Semantic Analysis

Several Konkani terms in this Language Package carry a narrower, broader, or more ambiguous semantic range than their English source word, which affects how consistently they can be used across contexts.

The special case of देव (God)

Unlike any other term in this glossary, देव cannot be described as simply “narrower” or “broader” than English “God” — it is used in ordinary Konkani for any individual deity (Shantadurga dev, Mahalasa dev, Mangueshi dev) as well as, in Bible translation, for the one true God. This is not a semantic-range mismatch to note and move past; it requires an ongoing translation practice (consistent exclusivity-marking) rather than a one-time glossary fix.

Narrower-than-English terms

• पवित्र जन (saints): English “saints” can informally mean “especially holy people,” but पवित्र जन must be used for all believers corporately (Romans 1:7), never for the Varkari bhakti-poet category (संत), which names a specific literary-devotional tradition (Tukaram, Namdev, Dnyaneshwar), not every believer.
• बोलावलेले / बोलावणें (called/calling): the same English word “called” covers at least three distinct senses in Romans (called to apostleship in 1:1, called to be saints in 1:7, and effectual calling to salvation in 8:28–30). The Konkani rendering is context-sensitive and must be checked against which sense is active in each verse, not applied uniformly.

Broader-than-English terms

• देवाचें सामर्थ्य (power of God): सामर्थ्य is deliberately preferred over शक्ती specifically because शक्ती carries strong goddess-power associations tied to Goa’s Shantadurga and Mahalasa worship traditions; सामर्थ्य’s narrower, less personified range is an advantage here.
• विश्वास (faith): covers both “belief” and “trust” in Konkani, which is an advantage here — Romans uses “faith” to mean active, personal trust in Christ, not mere intellectual assent, and विश्वास’s broader range captures both without needing two separate words.

Implication

Where a Konkani term’s semantic range differs from its English source, the glossary’s notes field (see translation_memory.json) exists specifically to flag the mismatch for translators, so a term isn’t applied mechanically in a context its actual Konkani meaning doesn’t support.