
Shares In Evil Works
Approved rendering: mitmacha
Transliteration: mitmachn
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: Gmoaschaft-family term (FORBIDDEN — would contradict the baseline’s reservation of that word family for positive Christian fellowship)
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Church
New term (1:11). κοινωνέω here carries a negative sense sharing its root with κοινωνία (Gmoaschaft); a distinct verb is required and this deliberate divergence must be flagged for reviewers, not treated as inconsistency.
Elect Chosen
Approved rendering: erwählt
Transliteration: erwöahlt
Doctrine: Divine Election of Believers
Original: ἐκλεκτός
Category: Salvation
New adjectival form (1:1, 13) of the baseline’s ‘Erwählung.’ Reuses the baseline’s High-risk register-gap finding: an unfamiliar borrowed-sounding word carrying little felt doctrinal content for a Bavarian Catholic dialect audience, rather than a competing doctrinal tradition.
Medium Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Gott
Transliteration: Herrgott
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: ‘Herrgott’ is the characteristic Bavarian/Alpine Catholic folk term for God (Herrgottswinkel), but also risks irreverent register bleed as a mild profanity; this curriculum uses plain ‘Gott’ as the primary term and reserves ‘Herrgott’ for culturally warm, folk-devotional contexts only. 2 John context: invoked as source of grace/mercy/peace (1:3) and as what is forfeited by denying the Son (1:9).
Father
Approved rendering: Voda
Transliteration: Voter
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: from ‘Vater’ via regular Bavarian intervocalic lenition (t > d) and vowel shift (a > o). 2 John context: source of the original commandment (1:4) and, with the Son, the object of genuine covenant relationship (1:9); also the base component of the new phrase ‘Sohn vom Voda’ (1:3).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Menschwerdung
Transliteration: Menschwerdung
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (cf. 2 John 7’s ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: borrowed as-is from standard German; well-established via Catholic Christmas liturgy even in dialect-speaking parishes. 2 John context: functions as the positive doctrinal anchor for 1:7’s polemical negative construction ‘im Fleisch kemma’; the doctrine’s risk escalates to Critical specifically in the 1:7 denial context, though the noun term itself remains Medium per baseline.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Gmoaschaft
Transliteration: Gemoaschoft
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: built on the genuine dialect root ‘Gmoa’ (civil municipality); real risk of collision with the secular sense unless the compound is used deliberately. 2 John context: RESERVED EXCLUSIVELY for the positive sense; must NEVER be used for 1:11’s negative ‘shares in evil works’ (κοινωνέω) — see new entry ‘shares_in_evil_works’ (‘mitmacha’), which must remain lexically distinct despite the shared Greek root.
Commandment
Approved rendering: Gebot
Transliteration: Gebot
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
New term (1:4, 5, 6). Established, liturgically familiar via ‘d’zehn Gebot’ (Ten Commandments); low linguistic risk, but must be kept distinct from the baseline’s ‘Gsetz’ (Mosaic Law, High risk in Romans) — this is a specific relational directive to love one another, not the Torah as a body.
From The Beginning
Approved rendering: vo Anfang o
Transliteration: vom Anfang o
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς
Category: Covenant
New term (1:5, 6). Risk that hearers default to a creation/Genesis reading (‘in the beginning,’ Anfang der Welt) rather than the specific apostolic-teaching-origin sense intended; gloss on first teaching occurrence.
Elder Office
Approved rendering: da Ältere
Transliteration: da Ejtere
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority of the Elder
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
New term (1:1). Bare form defaults to ‘the older person’ in colloquial Bavarian, losing the ecclesial office/pastoral-authority sense from which the letter’s instructions derive their force; must be paired with a clarifying gloss (e.g. ‘da Ältere von de Gmoaschaft’) on first introduction.
World
Approved rendering: Welt
Transliteration: Welt
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: κόσμος
Category: Faith
New term (1:7). Standard borrowed term; ensure the Johannine ‘world as arena of spiritual conflict’ sense is not flattened to mere ‘planet/globe.‘
Evil Works
Approved rendering: schlechte Wea
Transliteration: schlechte Werk
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Sin
New term (1:11), Werke > Wea apocope. Register must reflect serious moral harm (consistent with πονηρός’s strong sense elsewhere in John, e.g. ‘the evil one’), not petty wrongdoing.
Full Reward
Approved rendering: an vollen Lohn
Transliteration: an vollen Lohn
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: μισθὸν πλήρη
Category: Salvation
New term (1:8). Flag alongside the baseline’s grace-vs-merit escalation rule so ‘Lohn’ is not misread as salvation earned by works, but as the fruit/completion of an already grace-given, persevering faith.
Mercy
Approved rendering: Barmherzigkeit
Transliteration: Barmherzigkeit
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace in Greeting
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
New term (1:3), borrowed as-is from standard German following the baseline’s register-gap pattern for abstract theological compounds (cf. Gerechtigkeit). Has genuine positive liturgical grounding via the Mass’s Kyrie eleison (‘Herr, erbarm dich unser’), a modest protective factor relative to other borrowed abstractions.
Joy Fulfilled
Approved rendering: Freid ganz voll
Transliteration: Freude ganz voll
Doctrine: Mutual Joy and Greeting among Believers
Original: χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη
Category: Faith
New term (1:12), Freude > Freid apocope, cf. baseline Friad pattern. Watch for a satiety/physical-fullness connotation drift in ‘voll’; must read as ‘complete/whole.‘
Watch Yourselves
Approved rendering: gebt’s fei Acht auf enk
Transliteration: gebt’s fei Acht auf enk
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
New idiom (1:8). Idiomatic Bavarian preferred over a literal calque per the standard idiom-handling rule; carries appropriate urgency in dialect register.
Low Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: Friad
Transliteration: Friade
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace in Greeting
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: from ‘Frieden’ with regular final-consonant-cluster simplification. Relational peace with God through justification, not merely psychological calm. 2 John context: third member of the salutation triad (1:3); low risk carries over unchanged.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: stable; pronounced with regionally typical vowel quality but not a distinct written form. 2 John context: appears combined with ‘Christus’ at 1:3, 1:7, 1:9; see new entry ‘christ’ for the paired proper-name form.
Exhort
Approved rendering: ermahna
Transliteration: ermohna
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Baseline note: -en > -a infinitive ending, a regular dialect pattern. 2 John context: not itself used as a direct translation in this letter, but retained here as the pattern basis for this package’s new -en > -a verb formations (‘bekenna,’ ‘mitmacha’).
Children
Approved rendering: Kinda
Transliteration: Kinder
Doctrine: Mutual Joy and Greeting among Believers
New term, covers both τέκνων (1:1, 4, house-church members) and τέκνα (1:13, sister’s children). Must not be flattened to purely literal biological children in teaching contexts; distinguish from the baseline’s ‘Kindschaft’ (adoption) doctrine, which this term does not itself invoke.
Sister
Approved rendering: Schwesta
Transliteration: Schwester
Doctrine: Mutual Joy and Greeting among Believers
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
New term (1:13). Stable, low-risk; no doctrinal collision.
Send Greetings
Approved rendering: grüaßt
Transliteration: grüßt
Doctrine: Mutual Joy and Greeting among Believers
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Church
New term (1:13). Deliberately contrasts with the withheld χαίρειν of 1:10-11; render with the plain, warm dialect greeting verb, since the letter itself models the distinction it teaches.
Ask Request
Approved rendering: i bitt di
Transliteration: i bitt di
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority of the Elder
New term (1:5). Pastoral entreaty register — the Elder appeals rather than dictates; stable, warm colloquial phrase.
One Another
Approved rendering: oanand
Transliteration: oanand
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
New term (1:5). Stable reciprocal pronoun; no doctrinal risk.
New Kainos
Approved rendering: neu
Transliteration: neu
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
New term (1:5). Straightforward; theological weight sits in the ‘vo Anfang o’ contrast, not in this word alone.
Work Labor
Approved rendering: erarbeit ham
Transliteration: erarbeitet ham
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
New term (1:8), erarbeitet > erarbeit apocope. Standard verb describing ministry labor and its fruit; no doctrinal collision.
Bring Teaching
Approved rendering: bring’n
Transliteration: bringan
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
New term (1:10), bringen > bring’n apocope. Standard verb, here specifically of ‘bringing/bearing’ a body of teaching, not literal cargo.
Rejoiced
Approved rendering: hab mi gfreit
Transliteration: hab mi gfreid
Doctrine: Mutual Joy and Greeting among Believers
New term (1:4), gefreut > gfreit via regular ge- > g- prefix reduction. Stable, everyday dialect expression for pastoral joy over visible fruit of true doctrine; no significant doctrinal collision risk.
Paper And Ink
Approved rendering: Papier und Tinte
Transliteration: Papier und Tinten
Doctrine: —
New term (1:12). Purely material/cultural reference to ancient writing materials; no doctrinal risk.
Face To Face
Approved rendering: vo Angsicht zu Angsicht
Transliteration: vo Aungsicht zu Aungsicht
Doctrine: —
Rejected alternatives: Mund zu Mund (rejected — risks a modern mouth-to-mouth-resuscitation misreading)
New idiom (1:12), preferred over a literal ‘mouth to mouth’ calque per the standard idiom-handling rule.
Referenced passages