Core Glossary
Song of Solomon — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package, Draft v1.0)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md across the whole book (Song of Solomon 1-8), with proposed Hmong renderings, risk tiers, doctrine linkage, and chapter references. Risk-tier definitions follow the Romans baseline exactly (Critical / High / Medium / Low, per assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json’s framework). Terms already fixed in the Romans assets/translation_memory.json are marked [TM-REUSE] and reproduce the exact permanent Hmong string; all other renderings below are proposed, not yet TM-ratified, and are logged pending the human-theologian and native-speaker review this Language Package’s escalation rules require for every Critical/High item.
Doctrine key: D1 = The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy · D2 = Exclusive and Covenantal Love · D3 = Beauty and Desire within God’s Design · D4 = The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church) · D5 = Faithfulness and Longing
| # | English Term | Original (Heb./LXX Gk.) | Transliteration | Proposed Hmong Rendering | Risk Level | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes / Grounded Reason for Critical-High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Song of Songs (title) | שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים / Ἆσμα Ἀσμάτων | shir hashirim | Nkauj Zoo Tshaj Plaws Ntawm Xalumoos | Low-Medium | D1-D5 (frame) | 1 | Superlative-genitive grammar has no direct Hmong equivalent; comprehension gap only, pending citation-convention TM decision. |
| 2 | Solomon (proper name) | שְׁלֹמֹה / Σαλωμών | Shlomo | Xalumoos | Low | D4 | 1, 3, 8 | Established transliteration pattern; log for TM ratification. |
| 3 | my beloved (address, fem.→male) | דּוֹדִי | dodi | kuv tus hlub | High | D1, D2 | 1-8 (all) | No exact Hmong equivalent for the exclusive-romantic register of dod; must be fixed and distinguished from platonic “phoojywg” at every occurrence. |
| 4 | my darling / my companion (address, male→female) | רַעְיָתִי | ra’yati | kuv tus phoojywg hlub / kuv tus nkauj nraug | Low-Medium | D1, D2 | 1, 2, 4-6 | Comprehension/register only; pair consistently with #3’s fixed set. |
| 5 | bride / spouse | כַּלָּה | kallah | tus pojniam nyab tshiab / tus hlub uas yuav ua pojniam | Medium | D1, D2 | 4, 5 | Register/comprehension only; distinct from #6. |
| 6 | ”my sister, my bride” (endearment) | אֲחֹתִי כַלָּה | achoti kallah | (periphrastic gloss required — see analysis note) | Critical | D1, D2 | 4, 5 | Literal Hmong sibling vocabulary (muam, viv ncaus) would collide with strict Hmong clan-exogamy marriage rules and could be read as endorsing incestuous marriage; ANE “sister” is a covenant-equality endearment, not literal kinship — must never be literalized without a mandatory disambiguating footnote. |
| 7 | Shulammite (epithet) | הַשּׁוּלַמִּית | ha-shulammit | Sulamis | Low | — | 6, 7 | Proper name/epithet; comprehension-level only. |
| 8 | love (general/marital) | אַהֲבָה / ἀγάπη | ahavah / agapē | kev hlub [TM-REUSE from Romans love] | Low-Medium | D1, D2, D3, D5 | 1-8 (all) | Reuses permanent Romans TM entry exactly; contextual note: must be taught as the specifically romantic/marital register of love here, not generic goodwill. |
| 9 | love-caresses (physical intimacy) | דּוֹדִים | dodim | koj txoj kev hlub ntxiv [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: register] | Medium-High | D1, D3 | 1 | Register/modesty-management risk (not animistic collision): must be dignified-but-direct, distinct from #8’s abstract love. |
| 10 | kiss | נְשִׁיקָה / נָשַׁק | neshiqah / nashaq | kev nwj / nwj | Low | D1 | 1 | Stable, comprehension-level only. |
| 11 | embrace | חִבֵּק | chibbeq | puag | Low | D1 | 2, 8 | Stable, comprehension-level only. |
| 12 | desire (restored mutual desire) | תְּשׁוּקָה | teshuqah | kev ntshaw | Critical/High | D3, D4 | 7 | Occurs only 3x in OT (Gen 3:16, 4:7, here); pictures restoration of Edenic mutuality distorted at the Fall — must be cross-referenced to both Genesis occurrences via mandatory teaching note or the typological point is lost entirely. |
| 13 | jealousy / covenant ardor | קִנְאָה / ζῆλος | qin’ah / zēlos | kev khib xeeb | Critical | D2, D4 | 8 (core passage) | Hmong plural-marriage folklore associates co-wife jealousy with occult retaliation (ua yeeb ua kaub); also risks the same capricious-spirit-anger collision already documented for kev npau taws/wrath in the Romans package. Must be taught as righteous, covenant-exclusive ardor, distinct from destructive envy. |
| 14 | seal (signet, ownership-mark) | חוֹתָם / σφραγίς | chotam / sphragis | cim/lo ntawv cim (ownership-seal periphrasis; NOT khi-tying language) | Critical | D2, D4 | 4 (sealed garden/spring), 8 (core passage) | Collides with hu plig soul-calling string-tying ritual (strings bound on wrist/arm to secure a wandering soul); must be rendered with ownership/authentication-mark vocabulary, never bare “tying,” with mandatory disambiguating teaching note. |
| 15 | death | מָוֶת / θάνατος | mavet / thanatos | txoj kev tuag [TM-REUSE from Romans death] | Low | D2, D5 | 8 (core passage) | Reuses permanent Romans TM entry exactly; no new risk. |
| 16 | Sheol / the grave | שְׁאוֹל / ᾍδης | she’ol / hadēs | tub tuag teb | High | D2, D5 | 8 (core passage) | Hmong cosmology holds a populated, ritually-navigable realm of the dead; here it is figurative for inescapability only — teaching note required to prevent a full cosmological (mis)reading. |
| 17 | flame of Yah / mighty flame | שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָה | shalhevetyah | nplaim taws ntawm Vajtswv tus kheej [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: theophoric vs. intensifier reading] | Critical | D3, D4 | 8 (core passage) | Doctrinally decisive translation choice (divine-origin reading vs. mere intensifier) directly affects Doctrine 3’s central textual anchor; unqualified “fire/flame” language also risks the same shamanic-power collision documented for hwjchim/dynamis in Romans. Mandatory theologian review. |
| 18 | fire / coals / flashes | אֵשׁ / רֶשֶׁף / πυρός | esh / resheph / pyros | hluav taws / cua nplaim taws | Medium | D3 | 8 (core passage) | Companion imagery to #17; same general caution against shamanic-fire resonance if left unqualified. |
| 19 | many waters / floods | מַיִם רַבִּים / נְהָרוֹת | mayim rabbim / neharot | dej ntau npaum li cas / dej nyab | Medium | D2, D5 | 8 (core passage) | Poetic hyperbole for overwhelming force; avoid personifying phrasing that could evoke dab dej (water-spirits). |
| 20 | wealth/substance (offered to buy love) | הוֹן | hon | txhua yam nyiaj txiag hauv tsev | High | D2 | 8 (core passage) | Risks being misread against, or trivializing, the honored Hmong bride-price custom (nqe tshoob/nqe mis nqe hno); teaching note must clarify the verse targets love’s un-purchasability, not bride-price custom itself. |
| 21 | utterly despised/scorned | בּוֹז יָבוּזוּ | boz yavuzu | raug thuam kawg nkaus | Low | D2 | 8 (core passage) | Stable descriptive term; no collision. |
| 22 | mutual-belonging formula | דּוֹדִי לִי וַאֲנִי לוֹ (and variants) | dodi li va’ani lo | kuv tus hlub yog kuv li, thiab kuv yog nws li | Medium | D2 | 2, 6, 7 | Fixed phrase required at all three occurrences (with tracked minor word-order variants); consistency-enforcement item, not a collision risk. |
| 23 | vineyard | כֶּרֶם / ἀμπελών | kerem | lub vaj txiv hmab | Medium | D2, D3 | 1, 2, 8 | Comprehension gap (grapes unfamiliar in highland Hmong agrarian context), parallel to the Romans package’s grafted_olive_tree precedent; needs illustrative note; metaphor arc spans ch.1→8. |
| 24 | enclosed garden / sealed spring | גַּן נָעוּל…מַעְיָן חָתוּם | gan na’ul…ma’ayan chatum | lub vaj kaws cia…qhov dej txhawv cim cia | High | D2 | 4 | Shares the seal-root collision risk-family with #14; same disambiguation strategy required. |
| 25 | apple tree / fruit | תַּפּוּחַ | tappuach | tsob txiv duaj (substituted fruit-tree gloss) | Medium | D1, D3 | 2, 7, 8 | Comprehension gap (apples not native to Hmong context); parallel to established Romans-package botanical-substitution precedent. |
| 26 | rose of Sharon / lily of the valley | חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן / שׁוֹשַׁנַּת הָעֲמָקִים | chavatzelet ha-sharon / shoshannat ha-amaqim | paj zoo (generic flower gloss + footnote) | Low-Medium | D3 | 2 | Species-uncertain even in Hebrew scholarship; comprehension gap only. |
| 27 | gazelle / young hart | צְבִי / עֹפֶר הָאַיָּלִים | tzvi / ofer ha-ayalim | muas laug / tus mos muas lauj | Low | D3 | 2, 4, 7, 8 | Strong cultural bridge — deer are familiar Hmong-highland wildlife; no comprehension gap, no collision. |
| 28 | turtledove / dove | תֹּר / יוֹנָה | tor / yonah | nquab | Low | D1, D3 | 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 | Stable existing term; no collision. |
| 29 | banner (“his banner over me was love”) | דֶּגֶל | degel | chij | Low-Medium | D2 | 2 | Comprehension-level; concept of a flag/standard transfers via modern usage. |
| 30 | watchmen (of the city) | הַשֹּׁמְרִים | ha-shomrim | cov tub ceev xwm | Low | — | 3, 5 | Civic-realism detail; no collision. |
| 31 | wedding day / espousals, crown | יוֹם חֲתֻנָּתוֹ / עֲטָרָה | yom chatunato / atarah | hnub kev tshoob kos / mom kub | Medium | D2 | 3 | Comprehension-level alignment with existing Hmong wedding-custom vocabulary recommended. |
| 32 | adjuration refrain (“do not awaken love”) | הִשְׂבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם…אֶת־הָאַהֲבָה | hishbati etkhem | kuv ntxhi/kom nej cog lus…tsis txhob tsa kev hlub sawv | Medium | D5 | 2, 3, 8 | Fixed phrase required at all three occurrences (2:7, 3:5, 8:4); consistency-enforcement, not a collision risk. |
| 33 | ”without spot/blemish” | מוּם אֵין בָּךְ | mum ein bakh | tsis muaj ib qho phem/chaw thuam | High | D3, D4 | 4 | Shares sacrificial “unblemished” terminology the NT echoes for the Church (Eph 5:27); doctrinally load-bearing for the allegorical reading, must preserve the cultic-purity resonance where possible. |
| 34 | prince’s daughter | בַּת־נָדִיב | bat-nadiv | tus ntxhais ntawm tus thawj coj | Low | D3 | 7 | Comprehension-level royal/honorific epithet; no collision. |
| 35 | terrible/awesome as an army with banners | אֲיֻמָּה כַּנִּדְגָּלוֹת | ayumah kannidgalot | txaus ntshai zoo li ib pab tub rog muaj chij | Medium | D3 | 6 | Military-imagery comprehension gap; illustrative note recommended. |
| 36 | Solomon’s many queens/concubines (harem contrast) | שִׁשִּׁים…וּשְׁמֹנִים | shishim…u-shmonim | (descriptive: tej pojniam ntau tshaj plaws ntawm Xalumoos) | High | D2 | 6 | Historical Hmong plural-marriage practice creates risk of the verse being misheard as endorsing polygamy rather than rhetorically magnifying singular exclusive devotion by contrast; mandatory teaching note. |
| 37 | altogether desirable / wholly desirable | מַחֲמַדִּים | machamadim | kev ntshaw kawg nkaus / zoo nkauj tshaj plaws | High | D3 | 5 | Shares Hebrew root with the Decalogue’s prohibition on covetousness (Exod 20:17); must be taught as contextually rightly-ordered desire, not inherently suspect emotion. |
| 38 | mandrakes | דּוּדָאִים | duda’im | ib hom txiv qab zib tsw qab (generic gloss + footnote on lost wordplay with #9) | Medium | D1 | 7 | Comprehension gap; untranslatable Hebrew wordplay (duda’im/dodim) noted but not reproducible. |
| 39 | wall / door (chastity metaphor) | חוֹמָה / דֶּלֶת | chomah / delet | ntsa loog / qhov rooj | Medium | D2 | 8 | Architectural-protective metaphor; comprehension-level only. |
| 40 | peace/favor (found favor in his eyes) | שָׁלוֹם | shalom | kev thaj yeeb [TM-REUSE from Romans peace] | Low | D2 | 8 | Reuses permanent Romans TM entry exactly; contextual note: relational/marital favor sense. |
| 41 | myrrh, spices, aromatic fragrance | מוֹר / בְּשָׂמִים | mor / besamim | roj tsw qab / tshuaj tsw qab | Low-Medium | D1, D3 | 3, 4, 5, 8 | Comprehension gap (unfamiliar aromatics); descriptive gloss sufficient, no collision. |
| 42 | palm tree (stature) | תָּמָר | tamar | tsob ntoo lig xeeb (substitute palm-analogy gloss) | Medium | D3 | 7 | Comprehension gap; palms only partially familiar, illustrative note recommended. |
| 43 | ”my vineyard, mine own, is before me” | כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לְפָנָי | karmi shelli lefanai | kuv lub vaj txiv hmab, uas yog kuv li tiag tiag | Medium | D2 | 8 | Resolves the ch.1 vineyard metaphor’s arc; reuses #23’s fixed vineyard term; structural cross-reference required, not a new lexical risk. |
Risk-Tier Summary for This Book
- Critical (mandatory human theologian review, no automated-review bypass): #6 (sister-bride endearment), #12 (desire/teshuqah), #13 (jealousy/qin’ah), #14 (seal/chotam), #17 (flame of Yah/shalhevetyah).
- High (mandatory human theologian review): #16 (Sheol), #20 (wealth offered for love), #24 (enclosed garden/sealed spring), #33 (without spot/blemish), #36 (Solomon’s harem contrast), #37 (altogether desirable/machamadim), #3 (my beloved address term).
- Medium (native-speaker review required at minimum): all vineyard, garden-adjacent, wedding, spice, and refrain-consistency items; escalate to theologian if doctrinal ambiguity is suspected per the inherited Romans escalation rule.
- Low (automated review sufficient): proper names, stable comprehension-level nature imagery (deer, doves), and every
[TM-REUSE]item, which carries the Romans package’s already-settled Low risk rating forward unchanged.
Governing note: This glossary is a Phase 1 analysis artifact, not yet a ratified translation-memory extension. Per the Romans package’s escalation rules (12_ai_translation_requirements.md §9), every Critical/High item above must be flagged [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] in any Phase 2 generated content until formally ratified into assets/translation_memory.json through a TM-revision review.
Critical Risk Terms
Sister Bride Endearment
Approved rendering: (periphrastic gloss required, e.g. “kuv tus hlub uas zoo li kuv tus kwvtij”, with mandatory first-occurrence footnote naming the ANE literary convention; literal sibling terms muam/viv ncaus PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN)
Transliteration: achoti kallah
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Exclusive and Covenantal Love; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Rejected alternatives: muam (younger sister) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, triggers clan-exogamy incest collision, viv ncaus (sibling term) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, same collision
NEW ENTRY. Hmong kinship is governed by strict clan-exogamy rules; ordinary Hmong sibling vocabulary used as spousal address risks being read as endorsing incestuous, clan-violating marriage. ANE ‘sister’ is a covenant-equality endearment, never literal kinship. Highest-ranked risk item in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §5 (#1). Human theologian and native-speaker review both mandatory; never literalize.
Desire Restored Mutual
Approved rendering: kev ntshaw
Transliteration: teshuqah
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
Rejected alternatives: invented artificial ‘good desire’/‘bad desire’ lexical split — rejected, has no basis in either Hebrew or Hmong and misrepresents the text’s own point that desire’s moral status is contextual, not lexical
NEW ENTRY. Occurs only 3x in the entire Hebrew canon (Gen 3:16, Gen 4:7, and Song 7:10); without an explicit cross-referencing teaching note connecting all three occurrences, the Edenic-restoration typology is silently and totally lost, with no surface signal to a Hmong reader that anything is missing. Ranked #5 in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §5. Human theologian review required; single fixed rendering tracked at every occurrence.
Jealousy Covenant Ardor
Approved rendering: kev khib xeeb
Transliteration: qin’ah
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Rejected alternatives: no adequate substitute term exists; softened ‘kev txaus siab tsis pub leej twg’ (mere preference for exclusivity) — rejected, loses the text’s fierce/inescapable force (‘as Sheol’)
NEW ENTRY. Double collision: (1) Hmong plural-marriage folklore associates co-wife jealousy (khib xeeb ntawm cov pojniam) with occult retaliation (ua yeeb ua kaub); (2) parallels the capricious-spirit-anger collision already fenced for kev npau taws/wrath of God in the Romans package. Must be paired at every occurrence with a teaching note distinguishing destructive occult-adjacent envy from righteous, covenant-exclusive ardor. Ranked #3 in the linguistic gap analysis. Human theologian review required.
Seal Ownership Mark
Approved rendering: cim / lo ntawv cim
Transliteration: chotam / sphragis
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Rejected alternatives: khi (to tie/bind) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this concept, collides with hu plig soul-calling wrist-string-tying ritual
NEW ENTRY. Governs both 4:12 (sealed garden/spring) and the core-passage 8:6a (seal upon heart/arm) — same disambiguation strategy required at both. Must be rendered with ownership/authentication-mark vocabulary only, paired with a mandatory disambiguating note distinguishing it from hu plig. Ranked #2 in the linguistic gap analysis (active, still-practiced ritual, not legacy folklore). Human theologian review required before publication.
Flame Of Yah
Approved rendering: nplaim taws ntawm Vajtswv tus kheej [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: theophoric vs. intensifier reading]
Transliteration: shalhevetyah
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘nplaim taws’ (unqualified flame) — FORBIDDEN, identical to shamanic ritual fire/spirit-power vocabulary (txiv neeb practice), same collision class as hwjchim/dynamis in the Romans package, intensifier-only rendering with no footnote on the theophoric reading — rejected, silently forecloses a doctrinally consequential open question
NEW ENTRY. The single most theologically loaded clause in the book for Doctrine 3. Two English-tradition readings exist (ESV/NASB theophoric vs. KJV/NIV intensifier-only); this Language Package preserves the theophoric force with mandatory ‘ntawm Vajtswv’ qualifier (structural, non-optional, parallel to Vajtswv hwjchim) and a first-occurrence footnote presenting both readings. Human theologian review required before publication.
High Risk Terms
Beloved Address Woman To Man
Approved rendering: kuv tus hlub
Transliteration: dodi
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Exclusive and Covenantal Love
Rejected alternatives: phoojywg (platonic ‘friend’) — rejected, flattens the exclusive-romantic register into ordinary friendship
NEW ENTRY. No single Hmong noun carries the exclusive-romantic register of dodi. Fixed periphrastic address term used with total consistency at every occurrence across all 8 chapters, parallel enforcement weight to the Romans TM’s ‘Abba, Leej Txiv’ first-use footnote pattern. Must be explicitly distinguished in teaching from phoojywg.
Sheol Grave
Approved rendering: tub tuag teb
Transliteration: she’ol / hadēs
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; Faithfulness and Longing
NEW ENTRY. Hmong cosmology holds a populated, ritually-navigable realm of the dead (ancestor spirits, funeral-guidance rites/qhuab ke); here purely figurative for inescapable grip. Mandatory restrictive teaching note required at every occurrence: ‘describes only love’s unyielding strength, not a teaching about the structure or navigability of the afterlife.‘
Wealth Offered For Love
Approved rendering: txhua yam nyiaj txiag hauv tsev
Transliteration: hon
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Risk is bidirectional against the honored Hmong bride-price custom (nqe tshoob / nqe mis nqe hno): could be heard as condemning the custom, or as trivializing it. Mandatory teaching note: the verse targets love’s un-purchasability, fully compatible with honoring bride-price as a distinct social/covenantal custom. Native-speaker and theologian review both required.
Enclosed Garden Sealed Spring
Approved rendering: lub vaj kaws cia…qhov dej txhawv cim cia
Transliteration: gan na’ul…ma’ayan chatum
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Shares the exact seal-root collision family with seal_ownership_mark; the ‘sealed’ component must avoid resonance with hu plig soul-sealing/string-tying vocabulary. Cross-reference to the core-passage seal entry mandatory; identical disambiguation strategy required.
Without Spot Blemish
Approved rendering: tsis muaj ib qho phem/chaw thuam
Transliteration: mum ein bakh
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘very beautiful’ — rejected, erases the sacrificial/cultic-defect resonance the NT echoes at Eph 5:27
NEW ENTRY. Uses the same defect-terminology as sacrificial animals required to be without blemish (Lev 22:20-21); doctrinally load-bearing bridge to the NT’s description of the Church ‘without spot or wrinkle.’ Must preserve, or at minimum permit, the cultic-purity resonance. Human theologian review required.
Solomons Harem Contrast
Approved rendering: tej pojniam ntau tshaj plaws ntawm Xalumoos
Transliteration: shishim…u-shmonim…va’alamot ein mispar
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
Rejected alternatives: celebratory/neutral framing without contrastive teaching note — rejected, risks being heard as endorsing polygamy
NEW ENTRY. Historical and, in some communities, still-practiced Hmong plural marriage creates a live pastoral risk: the verse could be misheard as implicitly endorsing polygamy rather than rhetorically magnifying one woman’s singular, unrepeatable worth by contrast. Mandatory teaching note required; native-speaker and theologian review both recommended.
Altogether Desirable
Approved rendering: kev ntshaw kawg nkaus / zoo nkauj tshaj plaws
Transliteration: machamadim
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Shares its Hebrew root (chamad) with Genesis 3:6’s forbidden desire and the Decalogue’s prohibition on coveting (Exod 20:17), here used entirely positively. Mandatory teaching note distinguishing rightly-ordered marital desire from covetous desire required; moral status of desire is contextual, not inherent to the root.
Medium Risk Terms
Bride Spouse
Approved rendering: tus pojniam nyab tshiab / tus hlub uas yuav ua pojniam
Transliteration: kallah
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Register/comprehension-level distinction from sister_bride_endearment; no doctrinal collision on its own.
Fire Coals Flashes
Approved rendering: hluav taws / cua nplaim taws
Transliteration: esh / resheph
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Companion imagery to flame_of_yah (8:6); same general caution against unqualified shamanic-fire resonance, lower severity since this term does not carry the theonym-decision weight.
Many Waters Floods
Approved rendering: dej ntau npaum li cas / dej nyab
Transliteration: mayim rabbim / neharot
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; Faithfulness and Longing
Rejected alternatives: any personifying construction (e.g. ‘the waters could not…’ as an agent with will) — rejected, risks validating dab dej water-spirit belief
NEW ENTRY. Poetic hyperbole for overwhelming force (8:7); avoid personifying phrasing that could evoke dab dej (water-spirits). Generic-force phrasing required.
Mutual Belonging Formula
Approved rendering: kuv tus hlub yog kuv li, thiab kuv yog nws li
Transliteration: dodi li va’ani lo (and variants at 6:3, 7:10)
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Fixed phrase required at all three occurrences (2:16, 6:3, 7:10) with only necessary word-order variants tracked, parallel in enforcement weight to the Romans TM’s nyob hauv Khetos formula. Consistency-enforcement item, not a collision risk.
Vineyard
Approved rendering: lub vaj txiv hmab
Transliteration: kerem
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
Rejected alternatives: substituting an unrelated local highland crop — rejected, would break the metaphor’s traceability across its ch.1->8 arc
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension gap (grapes unfamiliar in highland Hmong agrarian context), parallel to the Romans package’s grafted_olive_tree precedent. Metaphor introduced 1:6, complicated 2:15, resolved 8:11-12; must be rendered identically at every recurrence.
Apple Tree Fruit
Approved rendering: tsob txiv duaj
Transliteration: tappuach
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension gap (apples not native to Hmong context); substituted fruit-tree gloss parallel to the Romans-package botanical-substitution precedent (olive tree). No doctrinal collision.
Wedding Day Crown
Approved rendering: hnub kev tshoob kos / mom kub
Transliteration: yom chatunato…ba’atarah
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension-level alignment with existing Hmong wedding-custom vocabulary (kevcai tshoob kos); note that formal, publicly-witnessed marriage-establishment is the shared underlying concept, not the specific royal crowning act.
Adjuration Refrain
Approved rendering: kuv ntxhi/kom nej cog lus…tsis txhob tsa kev hlub sawv
Transliteration: hishbati etkhem…ad shetechpatz
Doctrine: Faithfulness and Longing
NEW ENTRY. Recurs at 2:7, 3:5, 8:4; must be rendered as one single fixed Hmong phrase at all three structural seams, parallel enforcement to the Romans TM’s mandatory-qualifier pattern (hwjchim/Txoj Kevcai). No animistic collision, but must never drift across occurrences.
Terrible As Army With Banners
Approved rendering: txaus ntshai zoo li ib pab tub rog muaj chij
Transliteration: ayumah kannidgalot
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Military-imagery comprehension gap; illustrative note recommended, no doctrinal collision.
Mandrakes
Approved rendering: ib hom txiv qab zib tsw qab
Transliteration: duda’im
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy
Rejected alternatives: invented artificial Hmong pun to reproduce the duda’im/dodim wordplay — rejected, would introduce content not in the source text
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension gap (no native Hmong equivalent plant); the Hebrew wordplay with dodim (love-caresses) cannot be reproduced and is footnoted as lost in translation.
Wall Door Chastity Metaphor
Approved rendering: ntsa loog / qhov rooj
Transliteration: chomah / delet
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Architectural-protective metaphor (8:8-9); transfers reasonably with a brief gloss, no collision. Complements rather than contradicts the book’s celebration of intimacy within covenant marriage.
Palm Tree Stature
Approved rendering: tsob ntoo lig xeeb
Transliteration: tamar
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension gap; palms only partially familiar in the Hmong highland context. Illustrative note on stature-comparison recommended, no doctrinal collision.
My Vineyard Mine Own
Approved rendering: kuv lub vaj txiv hmab, uas yog kuv li tiag tiag
Transliteration: karmi shelli lefanai
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Resolves the ch.1 vineyard metaphor’s arc (8:11-12); reuses the fixed vineyard term. Structural cross-reference required for the metaphor’s full ch.1->ch.8 arc to be preserved across a multi-lesson curriculum.
Low Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: theos (via Romans Greek NT bridge); cf. Heb. Elohim/YHWH
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (undergirds Doctrine 4, the Traditional Allegorical Reading)
Rejected alternatives: Ntuj (impersonal sky/heaven) — rejected, lacks personal deity sense, dab (spirit) — rejected, denotes false/lesser spirit
Inherited from Romans package. Retained for this book because the allegorical reading (Doctrine 4) and the ‘flame of Yah’ teaching note (8:6) both require unambiguous reference to the one true God, never a generic spirit-term.
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios (Romans bridge)
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Used in teaching notes/framing material when referring to God/Christ outside the poem’s own address-terms (dodi, ra’yati), which remain the book’s primary vocabulary.
Jesus Christ
Approved rendering: Yexus Khetos
Transliteration: Iēsous Christos
Doctrine: The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Inherited from Romans package. Required in every Doctrine 4 teaching module framing Solomon/bridegroom typology; never to be introduced into the running poetic text itself, only into explicit allegorical-reading teaching notes.
Scripture
Approved rendering: Vaj Lug Kub
Transliteration: graphē (Romans bridge); cf. Heb. Kitvei HaKodesh
Doctrine: The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
Inherited from Romans package. Used when introducing this book as canonical/inspired (‘Vaj Lug Kub’ includes Song of Solomon), and when citing Ephesians 5:25-32 in the mandatory D4 framing module (per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §1).
Death
Approved rendering: txoj kev tuag
Transliteration: mavet (Heb.) / thanatos (LXX)
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love; Faithfulness and Longing
Inherited from Romans package, reused character-for-character. Anchors core passage 8:6b (‘love is strong as death’); no new lexical risk, teaching note only that this is a comparison specifically about marital covenant love.
Peace
Approved rendering: kev thaj yeeb
Transliteration: shalom (Heb.) / eirēnē (LXX)
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
Inherited from Romans package, reused character-for-character. Used at 8:10 (‘I was in his eyes as one who found favor/peace’); contextual note: relational/marital favor sense, not merely absence-of-conflict.
Solomon
Approved rendering: Xalumoos
Transliteration: Shlomo / Salōmōn
Doctrine: The Traditional Allegorical Reading (Christ and the Church)
NEW ENTRY. Established transliteration pattern consistent with existing Hmong OT usage. Also functions typologically as the royal figure whose greater-than-Solomon fulfillment is Christ (D4).
Shulammite
Approved rendering: Sulamis
Transliteration: ha-shulammit
Doctrine: General / Frame
NEW ENTRY. Transliterated proper epithet/title; comprehension-level only.
Kiss
Approved rendering: kev nwj / nwj
Transliteration: neshiqah / nashaq
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy
NEW ENTRY. Stable, comprehension-level term; no collision.
Embrace
Approved rendering: puag
Transliteration: chibbeq
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy
NEW ENTRY. Stable, comprehension-level term; no collision.
Utterly Despised
Approved rendering: raug thuam kawg nkaus
Transliteration: boz yavuzu
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Stable descriptive term; no collision.
Gazelle Young Hart
Approved rendering: muas laug / tus mos muas lauj
Transliteration: tzvi / ofer ha-ayalim
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Strong cultural bridge — deer are familiar Hmong-highland wildlife; no comprehension gap, no collision.
Turtledove Dove
Approved rendering: nquab
Transliteration: tor / yonah
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Stable existing term; no collision.
Watchmen
Approved rendering: cov tub ceev xwm
Transliteration: ha-shomrim
Doctrine: Faithfulness and Longing
NEW ENTRY. Civic-realism detail; comprehension-level only, no collision.
Princes Daughter
Approved rendering: tus ntxhais ntawm tus thawj coj
Transliteration: bat-nadiv
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension-level royal/honorific epithet; no collision.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: ahavah (Heb.) / agapē (LXX)
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Exclusive and Covenantal Love; Beauty and Desire within God’s Design; Faithfulness and Longing
Inherited from Romans package, reused character-for-character. Contextual note: must be taught as the specifically romantic/marital/covenantal register of love throughout this book, not generic goodwill — this is a contextual-calibration note, not a new lexical risk.
Song Of Songs Title
Approved rendering: Nkauj Zoo Tshaj Plaws Ntawm Xalumoos
Transliteration: shir hashirim / asma asmatōn
Doctrine: General / Frame (undergirds all five doctrines)
Rejected alternatives: literal reduplicated calque ‘nkauj ntawm tej nkauj’ — rejected, grammatically opaque superlative-genitive structure has no Hmong analogue
NEW ENTRY. Superlative-genitive Hebrew construction (‘the best/greatest of songs’) rendered descriptively. Comprehension gap only, no collision. Pending citation-convention ratification alongside §7 of analysis/12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Darling Address Man To Woman
Approved rendering: kuv tus phoojywg hlub / kuv tus nkauj nraug
Transliteration: ra’yati
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension/register-level pairing with beloved_address_woman_to_man; no collision with traditional religion.
Rose Of Sharon Lily
Approved rendering: paj zoo
Transliteration: chavatzelet ha-sharon / shoshannat ha-amaqim
Doctrine: Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Species-uncertain even in Hebrew scholarship; generic flower gloss with footnote, comprehension gap only.
Banner
Approved rendering: chij
Transliteration: degel
Doctrine: Exclusive and Covenantal Love
NEW ENTRY. Concept of a flag/standard transfers via modern usage; comprehension-level only, no collision.
Myrrh Spices Fragrance
Approved rendering: roj tsw qab / tshuaj tsw qab
Transliteration: mor / besamim
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy; Beauty and Desire within God’s Design
NEW ENTRY. Comprehension gap (unfamiliar aromatics in Hmong highland context); descriptive gloss sufficient, no doctrinal collision.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Love Caresses Intimacy
Approved rendering: koj txoj kev hlub ntxiv [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: register calibration]
Transliteration: dodim
Doctrine: The Goodness of Marital Love and Intimacy
Rejected alternatives: euphemistic total abstraction — rejected, erases the text’s concrete affirmation of physical intimacy, crude/colloquial explicit vocabulary — rejected, violates formal literary register
NEW ENTRY. Concrete acts/expressions of romantic-physical affection, kept lexically distinct from the abstract ‘love’ (kev hlub) entry. Risk is register/modesty management, not animistic collision. Pending native-speaker-reviewed final form.