Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 John — English → Fulfulde
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across all 13 verses of 2 John. Terms already present in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json are marked Baseline reuse and their recorded rendering is enforced exactly, per the hard rule that established term renderings must be reused without substitution. All risk tiers (Critical/High/Medium/Low) follow the same conventions as doctrine_risk_registry.json.
| # | English Term | Greek (transliteration) | Fulfulde Rendering | Risk | Baseline Status | Verses | Key Risk Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elder (title) | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | mawɗo | High | New | 1:1 | Must be distinguished from Islamic clerical/spiritual-authority titles (shehu, alfa, marabout); apostolic authority ≠ Islamic religious office, parallel to baseline’s nulaaɗo/rasuulu distinction. |
| 2 | Elect Lady (address) | ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ (eklektē kyria) | Debbo Suɓaaɗo | Medium | New (root reuse: suɓagol) | 1:1, 1:5 | Genuine ambiguity between an individual addressee and a personified local church; must not be silently resolved either way. |
| 3 | Children | τέκνα (tekna) | ɓiɗɓe | Low–Medium | New (root reuse: ɓiɗɗo) | 1:1, 1:4, 1:13 | Must read corporately (church members/disciples), not only literal biological children. |
| 4 | Love (verb/noun) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη (agapaō / agapē) | yiɗde | High | New | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 | Broad ordinary range (“to want/like”) risks flattening self-giving, covenantal love into mere fondness or preference; not yet a crystallized separate theological term. |
| 5 | Truth | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | goonga | High | New | 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 | Strong Pulaaku value-word (personal truthfulness) risks narrowing John’s fuller sense of the revealed apostolic truth of Christ; must be anchored explicitly to “the teaching of Christ” (v.9). |
| 6 | Grace | χάρις (charis) | Arjunde | Critical | Baseline reuse (exact) | 1:3 | Per baseline: Arabic-influenced vocabulary shared with Islamic usage, generally understood there as responsive to piety/deeds; never substitute barke; state “apart from works” explicitly. |
| 7 | Mercy | ἔλεος (eleos) | yurmeende | Medium | New (word choice guided by baseline’s own reservation of yurmeende for “mercy/compassion generally”) | 1:3 | Must not collapse into a synonym for Arjunde/grace; mercy and unmerited favor are related but distinct in this greeting formula. |
| 8 | Peace | εἰρήνη (eirēnē) | jam | Medium | Baseline reuse (exact) | 1:3 | Per baseline: must be distinguished from the everyday jam-greeting register; doubly important here given the jam-greeting risk at v.10. |
| 9 | God | θεός (theos) | Alla | Critical | Baseline reuse (exact) | 1:3, 1:9 | Per baseline: shared universal term across Muslim/Christian Fulfulde speakers; must be presented in explicitly Trinitarian, Christ-centered terms per this curriculum. |
| 10 | Father | πατήρ (patēr) | Baaba | Medium | Baseline reuse (exact) | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | Standard, doctrinally clear; resonates with Fulani family/lineage values. |
| 11 | Son (of the Father) | υἱός (τοῦ πατρός) (huios tou patros) | Ɓiɗɗo (Baaba) | Critical | Baseline reuse (built on Ɓiɗɗo Alla pattern) | 1:3, 1:9 | Inherits baseline’s Critical Sonship of Christ doctrine in full; direct Tawhid/shirk objection must be anticipated, never softened. |
| 12 | Jesus | Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous) | Yeesu | Critical | Baseline reuse (exact) | 1:3, 1:7 | Never the Quranic form Iisa in doctrinal exposition. |
| 13 | Christ | Χριστός (Christos) | Kiristu | Critical | Baseline reuse (per 12_ai transliteration standard) | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | Distinct from Almasiihu (used for the Messiah title/doctrine); Kiristu used as the proper-name component here, per established convention. |
| 14 | Commandment | ἐντολή (entolē) | yamiroore | Medium | New (root shared with baseline’s yamiroore Linjiila) | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 | Must be kept distinct from sariya (Mosaic Law/Sharia-associated); this is a single focused love-command, not a comprehensive legal code. |
| 15 | Walk (conduct/live) | περιπατέω (peripateō) | yahde e | High | New | 1:4, 1:6, 1:9 (implied via μένω) | Metaphorical “walk = conduct of life” idiom is not self-evidently metaphorical in Fulfulde; must be taught explicitly, not left literal. |
| 16 | Deceiver | πλάνος (planos) | majjinoowo | Critical | New | 1:7 | Adjacent to Islamic apocalyptic vocabulary (false prophets, ad-Dajjal); doctrinal content (denial of the Incarnation) must be stated explicitly, not assumed from the word. |
| 17 | World | κόσμος (kosmos) | aduna | Medium | New | 1:7 | Shared Sahelian/Islamic loanword (cf. Arabic dunya); John’s morally charged “world opposed to Christ” sense is not automatic in ordinary usage. |
| 18 | Confess | ὁμολογέω (homologeō) | seedaade | High | New | 1:7 | Sits near the semantic space of the Islamic shahada (testimony of faith); shared “confession” structure, entirely different content — must be made explicit. |
| 19 | Flesh (Incarnation phrase) | σάρξ (sarx), ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί | ardii e teewu (or, alternative, ardii e balndu) | Critical | New (linked to baseline’s Incarnation doctrine, Alla wontii neɗɗo) | 1:7 | Open decision flagged for theologian/native-speaker confirmation: teewu (“flesh/meat”) preserves the crucial anti-docetic materiality emphasis but risks crudeness; balndu (“body”) is safer but softer. This is the letter’s central doctrinal flashpoint. |
| 20 | Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος (antichristos) | Antikiristu | Critical | New | 1:7 | Risk of collision with the Islamic eschatological figure of ad-Dajjal; 2 John’s own present-tense, doctrinal-denial definition must be taught explicitly rather than defaulting to the Dajjal framework. |
| 21 | Watch/Take heed | βλέπω (blepō, imperative) | reentu | Low–Medium | New | 1:8 | Standard vigilance idiom; low doctrinal risk. |
| 22 | Reward | μισθός (misthos) | njoɓdi (timmuɗi) | Medium | New | 1:8 | Wage/payment root risks a deeds-earn-reward reading; must be framed as fruit of perseverance within a salvation already secured by grace (cf. baseline Grace doctrine), not a separate merit economy. |
| 23 | Goes on ahead / transgresses | προάγω (proagō) | ɓurtoowo e diina (descriptive) | High | New | 1:9 | Subtle irony (claims progress while apostatizing) must not be flattened to a simple “leaves the faith.” |
| 24 | Abide/Remain | μένω (menō) | ñiiɓde | High | New | 1:2 (of truth), 1:9 (of teaching) | Strong Fulani pastoralist resonance (settling vs. wandering) is a positive bridge but must be taught as relational perseverance in Christ’s teaching, not mere physical settlement. |
| 25 | Teaching of Christ | διδαχή (τοῦ Χριστοῦ) (didachē tou Christou) | jaŋgirgol Kiristu | Critical | New | 1:9, 1:10 | Newly coined compound (no prior attestation); root jaŋg- also underlies jaŋgirde (Quranic school), a positive-or-risky association requiring explicit framing rather than silent assumption. |
| 26 | House/Household (hospitality) | οἰκία (oikia) | galle | Critical | New | 1:10 | Directly confronts Pulaaku’s deep hospitality values (teddungal/dignity, semteende/modesty); must be taught as targeting formal endorsement of known false teachers specifically, not ordinary hospitality. |
| 27 | Greeting formula (formal welcome/endorsement) | χαίρειν (chairein) | Contextual periphrasis, e.g. wolwannde jam ka jaɓa mo (“a peace-greeting that endorses him”) | Critical | New | 1:10, 1:11 | The single most culturally loaded instruction in the letter: risks being heard as commanding refusal of the customary jam-greeting exchange central to Pulaaku’s teddungal; must be explicitly scoped to doctrinal endorsement of a known false teacher, never a blanket ban on daily greetings. Mandatory joint theologian + native-speaker review. |
| 28 | Partake/Share in (negative sense) | κοινωνέω (koinōneō) | jokkondirde e | High | New (must be kept distinct from baseline’s diisnondiral) | 1:11 | Must not share a root with the positive baseline term for Christian fellowship (diisnondiral), to avoid blurring complicity-in-evil with genuine Christian community. |
| 29 | Evil/wicked works | ἔργα πονηρά (erga ponēra) | golle bonɗe | Medium | New | 1:11 | Must convey genuine moral seriousness (cf. baseline’s bakkaatu/sin treatment), not merely “unwise” actions. |
| 30 | Forever / into the age | εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (eis ton aiōna) | haa abada | Low | New | 1:2 | Standard Sahelian idiom for eternity; low risk. |
| 31 | Joy (full/fulfilled) | χαρά (chara) | weltaare (timmuɗe) | Low | New | 1:12 | Shares a Greek root with the withheld greeting-word χαίρειν (vv.10–11); wordplay cannot be reproduced in Fulfulde but is worth noting pedagogically. |
| 32 | Greet (ordinary closing greeting) | ἀσπάζομαι (aspazomai) | salminaa mo (tentative; confirm regionally) | Medium | New | 1:13 | Must be kept visibly distinct from the v.10–11 formal-welcome prohibition, so ordinary greetings are clearly not banned by the letter. |
| 33 | Sister | ἀδελφή (adelphē) | banndiraawo debbo | Low | New | 1:13 | Standard kinship term; resonates positively with Fulani lineage values. |
| 34 | Elect/Chosen (adjective) | ἐκλεκτός/-ή (eklektos/-ē) | suɓaaɗo | Medium | New (root reuse: suɓagol) | 1:1, 1:13 | Consistent rendering required across both occurrences (the “lady” and her “sister”); morphology follows the baseline’s -aaɗo passive-participle pattern (cf. noddaaɗo). |
Cross-Cutting Notes for Phase 2
- Doctrinal center of the book: Verse 9 (has/does not have God, Father and Son) and verse 7 (coming in the flesh, deceiver, antichrist) are the letter’s Critical-risk theological core and inherit the baseline’s mandatory human-theologian escalation rules for Sonship of Christ, Deity of Christ, and Incarnation.
- Distinct greeting registers: Three different Greek words touch on “greeting” across this short letter — ἀσπάζομαι (ordinary closing greeting, v.13, low risk), χαίρειν (the specific withheld formal welcome/endorsement, vv.10–11, Critical risk), and χαρά (the noun “joy,” v.12, sharing χαίρειν’s root but a different word). These must be rendered with three visibly distinct Fulfulde forms so that Phase 2 translators and reviewers do not conflate the general prohibition (endorsing false teachers) with an implied blanket restriction on Fulani greeting culture generally.
- New-term density: Of the 34 glossary entries, only 9 are direct baseline reuses; the remaining 25 are new to this curriculum. Per the baseline’s own escalation rules, every new provisional rendering here should be flagged for both native-speaker and theologian confirmation before being treated as final, consistent with Fulfulde’s thinner Bible-translation tradition documented throughout the baseline package.
- No chapter omitted: 2 John’s single chapter is fully covered by this glossary (all 13 verses represented across the 34 entries above), satisfying the full-book coverage mandate.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Arjunde
Transliteration: arjunde
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: yurmeende (reserve for ‘mercy/compassion’ generally, not unmerited favor specifically), barke (blessing, avoid as a substitute)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Occurs in 2 John 1:3’s opening greeting, naming grace alongside mercy and peace as flowing from ‘God the Father and… Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.’ The baseline’s Critical-risk caveat (arjunde as Arabic-influenced vocabulary shared with Islamic usage, generally understood as piety-responsive rather than unmerited; barke, marabout-associated blessing, must never substitute) applies with full force even in this greeting-register verse.
God
Approved rendering: Alla
Transliteration: Alla
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Occurs in 2 John 1:3 and, decisively, 1:9 (‘does not have God… has both the Father and the Son’). This curriculum must present Alla in explicitly Trinitarian, Christ-centered terms per the baseline instruction, especially at 1:9, which directly confronts a non-Trinitarian default reading of Alla.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Ɓiɗɗo Alla
Transliteration: Ɓiɗɗo Alla
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: nulaaɗo mawɗo (a great messenger, an explicit downgrade and rejected)
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Retained here as the general-purpose baseline form; for 2 John’s specific phrasing ‘the Son of the Father’ (huios tou patros, 1:3), see the new curriculum-specific entry son_of_the_father below (Ɓiɗɗo Baaba), built on this same root but substituting Baaba for Alla to match the letter’s exact wording. Both forms inherit the baseline’s Critical Tawhid/shirk risk in full and must never be softened.
Son Of The Father
Approved rendering: Ɓiɗɗo Baaba
Transliteration: Ɓiɗɗo Baaba
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: nulaaɗo mawɗo (a great messenger, rejected per baseline), any phrase implying adoptive, honorary, or metaphorical sonship
NEW curriculum-specific variant, built directly on the baseline’s Ɓiɗɗo Alla pattern to match 2 John 1:3’s exact phrasing (‘Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father’) and 1:9’s climactic claim (‘has both the Father and the Son’). This is the letter’s sharpest doctrinal flashpoint: v.9’s flat claim that denying the Son means not having God at all directly counters the strict Tawhid doctrine central to Fulani Islamic scholarly and reform tradition (echoing the Sokoto Caliphate’s reformist jihad tradition and Quran 112’s denial that God has a son). Must never be softened; the objection should be met with direct, respectful engagement, not avoidance.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yeesu
Transliteration: Yeesu
Doctrine: Denial of the Incarnation by Deceivers
Rejected alternatives: Iisa (the Quranic Arabic form, reserve only for explicit interfaith-dialogue contexts)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Occurs in 2 John 1:3 and, critically, 1:7 (‘Jesus Christ coming in the flesh’). Never the Quranic form Iisa in doctrinal exposition — this distinction matters most precisely at 1:7, where the letter’s anti-docetic point could otherwise be read as compatible with an Ahmadiyya- or Quranic-Isa framework.
Christ
Approved rendering: Kiristu
Transliteration: Kiristu
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Almasiihu (reserved for the Messiah title/doctrine; kept distinct from the proper-name component Kiristu)
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE’s transliteration standard (specified in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md’s Transliteration Standards section: ‘Christ = Kiristu’); not a standalone entry in the baseline translation_memory.json terms list but an established, non-negotiable transliteration convention now formally recorded as a TM entry for this curriculum. Occurs in 2 John 1:3, 1:7 (‘Jesus Christ… coming in the flesh’), and 1:9 (‘the teaching of Christ’).
Deceiver
Approved rendering: majjinoowo
Transliteration: majjinoowo
Doctrine: The Deceiver and the Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Arabic-loan calques of Islamic apocalyptic false-prophet titles (avoid; native root preferred to prevent a direct calque reading)
Original: πλάνος
Category: False Teaching
2 John 1:7 (‘many deceivers have gone out into the world’). Agentive form from majja- (‘to be lost/err’), following the baseline’s -oowo/-aaɗo morphological pattern. This concept sits directly adjacent to well-articulated Islamic apocalyptic vocabulary (false prophets, ad-Dajjal), a well-known category among Fulfulde-speaking readers given the depth of regional Islamic scholarly education. The doctrinal content — denial of the Incarnation specifically — must be stated with total explicitness every occurrence, not assumed from the word alone.
Flesh Incarnation
Approved rendering: ardii e teewu (alternative under review: ardii e balndu)
Transliteration: ardii e teewu / ardii e balndu
Doctrine: Denial of the Incarnation by Deceivers
Rejected alternatives: a softened ‘appeared as/in human form’ rendering (rejected: concedes ground to the docetic position the verse itself condemns)
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, UNRESOLVED PENDING THEOLOGIAN + NATIVE-SPEAKER CONFIRMATION. 2 John 1:7’s central doctrinal flashpoint. Two candidates: ardii e teewu (‘came in/with flesh/meat’) preserves the crucial anti-docetic emphasis on raw material physicality but risks sounding crude; ardii e balndu (‘came in/with a body’) is more dignified but softer, risking loss of the very materiality point the verse makes. teewu is provisionally preferred pending confirmation. Must be read together with the baseline’s Critical Incarnation entry (Alla wontii neɗɗo) and the Sonship/Deity of Christ doctrines: God taking human/physical form is shirk in Islamic theology and must be taught with direct, careful explanation, never sidestepped. NO SEGMENT USING THIS TERM MAY BE MARKED FINAL WITHOUT THEOLOGIAN SIGN-OFF ON WHICH VARIANT IS USED.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: Antikiristu
Transliteration: Antikiristu
Doctrine: The Deceiver and the Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: any rendering drawn from ad-Dajjal vocabulary (rejected: risks readers mapping this letter’s present-tense doctrinal-denial definition wholesale onto the future world-ruler Dajjal figure)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Eschatology
2 John 1:7. A transliterated neologism with no prior attestation identified in available Fulfulde Christian translation literature, formed by direct transliteration following the established Kiristu pattern. Direct collision risk with the well-developed Islamic eschatological figure of ad-Dajjal (‘the deceiver/impostor’), deeply embedded in regional Islamic apocalyptic teaching. This curriculum must explicitly teach 2 John’s own present-tense, doctrinal-denial definition (a current denier of Christ’s incarnate humanity, not primarily a future world-ruler figure) every occurrence, rather than let the term default silently into the Dajjal framework.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: jaŋgirgol Kiristu
Transliteration: jaŋgirgol Kiristu
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: sariya-based rendering (rejected: risks recasting Christ’s teaching as a comprehensive legal code parallel to Sharia rather than specific apostolic doctrine about who Christ is)
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Christology
2 John 1:9, 1:10. A newly coined compound gerund with no prior attestation identified in available Fulfulde Christian literature, requiring mandatory theologian/native-speaker confirmation per this language’s thinner translation tradition. Its root jaŋg- also underlies jaŋgirde, the common Fulfulde word for a Quranic school — a positive-or-risky association that must be explicitly framed (authoritative instruction from and about Christ specifically) rather than left to default association. This is the hinge term determining what exactly must not be doctrinally endorsed in 1:10-11.
House Hospitality
Approved rendering: galle
Transliteration: galle
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: a narrower physical ‘house’ term (rejected: galle’s fuller social-unit/compound sense is most consistent with the verse’s intent)
Original: οἰκία
Category: Hospitality
2 John 1:10 (‘do not receive him into your house’). The standard Fulfulde word for a family house/compound. This instruction runs directly against one of the deepest values of Pulaaku: hospitality (bound up with teddungal/dignity and semteende/modesty) is a central, non-negotiable marker of Fulani identity. A blanket-sounding command risks being heard as a call to abandon a core cultural virtue rather than a narrowly targeted refusal of doctrinal endorsement to itinerant false teachers specifically. NEVER render without an explicit accompanying scope-limiting clause naming the known, unrepentant denial of the Incarnation as the specific target.
Greeting Formula
Approved rendering: wolwannde jam ka jaɓa mo
Transliteration: wolwannde jam ka jaɓa mo
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: a bare ‘do not say jam to him’ (rejected: risks being heard as commanding a severe, almost unthinkable social insult — refusal of the customary jam-greeting exchange)
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Hospitality
2 John 1:10-11 (χαίρειν, the specific formal welcome/endorsement greeting withheld from a known denier of the Incarnation). No single Fulfulde word captures ‘endorsement-bearing greeting’ as distinct from the everyday jam-greeting exchange central to Pulaaku’s teddungal; this periphrasis (‘a peace-greeting that endorses him’) keeps the endorsement sense explicit. Arguably the single most culturally loaded instruction in the entire letter. MANDATORY joint theologian AND native-speaker review before deployment; must always be paired with explicit scope-limiting language, and must be kept visibly distinct in form from greet_ordinary (salminaa mo) below.
High Risk Terms
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: ɗoftagol iwdi e gomɗinal
Transliteration: ɗoftagol iwdi e gomɗinal
Doctrine: The Love Command
Rejected alternatives: ɗoftagol sariya (obedience to law/rules, a works-based misreading)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Referenced as background doctrine for 2 John’s love-obedience circularity (1:6: ‘this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment… that you should walk in it’); obedience flowing from love/faith, not a separate meritorious rule-obedience, per baseline caution.
Elder
Approved rendering: mawɗo
Transliteration: mawɗo
Doctrine: Apostolic/Pastoral Authority of the Elder
Rejected alternatives: shehu (Islamic clerical/spiritual-authority title, never use), alfa (Islamic clerical title, never use), rasuulu (never use, reserved per baseline for Muhammad’s title)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
The author’s self-designation (2 John 1:1). mawɗo is a native Fulfulde word for ‘elder/senior person,’ carrying positive Pulaaku age-based-respect resonance, but must be carefully distinguished from Islamic religious-authority titles current in Fulani communities (shehu, alfa, and other marabout/Sufi tariqa titles), parallel to the baseline’s deliberate choice of nulaaɗo over rasuulu for ‘apostle.’ The author’s authority here is apostolic/pastoral, not a parallel Islamic clerical or Sufi spiritual office.
Love
Approved rendering: yiɗde
Transliteration: yiɗde
Doctrine: The Love Command
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Ethics
2 John 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6. Broad ordinary Fulfulde range covering ‘to want/desire/like’ as well as ‘to love’; the letter’s self-giving, covenantal, obedience-linked agapē risks flattening into mere fondness or preference. No crystallized separate theological term yet exists in Fulfulde Christian literature to mark this distinction; gloss explicitly on first use per lesson (e.g., ‘a love that gives itself, not only a love that feels’).
Truth
Approved rendering: goonga
Transliteration: goonga
Doctrine: Walking in Truth
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
2 John 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4. goonga is a deeply established Pulaaku personal-virtue word (truthfulness/honesty in social dealings) — a genuine point of cultural contact, but risks narrowing John’s fuller Johannine sense of the revealed apostolic truth of Christ into mere personal sincerity. Must be anchored explicitly to ‘the teaching of Christ’ (v.9) on every occurrence.
Walk
Approved rendering: yahde e
Transliteration: yahde e
Doctrine: Walking in Truth
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
2 John 1:4, 1:6 (and implicitly underlying the abide/menō theme of 1:9). The metaphorical ‘walk = conduct of life’ NT idiom is not self-evidently metaphorical in Fulfulde and risks a literal-movement reading; must be taught explicitly as conduct-of-life language on first occurrence per lesson. Confirm regional naturalness of this idiom with native speakers given the thinner devotional-vocabulary base.
Confess
Approved rendering: seedaade
Transliteration: seedaade
Doctrine: Confession of Christ’s Incarnate Coming
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Faith
2 John 1:7 (‘those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh’). seedaade (‘to testify/bear witness’) sits near the semantic space of the Islamic shahada, the foundational Muslim confession of faith. Genuine point of contact (both traditions use confession/testimony as an entry-marker of religious identity), but the content confessed is entirely different and must be made explicit every time: confessing Jesus Christ’s coming in real human flesh, not a general profession of monotheism.
Goes On Ahead
Approved rendering: ɓurtoowo e diina
Transliteration: ɓurtoowo e diina
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: a simple ‘leaves the faith’ rendering (rejected: flattens the Greek’s irony that the deceiver believes he is advancing/progressing)
Original: προάγων
Category: False Teaching
2 John 1:9 (‘everyone who goes on ahead…’). A descriptive compound for the subtle Greek idiom of claiming spiritual progress while actually apostatizing. Must not be flattened to a simple departure statement, since the irony (they think they are advancing) is part of the letter’s warning.
Abide
Approved rendering: ñiiɓde
Transliteration: ñiiɓde
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Perseverance
2 John 1:2 (truth abiding in believers) and 1:9 (believers abiding in the teaching of Christ). A genuine Fulfulde verb meaning ‘to settle/remain/stay put,’ carrying strong positive resonance within Fulani pastoralist culture’s settling-versus-wandering distinction — a positive bridge for teaching perseverance, but must be explicitly taught as relational perseverance in Christ’s teaching, not mere physical settlement, to avoid a shallow literal reading.
Partake Negative
Approved rendering: jokkondirde e
Transliteration: jokkondirde e
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: any derived form of diisnondiral (rejected: would blur the positive baseline fellowship term with this negative complicity-in-evil sense)
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Sin
2 John 1:11 (‘takes part in his wicked works’). Lit. ‘to be joined/linked together with.’ Must be kept clearly distinct from the baseline’s positive term diisnondiral (fellowship/shared community in Christ); a shared root for both the positive Christian-community sense and this negative ‘complicit partnership in evil’ sense would blur an important theological distinction.
Medium Risk Terms
Mercy
Approved rendering: yurmeende
Transliteration: yurmeende
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: Arjunde (reserved exclusively for grace/unmerited favor; never substitute for mercy or vice versa)
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
New term for this curriculum (2 John 1:3), but its word choice is directly dictated by the Romans baseline’s own reservation of yurmeende for ‘mercy/compassion generally’ as distinct from Arjunde’s specific unmerited-favor sense. Mercy and grace must not be allowed to collapse into synonyms in this greeting formula.
Peace
Approved rendering: jam
Transliteration: jam
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: deeƴre (calm/stillness, too passive/psychological)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Occurs in 2 John 1:3. Must be distinguished from the everyday jam-greeting register central to Pulaaku’s teddungal (dignity) — an especially acute risk in this letter given the withheld formal-greeting instruction at 1:10-11, which also uses jam-adjacent vocabulary in a very different, negative sense (see greeting_formula below). The theological jam of 1:3 and the withheld-greeting periphrasis of 1:10-11 must read as visibly distinct in Fulfulde.
Father
Approved rendering: Baaba
Transliteration: Baaba
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Occurs in 2 John 1:3, 1:4 (the Father’s commandment), and 1:9. Standard, doctrinally clear rendering resonating positively with Fulani family/lineage values.
Election
Approved rendering: suɓagol
Transliteration: suɓagol
Doctrine: Corporate Identity and Election of the Addressees
Rejected alternatives: natal (fate/lot, use with caution)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Root reused as the base for two new curriculum-specific derived forms: Debbo Suɓaaɗo (‘elect lady,’ 1:1, 1:5) and suɓaaɗo (‘elect/chosen,’ applied to the sister in 1:13). natal (fate, tied to Islamic al-qadar) remains excluded per baseline caution against impersonal predetermination framing.
Law
Approved rendering: sariya
Transliteration: sariya
Doctrine: Commandment Distinguished from Comprehensive Law
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Referenced contrastively in this curriculum: 2 John’s ‘commandment’ (entolē/yamiroore, 1:4-6) is a single, focused love-command, not a comprehensive Sharia-style legal code (sariya). This distinction must be made explicit given the prominence of Sharia-observance in regional Islamic practice.
Elect Lady
Approved rendering: Debbo Suɓaaɗo
Transliteration: Debbo Suɓaaɗo
Doctrine: Corporate Identity and Election of the Addressees
Original: ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ
Category: Church
2 John 1:1, 1:5. Built on the suɓagol/election root. The Greek’s genuine ambiguity — an individual Christian woman, or a local church personified as a household — must not be silently resolved in either direction in Fulfulde. Flag for theologian decision on framing every time this address is taught.
Children
Approved rendering: ɓiɗɓe
Transliteration: ɓiɗɓe
Doctrine: Corporate Identity and Election of the Addressees
Original: τέκνα
Category: Church
2 John 1:1, 1:4, 1:13. Plural of ɓiɗɗo (shares its root with the baseline’s Ɓiɗɗo Alla/Son of God compounds, though the referent here is entirely different — the recipients’ community members, not Christ). Must read corporately (church members/disciples), not narrowed to only literal biological children, echoing the baseline’s caution on seniiɓe (saints) needing an unmistakably corporate sense.
Commandment
Approved rendering: yamiroore
Transliteration: yamiroore
Doctrine: Commandment Distinguished from Comprehensive Law
Rejected alternatives: sariya (reserve for Mosaic Law/Sharia-associated comprehensive legal code, never substitute)
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
2 John 1:4, 1:5, 1:6. Root shared with the baseline’s yamiroore Linjiila (‘mandate of the Gospel,’ under ‘mission’). Must be kept distinct from sariya so readers do not assimilate John’s single, focused love-command into a Sharia-style comprehensive legal code governing all conduct.
World
Approved rendering: aduna
Transliteration: aduna
Doctrine: The World as the Sphere of Deception
Original: κόσμος
Category: False Teaching
2 John 1:7. A widespread Sahelian Arabic-derived loanword cognate with Arabic dunya, shared with Islamic usage for ‘this world/this-worldly life’ contrasted with akhira. A genuine point of contact, but not a perfect match for John’s morally charged Johannine sense of a world actively organized in opposition to Christ’s truth; this nuance should be taught rather than assumed.
Reward
Approved rendering: njoɓdi timmuɗi
Transliteration: njoɓdi timmuɗi
Doctrine: Eschatological Reward for Perseverance
Original: μισθὸν πλήρη
Category: Salvation
2 John 1:8 (‘full reward’). The wage/payment root of njoɓdi risks being heard through a deeds-earn-reward lens, the same theological risk the Romans baseline flags for Grace against Islamic piety-conditioned soteriology (ajr/thawab deeds-weighing). This reward must be explicitly framed as the fruit of perseverance within a salvation already secured by grace (Arjunde, named two verses earlier at 1:3), never a separate merit economy.
Evil Works
Approved rendering: golle bonɗe
Transliteration: golle bonɗe
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Sin
2 John 1:11 (‘his wicked works’). Standard Fulfulde phrase; should be strong enough to convey genuine moral seriousness (not merely ‘unwise’ or ‘unhelpful’ actions), consistent with the baseline’s treatment of bakkaatu (sin) as real moral guilt before a personal God.
Greet Ordinary
Approved rendering: salminaa mo
Transliteration: salminaa mo
Doctrine: Ordinary Fellowship and Closing Greetings
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Church
2 John 1:13 (‘the children of your elect sister greet you’). The ordinary NT epistolary verb for sending closing personal greetings, distinct from chairein (the formal welcome/endorsement withheld in 1:10-11). Must be kept visibly distinct in form from greeting_formula above, so ordinary closing greetings and daily social greeting exchanges are clearly not what the letter forbids. Tentative rendering; confirm exact regional form with native speakers given the thinner base of established Fulfulde epistolary convention.
Elect Chosen
Approved rendering: suɓaaɗo
Transliteration: suɓaaɗo
Doctrine: Corporate Identity and Election of the Addressees
Rejected alternatives: natal (fate/al-qadar, excluded per baseline caution against impersonal predetermination framing)
Original: ἐκλεκτός/-ή
Category: Salvation
2 John 1:1 (of the ‘lady’) and 1:13 (of her ‘sister’). Root shared with the baseline’s suɓagol (election); morphology follows the baseline’s -aaɗo passive-participle pattern (cf. noddaaɗo, ‘called’). Consistent rendering required across both occurrences in the letter.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: diisnondiral
Transliteration: diisnondiral
Doctrine: Ordinary Fellowship and Closing Greetings
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, exact. Reserved exclusively for positive Christian community/shared participation in Christ. Must be kept clearly distinct from the new negative term partake_negative (jokkondirde e) coined for 2 John 1:11’s ‘takes part in his wicked works’ — the two concepts must never share a root, to avoid blurring genuine Christian fellowship with complicity in doctrinal error.
Watch
Approved rendering: reentu(ee)
Transliteration: reentu
Doctrine: Eschatological Reward for Perseverance
Original: βλέπετε ἑαυτούς
Category: Ethics
2 John 1:8 (‘watch yourselves’). Standard Fulfulde vigilance idiom. Low doctrinal risk.
Forever
Approved rendering: haa abada
Transliteration: haa abada
Doctrine: Walking in Truth
Original: εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
Category: Eschatology
2 John 1:2 (‘the truth… will be with us forever’). Standard Sahelian/Arabic-influenced idiom for eternity. Low risk.
Joy
Approved rendering: weltaare timmuɗe
Transliteration: weltaare timmuɗe
Doctrine: Ordinary Fellowship and Closing Greetings
Original: χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη
Category: Faith
2 John 1:12 (‘that our joy may be complete/full’). Shares its Greek root (chara) with chairein, the very greeting-word withheld from false teachers in 1:10-11; the wordplay cannot be reproduced in Fulfulde and no attempt should be made to force a matching pun, but this connection is worth noting pedagogically — the author reserves the language of rejoicing for genuine fellowship.
Sister
Approved rendering: banndiraawo debbo
Transliteration: banndiraawo debbo
Doctrine: Ordinary Fellowship and Closing Greetings
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
2 John 1:13. Standard Fulfulde kinship term for a female sibling; resonates positively with strong Fulani lineage and kinship values, similar to the baseline’s positive note on Baaba/Father language.
Referenced passages