Core Glossary
Core Glossary — James (Yakuba) 1–5
English → Fulfulde | Term-by-Term Translation Risk Reference
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, organized by doctrine category. Terms marked [REUSE — Romans TM] carry a rendering already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and MUST be used exactly as recorded there; this glossary does not alter those entries, only cites them. New terms introduced by James are marked [NEW] and require entry into translation memory per the Phase 1/Phase 2 protocol before Phase 2 translation begins.
Risk tier definitions follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly: Critical = human theologian review mandatory, automatically read through a competing Islamic framework without explicit engagement; High = significant confusion risk, unconfirmed/uncrystallized rendering, or Islamic-folk/Pulaaku syncretism risk; Medium = native speaker review recommended; Low = automated review sufficient.
Doctrine 1: Faith and Works (core passage doctrine)
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | faith | πίστις | pistis | gomɗinal | [REUSE — Romans TM] | High | Retained High per Romans entry; James adds the further risk of the word covering both saving trust and demons’ bare cognitive assent (2:19) within the same book. |
| 2 | works | ἔργα | erga | golle | [NEW] | Critical | Standard Fulfulde word for both ordinary labor and Islamic “good deeds” ('amal), actively weighed in regional Islamic soteriology for paradise-entry; James’s “faith without works is dead” risks confirming a deeds-weighing salvation model unless explicitly harmonized with the Romans grace/salvation entries. |
| 3 | to save (verb) | σῴζω | sōzō | hisde (verb; noun kisal [REUSE — Romans TM noun]) | [NEW verb form] | High | No verb form exists in Romans TM; provisional derivation requires native-speaker confirmation before standardization. |
| 4 | dead (of faith) | νεκρά | nekra | maayɗi | [NEW] | High | Ordinary vocabulary, but its fixed collocation with gomɗinal (2:17, 2:20, 2:26) must be rendered identically at every occurrence per cross-document consistency rules. |
| 5 | justification/justified | δικαιόω / δικαίωσις | dikaioō / dikaiōsis | waɗugol peewal | [REUSE — Romans TM] | Critical | James uses the identical Romans TM term in a demonstrative/vindicating sense (2:21, 2:24, 2:25) distinct from Paul’s forensic-declaration sense (Romans 4). Mandatory harmonization note required at every occurrence: James describes faith’s vindicating demonstration, not an alternative basis of standing before God. |
| 6 | imputed righteousness (“credited… for righteousness”) | ἐλογίσθη… εἰς δικαιοσύνην | elogisthē… eis dikaiosynēn | peewal jibinaangal | [REUSE — Romans TM, MANDATORY EXACT REUSE] | Critical | James 2:23 quotes the identical Genesis 15:6 LXX text Paul cites in Romans 4:3. Any divergence from the Romans TM rendering would falsely suggest James teaches a different doctrine rather than interpreting the same event from a complementary angle. |
| 7 | faith alone | ἐκ πίστεως μόνον | ek pisteōs monon | gomɗinal tan | [NEW] | Critical | The historic “James vs. Paul” flashpoint; risk that readers hear Scripture itself endorsing a works-inclusive salvation formula compatible with Islamic deeds-weighing soteriology unless the counterfeit-faith argument is explicitly taught. |
| 8 | faith working together with works | συνήργει | synērgei | gollondiri e | [NEW] | High | Must not be read as faith and works being two equal, independent co-contributors to salvation. |
| 9 | perfected/completed (of faith) | ἐτελειώθη | eteleiōthē | timmini | [NEW] | High | Must be read as faith’s maturation/full demonstration, not supplementation of an insufficient salvific basis. |
| 10 | friend of God | φίλος θεοῦ | philos theou | noddaa gaanuko Alla | [NEW] | Medium-High (positive contact) | Shared title with the Qur’anic Khalīlullāh for Ibrahim (Qur’an 4:125); shared vocabulary must not be assumed to carry shared theological content. |
| 11 | doer of the word / hearer only | ποιητὴς λόγου / ἀκροατής | poiētēs logou / akroatēs | gollotooɗo Konngol / ɗowtiiɗo tan | [NEW] | High | Previews the core passage’s central argument; connects directly to the Critical golle risk above. |
Doctrine 2: Trials and the Testing of Faith
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | trial / to tempt | πειρασμός / πειράζω | peirasmos / peirazō | jarrabaare / jarrabde | [NEW] | High | Shares Arabic-derived root with Islamic ibtilā’ (trial from Allah); must disambiguate growth-trial (1:2-4) from sin-temptation, explicitly not from God (1:13-14). |
| 13 | testing/proving | δοκίμιον | dokimion | etaari gomɗinal | [NEW] | Medium | Descriptive compound distinct from jarrabaare; process/means of proving genuineness. |
| 14 | endurance/patience | ὑπομονή | hypomonē | munyal | [NEW] | High (opportunity + risk) | Direct overlap with munyal, a Pulaaku pillar; strong rhetorical opportunity but must be tied explicitly to Christ-centered hope, not left as a purely cultural-stoic virtue. |
| 15 | double-minded | δίψυχος | dipsychos | ɓerɗe ɗiɗi | [NEW] | Medium | Descriptive compound (“two hearts”); recurs at 1:8 and 4:8, consistency required. |
| 16 | mature/complete | τέλειος | teleios | timmuɗo | [NEW] | Medium-High | Must be distinguished from Sharia-style flawless legal compliance; James’s sense is organic maturity of Christian character. |
| 17 | crown of life | στέφανος τῆς ζωῆς | stephanos tēs zōēs | laamateeri nguurndam | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Cultural-imagery adaptation note: literal circlet-crown is not a natural Fulani royal-status symbol (turbans/staffs are). |
| 18 | sin / death | ἁμαρτία / θάνατος | hamartia / thanatos | bakkaatu [REUSE — Romans TM] / maayde | [REUSE + NEW] | High / Low | bakkaatu retained High per Romans entry. |
Doctrine 3: Wisdom from Above
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | wisdom | σοφία | sophia | ñeeñal | [NEW] | High | Two near-synonym collisions: hakkille (Pulaaku pastoralist virtue of practical wisdom, purely human-cultural) and Arabic-derived hikma (Islamic divinely-granted wisdom); James’s “wisdom from above” must be explicitly tied to the Spirit and Christ, not collapsed into either near-synonym. |
| 20 | earthly / soulish / demonic (wisdom) | ψυχική / δαιμονιώδης | psychikē / daimoniōdēs | aadee-tan / ummoraaɗo ruuhuuji bonɗi | [NEW] | High | Connects to the δαιμόνια risk (see Doctrine 5 below); avoid jinnaaji. |
| 21 | bitter jealousy / selfish ambition | ζῆλος πικρός / ἐριθεία | zēlos pikros / eritheia | kiiɗal saɗtungal / ɓeydateeri hoore | [NEW] | Medium | Standard moral vocabulary. |
| 22 | pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, without hypocrisy | ἁγνή, εἰρηνική, ἐπιεικής, εὔπειθος, μεστὴ ἐλέους, ἀνυπόκριτος | hagnē, eirēnikē, epieikēs, eupeithēs, mestē eleous, anypokritos | ceniinde, jamre, newiinde, jaɓoore, heewuɗe yurmeende, ngalaa fenaande | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium | ceniinde and jamre reuse Romans TM roots (ceniiɗo/ceniinde, jam) and must remain consistent with those established renderings. |
| 23 | fruit of righteousness | καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης | karpos dikaiosynēs | ɓiɓɓe peewal | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium | Reuses peewal [REUSE — Romans TM righteousness]. |
Doctrine 4: Favoritism and the Poor
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | favoritism/partiality | προσωπολημψία | prosōpolēmpsia | suɓaare yimɓe | [NEW] | Critical | Beyond generic favoritism, collides with Fulani society’s own internal caste stratification (historic rimɓe/maccuɓe distinction) and pastoralist/farmer tensions already flagged in the Romans registry; requires explicit sensitive engagement with these live internal categories. |
| 25 | poor / rich | πτωχός / πλούσιος | ptōchos / plousios | waasɗo (baasɗo) / alɗo | [NEW] | Medium (High in favoritism context) | Socio-economic vocabulary elevated in doctrinal weight by the favoritism teaching. |
| 26 | royal law | νόμος βασιλικός | nomos basilikos | sariya laamu | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium | Reuses sariya and laamu [REUSE — Romans TM roots]. |
| 27 | mercy | ἔλεος | eleos | yurmeende | [NEW, per Romans-established reservation] | Medium | Romans TM reserves yurmeende for mercy/compassion generally (distinct from Arjunde/grace); James 2:13, 3:17, 5:11 all draw on this reserved sense. |
| 28 | heir | κληρονόμος | klēronomos | roniiɗo | [NEW] | Medium | Connects to the Romans adoption doctrine’s inheritance-rights emphasis. |
Doctrine 5: Taming the Tongue
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | tongue | γλῶσσα | glōssa | ɗemngal | [NEW] | Medium | ɗemngal also means “language/dialect”; Fulfulde speakers are unusually dialect-identity-conscious (Pular/Fulfulde/Maasina), risking the teaching being misheard as about linguistic identity rather than speech ethics. |
| 30 | fire / Gehenna | πῦρ / γέεννα | pyr / geenna | yiite / Jahannama | [NEW] | High | Jahannama is shared Arabic-derived vocabulary with the standard Islamic term for hell; a genuine point of contact but Islamic eschatology’s differing understanding of Jahannam’s scope/mechanism must not be assumed identical. |
| 31 | image of God | εἰκὼν Θεοῦ | eikōn Theou | mbaadi Alla | [NEW] | Critical | Islamic theology’s strong prohibition of tashbīh (anthropomorphic representation of Allah) makes “image of God” language risk being heard as claiming physical resemblance to Allah, a serious theological offense; must be taught as relational/moral likeness only. This is genuinely new territory beyond the Romans package, which does not treat the imago Dei doctrine. |
| 32 | demons | δαιμόνια | daimonia | ruuhuuji bonɗi (deliberately avoiding jinnaaji) | [NEW] | High | Islamic/folk jinn category (good, neutral, or evil beings) differs from the NT category of demons (uniformly fallen, servants of Satan); avoiding jinnaaji follows the same logic already established for the Holy Spirit in the Romans package. |
| 33 | bless / curse | εὐλογέω / καταράομαι | eulogeō / kataraomai | barkinde / wowlan bonɗi hakkunde | [NEW] | Medium | barkinde (bless) must be kept distinct in sense from barke (marabout-mediated blessing/power), already forbidden as a grace/power substitute in the Romans package. |
Doctrine 6: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | friendship with the world / enmity with God | φιλία τοῦ κόσμου / ἔχθρα τοῦ Θεοῦ | philia tou kosmou / echthra tou Theou | giɗgol aduna / añal Alla | [NEW] | High | aduna carries deep Islamic dunyā/ākhirah framing (this-world/hereafter, detachment for reward); James’s relational, covenant-jealousy framing of worldliness must be taught explicitly, not assumed from aduna alone. |
| 35 | grace | χάρις | charis | Arjunde | [REUSE — Romans TM] | Critical | Retained Critical per Romans entry; the humility/pride contrast here (4:6) must preserve the “apart from merit” force already established. |
| 36 | proud / humble | ὑπερήφανος / ταπεινός, ταπεινώθητε | hyperēphanos / tapeinos, tapeinōthēte | mawnitiiɗo / yankinaaɗo, yankinaade | [NEW] | High | Direct extension of the Romans manaango (God’s glory) vs. teddungal (Pulaaku honor/dignity) distinction: “humble yourselves” must not require abandoning legitimate personal dignity, only reordering ultimate allegiance. |
| 37 | resist the devil | ἀντίστητε τῷ διαβόλῳ | antistēte tō diabolō | kaɗon Seytaane | [NEW] | Medium | Seytaane shares vocabulary with the Islamic Shaytan/Iblis figure; genuine point of contact regarding the devil’s reality and hostility, but the NT’s framework of the devil’s defeat through Christ has no parallel in the Iblis narrative. |
| 38 | purify (the heart) | ἁγνίζω | hagnizō | laaɓnude ɓernde | [NEW] | High | Extends the Romans-established ceniinde/laaɓal distinction (inward Spirit-wrought purity vs. ritual/ceremonial cleansing, e.g. wuduu); must draw on the inward-moral side. |
| 39 | if the Lord wills | ἐάν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃ | ean ho Kyrios thelēsē | si Joom yiɗi | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium-High (positive contact) | Functions almost identically to the ubiquitous Sahelian “In shā’a Allāh”; should be explicitly tied to the Romans welsindiigal Alla (providence) entry to avoid becoming an empty formula. |
Doctrine 7: Prayer and Healing
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | elders of the church | πρεσβύτεροι τῆς ἐκκλησίας | presbyteroi tēs ekklēsias | mawɓe kawtal | [PARTIAL REUSE] | High | Reuses kawtal [REUSE — Romans TM church]; must be distinguished from Islamic religious-authority roles (imam, marabout, alfa) that carry distinct spiritual-mediation status. |
| 41 | anoint with oil | ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ | aleiphō elaiō | wuttude nebam | [NEW] | Critical | Must be categorically distinguished from the widespread barke-seeking practice of marabout-blessed oils and amulets, already a forbidden-substitution category throughout the Romans package. |
| 42 | prayer of faith | εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως | euchē tēs pisteōs | torgol gomɗinal | [PARTIAL REUSE] | High | Reuses torgol wonande [REUSE — Romans TM intercession] and gomɗinal [REUSE — Romans TM faith]. |
| 43 | raise up (heal) | ἐγείρω | egeirō | ɓamtu | [NEW] | Medium | Must not be confused with, or share a fixed phrase with, immorde e maayde [Romans TM resurrection, Critical]; a distinct sense (restoration to health, not resurrection from death). |
| 44 | confess (sins) | ἐξομολογέομαι | exomologeomai | seedaade bakkaatu | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Critical | Mainstream Islamic practice has no sacrament of confessing sin to fellow believers (repentance is private, directed to Allah); risk of collapsing into a marabout-mediated absolution model given existing barke dynamics. Reuses bakkaatu [REUSE — Romans TM sin]. |
| 45 | cover a multitude of sins | καλύπτω πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν | kalyptō plēthos hamartiōn | suddude ɗuuɗi bakkaatuuji | [PARTIAL REUSE] | High | Must not be taught as a merit-earning mechanism for the restorer, echoing the grace doctrine’s guard against a reciprocal, barke-adjacent framework. |
| 46 | prayer of a righteous person, effective | δέησις δικαίου / ἐνεργουμένη | deēsis dikaiou / energoumenē | torgol peewɗo, gollotoongo doole | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium-High | Reuses peewal [REUSE — Romans TM root]; efficacy must be taught as flowing from God’s responsiveness to faith, not ritual/merit correctness. |
Doctrine 8: Patience and the Lord’s Return
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | patience (of the farmer/prophets/Job) | μακροθυμέω / ὑπομονή | makrothymeō / hypomonē | muñde / munyal | [NEW, cf. Doctrine 2] | High | Same Pulaaku-munyal opportunity/risk as Doctrine 2, now applied specifically to eschatological waiting. |
| 48 | the coming of the Lord | παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου | parousia tou Kyriou | ruttitagol Almasiihu / arwa Joom Yeesu | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Critical | Islamic eschatology’s well-developed nuzūl ʿĪsā doctrine (Isa’s return to defeat the Dajjal, break crosses, die naturally, be buried in Medina) is a specific, well-known competing narrative using the same shared figure (Isa/Yeesu); James’s teaching on Christ’s return as judge and consummator of the gospel must be explicitly distinguished from it, directly parallel to the messianic_promise and resurrection_of_christ Critical entries in the Romans registry but newly surfaced here. Reuses Almasiihu and Joom [REUSE — Romans TM]. |
| 49 | Lord of hosts/Sabaoth | Κύριος Σαβαώθ | Kyrios Sabaōth | Joom Sabaoti / Joom Konuyaaji | [PARTIAL REUSE] | Medium | No attested Fulfulde rendering exists for this rare title; flagged for theologian decision rather than silent improvisation, per baseline practice. |
| 50 | oath / to swear | ὅρκος / ὄμνυμι | horkos / omnymi | woondaare / woondude | [NEW] | High | Oath-swearing invoking Allah (“wallaahi”) is a deeply ingrained, religiously-sanctioned emphatic-truth speech convention in the region; James’s prohibition risks being heard as rejecting this convention wholesale rather than calling for such consistent integrity that oaths become needless. |
Doctrine 9: Confession and Restoration
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | turn back / wander from truth | ἐπιστρέφω / πλανάομαι | epistrephō / planaomai | artirde / majjude | [NEW] | Medium | Standard restoration vocabulary; connects to the confession terms above. |
| 52 | save a soul from death | σῴζω ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου | sōzō psychēn ek thanatou | hisde fittaandu e maayde | [PARTIAL REUSE] | High | Reuses the provisional hisde verb form (see Doctrine 1, #3); same confirmation requirement applies. |
Structural / Naming Terms
| # | English term | Greek | Transliteration | Fulfulde rendering | Status | Risk | Grounded reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | James (book title / author) | Ἰάκωβος | Iakōbos | Yakuba | [NEW] | Medium | Same name as the patriarch Jacob and the Qur’anic Ya’qub; using “Yakuba” (not a transliteration of the English “James”) creates a genuine point of shared recognition, but flag for theologian confirmation of exact regional NT convention given James/Yakuba’s thinner attestation even relative to the Romans corpus. |
| 54 | servant/slave (of God) | δοῦλος | doulos | maccuɗo / jeyaaɗo Alla | [NEW] | High | Fulani society retains a historic caste memory (free-born rimɓe vs. descendants of the enslaved maccuɓe); “slave” as spiritual self-designation risks being heard through this live social lens rather than as a term of highest devotional honor. |
| 55 | brothers (corporate address) | ἀδελφοί | adelphoi | musiɓɓe / banndiraaɓe | [NEW] | High | Pulaaku kinship terms denote literal blood-kin/clan-kin, one of the strongest identity categories in Fulani society; must be explicitly glossed as the whole gathered people of God (kawtal), not literal ethnic kinship. |
| 56 | God is one (Tawḥīd affirmation) | εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός | heis estin ho theos | Alla ko gooto | [NEW] | Critical | Verbatim affirmation of the central pillar of Islamic theology (Tawḥīd); risk that readers hear this verse as validating their existing confession and miss James’s actual point (bare monotheism without saving, works-producing trust saves no one, since even demons hold it). The single highest-sensitivity term in the whole book; mandatory theologian-authored framing note required. |
| 57 | word of truth / implanted word | λόγος ἀληθείας / ἔμφυτος λόγος | logos alētheias / emphytos logos | Konngol goonga / Konngol ñiiɓuɗo e ɓernde | [NEW] | Medium-High | Must not simply be substituted with Linjiila [Romans TM gospel]; James’s “word” functions as a broader term for God’s received, internalized teaching with the gospel as its content. |
| 58 | law of liberty | νόμος τέλειος τῆς ἐλευθερίας | nomos teleios tēs eleutherias | sariya timmuɗo jeytaare | [PARTIAL REUSE] | High | Reuses sariya [REUSE — Romans TM law]; James’s inward, gladly-obeyed “law of liberty” must be distinguished from a comprehensive external Sharia-style life-code, and “liberty” itself must not be heard as license. |
| 59 | religion (true/pure) | θρησκεία | thrēskeia | diine | [NEW] | High | diine carries strong Islamic institutional-religion connotations; James’s redefinition of “pure religion” as practical compassion and moral purity (not ritual correctness) must be taught as an explicit, direct contrast. |
| 60 | orphans and widows | ὀρφανός καὶ χήρα | orphanos kai chēra | wonduɓe e kaddiraaɓe | [NEW] | Medium (positive contact) | Resonates with both Pulaaku hospitality ethics and Islamic zakat obligation; James’s call to personal, relational involvement (not ritualized almsgiving) should be taught explicitly. |
Cross-Reference: New Terms Requiring Translation Memory Entry Before Phase 2
The following [NEW] terms must be entered into an updated translation_memory.json (version increment required) with full risk annotation before any Phase 2 segment translation of James proceeds, per the Romans package’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions: golle (works), hisde (save, verb), jarrabaare/jarrabde (trial/tempt), munyal reuse-extension for James contexts, ñeeñal (wisdom), suɓaare yimɓe (favoritism), ɗemngal (tongue, disambiguation note), mbaadi Alla (image of God), ruuhuuji bonɗi (demons), aduna (world, disambiguation note), Seytaane (devil), mawɓe kawtal (elders), wuttude nebam (anoint with oil), seedaade bakkaatu (confess sins), ruttitagol Almasiihu (the Lord’s coming/parousia), woondaare/woondude (oath/swear), Yakuba (book title), Alla ko gooto (God is one — Critical framing note mandatory), Konngol goonga (word of truth), diine (religion), mawnitiiɗo/yankinaaɗo (proud/humble).
All other terms above marked [REUSE — Romans TM] or [PARTIAL REUSE] must retain their Romans-package renderings exactly, with James-specific contextual notes appended as flagged.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Arjunde
Transliteration: arjunde
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: yurmeende (reserve for ‘mercy/compassion’ generally, not unmerited favor specifically), barke (blessing, avoid as a substitute)
Original: χάρις
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] CRITICAL: arjunde is Arabic-influenced vocabulary shared with Islamic usage, generally understood there as responsive to piety/deeds; barke (marabout-mediated blessing/power) must never substitute. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James 4:6’s humility/pride contrast (‘God gives grace to the humble’) must preserve the same apart-from-merit force established for Romans; this is the doctrinal hinge connecting Worldliness/Friendship-with-God to Humility Before God.
Salvation
Approved rendering: kisal
Transliteration: kisal
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: dancal (protection, never as a stand-alone substitute), aljanna (paradise, never as a stand-alone gloss for salvation itself)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] kisal is the noun; no verb form exists in the Romans TM. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James 2:14 (‘can faith without works save him?’) and 5:20 (‘save a soul from death’) both require a VERB form not present in Romans TM; see the new provisional entry save_verb (hisde) below, which must be read together with this entry and is not yet final.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Almasiihu
Transliteration: Almasiihu
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Structural and Identity
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Shared vocabulary with the Qur’anic Isa al-Masih title; shared word must not be mistaken for shared belief. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: applied throughout James (1:1, 2:1, 5:7-8) and forms half of the Critical coming_of_the_lord compound (ruttitagol Almasiihu, 5:7-8) — Islamic eschatology’s well-developed nuzūl ‘Isa doctrine (Isa’s return to defeat the Dajjal, die naturally, be buried in Medina) is a specific competing narrative using this same shared figure and must be explicitly distinguished, never assumed as shared ground.
Works
Approved rendering: golle
Transliteration: golle
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: no safer synonym exists; a neologism would obscure rather than protect meaning for ordinary readers
Original: ἔργα
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. golle is the standard Fulfulde word for both ordinary labor and Islamic good deeds (‘amal), actively weighed in regional Islamic soteriology for paradise-entry. James’s ‘faith without works is dead’ (2:14-26) risks being read as scriptural confirmation of a deeds-weighing salvation model, directly undermining the Romans grace/salvation entries, UNLESS every occurrence explicitly teaches that James’s erga are the fruit and evidence of a faith already resting on Christ’s finished work, never its basis. No lexical fencing is possible; fencing must be doctrinal/teaching-level. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Faith Alone
Approved rendering: gomɗinal tan
Transliteration: gomɗinal tan
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: softened or omitted ‘tan’ (alone) — rejected; must retain the literal exclusivity qualifier
Original: ἐκ πίστεως μόνον
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:24’s historic ‘James vs. Paul’ flashpoint. Risk of being heard/quoted (including in circulating Sunni apologetic tahrif-adjacent literature) as Scripture’s own endorsement of a works-inclusive salvation formula compatible with Islamic deeds-weighing soteriology. Mandatory standing teaching note at every occurrence: James refutes a counterfeit, workless ‘faith’ (2:14-19’s kind), not Paul’s doctrine that justification’s legal basis is Christ’s work received by faith apart from meritorious works (Romans 3:24, 4:4-5, 11:5-6).
Monotheism Confession
Approved rendering: Alla ko gooto
Transliteration: Alla ko gooto
Doctrine: Bare Monotheism Is True but Insufficient for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: any softened or paraphrased rendering — rejected; must render James’s actual plain meaning, since softening would only compound the risk by seeming evasive
Original: εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:19. Verbatim-sounding affirmation of Tawḥīd, the central pillar of Islamic theology, articulated with unusual depth in Fulani Islamic scholarship (Sokoto Caliphate reformist tradition). Highest-sensitivity single verse in the whole book: readers may hear Scripture validating their existing confession and miss James’s actual point — that correct monotheism without saving, works-producing trust is shared even by demons and saves no one. Requires the single most carefully authored theological framing note in the curriculum: agree with, then radically reframe, the Tawḥīd confession. Mandatory theologian review, every occurrence, including all supporting teaching material.
Favoritism
Approved rendering: suɓaare yimɓe
Transliteration: suɓaare yimɓe
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: προσωπολημψία
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 2:1-9. Beyond generic partiality, collides with Fulani society’s own live internal caste stratification (historic rimɓe free-born/noble vs. maccuɓe descendant-of-slave distinction) and pastoralist/farmer tensions already flagged in the Romans registry’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles and mission_to_nations entries. Do not translate this doctrine as addressing only rich/poor externally; explicitly extend teaching to these internal Fulani social categories or the text’s full force will go unheard. Mandatory theologian review, requiring native-speaker input on current regional social sensitivity.
Image Of God
Approved rendering: mbaadi Alla
Transliteration: mbaadi Alla
Doctrine: The Image of God in Every Person
Rejected alternatives: any Arabic/Islamic loanword — rejected; no shared vocabulary point of contact exists for this Christian-specific doctrine, so a plain descriptive compound is safer than any borrowed-vocabulary attempt
Original: εἰκὼν Θεοῦ
Category: Taming the Tongue
NEW — genuinely new theological territory not paralleled anywhere in the Romans package (which does not treat imago Dei). James 3:9. Islamic theology’s strong doctrine against tashbīh (any anthropomorphic representation of Allah) makes this phrase risk being heard as claiming humans physically resemble Allah, a serious theological offense. Mandatory explicit teaching note at first occurrence: relational/moral likeness only (reason, moral agency, dominion, capacity for relationship with God), never physical resemblance.
Anoint With Oil
Approved rendering: wuttude nebam
Transliteration: wuttude nebam
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ
Category: Prayer and Healing
NEW. James 5:14. Must be categorically and explicitly distinguished from the widespread West African Islamic-Sufi practice of seeking barke (spiritual power/blessing) through marabout-blessed oils, water, and amulets — already a forbidden-substitution category throughout the Romans package for grace, power, and spiritual gifts, extended here by name. This anointing is a simple, tangible act of faith-filled care accompanying prayer, never a channel of person-mediated spiritual power. Mandatory theologian review, every occurrence.
Confess Sins
Approved rendering: seedaade bakkaatu
Transliteration: seedaade bakkaatu
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: ἐξομολογέομαι (τὰς ἁμαρτίας)
Category: Confession and Restoration
NEW. James 5:16. Mainstream Islamic practice has no sacrament of confessing sin to fellow believers (repentance/tawba, istighfār is private, directed to Allah); some regional Sufi contexts practice confession to a spiritual guide (shaykh/marabout) as a partial cultural parallel, risking collapse into a marabout-mediated absolution model given the barke dynamics flagged throughout the Romans package. Mandatory explicit framing: mutual confession as a means of grace within the priesthood of all believers; no human mediator is required for forgiveness itself. Reuses bakkaatu (Romans TM sin). Mandatory theologian review, every occurrence.
Coming Of The Lord
Approved rendering: ruttitagol Almasiihu / arwa Joom Yeesu
Transliteration: ruttitagol Almasiihu / arwa Joom Yeesu
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Rejected alternatives: any local-language calque echoing Ahmadiyya ‘Promised Messiah’ (Masih Maud) vocabulary — never use
Original: παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
NEW. James 5:7-8. Islamic eschatology’s well-developed nuzūl ‘Isa doctrine (Isa’s return to defeat the Dajjal, break crosses, abolish the jizya, live a normal human life, die naturally, be buried near Muhammad in Medina) is a specific, well-known competing narrative using the same shared figure (Isa/Yeesu). A further distinct competing narrative exists in regionally circulating Ahmadiyya literature (a ‘Promised Messiah’ already appeared). Reuses Almasiihu and Joom (Romans TM). James’s teaching on Christ’s return as consummating judge of his own already-accomplished atoning work must be explicitly distinguished from BOTH competing narratives, never assumed as shared ground. Mandatory theologian review, every occurrence.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Linjiila
Transliteration: Linjiila
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: kabaaru moƴƴo (acceptable as an explanatory gloss, ‘good news’)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Linjiila (from Arabic al-Injil via existing regional Bible translation work) is used in existing Fulfulde/Pular NT translation, but recognition varies by dialect and by Islamic-vs-Christian exposure (tahrif doctrine). JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James’s ‘word of truth’/‘implanted word’ (1:18, 1:21) is a broader term for God’s received, internalized teaching and must NOT be silently substituted with or collapsed into Linjiila; keep the two terms distinct (see word_of_truth entry below) so James’s specific hearing/doing argument is not obscured.
Faith
Approved rendering: gomɗinal
Transliteration: gomɗinal
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: hoolaare (trust, acceptable as a supporting synonym)
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith and Works
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] gomɗinal is the general belief/faith term; object of faith must always be made explicit. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James uses the identical word (gomɗina, verb form) for both saving trust (2:14, 2:22-24) and demons’ bare cognitive assent (2:19) within a single book — this ironic double-use must be disambiguated by context notes at every occurrence, not left to the word alone; see saving_faith_vs_demonic_assent in the doctrine registry.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: peewal
Transliteration: peewal
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: nunɗal (fairness/justice, too civic)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] peewal (‘straightness/uprightness’) risks being heard as good moral character rather than a received status. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: forms the root of peewal jibinaangal (2:23), sariya laamu-adjacent royal-law teaching (2:8), and karpos dikaiosynēs/‘fruit of righteousness’ (3:18) — all downstream compounds must remain traceable to this root sense.
Justification
Approved rendering: waɗugol peewal
Transliteration: waɗugol peewal
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: yaafuyee (forgiveness, too narrow)
Original: δικαιόω / δικαίωσις
Category: Faith and Works
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Descriptive compound (‘being made/declared righteous’); provisional pending Fulfulde-speaking theologian confirmation. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION — MANDATORY: James 2:21, 2:24, 2:25 reuse this identical phrase in a demonstrative/vindicating sense (faith’s proof through obedient action, Genesis 22) distinct from Paul’s forensic-declaration sense (Romans 4, Genesis 15:6). Every James occurrence requires a standing harmonization note: James describes faith’s vindicating demonstration decades after Abraham’s initial crediting, not an alternative basis for standing before God. This is the single highest cross-document harmonization risk in the curriculum; risk is treated as Critical for review-routing purposes in James per bible_term_registry.json and doctrine_risk_registry.json even though the base Romans TM records High — theologian review is mandatory on every occurrence without exception.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: ceniinde
Transliteration: ceniinde
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: laaɓal (ritual/ceremonial purification, avoid as a substitute)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Not yet a crystallized fixed theological term across dialects; must be kept distinct from laaɓal (Islamic ablution/wuduu). JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: reused as the ‘pure’ (hagnē) element of the seven-fold wisdom-from-above character description in James 3:17 (ceniinde, jamre, newiinde, jaɓoore, heewuɗe yurmeende, ngalaa fenaande) — must remain consistent with this established Romans sense throughout.
Lord
Approved rendering: Joom
Transliteration: Joom
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Laamiiɗo (reserve for ‘ruler/king’ in political contexts, avoid as the primary term for divine Lordship to prevent conflation with historic Caliphate rulership)
Original: κύριος
Category: Structural and Identity
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Joom is preferred to avoid Laamiiɗo’s Sokoto Caliphate political resonance. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: applied to Christ throughout James (1:1, 2:1, 5:7-8) and combines with Almasiihu in the Critical coming_of_the_lord entry (5:7-8, parousia) — must never default to Laamiiɗo even in the eschatological-judge context of 5:9.
Sin
Approved rendering: bakkaatu
Transliteration: bakkaatu
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: fenaande (mistake/lie, too weak)
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Trials and Endurance
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Arabic-derived term shared with Islamic usage; weight of moral guilt before a personal God must be stated explicitly. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: base of desire’s deadly progeny in 1:15, of seedaade bakkaatu (‘confess sins,’ 5:16, Critical — see new entry) and suddude ɗuuɗi bakkaatuuji (‘cover a multitude of sins,’ 5:20, High — see new entry); must remain identical across all three occurrences.
Providence
Approved rendering: welsindiigal Alla
Transliteration: welsindiigal Alla
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: natal (fate/al-qadar, use with caution), hasara (misfortune/chance, never use)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Distinguished from natal (fate/al-qadar) and hasara. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: must be explicitly tied to James 4:15’s ‘si Joom yiɗi’ (‘if the Lord wills’ — see new entry) so the Sahelian devotional formula ‘In shā’a Allāh’ parallel reflects genuine personal trust in God’s purposive care, not an empty habitual phrase; also underlies the disambiguation required for jarrabaare/trial (1:2-4, 1:13-14) against fatalistic ibtilā’/al-qadar readings.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: peewal jibinaangal
Transliteration: peewal jibinaangal
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: peewal ɓaawaangal e golle (righteousness earned by works, the explicit rejected opposite)
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Faith and Works
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged, MANDATORY EXACT REUSE.] Provisional compound distinguishing credited from earned righteousness. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION — CRITICAL FOR REVIEW ROUTING: James 2:23 quotes the IDENTICAL Genesis 15:6 text Paul cites in Romans 4:3. Zero tolerance for wording divergence between the two curricula; any variant would falsely imply James teaches a different doctrine about the same historical event. Treated as Critical risk for James review-routing purposes per bible_term_registry.json and doctrine_risk_registry.json.
God
Approved rendering: Alla
Transliteration: Alla
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Universal term across Muslim and Christian Fulfulde speakers; must be presented in explicitly Trinitarian, Christ-centered terms beyond standard regional Islamic usage. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: base of the Critical monotheism_confession entry (Alla ko gooto, 2:19, see new entry) — the single highest-sensitivity verse in the book, since it is a verbatim-sounding Tawḥīd affirmation.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Ruuhu Ceniiɗo
Transliteration: Ruuhu Ceniiɗo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ruuhu (never use alone), jinna (never use; a jinn/spirit being in Islamic and West African folk belief)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Must always be used in full; jinna/jinnaaji never substitute. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: the disputed ‘spirit’ reference in James 4:5 (‘the Spirit he caused to dwell in us yearns jealously’) must, if referring to the Holy Spirit, use this full form explicitly rather than a bare ‘ruuhu,’ to avoid readers hearing an indwelling jinn or mere human life-breath; flag 4:5 for theologian decision given its notorious syntactic ambiguity in the Greek itself. Also: James 2:26’s ‘body without spirit/breath’ uses the generic human fittaandu/ruuhu (lower case, distinct sense), never this term — see raise_up_heal and save_soul_from_death entries for related disambiguation.
Dead Faith
Approved rendering: maayɗi
Transliteration: maayɗi
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: νεκρά (πίστις)
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. Ordinary vocabulary (‘dead’), but its fixed collocation with gomɗinal at 2:17, 2:20, and 2:26 (the passage’s thesis bookends) must be rendered IDENTICALLY at every occurrence, per the baseline’s cross-document consistency rules. Note the ἀργή textual variant at 2:20 (useless/barren) does not change the doctrinal outcome but should be footnoted for theologian awareness.
Faith And Works Cooperate
Approved rendering: gollondiri e
Transliteration: gollondiri e
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: συνήργει
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:22 (‘faith worked together with his works’). Must not be misread as faith and works being two equal, independent co-contributors to salvation (a synergistic works-salvation reading contrary to the Romans grace entry); faith remains primary, works are its inseparable fruit.
Faith Perfected
Approved rendering: timmini
Transliteration: timmini
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: ἐτελειώθη
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:22 (‘faith was perfected/completed’). Correct sense is maturation/full demonstration of already-genuine faith, NOT supplementation of a deficient salvific basis — the latter reading would directly contradict the Romans grace and salvation entries.
Friend Of God
Approved rendering: noddaa gaanuko Alla
Transliteration: noddaa gaanuko Alla
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: φίλος θεοῦ
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:23. Shares vocabulary with the Qur’anic Khalīlullāh (‘Friend of God’) title for Ibrahim (Qur’an 4:125), a genuine point of contact, but the Qur’anic khalīl relationship is not grounded in imputed righteousness by faith as Genesis 15:6/James 2:23 present it. Use as a rhetorical bridge, but require explicit teaching of the full grace-framed Abraham narrative rather than letting the shared title stand alone.
Doer Of The Word
Approved rendering: gollotooɗo Konngol
Transliteration: gollotooɗo Konngol
Doctrine: Hearing and Doing the Word
Original: ποιητὴς λόγου
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 1:22-25. Shares the Critical golle root with the core passage’s works doctrine; this is its first appearance in the book (previewing 2:14-26) and requires the same theologian review flag.
Save Verb
Approved rendering: hisde
Transliteration: hisde
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: σῴζω
Category: Faith and Works
NEW, PROVISIONAL. No verb form of ‘to save’ exists in the Romans TM (only the noun kisal). hisde is a provisional derivation from the same root, needed for James 2:14 (‘can faith without works save him?’) and 5:20 (‘save a soul from death’). MUST be flagged for native-speaker confirmation before Phase 2 lock-in; do not treat as final.
Demons
Approved rendering: ruuhuuji bonɗi
Transliteration: ruuhuuji bonɗi
Doctrine: Saving Faith Versus Bare Cognitive Assent
Rejected alternatives: jinnaaji (jinn — never use; a distinct West African Islamic/folk category of spirit beings that can be good, neutral, or evil)
Original: δαιμόνια
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 2:19, 3:6, 3:15. Deliberately avoids jinnaaji, following the same logic already established for the Holy Spirit in the Romans package. NT demons are personal, uniformly fallen, hostile to God, and defeated by Christ — a different category from folk/Islamic jinn. Must be rendered identically at all three occurrences.
Trial
Approved rendering: jarrabaare
Transliteration: jarrabaare
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: πειρασμός
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:2-4, 1:12. Shares its Arabic-derived root with Islamic ibtilā’ (trial from Allah, viewed favorably as a sign of divine attention) — a genuine point of contact, but must be disambiguated from the sin-temptation sense (tempt/jarrabde below) with the same care the Romans package required to distinguish providence from fatalistic al-qadar.
Tempt
Approved rendering: jarrabde
Transliteration: jarrabde
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: πειράζω
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:13-14. Same root as jarrabaare but must be clearly distinguished as the sin-enticement sense, explicitly never attributed to God (1:13 states God tempts no one) — must not be softened into a flat denial that God ordains hardship generally, which would contradict welsindiigal Alla (providence).
Endurance
Approved rendering: munyal
Transliteration: munyal
Doctrine: Patient Endurance Under Trial
Original: ὑπομονή
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW — dual opportunity/risk. James 1:3-4, 1:12. One of the four pillars of Pulaaku (with semteende, hakkille, teddungal), giving unusually strong positive cultural resonance and rhetorical power. Teaching must connect biblical munyal explicitly to hope in Christ’s finished work and promised return (5:7-9), never allowing it to collapse into a purely cultural-stoic virtue independent of that hope.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: ñeeñal
Transliteration: ñeeñal
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Rejected alternatives: hakkille (Pulaaku pastoralist practical wisdom — purely human-cultural, do not equate), hikma (Islamic divinely-granted wisdom, cf. Qur’anic al-Hikmah — do not equate)
Original: σοφία
Category: Wisdom
NEW. James 1:5, 3:13-17. Sits between two crowded near-synonyms. Must be fenced by grammatically tying it to ‘from above’/‘of the Spirit’ at every occurrence so it is never read as either purely human sagacity (hakkille) or a generic Islamic-theological wisdom-gift (hikma).
Earthly Demonic Wisdom
Approved rendering: aadee-tan / ummoraaɗo ruuhuuji bonɗi
Transliteration: aadee-tan / ummoraaɗo ruuhuuji bonɗi
Doctrine: Earthly, Demonic Wisdom Versus Heavenly Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: jinnaaji (never use for the demonic source-classification)
Original: ψυχική / δαιμονιώδης
Category: Wisdom
NEW. James 3:15. Connects directly to the demons entry above; must not lapse into jinnaaji at this or any related occurrence (2:19, 3:6, 3:15 must all remain consistent).
Poor
Approved rendering: waasɗo
Transliteration: waasɗo
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Rejected alternatives: baasɗo (dialectal variant, confirm regionally)
Original: πτωχός
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 1:9, 2:5. Ordinary socio-economic vocabulary elevated in doctrinal weight by the favoritism teaching; must be taught with 2:5’s heir language explicitly, not left as a bare descriptive economic term.
Rich
Approved rendering: alɗo
Transliteration: alɗo
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πλούσιος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 1:10-11, 2:6, 5:1-6. Same elevated risk profile as waasɗo, given the favoritism doctrine and the region’s own social stratification realities.
Fire Gehenna
Approved rendering: yiite / Jahannama
Transliteration: yiite / Jahannama
Doctrine: Hell as the Source-Image for Destructive Speech
Original: πῦρ / γέεννα
Category: Taming the Tongue
NEW. James 3:6. yiite (fire) is primary/descriptive; Jahannama (shared Arabic-derived Islamic hell-term) is a secondary cross-reference requiring explicit differentiation, since Islamic eschatology’s Jahannam (differing scope/mechanism, potential temporary purgation for some) must not be assumed identical to the NT’s geenna.
Worldliness Friendship Enmity
Approved rendering: giɗgol aduna / añal Alla
Transliteration: giɗgol aduna / añal Alla
Doctrine: Worldliness Versus Friendship with God
Original: φιλία τοῦ κόσμου / ἔχθρα τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
NEW. James 4:4. aduna carries deep Islamic dunyā/ākhirah framing (this-world/hereafter, detachment for reward); James’s relational, covenant-jealousy framing of worldliness as spiritual adultery against God must be taught explicitly, never assumed from aduna alone. Do not flatten into a generic ascetic dunyā-renunciation formula.
Proud Humble
Approved rendering: mawnitiiɗo / yankinaaɗo, yankinaade
Transliteration: mawnitiiɗo / yankinaaɗo, yankinaade
Doctrine: Humility Before God
Original: ὑπερήφανος / ταπεινός, ταπεινώθητε
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
NEW. James 4:6, 4:10. Direct extension of the Romans manaango (God’s glory) vs. teddungal (Pulaaku honor/dignity) distinction: ‘humble yourselves’ must not be taught as requiring abandonment of legitimate personal/social dignity, only reordering ultimate allegiance beneath God’s surpassing glory.
Purify Heart
Approved rendering: laaɓnude ɓernde
Transliteration: laaɓnude ɓernde
Doctrine: Worldliness Versus Friendship with God
Original: ἁγνίζω
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
NEW. James 4:8. Extends the Romans-established ceniinde/laaɓal distinction (inward Spirit-wrought purity vs. ritual/ceremonial cleansing, e.g. wuduu); must draw explicitly on the inward-moral side, never let laaɓnude drift toward a ritual-washing sense.
Elders Of The Church
Approved rendering: mawɓe kawtal
Transliteration: mawɓe kawtal
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: πρεσβύτεροι τῆς ἐκκλησίας
Category: Prayer and Healing
NEW. James 5:14. Reuses kawtal (Romans TM church); must be explicitly distinguished from Islamic religious-authority roles (imam, marabout, alfa) that carry distinct spiritual-mediation and social status in Fulani communities, to prevent this office being mapped onto a marabout-style mediating religious specialist.
Prayer Of Faith
Approved rendering: torgol gomɗinal
Transliteration: torgol gomɗinal
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: εὐχὴ τῆς πίστεως
Category: Prayer and Healing
NEW. James 5:15. Reuses torgol wonande (Romans intercession) and gomɗinal (Romans faith); efficacy must be taught as God’s responsiveness to faith, not a merit-earning transaction or ritual formula analogous to barke.
Cover Multitude Of Sins
Approved rendering: suddude ɗuuɗi bakkaatuuji
Transliteration: suddude ɗuuɗi bakkaatuuji
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: καλύπτω πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν
Category: Confession and Restoration
NEW. James 5:20. Must not be taught as a deeds-based mechanism by which restoring a sinner earns the restorer additional merit toward salvation — echoes the grace doctrine’s guard against reciprocal, barke-adjacent frameworks. Teach as God’s gracious response flowing from restorative love.
Save Soul From Death
Approved rendering: hisde fittaandu e maayde
Transliteration: hisde fittaandu e maayde
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: σῴζω ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου
Category: Confession and Restoration
NEW, PROVISIONAL. James 5:20. Reuses the provisional hisde verb (see save_verb entry); must be confirmed together with that entry before either is treated as final.
Patience Endurance Return
Approved rendering: muñde
Transliteration: muñde
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: μακροθυμέω
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
NEW. James 5:7-8. Verb form of munyal, applied specifically to eschatological waiting for Christ’s return. Same Pulaaku resonance/risk as the endurance entry; must remain anchored explicitly to Christ-centered hope of the return, not a purely cultural-stoic virtue of waiting.
Oath Swear
Approved rendering: woondaare / woondude
Transliteration: woondaare / woondude
Doctrine: Truthful Speech Instead of Oaths
Rejected alternatives: any rendering echoing a legal ban on the specific ‘wallaahi’ Arabic oath-formula — avoid; keep in native register
Original: ὅρκος / ὄμνυμι
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
NEW. James 5:12. Oath-swearing invoking Allah (‘wallaahi’) is an extremely common, religiously-sanctioned emphatic-truth speech convention woven deeply into everyday Sahelian speech. James’s instruction risks being heard as rejecting this convention wholesale rather than, as intended, calling for such consistent personal integrity that oaths become unnecessary. Requires careful, culturally sensitive teaching, not a blanket-prohibition framing.
Servant Slave
Approved rendering: maccuɗo / jeyaaɗo Alla
Transliteration: maccuɗo / jeyaaɗo Alla
Doctrine: Servant of God as an Honored Identity
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. James 1:1. Fulani society retains a historic caste memory distinguishing free-born (rimɓe) from descendants of the enslaved (maccuɓe), a live and sensitive social reality. ‘Slave’ as a spiritual self-designation risks being heard through this caste lens rather than as voluntary, honorable total devotion. Requires explicit teaching that this is a term of highest biblical honor (cf. Moses, the prophets, Paul), not a caste marker. Mandatory theologian review given the live social sensitivity.
Brothers Corporate Address
Approved rendering: musiɓɓe am / banndiraaɓe am
Transliteration: musiɓɓe am / banndiraaɓe am
Doctrine: Corporate Identity: ‘My Brothers’ as the Whole Church
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. Recurs throughout James (1:2, 1:16, 1:19, 2:1, 2:14, 3:1, 4:11, 5:7, 5:9, 5:12, 5:19). Pulaaku kinship terms (banndiraaɓe = blood-siblings/clan-kin) denote one of the strongest identity categories in Fulani society; readers may hear literal ethnic/clan kinship rather than a spiritual-family metaphor spanning ethnic lines. Must be explicitly glossed as the whole gathered people of God (kawtal) at EACH occurrence, not assumed retained from an earlier chapter.
Law Of Liberty
Approved rendering: sariya timmuɗo jeytaare
Transliteration: sariya timmuɗo jeytaare
Doctrine: Hearing and Doing the Word
Original: νόμος τέλειος τῆς ἐλευθερίας
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. James 1:25, 2:12. Reuses sariya (Romans TM law); given sariya’s deliberate parallel to Sharia, James’s inward, gladly-obeyed ‘law of liberty’ must be distinguished from a comprehensive external Sharia-style life-code, and ‘liberty/jeytaare’ itself must not be heard as license.
Religion Redefined
Approved rendering: diine
Transliteration: diine
Doctrine: True Religion Redefined as Practical Compassion
Original: θρησκεία
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. James 1:26-27. diine carries strong Islamic institutional-religion connotations (comprehensive religious system, ritual observance, communal identity). James’s redefinition of ‘pure religion’ as practical compassion and personal moral purity, not ritual correctness, must be taught as a direct, explicit contrast, never assumed self-evident from the word alone.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: ceniiɗo
Transliteration: ceniiɗo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: laaɓɗo (physically clean, reserve for ritual/physical cleanliness only)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Keep distinct from laaɓɗo (ritual/wuduu-adjacent cleanliness). JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: root of the ‘pure’ element (ceniinde) in the seven-fold wisdom-from-above character list (3:17) and of laaɓnude ɓernde (‘purify the heart,’ 4:8) — both must draw on this inward-moral sense, never the ritual-cleanliness sense of laaɓal.
Adoption
Approved rendering: jaɓugol wonande ɓiɗɗo
Transliteration: jaɓugol wonande ɓiɗɗo
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Descriptive compound since formal legal adoption is unfamiliar in traditional Fulani kinship structures. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: underlies the fuller inheritance-rights background that must accompany James 2:5’s heir language (roniiɗo, see new entry below) — the poor as heirs of the promised kingdom draws on this same full inheritance-rights sense, not a bare legal-inheritance notion.
Peace
Approved rendering: jam
Transliteration: jam
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: deeƴre (calm/stillness, too passive/psychological)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] jam is deeply embedded in daily Sahelian greeting rituals. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James 2:16’s ‘go in peace’ (jooɗo e jam) deploys jam in its everyday greeting register specifically to expose HOLLOW piety substituting for material help — the opposite rhetorical direction from Romans’ affirmation of true peace with God; also reused as jamre, the ‘peaceable’ element of wisdom-from-above (3:17).
Church
Approved rendering: kawtal
Transliteration: kawtal
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: moosaale (mosque, never use)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Native-rooted ‘gathering/assembly’ term, deliberately avoiding Arabic-Islamic-institution vocabulary. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: base of mawɓe kawtal (‘elders of the church,’ 5:14, see new entry below), which must be explicitly distinguished from marabout/imam/alfa-style mediating religious specialists; also underlies James 2:2’s synagōgē rendering.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: laamu Alla
Transliteration: laamu Alla
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Must be distinguished from any historic/contemporary political Islamic state structure (Sokoto Caliphate memory). JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James 2:5 promises this kingdom to the poor as heirs (roniiɗo) — teach with the full inheritance-rights sense, not a bare political-territorial one.
Law
Approved rendering: sariya
Transliteration: sariya
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Arabic loanword sharing its root with Sharia; standard term for Mosaic Law/law generally. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: base of two new James compounds requiring careful fencing — sariya laamu (‘royal law,’ 2:8, love of neighbor as the law’s summary) and sariya timmuɗo jeytaare (‘law of liberty,’ 1:25, 2:12); neither may be heard as a comprehensive external Sharia-style life-code.
Glory
Approved rendering: manaango
Transliteration: manaango
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: teddungal (reserve for human honor/dignity in Pulaaku contexts, avoid as the primary term for God’s glory)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] manaango (God’s transcendent glory/majesty) must be kept conceptually distinct from teddungal (Pulaaku’s socially-conferred human honor/dignity). JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: directly underlies James 2:1 (‘our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory’) and the Humility Before God doctrine (4:6, 4:10) — ‘humble yourselves’ must be taught as reordering allegiance beneath God’s manaango, not as requiring abandonment of legitimate teddungal.
Prophet
Approved rendering: annabi
Transliteration: annabi
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Shared with Islamic usage for both OT and Quranic prophetic figures. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: James 5:10 cites the prophets as models of munyal (patient endurance) under suffering; must be read within a unified progressively-unfolding covenant history, not a Quranic-style prophetology of successive superseding revelations.
Intercession
Approved rendering: torgol wonande
Transliteration: torgol wonande
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Descriptive compound for prayer on behalf of others; kept distinct from salaa (ritualized Islamic prayer) and marabout-mediated petition. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: base of the new compound torgol gomɗinal (‘prayer of faith,’ 5:15, High — see new entry), James’s central prayer-and-healing term.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yeesu
Transliteration: Yeesu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Iisa (the Quranic Arabic form, reserve only for explicit interfaith-dialogue contexts)
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Iisa (Quranic form) must not be used in ordinary doctrinal exposition. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: central to the Critical coming_of_the_lord entry (5:7-8) precisely because ‘Yeesu’ and ‘Isa’ name the same shared figure across traditions with substantively different narratives about his return; never let ‘Yeesu’s return’ be silently equated with nuzūl ‘Isa.
Father
Approved rendering: Baaba
Transliteration: Baaba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — fields unchanged.] Standard, doctrinally clear term for God as Father, resonating with Fulani family/lineage values. JAMES-SPECIFIC EXTENSION: underlies James 1:17’s ‘Father of lights’ (Baaba jom annoore) — must be rendered as relational Fatherhood-imagery (source of every good gift), not as an allusion to the Islamic divine-names/attributes tradition (e.g., a name echoing ‘an-Nūr,’ the Light); and underlies James 1:27’s ‘God the Father’ framing of true religion (orphan/widow care).
Hearer Only
Approved rendering: ɗowtiiɗo tan
Transliteration: ɗowtiiɗo tan
Doctrine: Hearing and Doing the Word
Original: ἀκροατής
Category: Faith and Works
NEW. James 1:22-25. Deliberate contrast term to gollotooɗo Konngol; standard vocabulary, low intrinsic weakness beyond the pairing itself.
Testing Proving
Approved rendering: etaari gomɗinal
Transliteration: etaari gomɗinal
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: δοκίμιον
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:3. Descriptive compound (‘the testing/proving of faith’) distinct from jarrabaare; denotes the purifying process/means, not the trial-event itself.
Double Minded
Approved rendering: ɓerɗe ɗiɗi
Transliteration: ɓerɗe ɗiɗi
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: δίψυχος
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:8 and 4:8. Descriptive compound (‘two hearts’); unattested as a fixed theological idiom — confirm naturalness with native speakers. Must be rendered identically at both occurrences.
Mature Complete
Approved rendering: timmuɗo
Transliteration: timmuɗo
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: τέλειος
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:4, cf. 1:17, 1:25, 3:2. Must be clearly distinguished from an Islamic-framework sense of ‘perfect’ as flawless Sharia-compliance; James’s sense is organic moral/spiritual maturity, not sinlessness.
Crown Of Life
Approved rendering: laamateeri nguurndam
Transliteration: laamateeri nguurndam
Doctrine: Patient Endurance Under Trial
Rejected alternatives: a literal circlet-crown image — rejected as culturally unfamiliar; turbans and staffs, not gold circlets, mark status in the region
Original: στέφανος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Trials and Endurance
NEW. James 1:12. Descriptive rendering (‘kingly reward of life’) rather than literal crown imagery; note for illustrators/oral teachers to avoid a circlet-crown visual.
Bitter Jealousy Selfish Ambition
Approved rendering: kiiɗal saɗtungal / ɓeydateeri hoore
Transliteration: kiiɗal saɗtungal / ɓeydateeri hoore
Doctrine: Earthly, Demonic Wisdom Versus Heavenly Wisdom
Original: ζῆλος πικρός / ἐριθεία
Category: Wisdom
NEW. James 3:14, 3:16. Standard moral vocabulary describing the fruit of earthly ‘wisdom’; low intrinsic ambiguity beyond consistency of rendering.
Wisdom From Above Character
Approved rendering: ceniinde, jamre, newiinde, jaɓoore, heewuɗe yurmeende, ngalaa fenaande
Transliteration: ceniinde, jamre, newiinde, jaɓoore, heewuɗe yurmeende, ngalaa fenaande
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Original: ἁγνή, εἰρηνική, ἐπιεικής, εὔπειθος, μεστὴ ἐλέους, ἀνυπόκριτος
Category: Wisdom
NEW compound list. James 3:17’s seven-fold positive character description of godly wisdom (pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, without hypocrisy), deliberately contrasted with 3:14-16. ceniinde and jamre reuse Romans-established roots (ceniiɗo/ceniinde, jam) and must remain consistent with those senses; the remaining terms are new and carry only Medium risk.
Fruit Of Righteousness
Approved rendering: ɓiɓɓe peewal
Transliteration: ɓiɓɓe peewal
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Original: καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης
Category: Wisdom
NEW. James 3:18. Reuses the peewal (righteousness) root; denotes the peaceable, righteous relational outcome godly-wisdom-shaped living produces.
Royal Law
Approved rendering: sariya laamu
Transliteration: sariya laamu
Doctrine: Royal Law of Love and Mercy
Original: νόμος βασιλικός
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 2:8. Reuses sariya and laamu (Romans TM roots); must be glossed explicitly as ‘the law summed up in love of neighbor,’ distinguishing it from a Sharia-style comprehensive legal code.
Mercy
Approved rendering: yurmeende
Transliteration: yurmeende
Doctrine: Royal Law of Love and Mercy
Rejected alternatives: Arjunde (grace — must remain distinct; mercy is compassionate forbearance, not unmerited-favor doctrine)
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW formal entry, though the term is anticipated in the baseline Romans package’s own grace entry as a reserved word for ‘mercy/compassion generally.’ James 2:13, 3:17, 5:11. Must be rendered consistently across all three occurrences and never drift toward Arjunde’s specific unmerited-favor territory.
Heir
Approved rendering: roniiɗo
Transliteration: roniiɗo
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: κληρονόμος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 2:5. Connects to the Romans adoption doctrine’s inheritance-rights emphasis; teach with that fuller sense in view, not as a bare legal-inheritance term.
Wages Of Laborers
Approved rendering: njoɓdi golle
Transliteration: njoɓdi golle
Doctrine: Wealth, Injustice, and Coming Judgment
Original: μισθὸς ἐργατῶν
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
NEW. James 5:4. Resonates directly with real hired-herder/laborer wage-justice realities in pastoralist economies, a strong point of practical application; connects thematically (not doctrinally) to the Critical golle risk term.
Tongue
Approved rendering: ɗemngal
Transliteration: ɗemngal
Doctrine: Taming the Tongue
Rejected alternatives: no synonym exists that avoids the dialect-identity homonym; fence through contextual framing, not lexical substitution
Original: γλῶσσα
Category: Taming the Tongue
NEW. James 3:1-12. Also means ‘language/dialect,’ and Fulfulde speakers are unusually dialect-identity-conscious (Pular/Fulfulde/Maasina). Teaching must ensure this doctrine is clearly heard as addressing moral use of speech, not linguistic/dialect identity, through explicit framing sentences at first occurrence.
Bless Curse
Approved rendering: barkinde / wowlan bonɗi hakkunde
Transliteration: barkinde / wowlan bonɗi hakkunde
Doctrine: Taming the Tongue
Rejected alternatives: barke (marabout-mediated blessing/power — never confuse with barkinde, a single-morpheme visual similarity risk in written Latin-script Fulfulde requiring proofreading care)
Original: εὐλογέω / καταράομαι
Category: Taming the Tongue
NEW. James 3:9-10. barkinde (‘bless’) must be kept distinct in sense from barke (forbidden throughout the Romans package for grace/power/gifts); flag for typesetting/proofreading care given the near-identical written forms.
Resist The Devil
Approved rendering: kaɗon Seytaane
Transliteration: kaɗon Seytaane
Doctrine: Submission to God and Resistance of the Devil
Original: ἀντίστητε τῷ διαβόλῳ
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
NEW. James 4:7. Seytaane is shared vocabulary with the Islamic Shaytan/Iblis figure — genuine point of contact on the devil’s reality and hostility, but the NT’s framework of the devil’s defeat through Christ’s finished work has no Iblis-narrative parallel and must be taught explicitly, not assumed shared.
If The Lord Wills
Approved rendering: si Joom yiɗi
Transliteration: si Joom yiɗi
Doctrine: Submitting Plans to God’s Will
Rejected alternatives: a direct Arabic-loan calque of ‘In shā’a Allāh’ — rejected in favor of a native Fulfulde phrase so the parallel is felt without directly borrowing Islamic liturgical Arabic
Original: ἐάν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃ
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
NEW. James 4:15. Functions almost identically to the ubiquitous Sahelian pious formula ‘In shā’a Allāh,’ a strong positive point of contact, but risks becoming an empty pious formula. Must be tied explicitly to welsindiigal Alla (Romans providence entry) so it reflects genuine trust in God’s personal, purposive care.
Raise Up Heal
Approved rendering: ɓamtu
Transliteration: ɓamtu
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: ἐγείρω
Category: Prayer and Healing
NEW — disambiguation required. James 5:15. Denotes restoration to bodily health, NOT resurrection from the dead. Must not be confused with, or share a fixed phrase with, immorde e maayde (Romans TM resurrection, Critical risk); flag any segment where the two phrases appear near each other for extra review.
Prayer Of The Righteous Effective
Approved rendering: torgol peewɗo, gollotoongo doole
Transliteration: torgol peewɗo, gollotoongo doole
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: δέησις δικαίου / ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Confession and Restoration
NEW. James 5:16. Reuses the peewal root; must not be heard as prayer’s power being an earned/merited force analogous to barke — efficacy flows from God’s responsiveness to faith-filled righteous living, not ritual correctness.
Turn Back Wander
Approved rendering: artirde / majjude
Transliteration: artirde / majjude
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: ἐπιστρέφω / πλανάομαι
Category: Confession and Restoration
NEW. James 5:19-20. Standard restoration vocabulary connecting directly to the confession terms; low intrinsic weakness beyond consistency.
Lord Of Hosts
Approved rendering: Joom Sabaoti / Joom Konuyaaji
Transliteration: Joom Sabaoti / Joom Konuyaaji
Doctrine: Wealth, Injustice, and Coming Judgment
Original: Κύριος Σαβαώθ
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
NEW, UNATTESTED. James 5:4. No attested Fulfulde rendering exists for this rare Hebrew-derived military-court title in any surveyed regional NT edition. Flagged for theologian decision rather than silent improvisation, per baseline practice for unattested forms.
Word Of Truth
Approved rendering: Konngol goonga / Konngol ñiiɓuɗo e ɓernde
Transliteration: Konngol goonga / Konngol ñiiɓuɗo e ɓernde
Doctrine: Hearing and Doing the Word
Rejected alternatives: Linjiila (gospel) as a direct substitute — rejected; would obscure James’s broader hearing/doing argument
Original: λόγος ἀληθείας / ἔμφυτος λόγος
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. James 1:18, 1:21. Must not be simply substituted with Linjiila (Romans TM gospel); James’s ‘word’ is a broader term for God’s received, internalized teaching, with the gospel as its content.
Orphans And Widows
Approved rendering: wonduɓe e kaddiraaɓe
Transliteration: wonduɓe e kaddiraaɓe
Doctrine: True Religion Redefined as Practical Compassion
Original: ὀρφανός / χήρα
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. James 1:27. Resonates with both Pulaaku hospitality ethics and Islamic zakat obligation, a positive point of contact, but James’s call to personal, relational involvement (‘visit’) rather than a ritualized almsgiving transaction should be taught explicitly.
Book Title James
Approved rendering: Yakuba
Transliteration: Yakuba
Doctrine: Book Title and Naming Convention
Rejected alternatives: a transliteration of the English ‘James’ — rejected; this is a historical accident of English Bible tradition, not the name’s actual form
Original: Ἰάκωβος
Category: Structural and Identity
NEW. Ἰάκωβος (Iakōbos) is the same name rendered ‘Jacob’ for the patriarch and ‘Ya’qub’ in the Qur’an; ‘James’ is a Latin-via-English accident. ‘Yakuba’ matches existing Fulfulde/Pular renderings of the patriarch Jacob and creates genuine shared recognition with the Qur’anic Ya’qub. Flagged for theologian confirmation of the exact regional NT convention, since James/Yakuba as an Epistle has even thinner existing Fulfulde attestation than the Romans corpus this package builds from.
Referenced passages