Linguistic Gap Analysis
Linguistic Gap Analysis: Zechariah (French)
1. Scope and Method
This analysis surveys the entire book of Zechariah (chapters 1–14) for the destination language French, identifying:
- Doctrine vocabulary gaps — places where French lacks a clean one-to-one equivalent for a Hebrew theological term central to one of this curriculum’s five named doctrines.
- Crowded semantic neighborhoods — French terms that are lexically available but already carry a competing sense (secular, Catholic-devotional, political, or fixed by the Romans baseline) that risks distorting Zechariah’s meaning.
- Transliteration vs. paraphrase decisions — for proper names, titles, and technical terms where French Bible tradition is divided or absent.
- A ranked list of the highest-risk ambiguities in the book, cross-referenced to chapter and verse.
This document supplies the raw gap analysis that analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md and analysis/08_core_glossary.md subsequently formalize into concrete term decisions. All findings here are constrained by, and must never contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json.
The five curriculum doctrines are:
- D1 — The Coming Messianic King
- D2 — Restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple
- D3 — Visions of God’s Sovereign Plan for His People
- D4 — The Piercing of the One They Have Pierced (Zechariah 12:10)
- D5 — God’s Zeal for Zion
The core passage, Zechariah 9:9-10, is the theological anchor of the curriculum but not its scope; the full book is surveyed below.
2. Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix
| Doctrine | Available French Term(s) | Weaknesses in French | Recommended Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 — The Coming Messianic King | roi, règne, humble, sauvé, Germe/Rejeton | ”Roi” is lexically simple but theologically silent — French readers will not automatically connect “ton roi” (9:9) to Davidic/messianic office without a teaching gloss. The Segond tradition’s “victorieux” for נוֹשָׁע actively mismatches the Hebrew passive voice, importing an active-conqueror sense the text’s disarmament theme (9:10) contradicts. “Le Germe” (the Branch) is a fixed title unfamiliar to secular readers as a personal name rather than a botanical noun. | Render 9:9 with “ton roi,” “juste,” “sauvé” (never “victorieux”), “humble.” Fix “le Germe” (never mixed with “le Rejeton” within this curriculum) capitalized at every occurrence (3:8; 6:12) with a standing title-note. Cross-reference NT fulfillment (Matthew 21:5; John 12:15) in teaching notes, not in the base text. |
| D2 — Restoration of Jerusalem and the Temple | Jérusalem, temple, sainteté, habiter au milieu de, cordeau à mesurer, eaux vives | French “Jérusalem” and “Israël” both carry live contemporary geopolitical charge absent from the Hebrew’s covenant-historical referent. “Temple” itself is unambiguous, but the architectural-completion visions (4:9-10; ch. 2) risk being read as merely a construction-project narrative, losing the moral/spiritual restoration sense climaxing in ch. 14. | Reuse baseline “saint” exactly for holiness language. Apply the same political-sensitivity caution already fixed in the baseline for “Israël” to “Jérusalem.” Ensure “la Ville de la vérité” and “la montagne sainte” (8:3) are taught as restored character, not only restored architecture. |
| D3 — Visions of God’s Sovereign Plan for His People | vision, providence, les yeux de l’Éternel, mon Esprit, ange de l’Éternel | France’s own 18th-century deist “la Providence” risks flattening God’s active, personal oversight (4:10) into an impersonal cosmic order — the same risk the Romans baseline already flags for Romans 8:28. “Mon Esprit” (4:6) is grammatically distinct from the baseline’s fixed “Esprit Saint” and must not be silently harmonized to it. | Reuse baseline’s providence caution verbatim for “les yeux de l’Éternel.” Keep “mon Esprit” as a distinct first-person possessive form; note theological continuity with Esprit Saint only in teaching commentary, never in the base rendering. |
| D4 — The Piercing of the One They Have Pierced (12:10) | transpercer, se lamenter, fils unique, source, péché, impureté | French has multiple verbs of physical harm (“blesser,” “toucher,” “transpercer”) of escalating violence; only “transpercer” carries the full force of דָּקַר. The first-person “moi…celui qu’ils ont transpercé” creates a grammatical divine-identification tension that a careless “lui” substitution would erase. | Mandatory: “moi” retained (never “lui”); “transpercé” retained (never “blessé/touché”); align with Hebrew/Johannine “pierced” tradition (John 19:37), not the LXX “mocked” variant. Treat as Critical risk at every occurrence — no exceptions. |
| D5 — God’s Zeal for Zion | jaloux, jalousie, zèle, ardeur | This is the single largest French-specific collision in the curriculum. “Jaloux/jalousie” in contemporary spoken French denotes petty romantic possessiveness or envy — a register that actively damages God’s character if left unglossed. “Zèle” alone is safer but under-translates the marriage-covenant intensity of קִנְאָה. | Use “jaloux/jalousie” but with a mandatory clarifying gloss (“un amour ardent et protecteur”) at every occurrence (1:14; 8:2), never left bare. Flag as Critical, parallel to the baseline’s “élection” collision. |
3. Full-Book Chapter Review (Zechariah 1–14)
Each chapter is reviewed for new terms, doctrine touchpoints, and gap-analysis findings. Chapters contributing no new lexical findings beyond those already tabulated are explicitly noted as reviewed.
| Ch. | Doctrine Touchpoints | Gap-Analysis Findings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D3, D5 | ”Revenez à moi” (opening repentance call) — distinguish covenantal repentance from mere physical return. First occurrence of קִנְאָה (1:14) — mandatory gloss requirement established here. “Horns/craftsmen” (1:18-21) — horn-as-power-symbol convention unfamiliar to modern French readers; needs explanatory note. |
| 2 | D2, D5 | ”Cordeau à mesurer” (measuring line) — standard construction vocabulary, low ambiguity. “La prunelle de son œil” (apple of his eye, 2:8) — natural French idiom exists, use directly. “Nations” joining the LORD (2:11) — first instance of the deliberate “païens” avoidance; establishes the positive-universalism pattern continued at 8:22-23 and 9:10. “J’habiterai au milieu de toi” (2:10) — Shekinah-resonance dwelling language, reviewed above under D2/D3. |
| 3 | D3, D1 (typological) | “Ha-satan” (3:1-2) — proper-name-vs-office ambiguity; risk of over-importing fully developed NT/popular devil figure. “Vêtements souillés/de fête” (3:3-5) — imputed-righteousness resonance, distinct grammatical form from the baseline’s fixed phrase. First occurrence of “le Germe” (3:8) as fixed messianic title. |
| 4 | D3 | Programmatic “ni par la puissance ni par la force, mais par mon Esprit” (4:6) — the two Hebrew near-synonyms חַיִל/כֹּחַ must not collapse into one French word. “Les yeux de l’Éternel” (4:10) — providence/deism collision noted above. “Fil à plomb / pierre du faîte” (4:9-10) — low-risk construction imagery. |
| 5 | D3 | ”Rouleau volant / malédiction” (5:1-4) — unfamiliar vision imagery, low lexical risk but needs an explanatory teaching note. “Épha / la Méchanceté” (5:5-11) — grammatical feminine personification; note required against misogynistic misreading in a French classroom setting. |
| 6 | D1, D3 | ”Quatre chars / quatre vents des cieux” (6:1-8) — cross-reference only (not identification) with Revelation’s four horsemen. Second occurrence of “le Germe” (6:12) — must match 3:8 exactly. “Un prêtre sur son trône…une pensée de paix” (6:13) — unusual Law-transcending king-priest fusion; High risk, flagged for theologian review. “Des couronnes” (6:11-14) — textual-plural note on possible second crown. |
| 7 | D3 | חֶסֶד (“chesed”) appears here in its fullest ethical concentration (7:9) alongside מִשְׁפַּט אֱמֶת and רַחֲמִים — the chesed lexical gap (see §4 below) is most acute in this chapter and must be resolved with a single consistent French choice across the whole curriculum. |
| 8 | D2, D5, D3 | ”La Ville de la vérité / la montagne sainte” (8:3) — reuse baseline “saint” exactly. Restoration/regathering oracles reuse the “sifflement” shepherd-call register (echoed later at 10:8). Nations seeking the LORD’s favor (8:22-23) — second instance confirming the deliberate “nations” (not “païens”) pattern. Repetition of קִנְאָה (8:2) — same mandatory-gloss requirement as 1:14. |
| 9 | D1 (core passage), D3 | Core passage 9:9-10. Concentrated cluster: “ton roi” / “juste” / “sauvé” (not “victorieux”) / “humble” / “âne, ânon” / “paix” / “domination-règne” / “nations” (not “païens”). See §5 ranked risks below for detailed treatment of 9:9’s נוֹשָׁע. “Le sang de ton alliance / prisonniers de l’espérance” (9:11-12) — atonement/Eucharistic sensitivity comparable to the baseline’s Romans 3:25 flag. |
| 10 | D1, D3 | ”La pierre angulaire / le piquet de tente / l’arc de guerre” (10:4) — NT cornerstone-Christology resonance for teaching cross-reference, not lexical identity. “Je sifflerai pour les rassembler” (10:8) — shepherd-call register, echoing 8’s regathering language; avoid a flat administrative rendering. |
| 11 | D3, D4 (background) | “Le berger de rien / sans valeur” (11:15-17) — negative foil to the true Shepherd-King; must not blur with positive Shepherd imagery elsewhere. “Faveur / Union” (11:7-14) — symbolic staff-names, capitalization required. “Les trente pièces d’argent…au potier” (11:12-13) — direct NT citation link (Matthew 27:9-10); High risk, theologian review required even though the citation event lies outside this curriculum’s chronological core. |
| 12 | D4 (chapter’s core), D1 (background) | Concentrated cluster: “un esprit de grâce et de supplication” (12:10a, reuse baseline “grâce” exactly) immediately followed by “ils tourneront les regards vers moi, celui qu’ils ont transpercé” (12:10b) — the single highest-risk phrase in the curriculum (see §5). “Ils se lamenteront sur lui comme on se lamente sur un fils unique” (12:10c) — Sonship-of-Christ resonance, distinct occurrence, must not be conflated lexically with “Fils de Dieu.” |
| 13 | D4, D2 (via cleansing) | “Une source ouverte pour le péché et pour l’impureté” (13:1) — reuse baseline “péché” exactly; “impureté” requires a note distinguishing Levitical ritual-purity background from a purely moral-only modern reading. “Frappe le berger…” (13:7) — direct Gospel citation (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27); High risk. “Affiner comme l’argent” (13:9) — standard refining vocabulary, low risk, leads into covenant formula echoing baseline’s relational register. |
| 14 | D2, D5, D1, D3 (converging) | “Le jour de l’Éternel” (14:1) — standard prophetic-eschatological term. “Des eaux vives sortiront de Jérusalem” (14:8) — Johannine cross-reference, resonance only. “L’Éternel sera roi de toute la terre” (14:9) — must reuse “roi” consistently with 9:9 so learners perceive continuity between the humble coming king and the climactic universal king. “L’Éternel sera un, et son nom un” (14:9b) — Shema echo, foundational monotheistic confession, High risk. “Sainteté à l’Éternel” (14:20) — reuse baseline “saint(eté)” exactly; formula universalized from priestly garments to ordinary life. “Il n’y aura plus de marchand…” (14:21) — idiomatic ethnonym-for-merchant usage requiring a clarifying note against anachronistic/ethnically charged misreading. |
Chapters reviewed with no additional gap-analysis findings beyond the doctrine matrix in §2: none — every chapter of Zechariah contributes at least one term or doctrine touchpoint relevant to this curriculum, as tabulated above. This is recorded explicitly per the full-book coverage mandate.
4. Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods
4.1 Missing Vocabulary (no adequate single French equivalent exists)
| Hebrew Term | Gap Description | Resolution Direction |
|---|---|---|
| חֶסֶד (chesed) | No single French word captures covenant loyalty + steadfast love + kindness simultaneously. “Fidélité” over-emphasizes loyalty; “bonté” over-emphasizes kindness; neither alone carries the covenantal weight. | A single consistent curriculum-wide choice must be fixed (candidate: “la bonté fidèle” or “la fidélité bienveillante”) and never alternated between passages (7:9 is the key test case), to avoid confusing learners moving between lessons. |
| נוֹשָׁע (niphal passive of “to save,” 9:9) | French has no single-word passive-voice equivalent that simultaneously signals (a) salvation and (b) grammatical passivity/God-dependence as sharply as the Hebrew niphal does. | ”Sauvé” is the closest adequate fit and is required; “victorieux” (historic Segond choice) is explicitly rejected as an active-voice distortion. |
| קִנְאָה (zeal/jealousy for Zion) | French “jaloux/jalousie” exists but denotes the wrong register (romantic/petty) by default; there is no unmarked French word for covenant-protective, marriage-like ardor. | Mandatory clarifying gloss at every occurrence, not a lexical substitute — no single French word solves this gap; the solution is a fixed phrase pairing, not a term choice. |
| צֶמַח (Tsemach, “the Branch,” as messianic title) | French has agricultural/botanical vocabulary (“germe,” “rejeton,” “pousse,” “branche”) but none is conventionally recognized as a personal messianic title the way English “the Branch” or Hebrew צֶמַח function; French Bible tradition itself is split (Segond-family “le Germe” vs. TOB-family “le Rejeton”). | Fix one choice (“le Germe”) for curriculum-wide consistency; document the ecumenical alternative but do not mix it in, to prevent learners perceiving two different messianic figures. |
| רִשְׁעָה personified (5:5-11) | French grammatical gender does not map predictably onto Hebrew abstract-noun gender; a feminine personification of “Wickedness” risks an unintended gendered moral commentary in French that the Hebrew convention does not carry. | Retain the personification (“la Méchanceté”) but attach a standing translator’s note on Hebrew abstract-noun grammatical gender as a literary convention, not a theological claim about women. |
4.2 Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods (French terms exist but carry competing freight)
| French Term | Competing Sense Already Present in French | Fencing Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Seigneur | Fixed in the Romans baseline as the rendering of κύριος (Christ’s exclusive Lordship, Romans 10:9). Zechariah’s divine name יהוה must NOT default to “Seigneur,” or French readers moving between Romans and Zechariah materials will collapse two distinct categories — a proper name (YHWH) and a confessional title (kyrios/adonai applied to Christ) — into one undifferentiated word. | Fence with “l’Éternel” for YHWH throughout Zechariah; reserve “Seigneur” exclusively for the NT title usage already fixed by the baseline. Mandatory translator’s preface note explaining the distinction to teachers and learners. |
| jaloux / jalousie | Contemporary French: primarily romantic possessiveness, envy, or petty resentment (“il est jaloux de son frère”). | See §4.1 above — gloss required at every occurrence, no exceptions. |
| Satan | Fully developed New Testament and popular-culture devil figure (horns, fire, personal name with settled biography) far beyond what Zechariah 3’s court-scene “the accuser” (definite article, office-like use) establishes. | Use “Satan” as the recognizable proper-name anchor (avoiding under-signaling the figure to a general readership) but attach a standing note clarifying the more limited “l’Accusateur” office-sense operative in this specific vision. |
| païens | Baseline-documented pejorative “uncivilized/irreligious” connotation in modern French — appropriate for some Romans contexts but actively hostile to Zechariah’s positive universal-peace and ingathering oracles (2:11; 8:22-23; 9:10). | Deliberately fence OFF “païens” from all positive-universalism passages in Zechariah; use “nations” instead, as already fixed in bible_term_registry.json. |
| communion (not used directly in Zechariah but relevant for teaching cross-reference to the baseline’s “communion fraternelle”) | Bare “communion” is heard first as the Eucharist in French Catholic usage. | Not directly triggered by Zechariah’s own vocabulary, but any teaching material connecting Zechariah’s covenant community language to NT “fellowship” concepts must reuse the baseline’s qualified “communion fraternelle,” never bare “communion.” |
| providence | 18th-century French Enlightenment deist usage of “la Providence” as an impersonal benevolent cosmic order. | Same fencing the baseline already applies to Romans 8:28: render Zechariah 4:10’s “eyes of the LORD” providence language with explicit personal, purposive, watching-and-acting verbs, not an abstract noun alone. |
| alliance | Also the everyday French word for a wedding ring (“l’alliance”), a helpful relational resonance already noted favorably in the baseline — no fencing needed here, listed for completeness since בְּרִית recurs heavily in Zechariah (9:11; 11:10). | No fencing required; the wedding-ring resonance is an asset, not a risk, consistent with baseline guidance. |
| roi | Contemporary French secular/historical usage (kings of France, constitutional monarchy discourse) risks a merely political-historical reading of “ton roi” (9:9) and “l’Éternel sera roi” (14:9). | Fence by consistent cross-referencing between 9:9 and 14:9 in teaching notes, showing the movement from humble particular king to universal divine kingship — the term itself is not replaced, but its scope must be actively taught, not assumed. |
5. Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions
| Term | Decision | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| יהוה (YHWH) | Translate by convention, not transliterate → “l’Éternel” | Segond-tradition convention; a bare transliteration (“YHWH” or “Yahvé”) would be unreadable/unfamiliar to the target lay and mixed-tradition audience and would break with the established French Bible-reading tradition this curriculum’s register targets. |
| יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת | Paraphrase/compound, not transliterate (rejecting “l’Éternel Sabaot”) → “l’Éternel des armées" | "Sabaot” transliteration is a documented Bible de Jérusalem convention but is unfamiliar and opaque to general readers; the compound French phrase remains comprehensible while requiring a clarifying teaching note against militaristic misreading. |
| הַשָּׂטָן (ha-satan) | Use established proper name (“Satan”) over literal paraphrase (“l’Adversaire/l’Accusateur” alone) | A literal paraphrase alone under-signals the figure to readers already familiar with “Satan” as a name; retain the name but append the office-clarifying note (§4.2) rather than paraphrase away the recognizable anchor. |
| צֶמַח (Tsemach) | Paraphrase as a fixed title, not transliterate (“Tsémach”) → “le Germe” | Transliteration would produce an opaque, unpronounceable-feeling term for French learners; French Bible tradition already supplies workable paraphrase options (“le Germe” / “le Rejeton”); fix one per §4.1. |
| קִנְאָה (qin’ah) | Paraphrase with mandatory gloss, not transliterate | A transliteration would communicate nothing to a general audience; the existing French word “jaloux” is retained but fenced, not replaced by an invented term, to keep the text readable at the required lycée-level register. |
| אַבָּא-style intimacy terms | Not present in Zechariah (no Aramaic terms of address occur in this book) | No decision required; noted for completeness against the baseline’s Abba entry, confirming no parallel gap exists in Zechariah. |
| הַיָּחִיד (hayachid, “only child”) | Paraphrase, not a fixed title → “un fils unique” | Descriptive noun phrase in this context, not a proper title; paraphrase preserves the intended pathos without inventing a false technical term. |
| כְנַעֲנִי (khena’ani, idiomatic “Canaanite” = trader, 14:21) | Paraphrase, not literal transliteration/translation → “il n’y aura plus de marchand” | A literal ethnonym rendering (“Cananéen”) would produce an anachronistic and potentially ethnically charged misreading; the idiomatic sense (merchant) is the intended meaning and must be paraphrased directly, with a note explaining the idiom’s origin for advanced readers. |
| מַשָּׂא (massa, prophetic “oracle/burden”) | Translate the genre term, not transliterate → “la sentence / l’oracle” | Standard prophetic-genre vocabulary already exists in French translation tradition; transliteration would serve no comprehension purpose here. |
6. Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities
Ranked by combined doctrinal weight and likelihood of mistranslation, drawing on the risk tiers already established in assets/bible_term_registry.json.
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Zechariah 12:10 — “ils tourneront les regards vers moi, celui qu’ils ont transpercé.” (Critical) The grammatical divine-identification tension (“moi,” not “lui”) combined with the violent verb “transpercé” (not “blessé/touché”) makes this the single highest-risk phrase in the entire curriculum. A translator substituting “lui” for “moi,” or softening “transpercé,” silently erases the doctrine this curriculum exists to teach (D4).
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Zechariah 9:9 — נוֹשָׁע rendered “sauvé” vs. the historic Segond “victorieux.” (Critical) A single word choice here inverts the theological direction of the entire core passage: a humble, God-dependent king (Hebrew passive) versus a self-achieved conqueror (French active mistranslation), directly contradicting the disarmament oracle of 9:10 that follows in the same core passage.
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God’s “zeal/jealousy for Zion” (1:14; 8:2), קִנְאָה. (Critical) Left unglossed, “jaloux” risks characterizing God as petty or romantically possessive in ordinary contemporary French register — a live risk on every occurrence, not a one-time translation choice.
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YHWH (“l’Éternel”) vs. Seigneur cross-curriculum confusion. (Critical) Because the Romans baseline has already fixed “Seigneur” for κύριος/Christ’s Lordship, any drift toward using “Seigneur” for the divine name in Zechariah would cause learners moving between curricula to conflate a proper name with a Christological title — a systemic risk affecting 130+ occurrences.
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“Le Germe” (the Branch, 3:8; 6:12) — consistency and title-status. (Critical) If a translator working chapter-by-chapter unconsciously alternates between “le Germe” and “le Rejeton,” or fails to capitalize it as a fixed title, French learners may perceive two separate messianic figures rather than one recurring title.
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Zechariah 6:13 — the priest-king fusion (“un prêtre sur son trône… une pensée de paix”). (High) This Law-transcending combination of offices is doctrinally unusual and easily flattened into a merely ceremonial detail if not flagged for its Christological significance (D1).
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Zechariah 11:12-13 and 13:7 — direct Gospel-citation passages (thirty pieces of silver; strike the shepherd). (High) Both are quoted or echoed directly in the Passion narratives (Matthew 27:9-10; Matthew 26:31/Mark 14:27); mistranslation here would sever an explicit intertextual link the New Testament itself relies on.
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“Nations” vs. “païens” in positive-universalism passages (2:11; 8:22-23; 9:10). (High) Defaulting to the baseline’s “païens” in these specific verses would introduce a pejorative connotation directly contradicting the text’s welcoming, ingathering sense — a deviation from baseline default that must be applied correctly and consistently.
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חֶסֶד (chesed) inconsistency across the curriculum (7:9 and elsewhere). (High) No single French word is fully adequate; the real risk is not mistranslation of any one occurrence but inconsistency between occurrences, which would confuse learners tracking a recurring covenant-character term across lessons.
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Zechariah 9:11-12 — “le sang de ton alliance” (blood of the covenant). (High) Carries the same atonement/sacramental-association sensitivity the baseline already flags for Romans 3:25; French Catholic and Protestant readers bring different default associations to covenant-blood language that must be actively managed in teaching notes, not left implicit.
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Zechariah 3:1-2 — Satan/ha-satan office vs. proper name. (Medium-High) Risk of either under-signaling (if paraphrased only as “l’Accusateur”) or over-signaling (if “Satan” is read with full later NT/devil-figure development) the identity and scope of this court-scene figure.
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Zechariah 14:9 — “l’Éternel sera un, et son nom un.” (High) A Shema-echoing confession that must be preserved as unqualified monotheistic climax, not softened into a general statement about divine unity in the abstract.
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Zechariah 5:5-11 — feminine personification of “Wickedness” (רִשְׁעָה). (Medium) Lower doctrinal stakes than items above, but a real risk of an unintended, culturally jarring misreading in a contemporary French teaching context if the grammatical-gender convention is not explained.
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Zechariah 14:21 — idiomatic “Canaanite” for merchant. (Medium) Risk is not doctrinal collapse but anachronistic/ethnic misreading if translated literally without the idiom-clarifying note.
7. Summary and Handoff
This gap analysis identifies five doctrine-level vocabulary challenges (§2), a full 14-chapter inventory of load-bearing terms (§3), a defined set of missing-vocabulary gaps requiring fixed curriculum-wide choices rather than case-by-case translation (§4.1), a defined set of crowded-neighborhood terms requiring active fencing against competing senses already live in French — including terms fixed by the Romans baseline itself (§4.2), a full set of transliteration-vs-paraphrase decisions (§5), and a ranked risk list topped by Zechariah 12:10’s pierced-one confession, 9:9’s passive-voice “sauvé,” and the pervasive “jaloux/jalousie” gloss requirement (§6).
All findings here must be carried forward into analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md and formalized in analysis/08_core_glossary.md and the extended bible_term_registry.json / doctrine_risk_registry.json for this curriculum, without contradicting any fixed baseline Romans entry.