Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Ruth
This glossary extends translation_memory.json for the Ruth curriculum. Terms marked [BASELINE] already exist in the Romans-seeded translation memory and MUST be reused exactly as recorded there. Terms marked [NEW] must be added to translation memory before Phase 2 processing begins, following the same schema (translation, transliteration, doctrine_risk, doctrine, alternatives_rejected, notes).
Glossary Table
| # | Term | Hebrew (translit.) | LXX Greek (translit.) | French Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Status | Notes / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) | θεός (theos) | Dieu | Critical | Deity of Christ / God | 1-4 | [BASELINE] | Reuse exactly. |
| 2 | the LORD (divine name) | יהוה (YHWH) | κύριος (kyrios) | le SEIGNEUR (small caps); Segond-variant l’Éternel noted for reviewers | Critical | Lordship of Christ (typological continuity) | 1, 2, 4 | [NEW] | Must be typographically distinguished from lowercase human honorific “seigneur” (Boaz, 2:13; entry #4 below). Cross-reference baseline “lord” (κύριος = Seigneur, Rom 10:9) — same Greek word, establishing OT-to-NT continuity of the Lordship confession. |
| 3 | grace / favor | חֵן (chen) | χάρις (charis) | grâce | High | Grace (via favor idiom) | 2 (2:2, 10, 13) | [BASELINE — REUSE] | Distinct Hebrew word from hesed (#5); do not merge. Idiom: “trouver grâce aux yeux de.” |
| 4 | lord/master (human honorific) | אָדוֹן / אֲדֹנִי (adon/adoni) | κύριος (kyrios, human sense) | seigneur (lowercase) / “monsieur” | High | — (disambiguation entry) | 2:13 | [NEW] | Same underlying Greek word as divine κύριος; French must disambiguate by case and context so Boaz is never mistaken for a divine-title referent. |
| 5 | hesed (covenant loving-kindness) | חֶסֶד (chesed) | ἔλεος / δικαιοσύνη (varies) | bonté fidèle | Critical | Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness) | 1:8; 2:20; 3:10 | [NEW] | Must not be rendered “grâce” (reserved for #3/baseline “grace”). No single French word carries both “kindness” and “covenant loyalty”; compound rendering required. Alternatives rejected: “bonté” alone (drops covenant-loyalty sense), “fidélité” alone (drops tenderness sense), “miséricorde” (imports a forgiveness-of-guilt sense not present here). |
| 6 | kinsman-redeemer / redeem | גֹּאֵל / גָּאַל (go’el/ga’al) | ἀγχιστεύς / ἀγχιστεύω | rédempteur (qualified: “le plus proche parent, ayant droit de rachat”) | Critical | The Kinsman-Redeemer | 2:20; 3:9,12-13; 4:1-14 | [NEW] | Typologically connects to Christ but must retain the concrete ANE legal institution (land/name redemption, levirate duty). Alternatives rejected: bare “parent” (loses legal-redemptive force); bare “sauveur” (too soteriologically generic, loses legal specificity). |
| 7 | right of redemption | גְּאוּלָה (ge’ulah) | — | droit de rachat / rédemption | High | The Kinsman-Redeemer | 3, 4 | [NEW] | Keep consistent with #6’s word family. |
| 8 | divine visitation | פָּקַד (paqad) | ἐπισκέπτομαι (episkeptomai) | intervenir (en faveur de) / visiter | High | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | 1:6 | [NEW] | “Visiter” alone risks a weak, casual reading; gloss required. Cross-reference Luke 1:68, 7:16 (same LXX/NT verb). |
| 9 | chance / happenstance | מִקְרֶה (miqreh) | περιπίπτω (context) | hasard (with mandatory clarifying gloss) | High | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | 2:3 | [NEW] | Highest-risk Providence term: French “hasard” implies pure randomness, directly opposing the narrator’s providential intent. Never leave unglossed. Cross-reference baseline “providence” (Medium risk — deist-abstraction concern). |
| 10 | providence (doctrinal frame) | (no single Heb. term; conceptual) | (cf. πρόνοια, baseline) | providence | Medium/High | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | 1, 2, 4 | [BASELINE — REUSE] | Doctrine-level term; baseline notes deist-abstraction risk in French — Ruth supplies the concrete narrative case study. |
| 11 | people | עַם (am) | λαός (laos) | peuple | Critical | Inclusion of Gentiles | 1:16 (core) | [NEW] | Ethnic-covenantal community, not generic “communauté.” Central to the core passage’s conversion confession. |
| 12 | Moab / Moabite(ess) | מוֹאָב / מוֹאָבִיָּה | Μωαβ / Μωαβῖτις | Moab / Moabite | Critical | Inclusion of Gentiles | 1, 2, 4 | [NEW] | Requires Deut 23:3 exclusion background note; without it, “Inclusion of Gentiles” doctrine loses its scandal and force. |
| 13 | foreign woman | נָכְרִיָּה (nokriyah) | ἀλλογενής (context) | étrangère | High | Inclusion of Gentiles | 2:10 | [NEW] | Retain mild pejorative edge present in Hebrew register; cf. baseline “gentiles” (païens) caution about connotation drift. |
| 14 | Gentiles (general doctrinal term) | (n/a — see #11-13) | ἔθνη (ethnē) | païens (general) / peuple, Moabite, étrangère (Ruth-specific) | Medium | Inclusion of Gentiles | 1-4 | [BASELINE — REUSE where general “Gentiles” is discussed] | Use Ruth-specific terms (#11-13) when discussing Ruth’s own ethnicity; reserve generic “païens” for broader doctrinal summary statements. |
| 15 | cling / hold fast | דָּבַק (davaq) | κολλάω (context) | s’attacher à | Medium | Loyalty and Faithfulness | 1:14 | [NEW] | Marriage-bond-intensity term (cf. Gen 2:24); avoid weak “rester avec.” |
| 16 | return | שׁוּב (shuv) | ἀποστρέφω / ἐπιστρέφω | retourner / revenir | High | Loyalty and Faithfulness (by contrast); structural refrain | 1 (refrain) | [NEW] | Thematic weight (repentance/return resonance) must be flagged in teaching materials; not mere travel vocabulary. |
| 17 | wings / refuge | כָּנָף / חָסָה | πτέρυξ | ailes / se réfugier | High | God’s Providence; Kinsman-Redeemer (literary link) | 2:12 | [NEW] | Must be linked to #18 (garment corner, 3:9) in teaching materials — same Hebrew root, deliberate literary echo. |
| 18 | garment corner (marriage-proposal idiom) | כָּנָף | πτέρυξ | pan de vêtement | High | The Kinsman-Redeemer | 3:9 | [NEW] | Same Hebrew word as #17; losing the verbal echo loses a key structural argument of the book. |
| 19 | woman of noble character | אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (‘eshet chayil) | γύναι δυνάμεως (context) | femme de valeur / femme vertueuse | Medium | Loyalty and Faithfulness | 3:11 | [NEW] | Echoes Proverbs 31:10 in French Bible tradition; cross-reference helpful, not doctrinally hazardous alone. |
| 20 | gleaning | לֶקֶט / לָקַט (leqet/laqat) | καλάμη / συλλέγω | glaner / glanage | Medium | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | 2 | [NEW] | Torah social-welfare background (Lev 19:9-10) needs footnoting for low-OT-literacy readers. |
| 21 | Shaddai / the Almighty | שַׁדַּי (Shaddai) | παντοκράτωρ (context) | le Tout-Puissant | Medium | God’s Providence (lament register) | 1:20-21 | [NEW] | Retain lament tone; not triumphant praise but pained protest. |
| 22 | the gate | שַׁעַר (sha’ar) | πύλη (pylē) | la porte (de la ville) | Medium | The Kinsman-Redeemer (legal setting) | 4:1, 11 | [NEW] | Cultural-legal footnote recommended; no doctrinal distortion if explained. |
| 23 | elders / witnesses | זְקֵנִים / עֵדִים | πρεσβύτεροι / μάρτυρες | anciens / témoins | Low | The Kinsman-Redeemer (legal setting) | 4 | [NEW] | Standard legal vocabulary; low risk. |
| 24 | the sandal (custom) | נַעַל (na’al) | ὑπόδημα (hypodēma) | sandale | Medium | The Kinsman-Redeemer | 4:7-8 | [NEW] | Legal custom (cf. Deut 25:9-10) opaque to modern French readers; footnote required, not a doctrinal risk per se. |
| 25 | raise up the name | שֵׁם (shem) | ὄνομα (onoma) | perpétuer le nom | High | The Kinsman-Redeemer; Genealogy | 4:5, 10 | [NEW] | Levirate-custom background (Deut 25:5-10) needed; connects directly to baseline “seed_of_david.” |
| 26 | inheritance | נַחֲלָה (nachalah) | κληρονομία (klēronomia) | héritage | Medium | The Kinsman-Redeemer; Genealogy | 4:3-6 | [NEW] | Cross-reference NT “inheritance”/adoption language (Rom 8) for teaching richness. |
| 27 | genealogy / generations | תּוֹלְדוֹת (toledot) | γενέσεις (genese) | généalogie | High | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | 4:18-22 | [NEW] | Must be taught as purposeful fulfillment, not inert record; continues directly into Matthew 1:5. |
| 28 | begat / bore | יָלַד (yalad) | ἐγέννησεν (egennēsen) | engendra | Low | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | 4:18-22 | [NEW] | Formal genealogical register; matches Matthew 1 formula style for cross-document consistency. |
| 29 | Perez | פֶּרֶץ (Perets) | Φαρές (Phares) | Pérets (OT context) / Pharès (if aligning with Matthew 1:3) | Medium | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | 4:12, 18 | [NEW] | Flag for reviewers to confirm cross-document form matching this curriculum’s Matthew rendering. |
| 30 | David | דָּוִד (David) | Δαυίδ (David) | David | Low (term) / Critical (doctrinal payload) | Davidic Covenant; Genealogy | 4:17, 22 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] | Narrative fulfillment underlying baseline’s “seed_of_david” entry; cross-reference required. |
| 31 | seed of David | (n/a — Ruth supplies the narrative referent) | σπέρμα Δαυίδ | descendance de David | Medium | Davidic Covenant | 4 (narrative result) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] | Ruth 4 is the Old Testament narrative ground on which this baseline Romans term stands. |
| 32 | Bethlehem | בֵּית לֶחֶם (Beit Lechem) | Βηθλεέμ (Bēthleem) | Bethléem | Low | (setting; ironic etymology) | 1 | [NEW] | “House of bread” etymology worth a teaching footnote; no distortion risk. |
| 33 | famine | רָעָב (ra’av) | λιμός (limos) | famine | Low | (narrative setting) | 1:1 | [NEW] | Standard vocabulary. |
| 34 | daughter-in-law | כַּלָּה (kallah) | νύμφη (nymphē) | belle-fille | Low | Loyalty and Faithfulness (relational frame) | 1 | [NEW] | Standard family-relation vocabulary. |
| 35 | blessed | בָּרוּךְ (barukh) | εὐλογητός (eulogētos) | béni | Low | (general blessing formula) | 2:19-20; 3:10 | [NEW] | Standard vocabulary. |
| 36 | rest / security | מְנוּחָה (menuchah) | ἀνάπαυσις (anapausis) | repos / sécurité | Low | God’s Providence (marital security) | 1:9; 3:1 | [NEW] | Standard vocabulary. |
| 37 | threshing floor | גֹּרֶן (goren) | ἅλων (halōn) | aire de battage | Medium | (setting; honor/shame sensitivity) | 3 | [NEW] | Flag for native-speaker review per baseline’s “honor/shame dynamics” category. |
| 38 | so-and-so (unnamed kinsman) | פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי (peloni almoni) | ὁ κρύφιος / ὁ δεῖνα (idiomatic) | un certain… | Low | (literary device) | 4 | [NEW] | Minor literary note; no doctrinal risk. |
Risk Summary for Ruth Curriculum
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 8 (terms #1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 30 doctrinal payload, 31) | Human theologian review required for every occurrence |
| High | 10 (terms #3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17, 18, 25, 27) | Human theologian review required |
| Medium | 12 (terms #10, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 29, 36, 37, and doctrine-level “providence”) | Native speaker review recommended |
| Low | 8 (terms #23, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, plus “David” as bare term) | Automated review sufficient |
Note on doctrine-risk alignment: Per doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions established in the Romans baseline, all six Ruth curriculum doctrines (Hesed, Kinsman-Redeemer, Providence, Inclusion of Gentiles, Loyalty and Faithfulness, Genealogy to David/Christ) require at minimum Critical- or High-tier review routing for their anchor terms, consistent with how the baseline treated structurally comparable Romans doctrines (Grace, Election, Sainthood, Church as God’s People). This glossary should be merged into an updated translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json in a subsequent step, incrementing the version number per the baseline’s stated update protocol.
Critical Risk Terms
Justification
Approved rendering: justification
Transliteration: justification
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: sanctification (conflation), salut (too generic)
CRITICAL: the historic Reformation/Trent flashpoint; forensic, declared status, not gradually achieved. Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced in Ruth’s ‘Kinsman-Redeemer’ doctrine as the New Testament theological category the go’el/rédempteur typology is building toward, though Ruth 4 itself narrates a concrete legal-family transaction, not a soteriological declaration — do not retroject full justification theology onto Boaz’s legal act; teach the type in sequence (legal institution first, typology second).
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: justice imputée
Transliteration: justice imputée
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: justice méritée
CRITICAL: credited/attributed righteousness, not earned righteousness. Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced typologically with Ruth’s Kinsman-Redeemer doctrine; the redemption Boaz performs is a legal-narrative picture, not itself an instance of imputation — keep the categories distinct in teaching.
Yhwh Divine Name
Approved rendering: le SEIGNEUR (petites majuscules)
Transliteration: YHWH
Doctrine: Divine Name and Lordship Typology
Rejected alternatives: l’Éternel (Segond-tradition variant, noted for reviewers only), Yahvé (not mainstream in this curriculum’s ecumenical register)
Original: יהוה
Category: God
God’s proper covenant name, invoked by Ruth in a self-maledictory oath (1:17) and repeatedly through the book (1:8-9,21; 2:12,20; 4:11-14). This curriculum adopts small-caps ‘le SEIGNEUR’ (TOB/NBS convention) over Segond’s ‘l’Éternel’, noted for reviewers. Must be typographically distinguished from the lowercase human honorific ‘seigneur’ used of Boaz (2:13; see ‘lord_human_honorific’) so the divine name is never collapsed into a mere human title. Same LXX κύριος as the baseline’s Romans 10:9 ‘Seigneur’ confession — the direct etymological ancestor of that NT confession. In any non-typographic medium (audio, subtitles, plain-text export), an explicit spoken/written gloss (‘le SEIGNEUR, c’est-à-dire Dieu lui-même’) is required since case cannot be relied upon.
Hesed
Approved rendering: bonté fidèle
Transliteration: chesed
Doctrine: Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness)
Rejected alternatives: grâce, bonté (alone — drops covenant loyalty), fidélité (alone — drops tenderness), miséricorde (imports forgiveness-of-guilt sense absent here)
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: Hesed
Covenant loving-kindness: steadfast, loyal love rooted in covenant obligation, combining tenderness and faithfulness (1:8; 2:20; 3:10). No single French word carries both dimensions; this is a constructed compound, not a recovered native equivalent, and must be introduced with an explicit definition on first occurrence (1:8) rather than assumed self-evident. MUST NOT be rendered ‘grâce’ — doing so would conflate hesed’s relational/covenantal loyalty with the NT’s forensic unmerited favor, collapsing two distinct doctrines. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Kinsman Redeemer
Approved rendering: rédempteur
Transliteration: go’el / ga’al
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Rejected alternatives: parent / proche parent (loses redemptive-action sense), sauveur (too soteriologically generic, loses legal specificity)
Original: גֹּאֵל / גָּאַל
Category: Redemption
A near relative with the legal right and duty to redeem land, persons, or family name (Lev 25:25; Deut 25:5-10); first named at 2:20, central to chs. 3-4. ‘Rédempteur’ already carries strong Christological resonance (‘le Rédempteur’ as a title for Christ in French Catholic and Protestant devotion) — theologically useful for the typology but risks readers missing the concrete ANE legal institution beneath it. Require a qualifying gloss on first use (2:20): ‘le plus proche parent, qui a le droit et le devoir de racheter’. Sequence teaching material to establish the legal institution first, typology second, so students do not retroject full Christological weight onto Boaz before understanding the type on its own narrative terms. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
People Am
Approved rendering: peuple
Transliteration: am
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Rejected alternatives: communauté (too generic; loses ethnic-covenantal weight)
Original: עַם
Category: Gentile Inclusion
Ethnic-covenantal community; Israel as YHWH’s own people, which Ruth renounces her own nation to join (1:16). ‘Peuple’ is lexically correct but the doctrinal risk is flattening Ruth’s renunciation of national/religious identity into a vague relocation or generic ‘communauté’. Must be taught with the ethnic-covenantal weight of the core-passage conversion confession intact; the word itself is unmarked for covenant-exclusivity and this must be supplied by context and teaching.
Moab Moabite
Approved rendering: Moab / Moabite
Transliteration: Mo’av / Mo’avyah
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Rejected alternatives: étranger (too generic, loses specific ethnic-national identity)
Original: מוֹאָב / מוֹאָבִיָּה
Category: Gentile Inclusion
Israel’s historic, religiously-charged rival nation, explicitly excluded from Israel’s assembly ‘even to the tenth generation’ (Deut 23:3-6); Ruth’s own ethnic identity, repeatedly foregrounded (1:4,22; 2:2,6,21; 4:5,10). ‘Moabite’ is a stable proper-adjective form in French but carries zero inherited theological connotation for a biblically low-literacy French readership — unlike ‘Samaritain’, which retains cultural resonance via idiom (‘bon Samaritain’). Requires an explanatory footnote at every occurrence restoring the Deuteronomy 23:3 background, or the ‘Inclusion of Gentiles’ doctrine collapses into vague multiculturalism rather than a specific, scandalous covenant reversal.
High Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Seigneur
Transliteration: Seigneur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: maître, patron
Romans 10:9 ‘Jésus est Seigneur.’ ‘Seigneur’ carries feudal-historical resonance in French (‘le seigneur du château’), risking a distant, archaic-title reading rather than a living confession of exclusive Lordship. Inherited from Romans package. Ruth’s LXX κύριος (rendering both YHWH and the human honorific ‘adon/adoni’) is the direct etymological ancestor of this NT confession; see new Ruth terms ‘yhwh_divine_name’ and ‘lord_human_honorific’ for the case-and-register fence this curriculum requires between the divine name and Boaz’s human title.
Grace
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: grâce
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: faveur, mérite
Same word used by Catholic and Protestant traditions, but the theology differs: Catholic catechesis ties grâce to sacramental mediation; Reformed/Segond tradition insists on grâce apart from any ecclesial mediation. Must render as wholly unmerited, per Romans’ contrast with works. Inherited from Romans package. Reused for the Hebrew ‘chen’ idiom (‘find favor’, Ruth 2:2,10,13; see new term ‘grace_favor’) because the LXX renders chen with the same Greek charis fixed here — but MUST NOT be used for ‘hesed’ (see new Critical term ‘hesed’, rendered ‘bonté fidèle’), a distinct Hebrew word denoting covenant loyalty, not forensic unmerited favor.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: obéissance de la foi
Transliteration: obéissance de la foi
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: devoir religieux
Obedience that flows from faith, not merit-earning duty. Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced in Ruth’s ‘Loyalty and Faithfulness’ doctrine: Ruth’s vow (1:16-17) anticipates this pattern — allegiance flowing from conviction/confession, not externally imposed duty.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: justice
Transliteration: justice (de Dieu)
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: vertu, droiture
Must be read as God’s saving, gift-status righteousness, not human moral virtue. Inherited from Romans package. Not directly lexicalized in Ruth’s Hebrew text, but relevant background for teaching the Kinsman-Redeemer typology’s forward trajectory toward Romans.
Lord Human Honorific
Approved rendering: seigneur (minuscule) / monsieur
Transliteration: adon / adoni
Doctrine: Divine Name and Lordship Typology
Rejected alternatives: Seigneur (majuscule) — would wrongly divinize Boaz
Original: אָדוֹן / אֲדֹנִי
Category: God
Ordinary human honorific ‘lord, master, sir’ used of Boaz by his workers (2:13); the LXX coincidentally renders this with the same Greek word (kyrios) used for the divine name. Because ‘le SEIGNEUR’ (small caps) is reserved for YHWH in this curriculum, French readers could wrongly import divine-title weight onto Boaz if case and register are not carefully disambiguated. Render lowercase ‘seigneur’ or ‘monsieur’ depending on register; never small caps.
Grace Favor
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: chen
Doctrine: Grace/Favor in Human Relationships
Rejected alternatives: bonté fidèle (reserved for hesed, a distinct Hebrew word)
Original: חֵן
Category: Grace
Unearned social goodwill shown by a superior to a dependent; Ruth’s repeated request to ‘find favor’ (2:2,10,13). Reuses baseline ‘grâce’ because the LXX renders chen with the same Greek charis fixed for the baseline’s soteriological Grace doctrine. HIGH RISK, French-specific: readers may import full soteriological weight onto an everyday social-favor idiom, or conversely drain the baseline’s ‘grâce’ of its later doctrinal force through overfamiliarity. Requires a contextual framing note distinguishing chen’s social register from hesed (bonté fidèle) and from the baseline’s forensic Grace doctrine — Hebrew has two distinct words (chen/hesed) that French must not blur into one.
Right Of Redemption
Approved rendering: droit de rachat / rédemption
Transliteration: ge’ulah
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Original: גְּאוּלָה
Category: Redemption
Abstract legal right/act of redemption itself (chs. 3-4). Keep consistent with the ‘rédempteur/racheter’ word family established for ‘kinsman_redeemer’; inconsistent French vocabulary here would obscure the legal unity of chs. 2-4.
Divine Visitation
Approved rendering: intervenir (en faveur de) / visiter
Transliteration: paqad
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: visiter (bare, unglossed — reads as a casual social call)
Original: פָּקַד
Category: Providence
God’s active, purposive intervention in ordinary circumstances, e.g. ending the famine (1:6). Bare French ‘visiter’ risks a weak, casual reading; prefer ‘intervenir en faveur de’ or a glossed ‘visiter (au sens biblique d’intervention bienveillante)’. Same LXX verb (episkeptomai) as Luke 1:68, 7:16 — cross-reference for teaching continuity with the baseline ‘providence’ entry.
Chance Happenstance
Approved rendering: hasard (glosé)
Transliteration: miqreh
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: destin, chance (unglossed)
Original: מִקְרֶה
Category: Providence
The narrator’s deliberately understated ‘chance’ language describing Ruth’s arrival at Boaz’s field (2:3), theologically loaded as concealed providence. HIGHEST-RISK Providence term in the book: modern French ‘hasard’ connotes pure, purposeless randomness — the direct opposite of the narrator’s intent. Must never be left unglossed at any occurrence, including derivative/shortened teaching materials; treat the gloss as non-optional and non-detachable from the term.
Foreign Woman
Approved rendering: étrangère
Transliteration: nokriyah
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Rejected alternatives: une personne d’un autre pays (too neutral, loses pejorative edge)
Original: נָכְרִיָּה
Category: Gentile Inclusion
Outsider status, often with negative religious connotation, used of Ruth by Boaz’s workers (2:10). Must retain the mild pejorative edge present in the Hebrew register (cf. baseline’s own caution on ‘païens’ connotation drift), so that Boaz’s reversal — treating the nokriyah with covenant kindness — retains its force.
Return Shuv
Approved rendering: retourner / revenir
Transliteration: shuv
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Loyalty
To turn back, return; the book’s structural refrain (~12x in ch. 1), also used of Israel’s repentance/‘returning to the LORD’ (Deut 30:2; Joel 2:12). Lexically accurate in French but flattens the refrain’s thematic weight; Naomi urges physical return to Moab, and Ruth’s refusal to ‘return’ is an ironic inversion of the normal ‘return to your own gods’ pattern that must be taught with its full conversion-shaped weight, not treated as mere travel logistics.
Wings Refuge
Approved rendering: ailes / se réfugier
Transliteration: kanaph / chasah
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: כָּנָף / חָסָה
Category: Providence
Protective imagery — a bird sheltering its young — describing divine refuge granted to Ruth (2:12). French ‘ailes’ alone is fine lexically but the deliberate literary echo with 3:9’s ‘garment corner’ (same Hebrew root kanaph; see ‘garment_corner’) must be flagged in teaching materials, or the link between the Providence and Kinsman-Redeemer doctrines is lost.
Garment Corner
Approved rendering: pan de vêtement
Transliteration: kanaph
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Original: כָּנָף
Category: Redemption
A recognized ANE marriage-proposal idiom: Ruth asks Boaz to ‘spread his kanaph’ over her (3:9), echoing his own blessing in 2:12 (‘wings_refuge’). Same Hebrew word as ‘wings’; French rendering must retain a shared root image with a mandatory cross-reference note pointing back to 2:12, or the central literary-theological argument — God’s providence working through Boaz’s willing kinsman-action — is lost.
Raise Up The Name
Approved rendering: perpétuer le nom
Transliteration: shem
Doctrine: Levirate Marriage and Name Preservation
Original: שֵׁם
Category: Genealogy
Preserving a dead man’s lineage/inheritance through levirate marriage (Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4:5,10), the stated legal purpose of Boaz and Ruth’s marriage. French rendering needs the levirate-custom background supplied; without it, the marriage’s stated legal purpose (name/inheritance preservation, not romance) is lost, along with its connection to the baseline’s ‘seed_of_david’ doctrine.
Genealogy Toledot
Approved rendering: généalogie
Transliteration: toledot
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: תּוֹלְדוֹת
Category: Genealogy
Structuring genealogical-record device; the book’s climax (4:18-22) establishing Ruth the Moabite as King David’s great-grandmother, continued in Matthew 1:5. French ‘généalogie’ is lexically accurate but culturally read as inert historical/hobbyist record-keeping; must be taught as deliberately purposeful — the entire narrative exists to produce this genealogical line, directly continued by the NT.
Medium Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Secularization risk: ‘Dieu’ is used as a casual interjection (‘Mon Dieu!’) and, in academic/philosophical French, can be treated as an abstract deist concept rather than the personal, triune God of Scripture. Inherited from Romans package. In Ruth 1:16, Ruth’s declaration ‘your God will be my God’ is a personal confession of exclusive allegiance renouncing Moab’s national deity, not cultural accommodation; capitalization and unambiguity must be preserved. See Ruth-specific doctrine ‘Conversion and Renunciation of Foreign Gods.‘
Faith
Approved rendering: foi
Transliteration: foi
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: croyance, religion
In secular French, ‘la foi’ can drift toward generic religiosity or institutional ‘la religion’. Must specify personal trust in Christ/God, not adherence to a religious system. Inherited from Romans package. Cross-referenced in Ruth’s ‘Loyalty and Faithfulness’ and ‘Conversion and Renunciation of Foreign Gods’ doctrines: Ruth 1:16-17’s vow functions as an Old Testament type of the personal trust-allegiance this term names in Romans.
Called
Approved rendering: appelé
Transliteration: appelé
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: invité
Context-sensitive across apostleship, sainthood, and effectual calling senses in Romans. Inherited from Romans package. Ruth does not use explicit calling vocabulary, but Ruth 1:16’s self-chosen covenant allegiance is sometimes taught homiletically as an analogical ‘calling’; if used at all in Ruth supplementary teaching material, must be clearly flagged as analogical since Ruth 1:16 is itself a vow, not a narrated divine summons.
Calling
Approved rendering: appel
Transliteration: appel
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: vocation (clergy-narrowing risk)
Reserve ‘vocation’ with caution due to Catholic clergy/religious-life connotation. Inherited from Romans package. Fence carried into Ruth: never use ‘vocation’ for Ruth’s covenant allegiance in 1:16; use ‘appel’ only if calling-language is applied analogically in supplementary teaching, and label it as analogy.
Covenant
Approved rendering: alliance
Transliteration: alliance
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: contrat
Relational covenant bond, more than a legal contract. Inherited from Romans package. Directly relevant to Ruth’s ‘Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ’ doctrine: the redemption/marriage transaction of Ruth 4 is itself an outworking of covenant faithfulness culminating in the line to David.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israël
Transliteration: Israël
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Contemporary Middle East politics and France’s significant Jewish community make it easy to conflate biblical Israel with the modern nation-state. Inherited from Romans package. In Ruth, keep the referent the covenant people/land into which Ruth is grafted (1:16, ‘your people shall be my people’), historical/theological, not contemporary-political.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: païens
Transliteration: païens
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: étrangers
‘Païens’ carries a pejorative ‘uncivilized/irreligious’ connotation in modern French stronger than the neutral original sense. Inherited from Romans package. RUTH-SPECIFIC USAGE RULE: reserve ‘païens’ strictly for general doctrinal summary statements about Gentiles as a category; when discussing Ruth’s own specific ethnic identity, use the Ruth-specific terms ‘peuple’ (am), ‘Moab/Moabite’, and ‘étrangère’ (nokriyah) instead, so the narrative’s ethnic specificity and the Deuteronomy 23:3 exclusion background are not diluted into an abstract category before the reader has felt its concreteness.
Providence
Approved rendering: providence
Transliteration: providence
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: destin, hasard
18th-century Enlightenment deism used ‘la Providence’ for an impersonal benevolent order; must render as the personal, purposive care of a covenant God. Inherited from Romans package. RUTH-SPECIFIC ESCALATION: Ruth supplies the book’s concrete narrative case study (famine relief 1:6, gleaning and ‘chance’ meeting 2:3, conception 4:13) and raises this doctrine’s effective risk tier to High in Ruth-specific contexts; see new Critical/High terms ‘divine_visitation’ (paqad) and ‘chance_happenstance’ (miqreh, hasard) for the two opposite-flank failure modes (impersonal abstraction vs. purposeless randomness) that must both be fenced.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salut
Transliteration: salut
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: délivrance
Chief risk is Catholic sacramental-economy framing versus Protestant faith-alone framing. Inherited from Romans package. Relevant as the broad soteriological category toward which Ruth’s Kinsman-Redeemer typology points, though Ruth’s own narrative vocabulary is legal-familial (redemption, inheritance, name-preservation), not this term itself.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: descendance de David
Transliteration: descendance de David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: semence de David (archaic)
Original: (Ruth 4 supplies the narrative referent; cf. NT sperma Dauid)
Category: Genealogy
Modern translations prefer ‘descendance’ to avoid the crude clinical register ‘semence’ now carries. Inherited from Romans package. Ruth 4 is the Old Testament narrative ground on which this baseline Romans 1:3 term stands; the genealogy of Ruth 4:18-22 is the concrete textual anchor for this doctrine and must be taught in direct connection with it.
Cling Hold Fast
Approved rendering: s’attacher à
Transliteration: davaq
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Rejected alternatives: rester avec (too weak)
Original: דָּבַק
Category: Loyalty
To cling to, hold fast to; a marriage-bond-intensity term (cf. Gen 2:24) used of Ruth’s clinging to Naomi (1:14). French ‘rester avec’ is too weak; ‘s’attacher à’ preserves the bond-intensity register.
Woman Of Noble Character
Approved rendering: femme de valeur / femme vertueuse
Transliteration: ‘eshet chayil
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: אֵשֶׁת חַיִל
Category: Loyalty
‘Woman of strength/valor’, the same phrase used of the ideal wife in Proverbs 31:10, applied to Ruth by Boaz (3:11). French echoes Proverbs 31 in French Bible tradition; no single French phrase captures the military/strength connotation (chayil also means ‘army’, ‘strength’, ‘wealth’) layered under the domestic-virtue sense — a minor but real semantic loss, addressable via cross-reference note.
Gleaning
Approved rendering: glaner / glanage
Transliteration: leqet / laqat
Doctrine: Torah’s Social Welfare Provision for the Vulnerable
Original: לֶקֶט / לָקַט
Category: Providence
Torah’s social-welfare provision for the poor, widow, and foreigner (Lev 19:9-10; Deut 24:19-21), the concrete mechanism of God’s ordinary providence for Ruth (ch. 2). Standard French vocabulary; the underlying Torah welfare-law background needs a teaching footnote for a French readership with generally low Old Testament literacy, or Boaz’s kindness reads as private charity alone rather than covenant-law compliance. France’s own robust social-welfare tradition (‘la protection sociale’) offers an apt cultural bridge-point for teaching.
Shaddai Almighty
Approved rendering: le Tout-Puissant
Transliteration: Shaddai
Doctrine: Divine Sovereignty and Lament
Original: שַׁדַּי
Category: God
Divine title, traditionally ‘the Almighty’, invoked twice by Naomi in lament over her afflictions (1:20-21). French ‘le Tout-Puissant’ is standard and lexically adequate; the risk is register — this is pained protest/lament addressed to a sovereign God amid suffering, not triumphant praise, and must be taught accordingly, not smoothed into premature pious acceptance.
The Gate
Approved rendering: la porte (de la ville)
Transliteration: sha’ar
Doctrine: Legal Redemption and Public Covenant Witness
Original: שַׁעַר
Category: Legal Custom
The city gate, the customary public site for legal/civic transactions and witnessed agreements (4:1, 11). French rendering is accurate; a brief cultural-legal footnote helps French readers understand this as a formal, binding legal act, not a private decision, given the culturally opaque ANE civic custom.
The Sandal Custom
Approved rendering: sandale
Transliteration: na’al
Doctrine: Levirate Marriage and Name Preservation
Original: נַעַל
Category: Legal Custom
Legal-symbolic gesture of removing and handing over a sandal to finalize a redemption/levirate transaction (Deut 25:9-10; Ruth 4:7-8). The French object-word ‘sandale’ is a normal word; the custom itself is culturally opaque to modern French readers and requires an explanatory footnote — no doctrinal distortion if explained, but silent transmission risks bewildering the reader.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: héritage
Transliteration: nachalah
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Original: נַחֲלָה
Category: Redemption
Land/property rights tied to family and tribal identity in the Promised Land, the subject of the ch. 4 redemption transaction. French ‘héritage’ is standard; a cross-reference to NT ‘inheritance’/adoption language (Rom 8, already in baseline) enriches teaching without altering risk.
Perez
Approved rendering: Pérets / Pharès
Transliteration: Perets
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: פֶּרֶץ
Category: Genealogy
Judah’s son by Tamar (Gen 38), explicitly invoked by the town elders as a blessing-comparison for Boaz’s line (4:12,18). Two forms exist in French Bible tradition: OT-style ‘Pérets’ vs. NT Greek-derived ‘Pharès’ (Matthew 1:3’s Φαρές). FLAGGED FOR REVIEWER DECISION: must be resolved against this curriculum’s Matthew document rendering before Phase 2 to avoid cross-document inconsistency; record the final decision in this file and increment version.
Threshing Floor
Approved rendering: aire de battage
Transliteration: goren
Doctrine: (narrative setting; honor/shame sensitivity)
Original: גֹּרֶן
Category: Narrative Setting
Agricultural setting for winnowing grain, also carrying honor/shame sensitivity given the boldness of Ruth’s and Naomi’s plan (ch. 3). French ‘aire de battage’ is accurate; requires native-speaker review to avoid either prudish softening or salacious over-reading by a francophone secular readership unfamiliar with ANE customs, per baseline’s flagged ‘honor/shame dynamics’ category.
Naomi Mara Wordplay
Approved rendering: Naomi / Mara
Transliteration: No’omi / Mara
Doctrine: Providential Reversal from Bitterness to Blessing
Rejected alternatives: Douce/Amère (translating the names themselves — rejected; standard convention retains proper names as names)
Original: נָעֳמִי / מָרָא
Category: Narrative Names
‘My pleasantness’ / ‘bitter’; Naomi’s self-renaming as a theological statement about her circumstances under God’s hand (1:20-21). Proper names retained untransliterated per standard French convention, but the meaning must be supplied in a teaching gloss, since French readers cannot derive ‘pleasant/bitter’ from the names themselves.
Leave Abandon
Approved rendering: abandonner
Transliteration: azav
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Rejected alternatives: partir (too weak)
Original: עָזַב
Category: Loyalty
To abandon, forsake, let go; same root used of Israel ‘forsaking’ the LORD in idolatry, applied to Ruth’s refusal to abandon Naomi (1:16). French ‘abandonner’ carries the correct covenantal weight.
Entreaty Paga
Approved rendering: presser / entreaty
Transliteration: paga’
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: פָּגַע
Category: Loyalty
To press upon, entreat urgently; Ruth’s forceful pre-emptive refusal of Naomi’s dismissal (1:16), rendered in the LXX as ‘abandon’ (kataleipō). French must render the force of the refusal (‘ne me presse pas de te quitter’ / ‘ne me demande pas de t’abandonner’), not a soft ‘please don’t ask’ that loses Ruth’s resolve.
Oath Formula Asah
Approved rendering: que le SEIGNEUR me fasse…
Transliteration: asah … koh vekhoh
Doctrine: Divine Name and Lordship Typology
Original: עָשָׂה … כֹּה וְכֹה
Category: Loyalty
Idiom introducing a binding self-maledictory covenant oath (Ruth 1:17; cf. 1 Sam 3:17; 2 Kgs 6:31). French idiom ‘que le SEIGNEUR me fasse ceci et cela’ or ‘que le SEIGNEUR me traite selon toute sa rigueur’ must retain the oath register, not read as casual imprecation. Must use small-caps ‘SEIGNEUR’ consistent with ‘yhwh_divine_name’.
Part Separate
Approved rendering: séparer
Transliteration: parad
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: פָּרַד
Category: Loyalty
To divide, separate; only death is permitted to separate Ruth from Naomi (1:17), the vow’s absolute, unconditional character. French ‘séparer’ is accurate; the unconditional force must be retained — this is the OT root of NT ‘nothing can separate’ assurance language (cf. Rom 8:38-39, baseline ‘Assurance of Salvation’).
Buried
Approved rendering: être enseveli / enterré
Transliteration: qavar
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: קָבַר
Category: Loyalty
To bury; Ruth asks to share Israel’s soil in death, a total renunciation of Moabite ancestral-burial identity (1:17). A teaching note should flag that ANE burial customs bound the dead to their ancestral god/land, making this a statement of ultimate covenant belonging, not mere sentiment.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: דָּוִד
Category: Genealogy
Standard proper name form across all French Bible traditions. Inherited from Romans package. Low risk as a bare proper name but Critical in doctrinal payload: Ruth 4:17,22 is the Old Testament narrative fulfillment this baseline term’s Romans 1:3 usage theologically depends on; cross-reference required in teaching.
Elders Witnesses
Approved rendering: anciens / témoins
Transliteration: zeqenim / edim
Doctrine: Legal Redemption and Public Covenant Witness
Original: זְקֵנִים / עֵדִים
Category: Legal Custom
Civic-legal officiants and witnesses formalizing the redemption and marriage (4:9-11). Standard legal vocabulary; minimal risk.
Begat Bore
Approved rendering: engendra
Transliteration: yalad
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: יָלַד
Category: Genealogy
Genealogical formula verb structuring 4:18-22, mirroring Genesis’s toledot formulas and Matthew 1’s genealogical formula. French ‘engendra’ (formal register) matches genealogical formula style for cross-document consistency with this curriculum’s Matthew document.
Bethlehem
Approved rendering: Bethléem
Transliteration: Beit Lechem
Doctrine: (narrative setting; ironic etymology)
Original: בֵּית לֶחֶם
Category: Narrative Setting
‘House of bread’; place name with ironic literary resonance (famine at 1:1, bread’s return at 1:6, 22). Standard French Bible form ‘Bethléem’; etymological wordplay worth a teaching footnote, no doctrinal distortion risk.
Famine
Approved rendering: famine
Transliteration: ra’av
Doctrine: (narrative setting)
Original: רָעָב
Category: Narrative Setting
Famine that drives Elimelech’s family to Moab (1:1). Standard vocabulary.
Daughter In Law
Approved rendering: belle-fille
Transliteration: kallah
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: כַּלָּה
Category: Family
Family/legal relational term establishing the bond Ruth’s loyalty transcends (she is not blood-bound to Naomi, making her loyalty voluntary, not obligatory). Standard vocabulary.
Blessed
Approved rendering: béni
Transliteration: barukh
Doctrine: Blessing and Public Praise
Original: בָּרוּךְ
Category: Blessing
Standard blessing formula invoking divine favor on a person (2:19-20; 3:10). Standard vocabulary; functions as the book’s recurring marker of recognizing God’s hand in human events.
Rest Security
Approved rendering: repos / sécurité
Transliteration: menuchah
Doctrine: Marriage as an Act of Covenant Kindness
Original: מְנוּחָה
Category: Providence
Domestic/marital security, a settled home (1:9; 3:1). Standard vocabulary.
So And So
Approved rendering: un certain…
Transliteration: peloni almoni
Doctrine: (narrative device)
Original: פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי
Category: Narrative Device
Idiomatic placeholder, ‘a certain one’, the narrator’s deliberate anonymization of the nearer kinsman (ch. 4). Minor literary note; no doctrinal risk. Transliteration rejected as opaque and comic-sounding in French with no offsetting benefit.
Die
Approved rendering: mourir
Transliteration: mut
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: מוּת
Category: Loyalty
To die; Ruth’s vow extends beyond life to death itself (1:17). French ‘mourir’ is direct.
Referenced passages