Core Glossary
Philemon — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package)
Risk-tier definitions are inherited unchanged from assets/bible_term_registry.json:
- Critical — doctrinally load-bearing term with a strong, specific collision with Hmong traditional religion that could invert or neutralize the doctrine if unaddressed.
- High — real potential for confusion with a specific traditional-religious or social/cultural concept; manageable with a documented disambiguating strategy.
- Medium — partial semantic mismatch, register gap, or comprehension gap with no direct collision with a competing religious/social system.
- Low — already-stable, safe rendering with minimal ambiguity.
Section A — Terms Reused from the Romans Baseline TM (verbatim, no alteration permitted)
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) in Philemon | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | God | θεός | theos | Vajtswv | Low | General / Cross-cutting | v.3; inherited exactly |
| A2 | Lord | κύριος | kyrios | tus Tswv | Low | Christian Brotherhood; General | v.3, v.16b (“in the Lord”), v.20; reserved for the divine referent only — never applied to Philemon’s mundane mastery over Onesimus |
| A3 | Jesus Christ | Ἰησοῦς Χριστός / Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous Christos / Christos Iēsous | Yexus Khetos | Low | General | v.1, v.3, v.9, v.23, v.25; both word-orders render identically |
| A4 | Father (God) | πατήρ | patēr | Leej Txiv | Low | General | v.3 |
| A5 | Grace | χάρις | charis | txiaj ntsim | Critical | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.3, v.25; PERMANENTLY forbidden alternate: koob hmoov (fate/blessing) — see Romans baseline; opening and closing bookend of the letter |
| A6 | Peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | kev thaj yeeb | Low | General | v.3 |
| A7 | Faith / Believe | πίστις | pistis | kev ntseeg | Medium | Intercession and Appeal; Christian Brotherhood | v.5, v.6 (κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως); must not be blended with the new pepoithōs/confidence term (see B14) |
| A8 | Love | ἀγάπη | agapē | kev hlub | Low | Grace-Motivated Obedience; Christian Brotherhood | v.5, v.7, v.9 — the explicit ground Paul substitutes for command |
| A9 | Human spirit/soul (anthropological) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | ntsuj plig | High | General (closing benediction) | v.25 “your spirit” — the letter’s final theological term; MUST NOT receive the “Vaj” prefix (that prefix is reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit per Romans baseline) |
| A10 | Servant/Slave (bondservant) | δοῦλος | doulos | qhev | High | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power; Christian Brotherhood | v.16 — the single most load-bearing occurrence of this term outside Romans; the letter’s entire argument turns on Onesimus being simultaneously and truly qhev and kwvtij hlub (see B3) |
| A11 | Debtor / Owe | ὀφειλέτης / ὀφείλω | opheiletēs / opheilō | tus tshuav nqi / tshuav nqi | Low | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.18-19; concrete debt-idiom reused consistently from the Romans baseline |
| A12 | Reckon / Impute (root) | λογίζομαι | logizomai | suav / suav tias | Critical | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | Root reused (not the identical verb, but the identical Hmong verb-family suav) for v.18’s ἐλλογέω — see B7; the forensic-accounting root must not be abandoned for an unrelated commercial term |
| A13 | Unrighteousness (root) | ἀδικία / ἀδικέω | adikia / adikeō | kev tsis ncaj ncees (root) | Low | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.18 adikeō; verb built on the same root already fixed for Romans’ adikia |
| A14 | Church / Assembly | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | pawg ntseeg | Low | Christian Brotherhood | v.2; term is already implicit in the Romans baseline’s deacon_servant note and is here formally established for Philemon |
| A15 | Obedience of faith (compound, root) | ὑπακοὴ πίστεως | hypakoē pisteōs | kev mloog lus ntawm kev ntseeg | Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience | The Romans COMPOUND form; NOT the term actually used in Philemon 1:21, which is standalone hypakoē — see B15 for the distinct treatment required |
| A16 | Sanctification (root: holy/set-apart) | ἅγιος (root of ἁγιασμός) | hagios (root) | dawb huv (root) | High | Christian Brotherhood | v.5 hagioi, “the saints/holy ones” — adjectival reuse of the Romans-baseline holiness root, applied to believers as a class, not to the sanctification process itself |
Section B — New Terms Established in This Document (Philemon-specific; proposed permanent TM additions)
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Notes / Alternatives Rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Appeal / Beseech | παρακαλέω | parakaleō | thov | Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | v.9, v.10; must remain visibly distinct from B2 (command) at every occurrence — the letter’s rhetorical strategy depends on this contrast being audible |
| B2 | Command / Order | ἐπιτάσσω | epitassō | hais kom ua / txib kom ua | Low | Intercession and Appeal | v.8; the mode Paul explicitly refuses to use |
| B3 | Beloved Brother (status-crossing kinship) | ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός | adelphos agapētos | kwvtij hlub | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status; Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | v.16; Hmong kwvtij is clan/lineage-bound; extending full sibling-status across a master-slave, non-clan line is a radical, gospel-specific claim requiring explicit teaching, or it will be heard as mere courtesy (domesticated) or rejected as culturally implausible. Alternatives rejected: a weaker “friend/associate” gloss — rejected, erases the specifically familial claim Paul is making |
| B4 | Partnership / Partner | κοινωνία / κοινωνός | koinōnia / koinōnos | kev sib koom ua ib / tus koom nrog | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | v.6, v.17; asks a master to receive his own slave as a full social equal — direct confrontation with status hierarchy; must be taught, not left as rhetorical flattery. Alternatives rejected: generic “guest” framing for v.17 — rejected, understates the full-equal-standing claim |
| B5 | Voluntary (not by compulsion) | ἑκούσιος | hekousios | kev zoo siab pub | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.14; contrasted with B6. Default Hmong social/ritual obligation is compulsory-framed; without the explicit binary contrast this collapses into ordinary clan duty. Alternatives rejected: framing as generic “kindness” — rejected, loses the specific voluntary/compelled axis Paul names |
| B6 | Compulsion / Necessity | ἀνάγκη | anankē | kev raug yuam | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.14; must always appear paired with B5, never independently |
| B7 | Charge to (One’s) Account | ἐλλογέω | ellogeō | suav rau kuv tus nqi | Medium-High | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.18; deliberately built on the suav root fixed for Romans’ logizomai (imputed righteousness) to preserve the forgiveness/imputation echo. Alternatives rejected: an unrelated commercial-loanword ledger term — rejected, severs the deliberate theological echo with imputed righteousness |
| B8 | Prisoner / Bonds (voluntary, apostolic) | δέσμιος / ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς | desmios / en tois desmois | tus raug khi (rau Yexus Khetos) | Medium | Intercession and Appeal; Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | v.1, v.9, v.10, v.13, v.23; must be kept lexically distinct from A10 qhev even though both involve “boundness” — one is chosen apostolic suffering, the other involuntary chattel slavery |
| B9 | Spiritual Child / Fathering (a convert) | τέκνον / ἐγέννησα | teknon / egennēsa | kuv tus tub (kev ntseeg) / uas kuv coj los ntseeg | Medium | Intercession and Appeal | v.10; distinct from Romans’ legal-adoption metaphor (adoption_as_sons); this is evangelistic spiritual paternity. Forbidden: rendering “sin/faith entered” type language with nkag (possession verb) — not directly at stake here, but the same possession-avoidance principle applies to any begetting/indwelling language in this family |
| B10 | Useless / Useful (name wordplay) | ἄχρηστος / εὔχρηστος | achrēstos / euchrēstos | tsis muaj qab hau / muaj qab hau | Low-Medium | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | v.11 (also echoed v.20 via ὀναίμην); the Greek pun on Onesimus’s own name (“Useful One”) is untranslatable directly into Hmong and MUST be preserved via footnote, not silently dropped |
| B11 | Fellow Worker | συνεργός | synergos | tus koom tes ua haujlwm | Medium | Christian Brotherhood | v.1, v.24; disambiguation required: the Romans baseline rejected koom tes only as a softening substitute for doulos (A10) — that rejection does NOT apply here, where synergos is a different Greek word and koom tes-family vocabulary is correct |
| B12 | Fellow Prisoner / Captive | συναιχμάλωτος | synaichmalōtos | tus nrog kuv raug kaw | Low-Medium | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | v.23; comprehension-level only, softens the specifically military captive-image but no doctrinal collision |
| B13 | Wronged (verb) | ἀδικέω | adikeō | ua txhaum rau | Low-Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.18; built on A13 root |
| B14 | Confidence / Trust (in a person’s character) | πεποιθώς | pepoithōs | ntseeg siab tias | Low-Medium | Intercession and Appeal | v.21; must be kept distinct from A7 (saving faith in Christ) so interpersonal confidence is not blended with the soteriological faith-category |
| B15 | Obedience (standalone, grace-response) | ὑπακοή | hypakoē | kev mloog lus | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.21; NOT the Romans compound (A15) — standalone obedience here. Default Hmong mloog lus carries hierarchical-duty connotation (children/subordinates obeying elders/clan heads); must be explicitly tied back to v.9’s love-not-command appeal in every teaching context, or the letter’s central rhetorical strategy (appeal, not command) collapses into ordinary compulsory compliance |
| B16 | Separated (providentially) | χωρίζω | chōrizō | raug ncaim ntawm… | Low-Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.15 |
| B17 | Forever / Eternal (relational permanence) | αἰώνιος | aiōnios | mus ib txhis | Low | Christian Brotherhood | v.15; same root as Romans TM’s eternal_life phrase, reused consistently, modifying “have him back” rather than “life” |
| B18 | Receive / Welcome | προσλαμβάνω | proslambanō | tos txais | Low | Christian Brotherhood | v.17 |
| B19 | Boldness (of speech) | παρρησία | parrēsia | kev tso siab hais | Low-Medium | Intercession and Appeal | v.8 |
| B20 | Heart / Inward Affection | σπλάγχνα | splagchna | lub siab | Low-Medium | Christian Brotherhood; Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.7, v.12, v.20; established idiom-bridge consistent with the Romans-baseline convention for syneidēsis/thelēma theou (the liver/siab as seat of emotion and will) |
| B21 | Refresh (the heart) | ἀναπαύω | anapauō | pub kom lub siab tau so | Low-Medium | Christian Brotherhood | v.7, v.20; repeated motif linking opening praise to closing request |
| B22 | Fellowship of the Faith | κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως | koinōnia tēs pisteōs | kev sib koom ua ib los ntawm kev ntseeg | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | v.6; the doctrinal seed of B4’s koinōnos request in v.17 — same risk class |
| B23 | Serve / Minister (general verb) | διακονέω | diakoneō | pab | Low | Intercession and Appeal | v.13; general service verb, NOT the formal church office diakonos (Romans baseline tus pab tu pawg ntseeg) — do not conflate |
| B24 | Charge/Repay formula (autograph pledge) | ἀποτίσω / ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί | apotisō / egrapsa tē emē cheiri | kuv yuav them / kuv sau tus kaw tes ntawm kuv tim ntsis | Low | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.19; legal-guarantee idiom, comprehension-level bridge, no collision |
| B25 | Prepare a Guest-Lodging | ἑτοίμαζέ μοι ξενίαν | hetoimaze moi xenian | npaj chav rau kuv nyob | Low | Intercession and Appeal | v.22; transfers cleanly to Hmong hospitality custom |
| B26 | Forgive / Pardon (theological extrapolation term) | (no direct Greek lexeme in Philemon; ἀφίημι does not occur) | — | zam txim | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | This existing Hmong Christian term will likely appear in curriculum teaching content derived from Philemon even though no Greek “forgive” verb occurs in the letter itself; flagged so this is understood as theological extrapolation (via B7’s ellogeō and A11’s debt vocabulary) rather than direct lexical translation. Must be anchored to the gospel/Christ’s atonement basis, not framed as mere social favor-granting (a risk given zam txim’s customary-law/clan-elder-pardon connotations) |
| B27 | Reconciliation (doctrine invoked without the Greek lexeme) | (καταλλαγή does not occur in Philemon) | — | kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv) | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | Reuses the Romans-baseline reconciliation entry by extension. NOTE: the baseline requires this phrase to be explicitly God-ward anchored to avoid a merely-horizontal reading; Philemon’s application is primarily HORIZONTAL (Philemon↔Onesimus). Teaching must connect the horizontal reconciliation Paul requests to its vertical ground (“in the Lord,” v.16) without contradicting the baseline’s God-ward-anchoring requirement |
Section C — Proper Names Requiring Verification
| Name | Greek | Tentative RPA Rendering | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul | Παῦλος | Povlauj | [ESTABLISHED] per Romans-baseline requirements doc §5 (avoid-list of already-fixed transliterations) |
| Philemon | Φιλήμων | Filemoo | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: verify against existing printed Hmong Bible (HWB) transliteration before treating as permanent] |
| Onesimus | Ὀνήσιμος | Aunexima | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: verify against existing printed Hmong Bible transliteration]; name meaning (“Useful”) is programmatic — see B10 |
| Apphia | Ἀπφία | Ampiya | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] |
| Archippus | Ἄρχιππος | Akhipu | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] |
| Timothy | Τιμόθεος | Timaute | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] |
| Epaphras | Ἐπαφρᾶς | Epafas | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] |
| Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke (v.24) | Μᾶρκος, Ἀρίσταρχος, Δημᾶς, Λουκᾶς | (standard existing HWB transliterations presumed) | [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: confirm against existing HWB text rather than re-deriving] |
Section D — Escalation Notes for This Book
Per the governing requirements document’s escalation rules (inherited from the Romans baseline, §9): all High-risk NEW terms in Section B (B3, B4, B5, B6, B15, B22) and the two Critical/High-risk INHERITED terms carrying unusual doctrinal weight in this letter (A5 grace, A10 qhev/slave, A9 human-spirit closing benediction, A12 suav root reused for B7) require mandatory human theologian review before any Phase 2 content generation is published, consistent with the “no automated-review bypass” rule for Critical/High tiers. Proper names in Section C require native-speaker + existing-translation verification before permanent TM lock-in.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Rejected alternatives: koob hmoov (fortune/blessing tied to fate and ritual correctness) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this sense; would invert sola gratia
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Bookends Philemon (1:3, 1:25). Also foundational to this book’s Doctrine 5 (Grace-Motivated Obedience): using koob hmoov here would frame Paul’s entire grace-modeled appeal on a fatalistic footing, directly undermining the letter’s central rhetorical move.
Reckon Impute
Approved rendering: suav / suav tias
Transliteration: logizomai
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Root deliberately reused for Philemon 1:18’s ellogeō (‘charge to my account,’ see new entry ‘charge_to_account_ellogeo’). Must remain the forensic-accounting root that echoes imputed righteousness in Romans; reusing it here for a horizontal debt-transfer must not weaken the forensic sense reserved for justification, but should be taught as a deliberate, pedagogically valuable echo.
Flesh Neutral Descent Body
Approved rendering: lub cev nqaij tawv
Transliteration: sarx (neutral)
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: bare nqaij used unmarked for both senses — rejected, collapses neutral and moral senses of flesh, the moral-sense periphrasis ‘kev xav/kev ua raws li lub cev nqaij tawv’ — FORBIDDEN here, would wrongly moralize a neutral social-relationship statement
Inherited from Romans package (neutral-sense sub-entry only), unaltered. Philemon 1:16 ‘both in the flesh and in the Lord’ — describes Onesimus’s ordinary human/social relationship to Philemon, NOT the moral/sinful-nature sense. Correct sub-entry selection is essential; selecting the wrong sub-entry would wrongly moralize this clause.
Forgive Pardon Extrapolation Zam Txim
Approved rendering: zam txim
Transliteration: (no direct Greek lexeme in Philemon; aphiēmi does not occur)
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: presenting zam txim as bare elder-mediated social pardon detached from vv.18-19 — FORBIDDEN, reduces gospel forgiveness to ordinary clan-elder-granted generosity, ua zoo / earned-favor framing tied to zam txim — rejected, reintroduces works-merit into a grace-grounded transaction
NEW ENTRY, doctrine-level term with no single verse anchor in the Greek text (Philemon never uses a dedicated ‘forgive’ verb; the doctrine is carried entirely by the ellogeō/suav debt-metaphor of vv.18-19). Hmong zam txim carries strong customary-law/clan-elder-pardon connotations (a socially superior party graciously waives a claim within a restorative, honor-based process). MUST always be taught with explicit anchoring to ‘charge_to_account_ellogeo’ — Paul personally underwriting Onesimus’s debt, prefiguring Christ’s atonement — never presented as a free-standing social-pardon custom. Flagged Critical because unanchored use would invert the letter’s central theological move.
High Risk Terms
Human Spirit Soul
Approved rendering: ntsuj plig
Transliteration: pneuma (anthropological)
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (closing benediction)
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Ntsuj Plig — forbidden for this referent, reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:25, the letter’s final theological term (‘grace… with your spirit’). MUST NOT receive the ‘Vaj’ prefix; a slip here at the letter’s very last word would confuse the recipients’ own human spirit with the divine Person.
Servant Slave Doulos
Approved rendering: qhev
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected softening, erases total-surrender/real-slave-status force
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:16 — the single most doctrinally load-bearing occurrence of qhev outside Romans 1 and 6: the letter’s entire argument turns on Onesimus being simultaneously and truly qhev and ‘kwvtij hlub’ (beloved brother, see new entry). Never soften; never imply the letter textually commands manumission (it does not).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: kev raug ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as a repeatable ritual-cleansing state — rejected
Inherited from Romans package (root), unaltered. The ‘dawb huv’ root is reused adjectivally in Philemon 1:5/1:7 for hagioi (‘the saints,’ see new entry ‘saints_holy_ones_hagioi’) as a class-descriptor rather than a process-verb; must remain anchored to set-apart status in Christ, never read as ritual cleanliness, consistent with this baseline entry’s process-sense.
Saints Holy Ones Hagioi
Approved rendering: cov ntseeg dawb huv
Transliteration: hagioi
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:5, 1:7. ‘Dawb huv’ also denotes ritual purity from spirit-contamination in Hmong folk practice; applying it here as a class-descriptor for believers (rather than as the Romans-baseline process-verb) must be anchored to set-apart status in Christ, never read as ritual cleanliness.
Fellowship Of Faith Koinonia Pisteos
Approved rendering: kev sib koom ua ib los ntawm kev ntseeg
Transliteration: koinōnia tēs pisteōs
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘we are all Christians together’ pious-sentiment framing — rejected, flattens the substantive equal-standing claim
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:6; the doctrinal seed-planting occurrence for ‘koinonos_partner’ (v.17). Asking believers of unequal social status (a slaveholder and, later, his slave) to share one koinōnia directly confronts Hmong village/lineage status hierarchy; must be taught alongside the v.17 request, not as isolated pious language.
Voluntary Hekousios
Approved rendering: kev zoo siab pub
Transliteration: hekousios
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: framing as generic ‘kindness’ — rejected, loses the specific voluntary/compelled axis Paul names
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:14. Default Hmong social/ritual obligation (duty to clan elders, customary reciprocity) is compulsory-framed by default; MUST always appear paired with ‘compulsion_ananke’ as an explicit binary contrast — never taught or glossed independently, or the doctrine collapses into ordinary expected clan duty.
Compulsion Ananke
Approved rendering: kev raug yuam
Transliteration: anankē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:14. The explicit foil to ‘voluntary_hekousios,’ which Paul refuses to impose. Must never be presented alone; always the named contrast partner.
Beloved Brother Status Crossing Adelphos Agapetos
Approved rendering: kwvtij hlub
Transliteration: adelphos agapētos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: weaker ‘friend/associate’ gloss — rejected, erases the specifically familial claim Paul is making
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:16. Hmong kwvtij is bounded by clan/lineage (xeem) membership; extending full sibling-status language across a master-slave, non-blood, non-clan line is a radical, gospel-specific claim traditional Hmong kinship categories do not naturally accommodate. Must always be taught paired with ‘servant_slave_doulos’ as a preserved paradox, never resolved by softening either term.
Koinonos Partner
Approved rendering: tus koom nrog
Transliteration: koinōnos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘guest’ framing — rejected, understates the full-equal-standing claim
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:17. Asks a master to receive his own slave as a full social equal — direct confrontation with Hmong village/lineage status hierarchy; risk of being heard as rhetorical courtesy rather than substantive equal-standing claim. Pair with ‘fellowship_of_faith_koinonia_pisteos.‘
Obedience Standalone Hypakoe
Approved rendering: kev mloog lus
Transliteration: hypakoē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: silent substitution of the Romans compound ‘kev mloog lus ntawm kev ntseeg’ — FORBIDDEN, misrepresents this verse’s distinct rhetorical function
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:21. NOT the Romans compound (obedience_of_faith) — this is standalone obedience, Philemon’s expected free compliance with Paul’s love-grounded appeal (v.9), not law or clan duty. Default Hmong ‘mloog lus’ carries strong hierarchical-duty connotation; MUST be explicitly tied back to v.9’s love-not-command appeal in every teaching context, or Doctrine 5 (and Doctrine 4) inverts into ordinary compulsory hierarchical compliance.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith Believe
Approved rendering: kev ntseeg / ntseeg
Transliteration: pistis / pisteuō
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:5, 1:6 (koinōnia tēs pisteōs). Must be kept lexically distinct from the new ‘confidence_trust_pepoithos’ entry (v.21) so interpersonal confidence in Philemon’s character is never blended with saving faith in Christ.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: kev mloog lus ntawm kev ntseeg
Transliteration: hypakoē pisteōs
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. This exact COMPOUND form does NOT occur in Philemon and must never be silently substituted for the standalone hypakoē of Philemon 1:21 (see new entry ‘obedience_standalone_hypakoe’), which carries a distinct rhetorical function (grace-response obedience to a personal appeal, not covenantal obedience-of-faith).
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv)
Transliteration: katallagē
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘kev sib haum xeeb’ with no God-ward anchor — rejected, defaults to merely horizontal/interpersonal reconciliation
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered, extended by application (καταλλαγή does not literally occur in Philemon). Philemon’s application is primarily HORIZONTAL (Philemon <-> Onesimus) — the inverse risk direction from Romans, where the concern was defaulting to horizontal-only. Here the risk is failing to supply the vertical ground (‘in the Lord,’ 1:16) that makes the horizontal request legitimate; teaching must hold both directions together without contradicting the baseline’s God-ward-anchoring rule.
Deacon Servant
Approved rendering: tus pab tu pawg ntseeg
Transliteration: diakonos
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office
Rejected alternatives: qhev — rejected, would confuse a recognized office of service with the total-ownership bondservant metaphor, generic ‘tus pab’ with no office-marking — rejected, under-recognizes formal ministry office
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Cited here only for disambiguation: Philemon 1:13’s diakoneō (general service verb, see new entry ‘serve_minister_general_diakoneo’) must NOT be forced into this formal-office rendering, since Onesimus’s hoped-for assistance to Paul is a general act of service, not the recognized church office.
Adoption As Sons
Approved rendering: raug muab coj los ua me tub (ntawm Vajtswv)
Transliteration: huiothesia
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Cited here only for disambiguation against Philemon 1:10’s teknon/egennēsa (Paul’s evangelistic spiritual-fathering claim over Onesimus, see new entry ‘spiritual_child_fathering_teknon_gennao’), which is a distinct metaphor: an apostle’s claim of spiritual paternity over a convert, not the believer’s own forensic legal-adoption status before God.
Fellow Worker Synergos
Approved rendering: tus koom tes ua haujlwm
Transliteration: synergos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:1, 1:24. DISAMBIGUATION REQUIRED: the Romans baseline rejected ‘koom tes’ only as a softening substitute for doulos (servant_slave_doulos entry); that rejection does NOT apply here, since synergos is a genuinely different Greek word and koom tes-family vocabulary is the correct, non-collision rendering for it.
Prisoner Bonds Apostolic Desmios
Approved rendering: tus raug khi (rau Yexus Khetos)
Transliteration: desmios / en tois desmois
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: reuse of ‘qhev’ for Paul’s imprisonment — rejected, would erase the chosen/honored vs. involuntary distinction the letter deliberately preserves
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:1, 1:9, 1:10, 1:13, 1:23. Must be kept lexically and conceptually distinct from ‘servant_slave_doulos’ even though both involve ‘boundness’ vocabulary: Paul’s bonds are chosen, honored, apostolic suffering; Onesimus’s bondage is involuntary chattel-slave status. The letter’s rhetorical power depends on this asymmetry being visible.
Spiritual Child Fathering Teknon Gennao
Approved rendering: kuv tus tub (kev ntseeg) / uas kuv coj los ntseeg (Vajtswv)
Transliteration: teknon / egennēsa
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: nkag (spirit/dab-possession verb) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this begetting/bringing-to-faith image, per the Romans-baseline prohibition on possession-language for this verb family
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:10. Comprehension gap: spiritual paternity is not a native Hmong category. Must be distinguished in teaching from ‘adoption_as_sons’ (believer’s forensic status before God), since this is an apostle’s evangelistic claim of spiritual fathering over a specific convert.
Useless Useful Wordplay Onesimus
Approved rendering: tsis muaj qab hau / muaj qab hau
Transliteration: achrēstos / euchrēstos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: silent omission of the wordplay — FORBIDDEN, would silently remove the clearest textual signal of the gospel-transformation theme
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:11 (echoed 1:20 via onaimēn). Craft requirement, not doctrinal collision: the Greek pun on Onesimus’s own name (‘Useful One’) is untranslatable directly into Hmong and MUST be preserved via a mandatory explicit footnote in any curriculum content, never silently dropped.
Confidence Trust Pepoithos
Approved rendering: ntseeg siab tias
Transliteration: pepoithōs
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:21. Paul’s stated ground for expecting compliance — confidence in Philemon’s character, not a legal demand. Must be kept lexically distinct from ‘faith_believe’ (kev ntseeg, saving faith in Christ) so interpersonal confidence is never blended with the soteriological faith-category.
Appeal Beseech Parakaleo
Approved rendering: thov
Transliteration: parakaleō
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: collapsing into a single generic request-verb interchangeable with epitassō — FORBIDDEN, erases the letter’s core rhetorical argument
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:9, 1:10. Paul’s chosen rhetorical mode; must remain visibly distinct from ‘command_order_epitasso’ at every occurrence. Common everyday/low-register verb also used for petitionary prayer (‘thov Vajtswv’) — context must always disambiguate sense.
Low Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: Ntuj (impersonal sky/heaven) — rejected, lacks personal deity sense, dab (spirit) — rejected, denotes false/lesser spirit
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:3 (greeting).
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:3, 1:16 (‘in the Lord’), 1:20. Reserved exclusively for the divine referent throughout Philemon — Paul deliberately never applies kyrios to Philemon’s mundane mastery over Onesimus; this asymmetry must be highlighted, not blurred, in teaching.
Jesus Christ
Approved rendering: Yexus Khetos
Transliteration: Iēsous Christos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:1, 1:3, 1:9, 1:23, 1:25; both Greek word-orders (Iēsous Christos / Christos Iēsous) render identically.
Father God
Approved rendering: Leej Txiv
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:3 (greeting formula).
Peace
Approved rendering: kev thaj yeeb
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:3.
Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:5, 1:7, 1:9 — the explicit named motive Paul substitutes for command (v.9); doctrinally load-bearing in this book even though lexically Low risk, since it is the single term that resolves the appeal/command tension central to Doctrine 4 and grounds Doctrine 5.
Debtor
Approved rendering: tus tshuav nqi
Transliteration: opheiletēs
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Inherited from Romans package (root), unaltered. Philemon 1:18-19 (opheilō, ‘owes’); concrete debt-idiom transfers cleanly via existing Hmong debt-culture familiarity (pawned goods, bride-price installments, clan-debt obligations).
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: kev tsis ncaj ncees
Transliteration: adikia
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Inherited from Romans package (root), unaltered. Root underlies Philemon 1:18’s adikeō (‘wronged’); see new entry ‘wronged_adikeo’.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ua tsaug
Transliteration: eucharistō
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package, unaltered. Philemon 1:4, Paul’s standard epistolary thanksgiving opening.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: txoj sia nyob mus ib txhis
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Inherited from Romans package (root), unaltered. Root reused consistently for Philemon 1:15’s aiōnios (‘forever,’ see new entry ‘forever_relational_aionios’), there modifying ‘have him back’ rather than ‘life’ — a relational-permanence sense, not a soteriological one.
Ekklesia Church Assembly
Approved rendering: pawg ntseeg
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:2, ‘the church in your house.’ The letter is addressed to the gathered congregation, not only Philemon privately, raising the social stakes of his public response — a brotherhood-doctrine point, not merely a term-gloss.
Brother General Adelphos
Approved rendering: kwvtij
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:1, applied to Timothy — ordinary ministry-partner usage. Establishes the brotherhood vocabulary later extended radically to Onesimus in 1:16 (see ‘beloved_brother_status_crossing_adelphos_agapetos’); the two occurrences must be taught at different registers, never given equal rhetorical weight.
Sister Adelphe
Approved rendering: viv ncaus
Transliteration: adelphē
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:2, applied to Apphia.
Fellow Soldier Systratiotes
Approved rendering: tus tub rog nrog kuv ua ke
Transliteration: systratiōtēs
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:2, applied to Archippus; comprehension-level metaphor for shared spiritual struggle, no collision.
Joy Chara
Approved rendering: kev zoo siab
Transliteration: chara
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:7, Paul’s emotional response to reports of Philemon’s love.
Comfort Encouragement Paraklesis
Approved rendering: kev txhawb siab
Transliteration: paraklēsis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:7. Shares a root family with ‘appeal_beseech_parakaleo’ but is a distinct noun-sense here (comfort, not appeal); keep contextually distinguished.
Full Knowledge Epignosis
Approved rendering: kev paub tseeb
Transliteration: epignōsis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:6.
Effective Active Energes
Approved rendering: ua haujlwm tau zoo
Transliteration: energēs
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:6; Paul prays the shared faith-partnership will become active/fruitful — anticipates the letter’s actual request regarding Onesimus.
Serve Minister General Diakoneo
Approved rendering: pab
Transliteration: diakoneō
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: tus pab tu pawg ntseeg (formal diakonos office rendering) — rejected here, this is a general service verb, not the formal office
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:13. General service-verb describing Onesimus’s hoped-for assistance to Paul; do not force the formal Romans-baseline office-rendering onto this general verb use.
Old Man Ambassador Presbytes
Approved rendering: tus laus
Transliteration: presbytēs (var. presbeutēs)
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:9. Textual-variant note only (aged man vs. ambassador); no doctrinal collision either way the variant is resolved; strengthens Paul’s rhetorical self-lowering before his appeal.
Send Back Anapempo
Approved rendering: xa rov qab
Transliteration: anapempō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:12; the concrete legal act at the center of the letter — Paul is returning a slave, reframing the meaning of the return.
Forever Relational Aionios
Approved rendering: mus ib txhis
Transliteration: aiōnios
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:15; contrasts temporary separation with permanent, transformed relationship. Same root reused consistently from the Romans-baseline eternal_life phrase, here modifying ‘have him back’ rather than ‘life.‘
Receive Welcome Proslambano
Approved rendering: tos txais
Transliteration: proslambanō
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:17; concrete hospitality-action Paul requests regarding Onesimus.
Autograph Repayment Pledge
Approved rendering: kuv sau tus kaw tes ntawm kuv tim ntsis / kuv yuav them
Transliteration: egrapsa tē emē cheiri / apotisō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:19; legal-guarantee formula/comprehension-level idiom bridge (a signed pledge) by which Paul personally underwrites Onesimus’s debt; no collision.
Command Order Epitasso
Approved rendering: hais kom ua / txib kom ua
Transliteration: epitassō
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:8; the mode of address Paul explicitly refuses to use. Named only to be set aside; must remain visibly, structurally distinct from ‘appeal_beseech_parakaleo’ at every occurrence — the letter’s entire rhetorical strategy depends on this contrast being audible.
Prepare Guest Lodging Xenia
Approved rendering: npaj chav rau kuv nyob
Transliteration: hetoimaze moi xenian
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:22; transfers cleanly to Hmong hospitality custom; implicitly a further check on Philemon’s accountability given Paul’s anticipated visit.
Prayer Proseuche
Approved rendering: kev thov Vajtswv
Transliteration: proseuchē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:22; repeats the opening prayer-theme (1:4) in the closing.
Greet Send Greetings Aspazomai
Approved rendering: xa lus nug
Transliteration: aspazomai
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:23; standard closing greeting formula.
Name Paul Povlauj
Approved rendering: Povlauj
Transliteration: Paulos
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
ESTABLISHED per Romans-baseline requirements doc §5 avoid-list of already-fixed transliterations; not subject to re-verification.
Name Philemon
Approved rendering: Filemoo
Transliteration: Philēmōn
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE RPA transliteration. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: verify against the existing printed Hmong Bible (Vaj Lug Kub Npaiv Npaum / HWB) established transliteration before treating as permanent.] Also the destination-language book title for this letter — see analysis/12_ai_translation_requirements.md §7.
Name Onesimus
Approved rendering: Aunexima
Transliteration: Onēsimos
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE RPA transliteration. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: verify against existing printed Hmong Bible transliteration.] Name meaning (‘Useful’) is programmatic; see ‘useless_useful_wordplay_onesimus’ entry.
Name Apphia
Approved rendering: Ampiya
Transliteration: Apphia
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED.]
Name Archippus
Approved rendering: Akhipu
Transliteration: Archippos
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED.]
Name Timothy
Approved rendering: Timaute
Transliteration: Timotheos
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED.]
Name Epaphras
Approved rendering: Epafas
Transliteration: Epaphras
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
TENTATIVE. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED.]
Names Mark Aristarchus Demas Luke
Approved rendering: (standard existing HWB transliterations presumed; not independently re-derived)
Transliteration: Markos, Aristarchos, Dēmas, Loukas
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
Philemon 1:24. [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: confirm against existing HWB text rather than re-deriving independently.]
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Fellow Prisoner Synaichmalotos
Approved rendering: tus nrog kuv raug kaw
Transliteration: synaichmalōtos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:23, applied to Epaphras; comprehension-level only, softens the specifically military captive-image but carries no doctrinal collision.
Heart Inward Affection Splagchna
Approved rendering: lub siab
Transliteration: splagchna
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:7, 1:12, 1:20. Established idiom-bridge consistent with the Romans-baseline convention for syneidēsis/thelēma theou (the liver/siab as culturally standard seat of emotion and will). Good cross-cultural bridge, comprehension-level only; repeated motif linking the letter’s opening praise (1:7) to its closing request (1:20) — should render identically at both occurrences.
Separated Providentially Chorizo
Approved rendering: raug ncaim ntawm… ib nyuag ntu
Transliteration: chōrizō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: framing purely as accident or crime — rejected, misses the providence theme
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:15. Frames Onesimus’s flight/absence within divine providence; comprehension-level, ties to the providence theme underlying Doctrine 1.
Wronged Adikeo
Approved rendering: ua txhaum rau
Transliteration: adikeō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:18; built on the Romans-baseline unrighteousness/adikia root. Names the possible offense (likely theft/flight) without specifying it.
Owe Besides Prosopheilo
Approved rendering: tshuav nqi ntxiv rau kuv
Transliteration: prosopheilō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:19; Paul reminds Philemon that he himself is spiritually indebted to Paul, turning the debt-metaphor back on Philemon. Built on the debtor-family root.
Refresh The Heart Anapauo
Approved rendering: pub kom lub siab tau so
Transliteration: anapauō
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:7, 1:20. Repeated motif linking the letter’s opening praise (Philemon habitually refreshes the saints’ hearts) to its closing request (Paul asks Philemon to do this for him personally) — render identically at both occurrences to preserve the deliberate verbal echo.
Boldness Of Speech Parrhesia
Approved rendering: kev tso siab hais
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:8. Names the apostolic authority Paul names in order to set it aside; sets up the appeal/command contrast.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Charge To Account Ellogeo
Approved rendering: suav rau kuv tus nqi
Transliteration: ellogeō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: unrelated commercial-loanword ledger verb — rejected, severs the deliberate theological echo with imputed righteousness (Romans logizomai)
NEW ENTRY. Philemon 1:18. The letter’s central forgiveness-mechanism; deliberately built on the ‘suav’ root fixed for the Romans-baseline reckon_impute entry (Critical) to preserve the echo between ‘charge Onesimus’s debt to Paul’ and ‘Christ’s righteousness reckoned to the believer.’ MANDATORY reuse of the suav root; losing this echo forfeits the letter’s central teaching opportunity for Doctrine 1.