Core Glossary

Core Glossary: Book of James (English/Greek → Maithili)

This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json for the James curriculum. It must be merged into the working translation memory before Phase 2 begins, incrementing the version number per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions. Rows marked Baseline reuse carry the EXACT locked baseline rendering and risk tier; they are repeated here only for completeness of the James-specific term inventory. Rows marked New (James) are proposed additions requiring the same enforcement rigor as baseline terms once approved.

Doctrine Coverage Key

FW = Faith and Works · TT = Trials and Testing of Faith · WA = Wisdom from Above · FP = Favoritism and the Poor · TG = Taming the Tongue · WW = Worldliness vs. Friendship with God · PH = Prayer and Healing · PL = Patience and the Lord’s Return · CR = Confession and Restoration · GEN = General/Cross-cutting

#	English Term	Greek	Maithili	Transliteration	Risk	Doctrine	Chapter(s)	Status	Key Risk Reasoning
1	faith	πίστις	विश्वास	biswas	High	FW	1,2,5	Baseline reuse	Personal trust in Christ, never भक्ति; James interrogates counterfeit, inert claims to this same faith, not a different kind of faith.
2	works	ἔργα	कर्म	karma	Critical	FW	1,2 (core),3	New (James)	Direct lexical collision with the Hindu karma-merit doctrine that baseline’s grace entry was built to resist; requires mandatory disambiguating translator notes at every occurrence; never let कर्म appear to earn उद्धार.
3	justified (James’s sense)	δικαιόω (ἐδικαιώθη/δικαιοῦται)	धर्मी घोषित कएल जाएब	dharmī ghoṣit kael jaeb	Critical	FW	2:14-26	Baseline reuse (with James-specific sense note)	James’s usage is vindication/demonstration of faith already credited, not a second forensic act; conflating the two senses would reintroduce merit-theology the baseline was designed to exclude. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
4	imputed righteousness (Gen 15:6 citation)	ἐλογίσθη … εἰς δικαιοσύνην	आरोपित धार्मिकता	āropit dhārmiktā	Critical	FW	2:23	Baseline reuse	Identical OT citation to Romans 4:3; James cites it to show the sequence (credited by faith, THEN vindicated by works), not to contradict it.
5	righteousness	δικαιοσύνη	धार्मिकता	dhārmiktā	Critical	FW, WA	1:20, 2:23-25, 3:18, 5:6	Baseline reuse	Never धर्म or सतीत्व; forensic/relational standing, not duty or achieved virtue.
6	the righteous (person)	δίκαιος	धर्मी	dharmī	High	FW, PH	5:6, 5:16	New (James), built on locked धार्मिकता family	Keep visibly unified with baseline’s justification phrase for lexical consistency across the whole book.
7	salvation / to save (soteriological)	σῴζω / σωτηρία	उद्धार	uddhār	Critical	FW, CR	2:14, 5:20	Baseline reuse	Never मुक्ति/मोक्ष; must be distinguished per-occurrence from the physical-healing sense of the same Greek verb (see #29).
8	wisdom	σοφία	बुद्धि	buddhi	High	WA	1:5, ch. 3	New (James)	Reject ज्ञान (Vedantic jñāna-mārga/liberating-knowledge path to moksha) and प्रज्ञा (Buddhist-technical); बुद्धि matches North Indian Bible precedent (cf. Hindi Proverbs) without moksha-path baggage.
9	wisdom from above	σοφία ἄνωθεν	ऊपरसँ प्राप्त बुद्धि	ūparasã̃ prāpt buddhi	High	WA	3:17	New (James)	Must read as a received gift (cf. 1:5), never an attained yogic/ascetic state.
10	earthly/unspiritual wisdom	σοφία ψυχική	सांसारिक/मानवीय बुद्धि	sāṅsārik/mānvīya buddhi	Medium	WA	3:15	New (James)	Prefer मानवीय (merely human) over सांसारिक where possible to avoid संसार’s rebirth-cycle overtone.
11	trial / testing	πειρασμός / δοκίμιον	परीक्षा / परखल जाएब	parīkṣā / parakhal jāeb	High	TT	1:2-4, 1:12-14	New (James)	Must never suggest तपस्या (self-imposed ascetic merit-generating austerity); God-permitted testing proves faith already present, direction of causation is opposite to tapasya.
12	endurance / patient perseverance	ὑπομονή	धैर्य	dhairya	High	TT, PL	1:3-4, 1:12, 5:11	New (James)	Active, hope-anchored perseverance in a personal God’s promises, not fatalistic resignation to प्रारब्ध (destiny/fate); parallels baseline’s `providence` caution.
13	patience / longsuffering	μακροθυμία	धीरज	dhīraj	High	PL	5:7-8, 5:10	New (James)	Same fatalism-avoidance reasoning as #12; expectant waiting for a specific promised event (the parousia), not passive endurance of impersonal order.
14	perfect / complete / mature	τέλειος / τελειόω	पूर्ण	pūrṇ	High	TT, GEN	1:4, 1:17, 1:25, 2:22, 3:2	New (James)	NEVER सिद्ध — the yogic/tantric siddha-adept (supernatural attainment through ascetic practice) association would invert James’s point that maturity is faith’s natural, God-given outworking, not a self-achieved spiritual attainment.
15	law of liberty / royal law	νόμος τῆς ἐλευθερίας / νόμος βασιλικός	स्वतंत्रताक व्यवस्था / राजकीय व्यवस्था	svatantratāk vyavasthā / rājkīya vyavasthā	High	FW, FP	1:25, 2:8	New (James), built on locked व्यवस्था	Never धर्म; Christ’s freeing, fulfilled instruction, not new legalistic burden nor duty-bound कर्तव्य पालन.
16	religion (outward practice)	θρησκεία	धार्मिक आचरण	dhārmik ācaraṇ	High	GEN, FP	1:26-27	New (James)	Avoids both धर्म (dharma-duty) and भक्ति (reserved against for “faith” per baseline); ethical conduct, not ritual, duty, or devotional emotion.
17	favoritism / partiality	προσωπολημψία	पक्षपात	pakṣapāt	High	FP	2:1, 2:9	New (James)	Directly implicates Mithila’s live Panjikaran caste-lineage verification practice; must not be softened, mirrors baseline’s `unity_of_jews_and_gentiles` doctrine.
18	poor	πτωχός	गरीब	garīb	High	FP	1:9-11, 2:2-6	New (James)	Must resist folk-theological “poverty = bad past-life karma” reading that would undercut James’s deliberate reversal of merit-based status logic.
19	rich	πλούσιος	धनी	dhanī	Medium	FP	1:10-11, 2:5-7, 5:1-6	New (James)	Standard term; pair with James’s social-justice indictment (5:1-6) in teaching notes.
20	tongue	γλῶσσα	जिह्वा/जीभ	jihvā/jībh	Low	TG	ch. 3	New (James)	No major collision; can draw positively on existing Maithili/Vidyapati-tradition speech-proverb wisdom with care.
21	hell / Gehenna	γέεννα	नरक	narak	Medium-High	TG	3:6	New (James)	Hindu नरक is a temporary stage within an ongoing rebirth cycle; needs a distinguishing note re: NT final/eternal sense.
22	demons	δαιμόνια	दुष्टात्मा	duṣṭātmā	Medium-High	FW	2:19	New (James)	Distinguish from भूत-प्रेत (folk ancestral-ghost spirits) and Puranic असुर/राक्षस; keep as created beings in moral rebellion against the one God.
23	the devil	διάβολος	शैतान	śaitān	Medium	WW	4:7	New (James)	Established North Indian Muslim/Christian transliteration; singular, personal adversary, distinct from folk-spirit categories.
24	the world (in moral-rebellion sense)	κόσμος	जगत	jagat	Critical	WW	4:4	New (James)	Recommend जगत over the more common संसार specifically for this doctrine, to avoid the moksha/rebirth-cycle collision; mandatory translator note distinguishing from both the created order (which believers still engage, 1:27) and the karmic cycle. संसार explicitly flagged as risky alternative for this specific verse, though retained elsewhere in Bible tradition for the neutral “created world” sense.
25	friendship (with God / with the world)	φιλία / φίλος	मित्रता / मित्र	mitratā/mitra	High	WW, FW	2:23, 4:4	New (James)	Positive resonance with Vaishnava सख्य भाव (friendship-mode bhakti, e.g. Krishna-Arjuna/Sudama) is a possible teaching bridge but must be distinguished from devotional-technique friendship-cultivation; the mutually-exclusive-loyalty structure (friend of God vs. friend of the world) should be preserved.
26	grace	χάρις	अनुग्रह	anugraha	High	WW	4:6	Baseline reuse	Same grace-vs-merit contrast escalation rule as Romans 3-4/11:5-6 applies; resist Sita-virtue illustration here too.
27	humility (virtue) / low estate (social)	ταπεινός/ταπείνωσις	नम्रता / दीनता	namratā / dīntā	Medium	WW, FP	1:9-10, 4:6, 4:10	New (James)	Keep the moral-virtue sense (नम्रता) and the socioeconomic sense (दीनता) lexically distinct so humility-as-command is not confused with poverty-as-circumstance.
28	the Lord’s coming / return	παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου	प्रभु यीशुक पुनरागमन	prabhu Yīśuk punarāgaman	Critical	PL	5:7-8	New (James)	Highest-stakes eschatological term in the book: structurally parallel to Vaishnava Kalki-avatar future-descent expectation. Never अवतरण (avatar-cognate). Mandatory footnote distinguishing single, final, non-repeating return of the already-incarnate/resurrected Christ from a cyclical yuga-restoring avatar descent.
29	save / heal (physical sense)	σῴζω (5:15)	चंगा करब	caṅgā karab	High	PH	5:15	New (James)	Distinct from #7’s soteriological उद्धार; using उद्धार here risks a prosperity-adjacent “faith guarantees healing” misreading, itself resonant with merit-outcome expectation.
30	anoint with oil	ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ	तेल लगाएब	tel lagāeb	Critical	PH	5:14	New (James)	NEVER अभिषेक (the weighty Hindu ritual deity/coronation-consecration term, esp. prominent in regional Shaiva Shivling-abhishek practice); must remain a plain, non-sacral descriptive act accompanying prayer.
31	elder (of the church)	πρεσβύτερος	मण्डलीक प्राचीन	maṇḍalīk prācīn	Medium	PH	5:14	New (James), built on locked मण्डली	Distinguish from village पंचायत elder and from a Hindu guru-figure’s authority.
32	confess (sins, mutually)	ἐξομολογέομαι	स्वीकार करब	svīkār karab	High	CR	5:16	New (James)	Must not be assimilated to प्रायश्चित्त (ritual penance/expiation earning merit-cancellation); this is relational, grace-resting, communal acknowledgment for mutual restoration.
33	cover a multitude of sins	καλύπτω πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν	बहुत पापकेँ ढ़ाकि देत	bahut pāpkeṅ ḍhāki det	High	CR	5:20	New (James), built on locked पाप	Must not read as a merit-arithmetic ledger (good deeds numerically offsetting bad karma); this is relational forgiveness/restoration following genuine repentance.
34	sin	ἁμαρτία	पाप	pāp	High	GEN	1:15, 2:9, 4:17, 5:15-20	Baseline reuse	Moral transgression before a personal God; distinct from अशुद्धता (ritual impurity) or impersonal karmic debt.
35	law (Mosaic/moral)	νόμος	व्यवस्था	vyavasthā	High	FW, FP	1:25, 2:8-12, 4:11	Baseline reuse	Never धर्म.
36	glory	δόξα	महिमा	mahimā	High	FP	2:1	Baseline reuse	God’s radiant honor; avoid light-imagery collision with Puranic divine-luster descriptions.
37	peace	εἰρήνη	शान्ति	śānti	Medium	FW, WA	2:16, 3:17-18	Baseline reuse	Note James 2:16 uses it ironically (a hollow social blessing); 3:17-18 uses it positively (peacemaking, fruit of righteousness).
38	mercy	ἔλεος	दया	dayā	Medium	FP, WA	2:13, 3:17	New (James), using baseline’s permitted non-salvific दया	Reserve अनुग्रह exclusively for soteriological grace per baseline; दया fits James’s ethical/relational mercy usage.
39	church (assembly)	ἐκκλησία	मण्डली	maṇḍalī	Medium	PH	5:14	Baseline reuse	Never मन्दिर/मठ.
40	prophet	προφήτης	भविष्यद्वक्ता	bhaviṣyadvaktā	Low	PL	5:10	Baseline reuse	Distinguish from ज्योतिषी (astrologer).
41	God	θεός	परमेश्वर	parameśvar	Critical	GEN	throughout	Baseline reuse	Never भगवान/ईश्वर.
42	Lord	κύριος	प्रभु	prabhu	Critical	GEN, PL	1:1, 5:4, 5:7-11, 5:14-15	Baseline reuse	Exclusive supreme Lordship; honorific verb agreement required throughout.
43	Jesus (Christ)	Ἰησοῦς (Χριστός)	यीशु (ख्रीष्ट)	Yīśu (Khrīṣṭ)	Critical	GEN	1:1, 2:1	Baseline reuse	Never ईसा.
44	Abraham	Ἀβραάμ	अब्राहम	Abrāham	Low	FW	2:21-23	Baseline-aligned (per requirements doc transliteration list)	Established form.
45	Isaac	Ἰσαάκ	इसहाक	Isahāk	Low	FW	2:21	New (James)	Established North Indian Bible-translation form.
46	Rahab	Ῥαάβ	राहाब	Rāhāb	Low	FW	2:25	New (James)	Established form; retain full social force of πόρνη (वेश्या) alongside her name — the rhetorical pairing with Abraham is the point.
47	Job	Ἰώβ	अय्यूब	Ayyūb	Low	PL	5:11	New (James)	Established North Indian Bible-translation form.
48	Elijah	Ἠλίας	एलिय्याह	Eliyyāh	Low	PH	5:17	New (James)	Established form; teaching note — Elijah’s ὁμοιοπαθής (“a man with a nature like ours”) reinforces the book’s anti-merit logic: powerful prayer flows from ordinary humanity, not siddha-like spiritual attainment.
49	human spirit / life-breath (anthropological, NOT Holy Spirit)	πνεῦμα	प्राण	prāṇ	High	FW	2:26	New (James)	Must never be rendered आत्मा or पवित्र आत्मा here; baseline reserves the latter exclusively for the Holy Spirit — misrendering risks implying the Holy Spirit’s departure causes physical death.
50	soul (a person’s life)	ψυχή	प्राण	prāṇ	Medium	FW, CR	1:21, 5:20	New (James)	Kept distinct from आत्मा for the same reason as #49.
51	doubter / double-minded	δίψυχος	दुमनुका	dumanukā	Medium	TT, WW	1:8, 4:8	New (James)	Straightforward; no major collision.
52	friend of God	φίλος θεοῦ	परमेश्वरक मित्र	parameśvarak mitra	High	FW	2:23	New (James)	See #25; sakhya-bhāva bhakti resonance is a double-edged bridge requiring careful framing.
53	scripture(s)	γραφή	पवित्र शास्त्र	pavitra śāstra	Medium	FW	2:23	New (James)	Qualify शास्त्र with पवित्र throughout, per baseline’s `inspiration_of_scripture` doctrine caution re: Puranic/Vidyapati literary authority.
54	altar	θυσιαστήριον	वेदी	vedī	Low-Medium	FW	2:21	New (James)	Overlap with Hindu sacrificial-altar vocabulary acceptable here since the referent (Genesis 22) is itself a literal sacrificial scene.

Notes on Enforcement

Rows 2, 3, 24, 28, and 30 (works; James’s sense of justified; the world; the Lord’s return; anoint with oil) are the five highest-stakes NEW terms in this curriculum and require mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence, per the same escalation logic as the baseline’s Critical-tier rules. These are the points where Mithila’s dominant devotional and philosophical traditions (karma-merit doctrine, moksha/samsara cosmology, Kalki-avatar eschatology, and deity-consecration ritual respectively) most directly overlap James’s own vocabulary.
Row 6 and rows 34-48 demonstrate full reuse of baseline locked terms; no deviation is introduced anywhere in this glossary.
Terms appearing in more than one sense across the book (σῴζω: rows 7 and 29; πνεῦμα: row 49 vs. baseline’s पवित्र आत्मा; ἔλεος vs. baseline’s grace) are explicitly split into separate glossary rows to prevent mechanical, context-blind application of a single Maithili word across incompatible senses — consistent with the baseline’s precedent for context-sensitive terms like “called.”
This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json (version incremented) before any Phase 2 James segment translation begins, per the Pre-flight Checklist in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.

Critical Risk Terms

Righteousness

Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dhārmiktā
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य, सतीत्व
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Faith and Works

Inherited from Romans package. Never धर्म or सतीत्व. James usage note: occurs at 1:20, 2:23-25, 3:18, 5:6, including 3:18’s ‘fruit of righteousness’ — the practical outcome of right standing with God, not duty performed or virtue achieved.

Justification

Approved rendering: धर्मी घोषित कएल जाएब
Transliteration: dharmī ghoṣit kael jaeb
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: क्षमा भेटब, पुण्य कमाएब

Inherited from Romans package. Forensic declaration of right standing; never abbreviate. James usage note: James 2:21, 2:24, 2:25 reuse this exact phrase for ἐδικαιώθη/δικαιοῦται, but in a vindication/demonstration sense (proving faith already present through works), NOT a second forensic declaration alongside or replacing the Romans sense. See the new term ‘justified_vindication_by_works’ below for the mandatory disambiguating treatment; the underlying Maithili phrase is never altered between the two senses, only the accompanying translator note changes.

Imputed Righteousness

Approved rendering: आरोपित धार्मिकता
Transliteration: āropit dhārmiktā
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: अर्जित धार्मिकता, सती-धर्म
Original: ἐλογίσθη … εἰς δικαιοσύνην (Genesis 15:6 citation)
Category: Faith and Works

Inherited from Romans package. Credited/attributed righteousness from God, never earned through effort or the सती-धर्म wifely-virtue ideal. James usage note: James 2:23 cites the identical Genesis 15:6 text Paul cites in Romans 4:3. Reviewers must confirm the Maithili rendering keeps the chronological sequence explicit — Abraham was credited righteous AT THE POINT OF BELIEF (Genesis 15:6), years before the Isaac offering (Genesis 22); the works of 2:21-22 vindicate a righteousness already imputed, they do not cause it.

Salvation

Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhār
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω (soteriological sense)
Category: Faith and Works

Inherited from Romans package. NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष. James usage note: used soteriologically at James 2:14 (‘can faith without works save him?’) and 5:20 (‘will save a soul from death’). Must NEVER be used for James 5:15’s physical-healing sense of the same Greek verb σῴζω — see the new term ‘save_heal_physical’ below, which uses चंगा करब instead.

God

Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: parameśvar
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: भगवान, ईश्वर
Original: θεός
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. Never भगवान or ईश्वर. James usage note: James 2:19 (‘God is one,’ परमेश्वर एक छथि, using honorific छथि) affirms exclusive monotheism against functionally polytheistic/henotheistic popular devotional practice.

Holy Spirit

Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा
Original: πνεῦμα (ἅγιον)
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. Reserved absolutely for the third Person of the Trinity. James usage note: James 4:5’s πνεῦμα (‘the spirit he caused to dwell in us’) is exegetically disputed between the human-spirit and Holy-Spirit readings; render with unqualified आत्मा (not पवित्र आत्मा) unless theologian review confirms the divine-Spirit reading, and flag as ambiguous per the ambiguity-handling protocol. Never confuse with the anthropological प्राण used at James 1:21, 2:26, 5:20 (see ‘human_spirit_life_breath’ and ‘soul_life’ below).

Lord

Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, मालिक
Original: κύριος
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. Consistent honorific verb agreement (छथि) required throughout. James usage note: occurs at 1:1, 2:1, 5:4 (‘Lord of Sabaoth,’ see new term below), 5:7-11 (patient waiting for his coming), and 5:14-15 (prayer in his name); sets the honorific-verb pattern from the book’s very first verse.

Jesus

Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईसा

Inherited from Romans package. Never ईसा. James usage note: occurs at 1:1 and 2:1, both times as ‘यीशु ख्रीष्ट’ (Jesus Christ) — see new term ‘christ’ below for ख्रीष्ट.

Resurrection

Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान
Transliteration: punaruthān
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म, पुनर्जीवन

Inherited from Romans package. NEVER पुनर्जन्म; distinguish from reincarnation at first occurrence. James usage note: not used directly as Christ’s resurrection anywhere in James’s own text, but is essential background vocabulary for the mandatory footnote at James 5:7-8 (the Lord’s return is the return of the already-resurrected Christ) and must be kept sharply distinct from the new term ‘raise_up_recovery’ (James 5:15’s ordinary physical recovery from illness, ἐγείρω) — never let the two Maithili renderings blur into one another.

Incarnation

Approved rendering: देहधारण
Transliteration: dehadhāraṇ
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: अवतार, देह प्रकट

Inherited from Romans package. NEVER अवतार. James usage note: not used directly in James’s own text, but essential background vocabulary for the mandatory footnote at James 5:7-8 — Christ’s return (see ‘the_lords_return’ below) is the return of the same, once-incarnate Son, not a new deity’s first descent.

Messiah

Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: अभिषिक्त पुरुष, अवतारी पुरुष

Inherited from Romans package. Not one of Mithila’s own avatar-figures. James usage note: background Christological vocabulary underlying James 1:1 and 2:1’s ‘Jesus Christ’ confession; see ‘christ’ (ख्रीष्ट) below for the specific transliteration used in the compound name.

Works

Approved rendering: कर्म
Transliteration: karma
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: काज, कारज
Original: ἔργα
Category: Faith and Works

The single highest-stakes lexical decision in the James curriculum. कर्म is the transparent, universally intelligible North Indian rendering, but is also the proper name of the entire Hindu karma-merit doctrine (moral residue determining merit, demerit, and rebirth-status across lifetimes) — the exact doctrine baseline’s grace entry was built to resist. काज/कारज are rejected as too weak (‘chores’), draining James’s theological weight. Every occurrence in 1:25 and 2:14-26 requires a mandatory disambiguating translator note: James’s कर्म are the observable fruit of a faith already trusting Christ, NEVER currency earning उद्धार.

Justified Vindication By Works

Approved rendering: धर्मी घोषित कएल जाएब
Transliteration: dharmī ghoṣit kael jaeb
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: क्षमा भेटब, पुण्य कमाएब
Original: δικαιόω (ἐδικαιώθη / δικαιοῦται)
Category: Faith and Works

Reuses the baseline-locked phrase (see ‘justification’ above) but names James’s distinct vindication/demonstration sense of ἐδικαιώθη/δικαιοῦται at James 2:21, 2:24, 2:25 — the proof, before others and God’s own inspection, that a person’s faith is the real, living kind, NOT a second forensic declaration competing with or replacing Romans 4’s faith-alone justification. Mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence, no exceptions; every occurrence requires an attached translator note distinguishing this sense from Romans’ forensic sense, given this audience’s fluency in merit-based karma theology.

The World Moral Sense

Approved rendering: जगत
Transliteration: jagat
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Rejected alternatives: संसार
Original: κόσμος (φιλία τοῦ κόσμου)
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

κόσμος in φιλία τοῦ κόσμου (James 4:4). संसार, the default North Indian Bible-translation choice for ‘world,’ is the specific technical name for the karma-bound birth-death-rebirth cycle from which मोक्ष is liberation, and is also used colloquially for ‘worldly/domestic life’ (गृहस्थ संसार). Using it risks (a) an ascetic-withdrawal/renunciation misreading of James’s actual point about rival loyalty, and (b) blurred continuity with 1:27’s call to remain engaged, not withdrawn. जगत is required instead, with a mandatory translator note at first occurrence distinguishing rival allegiance from both the created order believers still engage (1:27) and the karmic cycle.

The Lords Return

Approved rendering: प्रभु यीशुक पुनरागमन
Transliteration: prabhu Yīśuk punarāgaman
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Rejected alternatives: अवतरण
Original: παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return

παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου (James 5:7-8). The single highest-stakes eschatological term in the book: Vaishnava eschatology’s Kalki-avatar expectation (a final future avatar of Vishnu descending at the close of the current Kali Yuga to destroy evil and restore dharma) is a structurally near-identical ‘awaited future divine coming to set right a corrupt world’ narrative, compounded by Mithila’s own Ram/Krishna avatar-narrative devotional saturation via the Vidyapati tradition. अवतरण (a direct avatar-cognate) is absolutely forbidden. Mandatory footnote at first occurrence distinguishing: (a) this is the RETURN of the same, already-incarnate (देहधारण) and already-resurrected (पुनरुत्थान) Christ, not a new deity’s first descent; (b) it is a single, final, non-repeating, history-terminating event, not one restoration within an ongoing cycle of ages awaiting a future avatar.

Anoint With Oil

Approved rendering: तेल लगाएब
Transliteration: tel lagāeb
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: अभिषेक
Original: ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ
Category: Prayer and Healing

ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ (James 5:14). Must NEVER be rendered अभिषेक, the weighty Hindu ritual term for ceremonial consecration of a deity’s image (especially prominent in Shaiva Shivling-abhishek practice active across Mithila’s Shiva temples) or of a king at coronation — this would suggest a consecration ritual with independent sacral power. तेल लगाएब, a deliberately unglamorous descriptive phrase, keeps this a plain accompanying action to prayer.

Christ

Approved rendering: ख्रीष्ट
Transliteration: Khrīṣṭ
Doctrine: Christology

Χριστός used as part of the proper compound name ‘Jesus Christ’ (James 1:1, 2:1, ‘यीशु ख्रीष्ट’). Follows the established North Indian Bible-translation transliteration list (Christ = ख्रीष्ट / मसीह); ख्रीष्ट is preferred in the compound proper name, while मसीह (baseline-locked) remains the preferred rendering when the Messianic-title sense is doctrinally foregrounded.

High Risk Terms

Faith

Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: biswas
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, भक्ति
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith and Works

Inherited from Romans package. Personal trust in Christ, not generalized devotional reverence; भक्ति remains rejected. James usage note: James interrogates whether a professed विश्वास is genuine (producing कर्म) or a bare, inert verbal claim (2:14-19) — this is the same trust-object as Romans, not a different kind of faith.

Grace

Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, दया, पुण्य, कर्मफल, भाग
Original: χάρις
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

Inherited from Romans package. Unmerited favor, resisting the karma-merit worldview; resist the Sita self-sacrificial-devotion illustration. James usage note: James 4:6 (‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’) is a direct grace-versus-merit contrast passage, triggering the same mandatory theologian-review escalation as Romans 3:24, 5:2, 11:5-6.

Sin

Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāp
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin

Inherited from Romans package. Moral transgression before a personal God, distinguished from ritual impurity and impersonal karmic debt. James usage note: occurs at 1:15 (desire conceiving sin), 2:9 (favoritism as sin), 4:17 (sin of omission), and 5:15-20 (confession and covering of sin); the desire→sin→death chain of 1:14-15 must never be read as an impersonal karmic cause-and-effect mechanism ripening across lifetimes.

Law

Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: byavasthā
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, नियम
Original: νόμος
Category: Law

Inherited from Romans package. NEVER धर्म. James usage note: occurs at 1:25 (‘the perfect law of liberty’), 2:8-12 (‘the royal law’), and 4:11 (‘speaks evil against the law’); see the new compound term ‘law_of_liberty’ below for the liberty-qualifier handling required at these specific James occurrences.

Glory

Approved rendering: महिमा
Transliteration: mahimā
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: तेज, ज्योति
Original: δόξα
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

Inherited from Romans package. Avoid light-imagery terms conflating with Puranic divine-luster descriptions. James usage note: James 2:1, ‘our glorious Lord Jesus Christ’ (τῆς δόξης), pairs महिमा with the honorific verb छथि for Christ.

Father

Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: pitā
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्मा, सृष्टिकर्ता
Original: πατήρ
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. Never a Hindu creator-deity name. James usage note: ‘the Father of lights’ (1:17) and ‘our God and Father’ (1:27, 3:9).

Power Of God

Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक सामर्थ्य
Transliteration: parameśvarak sāmarthya
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: शक्ति, बल

Inherited from Romans package. Never शक्ति (Shakta-goddess associations). James usage note: James 5:16, ‘the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’ (ἐνεργουμένη), must use सामर्थ्यवान/प्रभावशाली, built on this locked सामर्थ्य root, never शक्ति.

Obedience Of Faith

Approved rendering: विश्वासक आज्ञाकारिता
Transliteration: biswasak ājñākāritā
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: धार्मिक कर्तव्य पालन

Inherited from Romans package. Obedience flowing from faith, not duty-based religious compliance. James usage note: this baseline caution against कर्तव्य पालन directly governs the new term ‘law_of_liberty’ below (James 1:25, 2:8) — James’s freeing law must not be reframed as dharma-bound household duty.

Providence

Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक विधान
Transliteration: parameśvarak vidhān
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, प्रारब्ध

Inherited from Romans package. Never भाग्य or प्रारब्ध. James usage note: directly governs James 4:15’s ‘if the Lord wills’ — humble deference to a personal God’s purposes, not fatalistic acceptance of प्रारब्ध; also governs the fatalism-avoidance framing required for the new terms ‘endurance’ and ‘patience_longsuffering’ below.

The Righteous Person

Approved rendering: धर्मी
Transliteration: dharmī
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: δίκαιος
Category: Faith and Works

The adjectival/nominal form of δίκαιος (James 5:6, ‘you have condemned and murdered the righteous person’; 5:16, ‘the prayer of a righteous person’), built on the locked धार्मिकता family. Keep as धर्मी throughout so the whole book’s righteousness-vocabulary stays visibly unified with baseline’s justification phrase.

Save Heal Physical

Approved rendering: चंगा करब
Transliteration: caṅgā karab
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: उद्धार
Original: σῴζω (5:15)
Category: Prayer and Healing

σῴζω used at James 5:15 in its physical-healing sense — distinct from the soteriological उद्धार used at 2:14 and 5:20. Using उद्धार here would suggest physical healing is an automatic entitlement of faith, a prosperity-gospel-adjacent misreading resonant with merit-outcome expectation. चंगा करब keeps physical restoration primary; James’s own wordplay across 5:14-20 (same Greek root spanning physical and spiritual restoration) may be noted for teaching but never collapsed into one Maithili word.

Law Of Liberty

Approved rendering: स्वतंत्रताक व्यवस्था / राजकीय व्यवस्था
Transliteration: svatantratāk vyavasthā / rājkīya vyavasthā
Doctrine: Law
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, कर्तव्य पालन
Original: νόμος τέλειος, ὁ τῆς ἐλευθερίας / νόμος βασιλικός
Category: Law

νόμος τέλειος ὁ τῆς ἐλευθερίας (James 1:25, ‘the perfect law of liberty’) and νόμος βασιλικός (James 2:8, ‘the royal law’), built on baseline’s locked व्यवस्था. Must preserve the liberating sense clearly — Christ’s fulfilled, freeing instruction, examined at final judgment (2:12), not a new legalistic burden and not दharma-bound कर्तव्य पालन, a concept with strong resonance in Mithila’s dharma-ordered family and marriage customs.

Religion Practice

Approved rendering: धार्मिक आचरण
Transliteration: dhārmik ācaraṇ
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, भक्ति
Original: θρησκεία
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

θρησκεία (James 1:26-27). James defines ‘pure and undefiled’ religion as ethical action (visiting orphans and widows, keeping unstained from the world), not ritual, duty, or devotional feeling. Avoids both धर्म (cosmic-duty connotation, rejected throughout baseline) and भक्ति (rejected in baseline for ‘faith’ to avoid Vaishnava/Shaiva devotional-reverence conflation).

Wisdom

Approved rendering: बुद्धि
Transliteration: buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: ज्ञान, प्रज्ञा
Original: σοφία
Category: Wisdom

σοφία (James 1:5, and throughout ch. 3). Reject ज्ञान (names ज्ञान-मार्ग, the Vedantic path of liberating self-knowledge toward मोक्ष, one of three classical margas) and प्रज्ञा (Buddhist meditative-insight technical term, unfamiliar and confusing to this audience). बुद्धि is the standard, lower-register North Indian Bible-translation choice (cf. Hindi Proverbs), avoiding both associations. Must read as a freely given gift (1:5, ‘ask… it will be given’), never an ascetic/contemplative achievement.

Wisdom From Above

Approved rendering: ऊपरसँ प्राप्त बुद्धि
Transliteration: ūparasã̃ prāpt buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: वरदान, सिद्ध-attained framing
Original: σοφία ἄνωθεν
Category: Wisdom

σοφία ἄνωθεν (James 3:17), chapter 3’s climactic positive term, contrasted with earthly/unspiritual/demonic wisdom (3:15). Must read as a received gift matching 1:5, never an attained yogic/ascetic state; the same caution against सिद्ध-style attainment applies here as with ‘perfect_complete’ below.

Trial Testing

Approved rendering: परीक्षा
Transliteration: parīkṣā
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Rejected alternatives: तपस्या, तप-साधना
Original: πειρασμός / δοκίμιον
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

πειρασμός / δοκίμιον (James 1:2-4, 1:12-14). Must be clearly distinguished from तपस्या/तप, the Hindu ascetic discipline of self-imposed austerity understood to generate spiritual merit through voluntary suffering — James’s testing is unsought, God-permitted, and PROVES faith already present, the opposite direction of causation from tapasya’s self-directed merit-accumulation model. Never render as तप-साधना.

Endurance

Approved rendering: धैर्य
Transliteration: dhairya
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Original: ὑπομονή
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

ὑπομονή (James 1:3-4, 1:12, 5:11). Must be active, hope-anchored perseverance rooted in trust in a personal, promise-keeping God, not passive, fatalistic resignation to प्रारब्ध (predetermined destiny/fate) — the same fatalism baseline’s providence entry flags as a live risk in everyday Maithili religious idiom.

Patience Longsuffering

Approved rendering: धीरज
Transliteration: dhīraj
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: μακροθυμία
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return

μακροθυμία (James 5:7-8, 5:10). Expectant, hope-filled waiting for a specific, promised, personal event (the Lord’s return), modeled on the farmer awaiting the harvest — not passive endurance of an impersonal cosmic order. Same fatalism-avoidance reasoning as ‘endurance’ above.

Perfect Complete

Approved rendering: पूर्ण
Transliteration: pūrṇ
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Rejected alternatives: सिद्ध
Original: τέλειος / τελειόω
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

τέλειος / τελειόω (James 1:4, 1:17, 1:25, 2:22, 3:2). NEVER सिद्ध at any occurrence — सिद्ध/सिद्ध पुरुष names a yogic/tantric adept who has attained supernatural perfection through ascetic practice, a live and honored category in North Indian Nath-yogi and tantric traditions. Using it would suggest maturity is a self-achieved yogic attainment, precisely inverting James’s point that maturity is faith’s natural, God-given outworking.

Favoritism

Approved rendering: पक्षपात
Transliteration: pakṣapāt
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: προσωπολημψία
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

προσωπολημψία (James 2:1, 2:9). Directly implicates the Panjikaran genealogical registry system administered by Maithil Brahmin pandits to verify caste-lineage purity for marriage — an active, everyday institutional practice of status-based sorting, not historical memory. Must not be softened; James 2:1-4’s rich-visitor/poor-visitor scenario maps concretely onto caste/class-marked seating and deference customs still practiced in Mithila.

Poor

Approved rendering: गरीब
Transliteration: garīb
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πτωχός
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

πτωχός (James 1:9-11, 2:2-6). Must be actively guarded against the widespread North Indian popular-Hindu folk-theological reading that poverty reflects बुरा कर्म (bad karma) from a past life, which would make God’s evident favor toward the poor (2:5) appear arbitrary rather than James’s actual point — a deliberate reversal of merit-based status logic that must be taught explicitly, not left implicit.

Hell Gehenna

Approved rendering: नरक
Transliteration: narak
Doctrine: Taming the Tongue
Original: γέεννα
Category: Taming the Tongue

γέεννα (James 3:6, ‘set on fire by hell’). नरक is standard North Indian vocabulary across Hindu, Muslim, and Christian usage, but Hindu नरक is one temporary stage within an ongoing rebirth cycle (a soul suffers karmic consequence before eventual rebirth), not James’s final, eternal, non-cyclical destiny. A distinguishing translator note is required at first occurrence.

Demons

Approved rendering: दुष्टात्मा
Transliteration: duṣṭātmā
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: भूत-प्रेत, असुर, राक्षस
Original: δαιμόνια
Category: Faith and Works

δαιμόνια (James 2:19, ‘even the demons believe—and shudder’). Distinguished from भूत-प्रेत (the region’s folk category of restless ancestral/ghost-spirits tied to death-ritual and ancestor-appeasement practice) and from the Puranic असुर/राक्षस race of divine combatants defeated in cosmic myth. दुष्टात्मा (already used in North Indian Christian usage for unclean spirits in the Gospels) keeps the category properly theological — created beings in moral rebellion against the one God.

Friendship

Approved rendering: मित्रता/मित्र
Transliteration: mitratā/mitra
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: φιλία / φίλος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

φιλία / φίλος (James 4:4; cf. 2:23). Has a genuine but double-edged resonance with Mithila’s Vaishnava सख्य भाव (friendship-mode bhakti devotion, e.g. Krishna’s friendships with Arjuna and Sudama), which can bridge the concept of relational intimacy with God but must be distinguished from a devotional-technique/emotional-cultivation practice available toward any chosen deity. The mutually-exclusive-loyalty structure (friend of God vs. friend of the world) must be preserved clearly.

Friend Of God

Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक मित्र
Transliteration: parameśvarak mitra
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: φίλος θεοῦ
Category: Faith and Works

φίλος θεοῦ (James 2:23). Abraham’s relational status of trusted intimacy with God, resulting from his faith being credited as righteousness — a specific, historical, covenantal outcome, not a devotional technique or emotional posture any devotee may cultivate toward any chosen deity. Same sakhya-bhāva bridge-and-caution as ‘friendship’ above.

Confess Sins

Approved rendering: स्वीकार करब
Transliteration: svīkār karab
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Rejected alternatives: प्रायश्चित्त
Original: ἐξομολογέομαι
Category: Confession and Restoration

ἐξομολογέομαι (James 5:16, ‘confess your sins to one another… that you may be healed’). Must not be assimilated to प्रायश्चित्त, the Hindu ritual-penance concept whereby prescribed acts (fasting, pilgrimage, ritual bathing, donation) expiate accumulated sin/karmic demerit through the penitent’s own compensatory effort. James’s confession is relational and communal, resting on grace already received within the सङ्गति (fellowship), not a self-generated ritual technique.

Cover Multitude Of Sins

Approved rendering: बहुत पापकेँ ढ़ाकि देत
Transliteration: bahut pāpkeṅ ḍhāki det
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: καλύπτω πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν
Category: Confession and Restoration

καλύπτω πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν (James 5:20). Built on locked पाप. Must not read as a merit-arithmetic ledger (good deeds numerically offsetting bad karma), a common North Indian folk-arithmetic understanding of moral accounting; this describes relational, forgiving covering following genuine repentance and restoration to fellowship.

Human Spirit Life Breath

Approved rendering: प्राण
Transliteration: prāṇ
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: आत्मा, पवित्र आत्मा
Original: πνεῦμα (anthropological sense)
Category: Faith and Works

πνεῦμα in its anthropological sense (James 2:26, ‘the body without the spirit is dead’), the human life-breath/life-principle whose departure constitutes physical death — NOT the divine Holy Spirit. Must NEVER be rendered आत्मा alone or पवित्र आत्मा; baseline reserves पवित्र आत्मा exclusively for the third Person of the Trinity. प्राण is consistent with Hindi Bible tradition’s handling of Genesis 2:7’s ‘breath of life.‘

Medium Risk Terms

Peace

Approved rendering: शान्ति
Transliteration: śānti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: चैन, सुख
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Faith and Works

Inherited from Romans package. James usage note: James 2:16 uses शान्ति IRONICALLY — ‘go in peace’ as a hollow pious formula unaccompanied by material help; a translator note is required there distinguishing this ironic usage from 3:17-18’s positive sense (the peaceable fruit of wisdom from above).

Church

Approved rendering: मण्डली
Transliteration: maṇḍalī
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: मन्दिर, मठ
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Prayer and Healing

Inherited from Romans package. Never मन्दिर or मठ. James usage note: James 5:14, ‘elders of the church,’ pairs मण्डली with the new compound term ‘elder_of_church’ (मण्डलीक प्राचीन) below.

Kingdom Of God

Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक राज्य
Transliteration: parameśvarak rājya
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वरक राष्ट्र

Inherited from Romans package. James usage note: James 2:5, ‘heirs of the kingdom he promised’ — pair with new term ‘kingdom_heir’ (वारिस) below.

Israel

Approved rendering: इस्राएल
Transliteration: Isrāel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles

Inherited from Romans package. James usage note: background for the new term ‘twelve_tribes’ below (James 1:1, James’s addressees).

Earthly Wisdom

Approved rendering: सांसारिक/मानवीय बुद्धि
Transliteration: sāṅsārik/mānvīya buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom
Original: σοφία … ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης
Category: Wisdom

σοφία ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης (James 3:15). Prefer मानवीय (merely human) over सांसारिक where the sentence allows, to avoid संसार’s rebirth-cycle overtone; दुष्टात्मिक reuses the दुष्टात्मा root established for daimonia (2:19).

Rich

Approved rendering: धनी
Transliteration: dhanī
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πλούσιος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

πλούσιος (James 1:10-11, 2:5-7, 5:1-6). Standard term; pair with James’s social-justice indictment (5:1-6) in teaching notes given ongoing agrarian day-labor conditions in the Mithila region.

Kingdom Heir

Approved rendering: वारिस
Transliteration: vāris
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: κληρονόμος (τῆς βασιλείας)
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

κληρονόμος τῆς βασιλείας (James 2:5, ‘heirs of the kingdom he promised’). Pair with baseline’s locked परमेश्वरक राज्य (kingdom_of_god).

The Devil

Approved rendering: शैतान
Transliteration: śaitān
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: διάβολος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

διάβολος (James 4:7, ‘resist the devil and he will flee from you’). शैतान is the established North Indian Muslim/Christian transliteration for the singular, personal spiritual adversary, kept distinct from the plural दुष्टात्मा (2:19) and from folk भूत-प्रेत/असुर-राक्षस categories.

Humility Virtue

Approved rendering: नम्रता
Transliteration: namratā
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: ταπεινός / ταπείνωσις (moral sense)
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

ταπεινός/ταπείνωσις in its moral sense (James 4:6, 4:10). Kept lexically distinct from ‘low_estate’ (दीनता) below so the commanded virtue is not confused with a socioeconomic circumstance James addresses pastorally rather than commanding.

Low Estate

Approved rendering: दीनता
Transliteration: dīntā
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: ταπείνωσις (social sense)
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

ταπείνωσις in its socioeconomic sense (James 1:9-10). Kept lexically distinct from ‘humility_virtue’ (नम्रता) above.

Lord Of Sabaoth

Approved rendering: सेनाओंक प्रभु
Transliteration: senāõk prabhu
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: Κύριος Σαβαώθ
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return

Κύριος Σαβαώθ (James 5:4). Reuses locked प्रभु; underscores that the cries of exploited harvest laborers reach an all-powerful divine Judge, not merely a sympathetic deity; must not be softened, given ongoing agrarian day-labor wage conditions in the Mithila region.

Elder Of Church

Approved rendering: मण्डलीक प्राचीन
Transliteration: maṇḍalīk prācīn
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: πρεσβύτερος (τῆς ἐκκλησίας)
Category: Prayer and Healing

πρεσβύτερος τῆς ἐκκλησίας (James 5:14). Built on baseline’s locked मण्डली. Must be distinguished from the customary village पंचायत elder/council role and from a Hindu religious guru-figure’s authority — this is a specific congregational office with a defined ministry of prayer for the sick.

Raise Up Recovery

Approved rendering: उठाएब / ठीक करब
Transliteration: uṭhāeb / ṭhīk karab
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: पुनरुत्थान
Original: ἐγείρω
Category: Prayer and Healing

ἐγείρω (James 5:15, ‘the Lord will raise him up’), referring to ordinary physical recovery from illness, not resurrection from death. Must not be confused with baseline’s locked पुनरुत्थान (Critical risk).

Mercy

Approved rendering: दया
Transliteration: dayā
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Rejected alternatives: अनुग्रह
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

ἔλεος (James 2:13, ‘mercy triumphs over judgment’; 3:17, marks wisdom from above). Uses baseline’s permitted non-salvific दया; अनुग्रह remains reserved exclusively for the soteriological grace concept per baseline. Do not conflate the two.

Judgment

Approved rendering: न्याय
Transliteration: nyāy
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: κρίσις
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

κρίσις (James 2:12-13), which mercy triumphs over. Standard term, low ambiguity in this context.

Scripture

Approved rendering: पवित्र शास्त्र
Transliteration: pavitra śāstra
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: शास्त्र (unqualified)
Original: γραφή
Category: Faith and Works

γραφή (James 2:23, citing Genesis 15:6). Qualify शास्त्र with पवित्र throughout, since शास्त्र alone is the general North Indian word for any authoritative sacred/technical text, including Hindu धर्मशास्त्र and स्मृति literature. Echoes baseline’s inspiration_of_scripture doctrine note distinguishing God-breathed Scripture from Mithila’s revered Puranic/Vidyapati literary tradition.

Altar

Approved rendering: वेदी
Transliteration: vedī
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: θυσιαστήριον
Category: Faith and Works

θυσιαστήριον (James 2:21, citing Genesis 22). Overlap with वेदी’s use for a Hindu ritual/sacrificial altar (e.g. havan/yajna vedi) is acceptable and even useful here since the referent is itself a literal sacrificial structure; no doctrinal distortion results.

Prostitute

Approved rendering: वेश्या
Transliteration: veśyā
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: πόρνη
Category: Faith and Works

πόρνη (James 2:25). Rahab’s social identity, retained plainly; do not soften or euphemize. James’s shocking rhetorical pairing (a Gentile prostitute named alongside the covenant patriarch Abraham) depends on the term’s full social force.

Human Messenger

Approved rendering: दूत
Transliteration: dūt
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: देवदूत
Original: ἄγγελος (human sense)
Category: Faith and Works

ἄγγελος in its human sense (James 2:25, referencing Joshua 2’s human spies), not angelic/heavenly messengers. Render दूत (plain messenger), not देवदूत. Baseline’s apostle entry rejected दूत as too weak for apostolic authority; here the plain, lower register is exactly correct for human spies, illustrating that glossary terms must remain sense-specific rather than mechanically fixed across every occurrence of a Greek root.

Soul Life

Approved rendering: प्राण
Transliteration: prāṇ
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Rejected alternatives: आत्मा
Original: ψυχή
Category: Confession and Restoration

ψυχή (James 1:21, ‘able to save your souls’; 5:20, ‘save a soul from death’). Kept distinct from आत्मा for the same reason as ‘human_spirit_life_breath’ above, to avoid any Holy Spirit confusion.

Double Minded

Approved rendering: दुमनुका
Transliteration: dumanukā
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Original: δίψυχος
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

δίψυχος (James 1:8, 4:8). A person of two minds, wavering between trust in God and worldly allegiance; must convey internal spiritual instability before God, not merely secular indecisiveness.

Desire Lust

Approved rendering: कुइच्छा/लालसा
Transliteration: kuicchā/lālasā
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Original: ἐπιθυμία
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

ἐπιθυμία (James 1:14-15), illicit craving conceiving sin, which brings forth death. This causal chain must not be assimilated to an impersonal karmic cause-and-effect mechanism; it describes moral unraveling before a personal God who tempts no one and gives only good gifts (1:13, 1:17).

Implanted Word

Approved rendering: सत्यक वचन / रोपल गेल वचन
Transliteration: satyak vacan / ropal gel vacan
Doctrine: Wisdom
Original: λόγος ἀληθείας / ἔμφυτος λόγος
Category: Wisdom

λόγος ἀληθείας / ἔμφυτος λόγος (James 1:18, 1:21). Must retain the sense of a living, active, God-given implant — not a teaching to be intellectually mastered like a शास्त्र is studied. The agricultural metaphor renders naturally in Maithili’s agrarian register.

Good Gift

Approved rendering: उपहार
Transliteration: uphār
Doctrine: Trials and Testing of Faith
Rejected alternatives: वरदान (alone)
Original: δώρημα / δόσις (1:17)
Category: Trials and Testing of Faith

δώρημα/δόσις (James 1:17, ‘every good gift and every perfect gift is from above’). Baseline restricts वरदान to the compound आत्मिक वरदान specifically to avoid the Puranic boon-for-merit sense; उपहार is a warmer, non-technical word without that connotation, preferred here for James’s general ‘good gift.‘

Proud

Approved rendering: घमंडी
Transliteration: ghamaṇḍī
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: ὑπερήφανος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God

ὑπερήφανος (James 4:6), arrogant self-sufficiency which God opposes, in contrast to the humble, to whom he gives grace.

Low Risk Terms

Prophet

Approved rendering: भविष्यद्वक्ता
Transliteration: bhaviṣyadvaktā
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
Original: προφήτης
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return

Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish from ज्योतिषी (astrologer). James usage note: James 5:10 holds up the prophets as examples of patient suffering under the doctrine of Patience and the Lord’s Return.

Fellowship

Approved rendering: सङ्गति
Transliteration: saṅgati
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: मित्रता, समाज

Inherited from Romans package. James usage note: underlies the relational, communal framing required for the new term ‘confess_sins’ below (James 5:16) — mutual confession happens within सङ्गति, not as an individual ritual technique.

Tongue

Approved rendering: जिह्वा/जीभ
Transliteration: jihvā/jībh
Doctrine: Taming the Tongue
Original: γλῶσσα
Category: Taming the Tongue

γλῶσσα (James ch. 3). No major collision; the tongue-taming theme resonates naturally with existing Maithili/Vidyapati-tradition proverbial wisdom about speech, usable as a positive teaching bridge (unlike the restricted Sita-Ram/Ramayana-narrative idiom category).

Doer Of The Word

Approved rendering: वचनक पालन करएवाला
Transliteration: vacanak pālan kareavālā
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: ποιητὴς λόγου
Category: Faith and Works

ποιητὴς λόγου (James 1:22-25), contrasted with mere hearing, anticipating the whole faith-and-works argument of ch. 2. Render consistently so 1:22-25 and 2:14-26 read as one continuous argument in Maithili.

Neighbor

Approved rendering: पड़ोसी
Transliteration: paṛosī
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πλησίον
Category: Favoritism and the Poor

πλησίον (James 2:8), the neighbor one is commanded to love as oneself, the substance of the royal law. Standard term, low ambiguity.

Twelve Tribes

Approved rendering: बारह गोत्र
Transliteration: bārah gotra
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: δώδεκα φυλαί (τῆς διασπορᾶς)
Category: Faith and Works

δώδεκα φυλαί τῆς διασποράς (James 1:1), James’s addressees. Standard proper-reference term, following established North Indian Bible-translation precedent for Israel’s tribal structure.

Abraham

Approved rendering: अब्राहम
Transliteration: Abrāham
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: Ἀβραάμ
Category: Faith and Works

Ἀβραάμ (James 2:21-23). Established North Indian Bible-translation form, per the baseline requirements document’s transliteration list.

Isaac

Approved rendering: इसहाक
Transliteration: Isahāk
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: Ἰσαάκ
Category: Faith and Works

Ἰσαάκ (James 2:21). Established North Indian Bible-translation form.

Rahab

Approved rendering: राहाब
Transliteration: Rāhāb
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: Ῥαάβ
Category: Faith and Works

Ῥαάβ (James 2:25). Established form; retain the full social force of πόρνη (वेश्या) alongside her name, since the rhetorical pairing with Abraham the patriarch is James’s point.

Job

Approved rendering: अय्यूब
Transliteration: Ayyūb
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: Ἰώβ
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return

Ἰώβ (James 5:11). Established North Indian Bible-translation form; the example of patient endurance under suffering.

Elijah

Approved rendering: एलिय्याह
Transliteration: Eliyyāh
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Original: Ἠλίας
Category: Prayer and Healing

Ἠλίας (James 5:17). Established form; teaching note — Elijah’s ὁμοιοπαθής (‘a nature like ours’) reinforces the book’s anti-merit logic: powerful prayer flows from ordinary humanity, not siddha-like spiritual attainment.

Referenced passages

JAS.1.22-25 JAS.2.14-26 JAS.4.1-10 JAS.5.7-11 JAS.5.13-18 JAS.1.9-11 JAS.2.1-13 JAS.3.1-12 JAS.5.16 JAS.5.19-20

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