Core Glossary
Core Glossary: The Gospel of John (English–Maithili)
How to Read This Table
- Status “Reused (Romans)” — the term is already established in the baseline
translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.jsonfor Romans; the Maithili rendering below is copied exactly and must not be altered. - Status “New (John)” — this term is introduced by the John curriculum and does not appear in the Romans baseline; the rendering below is this Step 1 analysis’s proposed first entry, to be formally added to
translation_memory.jsonandbible_term_registry.jsonin Step 2, with doctrine risk registry entries as indicated. - Citations use chapter references (not exhaustive verse lists) to show the term’s spread across the whole book, per the full-book coverage mandate.
Section A — Reused Terms (from Romans Baseline, John Citations Added)
| Term (EN) | Maithili | Translit. | Risk | Doctrine | Cited in John | Notes for John usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | परमेश्वर | parameśvar | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1:1-2,18; 3:16-17; 20:28 | No change; Thomas’s climactic confession “my Lord and my God” (20:28) reuses this term at the Gospel’s Christological high point. |
| Jesus | यीशु | Yīśu | Critical | Lordship of Christ | throughout | No change. |
| Lord | प्रभु | prabhu | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 4:1; 6:68; 11:2-3,12; 20:28; 21:7 | No change; Thomas’s “my Lord and my God” (20:28) requires both प्रभु and परमेश्वर together with highest honorific verb. |
| Holy Spirit | पवित्र आत्मा | pavitra ātmā | Critical | Holy Spirit / Sanctification | 1:32-33; 14:26; 20:22 | No change; consistently paired with new term “Counselor” (सहायक) — see Section B. |
| Father | पिता | pitā | Critical | Father-Son Unity, Adoption | throughout, esp. chs. 5,8,10,14,17 | No change; John’s most frequent divine title alongside परमेश्वर. |
| Son of God | परमेश्वरक पुत्र | parameśvarak putra | Critical | Deity/Sonship of Christ | 1:34,49; 3:16,18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4,27; 19:7; 20:31 | No change; John’s structural purpose statement (20:31) hinges on this exact phrase. |
| Incarnation (doctrine name) | देहधारण | dehadhāraṇ | Critical | Incarnation | 1:14 (“the Word became flesh”) | No change; John 1:14 is the primary NT text this doctrine name was coined to describe — apply baseline’s mandatory distinguishing note from अवतार here above all other passages. |
| Resurrection | पुनरुत्थान | punaruthān | Critical | Resurrection of Christ | 2:19-22; 5:28-29; 6:39-40,44,54; 11:24-25; 20 (whole chapter) | No change; NEVER पुनर्जन्म. |
| Messiah | मसीह | masīh | Critical | Messianic Promise | 1:20,25,41; 4:25,29; 7:26-27,31,41-42; 9:22; 10:24; 11:27; 20:31 | No change; John uniquely also transliterates the Hebrew term itself (Μεσσίας) at 1:41 and 4:25 — note this dual Greek/transliterated-Hebrew occurrence in translator training. |
| Salvation | उद्धार | uddhār | Critical | Salvation | 3:17; 4:22,42; 12:47 | No change; NEVER मुक्ति/मोक्ष. |
| Grace | अनुग्रह | anugraha | High | Grace | 1:14,16-17 | No change; paired with “truth” (सत्य) in John’s signature phrase अनुग्रह आ सत्य. |
| Glory | महिमा | mahimā | High | Deity of Christ | 1:14; 2:11; 8:54; 11:4,40; 12:23,28,41,43; 17:1-5,22,24 | No change; John’s most pervasive term for Christ’s revealed divine honor. |
| Faith / believe | विश्वास | biswas | High | Faith | verb form used ~98x throughout (see Section C note) | Root reused exactly; John uses only the verb (विश्वास करब), never a noun form — see Section C. |
| Righteousness | धार्मिकता | dhārmiktā | Critical | Salvation | 16:8,10 | No change; occurs in the Spirit’s threefold convicting ministry (sin/righteousness/judgment). |
| Holy | पवित्र | pavitra | High | Sanctification | 6:69 (“Holy One of God”); 17:11 (“Holy Father”) | No change; also root of new term “sanctify” (पवित्र करब) below. |
| Sanctification | पवित्रीकरण | pavitrīkaraṇ | High | Sanctification | 17:17,19 | No change; verb form used in 17:17,19 — see new term “sanctify” (Section B) built on the same root. |
| Peace | शान्ति | śānti | Medium | Peace with God | 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26 | No change; baseline’s Sita-Ram domestic-harmony caution applies equally in John. |
| Law | व्यवस्था | byavasthā | High | Fulfillment of Prophecy | 1:17,45; 7:19,23,49; 8:5,17; 10:34; 15:25; 19:7 | No change; NEVER धर्म. |
| Sin | पाप | pāp | High | Universal Human Accountability | 1:29; 8:21,24,34,46; 9:41; 15:22-24; 16:8-9; 19:11; 20:23 | No change. |
| Thanksgiving | धन्यवाद | dhanyavād | Low | Thanksgiving | 6:11,23; 11:41 | No change. |
| Kingdom of God | परमेश्वरक राज्य | parameśvarak rājya | Medium | Kingdom Mission | 3:3,5; 18:36 | No change; John 18:36 (“my kingdom is not of this world”) extends the baseline’s royal-kingdom sensitivity noted for Mithila’s Janak-dynasty self-identity. |
| Prophet | भविष्यद्वक्ता | bhaviṣyadvaktā | Low | Inspiration of Scripture | 1:21,25; 4:19,44; 6:14; 7:40,52; 9:17 | No change; note the definite “the Prophet” (Deut 18:15 figure) distinct from the general office — flag in translator notes at 1:21 and 7:40. |
| Israel | इस्राएल | Isrāel | Medium | Unity of Jews/Gentiles | 1:31,47,49; 3:10; 12:13 | No change. |
| David | दाऊद | Dāūd | Medium | Davidic Covenant | 7:42 | No change; brief reference only. |
| Election / chose | परमेश्वरक चुनाव | parameśvarak cunāv | High | Effectual Calling | 6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19 | No change; John’s “I chose you” sayings (15:16,19) reuse this concept though the verb form (चुनलनि) will need to be supplied — see Step 2 term-registry update. |
| Mission (gospel proclamation) | सुसमाचार प्रचार | susamācār pracār | Medium | Mission to the Nations | implied throughout ch. 20-21 (commissioning) | No change; distinct from the new term “send” (पठाएब) in Section B, which names the act of sending rather than the resulting missionary activity. |
| Gospel | सुसमाचार | susamācār | High | Gospel | not a Johannine vocabulary word itself (εὐαγγέλιον does not occur in John), but functions as the whole-book category name for John’s own stated purpose (20:31) | No change; retained for curriculum-level framing (e.g. “the Gospel of John” = “यूहन्नाक सुसमाचार”) even though the term εὐαγγέλιον is absent from John’s own text — flag this absence explicitly in any teaching note introducing the book’s title. |
Section B — New Terms Introduced by John (Proposed Renderings)
| Term (EN) | Maithili | Translit. | Risk | Doctrine | Cited in John | Rejected alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word (Logos) | वचन | vacan | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:1,14 | अवतार, ब्रह्म | Must be clearly distinguished from baseline’s वाचा (covenant) — near-homonym collision risk unique to expanding into John; requires explicit disambiguation note in all training material. Names the eternal, personal, fully divine Son, not an impersonal principle. |
| Only-begotten / unique (monogenēs) | एकलौता (पुत्र) | ekalautā (putra) | Critical | Deity/Sonship of Christ | 1:14,18; 3:16,18 | अंशधर पुत्र, दत्तक पुत्र | Must not be read in the mundane “only child in a family” sense; always anchor to परमेश्वरक पुत्र with a note affirming unique, eternal, non-adoptive Sonship. |
| Believe (pisteuō, verb only) | विश्वास करब | biswas karab | High | Faith | ~98 occurrences throughout | — (root reused from Romans’ विश्वास) | Whole-book note: John never uses the Greek noun πίστις (“faith”) at all — only the verb. Object of belief must remain recoverable from context (usually “in him,” “in his name,” or “that Jesus is the Christ”) to avoid generalized devotional believing. |
| World (kosmos) | जगत् | jagat | Critical | God’s Love for the World, Judgment/Unbelief | throughout, esp. 1:10,29; 3:16-17,19; 4:42; 8:12,23; 12:31; 14:17,27,30; 15:18-19; 16:8,11,33; 17:6,9,11,14-16,21,23-25 | संसार | Forbidden substitution: संसार, the standing Hindu technical term for the samsaric cycle of rebirth — using it for κόσμος would re-import the very cosmology the baseline’s forbidden-term list for “salvation” (मुक्ति/मोक्ष) was designed to exclude. जगत् (the created, ordered world) required throughout. |
| Eternal life | अनन्त जीवन | anant jīvan | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith | 3:15-16,36; 4:14,36; 5:24,39; 6:27,40,47,54,68; 10:28; 12:25,50; 17:2-3 | मोक्ष, मुक्ति | Relational, personal, present-and-future life through knowing God in Christ (17:3), not liberation/escape from embodied or cyclical existence. |
| Life (zōē, general) | जीवन | jīvan | Medium-High | Eternal Life, Deity of Christ | 1:4; 5:26; 6:33,35,48,51,63; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6 | — | Distinguish contextually from “eternal life” (अनन्त जीवन) — plain जीवन alone is used in some of Christ’s most compressed self-claims (e.g. 14:6) and should not be under-translated by adding अनन्त where the Greek does not. |
| Light (phōs) | प्रकाश | prakāś | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46 | ज्योति | ज्योति carries strong regional ज्योतिष (astrology) associations, already flagged in the baseline under “prophet”; प्रकाश is the safer, theologically neutral choice, consistent throughout all of John’s light-sayings. |
| Darkness (skotia/skotos) | अन्धकार | andhakār | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 1:5; 3:19; 8:12; 12:35,46 | — | Standard term; paired consistently with प्रकाश. |
| Born again / from above (gennaō anōthen) | ऊपरसँ नव जन्म | ūparsã̃ nav janma | Critical | The New Birth and Regeneration | 3:3,5,7 | पुनर्जन्म | Single highest new risk introduced by John. NEVER पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation). Compound phrase needed since Maithili has no single word spanning ἄνωθεν’s double sense (“again” / “from above”); mandatory translator note distinguishing from cyclical rebirth at every occurrence. |
| Water and Spirit | पानि आ पवित्र आत्मा | pāni ā pavitra ātmā | High | New Birth and Regeneration | 3:5 | — | Must not be read as ritual purification alone (cf. संस्कार, Panjikaran-linked purity concerns already flagged in baseline); anchors the new birth to the Spirit’s own regenerating action. |
| Wind/Spirit wordplay (pneuma) | हवा / पवित्र आत्मा (two separate words in Maithili) | havā / pavitra ātmā | Medium-High | New Birth and Regeneration | 3:8 | — | The Greek wordplay (one word, two senses) is untranslatable directly into Maithili; mandatory footnote required explaining the pun, or the analogy in 3:8 will read as a non-sequitur. |
| Flesh (sarx) | देह / मांस (context-dependent) | deh / mãns | High | Incarnation, New Birth | 1:14; 3:6; 6:51-56,63; 8:15 | — | Same Greek word carries opposite theological valence at 1:14 (positive: the Word assuming flesh) versus 3:6 (limitation: what flesh cannot do) versus 6:51-56 (sacrificial/participatory). Translator notes required at each cluster. |
| Truth (alētheia) | सत्य | satya | Medium | Deity of Christ, Holy Spirit as Counselor | 1:14,17; 3:21; 4:23-24; 8:32,40,44-46; 14:6,17; 16:13; 17:17,19; 18:37-38 | — | Standard term; note the Hindu philosophical resonance of सत्य as impersonal cosmic truth (Satyam) — John’s usage is personal and Christ-centered (“I am…the truth,” 14:6), requiring consistent anchoring to Christ’s person rather than an abstract principle. |
| Grace and truth | अनुग्रह आ सत्य | anugraha ā satya | High | Grace, Deity of Christ | 1:14,17 | — | अनुग्रह reused exactly from baseline; पूरा वाक्यांश (full phrase) must not imply the Mosaic law lacked all grace — see John 1:17 translator note. |
| Lamb of God | परमेश्वरक मेमना | parameśvarak memnā | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 1:29,36 | — | Distinguish from regional बलि (animal sacrifice to a deity, esp. Shakta goddess-worship traditions); this Lamb’s sacrifice is God’s own initiative to remove sin, not an offering made to appease God. |
| Son of Man | मनुष्यक पुत्र | manuṣyak putra | Critical | Deity/Humanity of Christ, Judgment | 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31 | — | Draws on Daniel 7’s authoritative, glorious end-time figure; must not be flattened to mean merely “a human being,” nor confused with (though it works alongside) परमेश्वरक पुत्र. |
| ”I Am” statements (egō eimi, predicate) | हम…छी (bread/light/door/shepherd/resurrection & life/way,truth,life/vine) | ham…chī | High | The Seven “I Am” Statements | 6:35,41,48,51; 8:12; 10:7,9,11,14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1,5 | — | All seven require the highest honorific verb form (छी) consistently; treat as a linked set in translator training so the formula reads identically each time, varying only the predicate noun. |
| ”I Am” absolute (egō eimi, no predicate) | हम छी | ham chī | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 8:24,28,58; 13:19; 18:5-6,8 | — | Echoes the divine name of Exodus 3:14 (LXX ἐγώ εἰμι); mandatory translator note connecting this to the divine name at every occurrence, since the connection is invisible without OT background (audience OT literacy assumed low, per baseline). |
| Counselor / Advocate (paraklētos) | सहायक | sahāyak | High | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7 | दिलासा देनिहार (mere comforter, too weak) | Must convey a personal, legal-advocate/helper presence continuing Christ’s own ministry (“another Counselor,” implying Jesus was the first); always paired with पवित्र आत्मा at first mention per chapter. |
| Spirit of truth | सत्यक पवित्र आत्मा | satyak pavitra ātmā | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 | — | Reuses सत्य and पवित्र आत्मा exactly; a further title for the same Counselor, not a separate entity. |
| Abide / remain (menō) | बनल रहब | banal rahab | High | Unity with Christ, Christian Identity | 15:4-10 (10x); also 1 John parallel usage | टिकल रहब (acceptable variant, flag for Step 2 consistency decision) | Recurs over 40 times across John/1 John; requires ONE consistent verb throughout the whole corpus per the cross-document consistency rule — Step 2 must fix a single choice between बनल रहब and टिकल रहब and never mix them. |
| Love: agapaō | प्रेम करब | prem karab | High | God’s Love for the World | 3:16; 13:1,34; 14:21,23; 15:9,12-13; 17:23-26 | — | Deliberate, costly, self-giving love; avoid sentimental-only connotation. |
| Love: phileō | प्रेम करब (same verb; flag distinction) | prem karab | High | God’s Love for the World | 5:20; 11:3,36; 16:27; 21:15-17 | — | Maithili’s single love-verb flattens the Greek’s occasional agapaō/phileō distinction; mandatory translator note required especially at John 21:15-17’s dialogue with Peter. |
| Glorify (doxazō, verb) | महिमान्वित करब | mahimānvit karab | High | Deity of Christ, Substitutionary Death | 7:39; 8:54; 11:4; 12:16,23,28; 13:31-32; 14:13; 15:8; 16:14; 17:1,4-5,10 | — | Built on baseline’s महिमा (noun); paradoxically applied to the crucifixion itself (12:23; 13:31) — glory achieved through suffering, not despite it. |
| Lifted up (hypsoō) | उठाओल जाएब | uṭhāol jāeb | Critical | Substitutionary Death, Son of Man | 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34 | — | Double meaning (physically lifted on the cross AND exalted in glory) must be preserved and flagged with a translator note at every occurrence; do not split into two unrelated Maithili words that would sever the deliberate paradox. |
| Judge / judgment (krinō / krisis) | न्याय करब / न्याय | nyāy karab / nyāy | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:17-19; 5:22,24,27,29-30; 7:24; 8:15-16,26; 9:39; 12:31,47-48; 16:8,11 | — | Personal, Christ-centered divine judgment, not impersonal karmic reckoning; keep distinct from the baseline’s “condemn/no condemnation” register used in Romans. |
| Sign (sēmeion) | चिन्ह | chinh | Medium | Deity of Christ (evidentiary) | 2:11,18,23; 3:2; 4:48,54; 6:2,14,26,30; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18,37; 20:30 | चमत्कार | चमत्कार over-centers spectacle; चिन्ह preserves John’s own framing of these acts as revelatory pointers to identity, culminating in 20:30-31’s summary statement. |
| One / unity (hen) | एक | ek | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10:30; 17:11,21-22 | — | Neuter ἕν (essential/relational unity of two distinct Persons) vs. masculine εἷς (a single person) distinction not grammatically marked in Maithili — requires catechetical clarification to avoid a modalistic misreading (Father and Son collapsing into one Person). |
| Send (apostellō / pempō) | पठाएब | paṭhāeb | High | Mission, Sonship of Christ | 3:17,34; 5:36-38; 6:29,38-39,44,57; 7:29,33; 8:16,18,26,29,42; 9:4; 10:36; 11:42; 12:44-45,49; 13:16,20; 14:24,26; 15:21,26; 16:5,7; 17:3,8,18,21,23,25; 20:21 | — | The Father’s sending of the Son grounds both Incarnation and the church’s own sending in mission (20:21, “as the Father has sent me, I also send you”); distinct from the established noun-phrase “gospel proclamation” (सुसमाचार प्रचार). |
| Perish (apollymi) | नष्ट होएब | naṣṭ hoeb | High | Eternal Life, Judgment | 3:15-16; 6:12,27,39; 10:10,28; 12:25; 17:12; 18:9 | — | Real, personal loss before God, not a neutral return to a rebirth cycle nor simple annihilation without moral weight. |
| Earthly things / heavenly things | पार्थिव बात / स्वर्गीय बात | pārthiv bāt / svargīya bāt | Medium | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 3:12 | — | The contrast is the rhetorical point; keep the two phrases visibly parallel in Maithili. |
| Serpent (ophis) | साँप | sãp | Low-Medium | Substitutionary Death (typology) | 3:14 | — | OT typological reference (Numbers 21); requires brief background note for readers with low OT literacy. |
| Disciple (mathētēs) | शिष्य | śiṣya | Medium | (general, all chapters) | throughout | चेला (acceptable colloquial variant, lower register) | Standard North Indian Bible translation term; flag guru-shishya devotional resonance from Mithila’s bhakti tradition — ensure nearby use of प्रभु/परमेश्वरक पुत्र keeps Christ’s unique authority clear. |
| Rabbi | रब्बी | rabbī | Medium-High | (general) | 1:38,49; 3:2,26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8 | गुरु (rejected as primary rendering) | Transliterate rather than default to गुरु, which carries the weight of Mithila’s guru-shishya devotional tradition; गुरु may supplement as a gloss but must not replace रब्बी as address to Jesus. |
| Worship (proskyneō) | आराधना करब | ārādhanā karab | Critical | (general — true worship) | 4:20-24; 9:38; 12:20 | पूजा | पूजा is the standard Hindu term for ritual image/deity worship, a live daily household practice across Mithila; आराधना required throughout to avoid conflating Christian worship with puja practice. |
| Living water | जीवनदायी जल | jīvandāyī jal | High | Eternal Life, Holy Spirit | 4:10-14; 7:38-39 | — | 7:38-39 explicitly identifies this image with the (not-yet-given) Holy Spirit; distinguish from regional sacred-river/tirtha ritual-purity associations. |
| Savior of the world | जगतक उद्धारकर्ता | jagatak uddhārkartā | High | Salvation, God’s Love for the World | 4:42 | — | Combines जगत् and उद्धार (both established); universal scope of salvation’s offer, beyond Israel alone. |
| Equal with God | परमेश्वरक बराबर | parameśvarak barābar | Critical | Deity of Christ | 5:18 | — | The narrator affirms this as an accurate perception of Jesus’s true claim, not merely a hostile misreading — must be translated so as to preserve this narrative affirmation. |
| Search the Scriptures | शास्त्र खोजू | śāstra khojū | Medium | Inspiration of Scripture | 5:39 | — | शास्त्र is the standard term but also names the much broader Hindu category of sacred texts (Vedic/Puranic); context (OT canon testifying to Christ) must be made explicit in teaching notes. |
| Works (erga) | काज | kāj | Critical/High | (general — grace/merit distinction) | 3:19-21; 5:20,36; 6:28-29; 7:3,7,21; 9:3-4; 10:25,32,37-38; 14:10-12; 15:24; 17:4 | कर्म | Forbidden substitution: कर्म, the standard Hindu term for karma-bearing action with moral-cosmic consequence — using it for John’s ἔργα would quietly reintroduce a merit-accruing framework precisely where the baseline’s grace/merit distinction (already Critical for “grace”) must be protected. काज (native Maithili word for deed/work) required throughout. |
| Bread of life | जीवनक रोटी | jīvanak roṭī | High | Eternal Life (I Am #1) | 6:35,48 | — | First of the seven “I am” predicates; जीवन reused. |
| Eat flesh / drink blood | मांस खाएब / लहू पिबाब | mãns khāeb / lahū pibāb | High | Substitutionary Death, Eternal Life | 6:51-56 | — | Figurative, faith-participatory language; mandatory translator note required to prevent crude literalism or unintended overlap with regional ritual food-sharing customs. |
| Holy One of God | परमेश्वरक पवित्र जन | parameśvarak pavitra jan | Medium-High | Deity of Christ | 6:69 | — | Reuses पवित्र जन (baseline’s corporate term for believers) in a distinct singular application to Christ himself — flag this dual usage for translator clarity. |
| Freedom / set free (eleutheroō) | स्वतंत्र करब / स्वतंत्रता | svatantra karab / svatantratā | Critical | (general — freedom from sin) | 8:32,36 | मुक्त, मुक्ति | New forbidden-substitution risk specific to John: मुक्त/मुक्ति would import the same मोक्ष-adjacent rebirth-liberation associations already forbidden for “salvation” in the Romans package. स्वतंत्र/स्वतंत्रता (a more neutral independence/freedom term) required; if मुक्त must appear, it may NEVER stand alone and must always be tightly qualified (e.g. “पापसँ मुक्त,” from sin specifically). |
| Slave of sin | पापक दास | pāpak dās | Medium | (general) | 8:34 | — | पाप reused exactly. |
| Children of the devil / of God | शैतानक सन्तान / परमेश्वरक सन्तान | śaitānak santān / parameśvarak santān | Medium-High | Unity of Jews/Gentiles (non-lineage identity) | 8:44; 1:12-13 | — | Spiritual, not biological/lineage, paternity; must not be applied polemically to any ethnic/caste group. |
| Good Shepherd | नीक चरवाहा | nīk carvāhā | High | Substitutionary Death (I Am #4) | 10:11,14 | — | Sacrificial, personally-invested care; contrasted with a hired hand’s self-interest. |
| Lay down (one’s) life | प्राण देब | prāṇ deb | High | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 10:11,15,17-18; 13:37-38; 15:13 | — | Voluntary, authoritative self-giving (10:18), not passive victimhood. |
| Sanctify (hagiazō, verb) | पवित्र करब | pavitra karab | High | Sanctification | 10:36; 17:17,19 | — | Built on baseline’s पवित्र; also applied uniquely to Christ’s self-consecration at 17:19 (“I sanctify myself”), requiring a translator note distinguishing this from believers’ sanctification by the Spirit. |
| Resurrection and the life (I Am #5) | पुनरुत्थान आ जीवन | punaruthān ā jīvan | Critical | Resurrection, Eternal Life | 11:25 | — | Combines two established terms (पुनरुत्थान from baseline, जीवन); distinguish Lazarus’s raising (return to mortal life, dies again) from Christ’s own resurrection (glorified, undying) in translator notes. |
| Deeply moved / wept | गहीरासँ व्याकुल भेलाह / आँसू खसौलनि | gahīrāsã̃ vyākul bhelāh / ãsū khasaulani | Medium-High | Humanity of Christ | 11:33,35,38 | — | Genuine human emotional depth, honorific verb register maintained for Christ. |
| The hour (hōra, theological) | घड़ी | ghaṛī | Critical | Substitutionary Death, Deity of Christ | 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1 | — | A divinely fixed, climactic appointed time, not a mere clock-reference; structures the whole second half of the Gospel. |
| Grain of wheat | गहूमक दाना | gahūmak dānā | Low | Substitutionary Death | 12:24 | — | Naturally resonant agrarian metaphor; low risk. |
| New commandment | नव आज्ञा | nav ājñā | Medium | (general — Christian love ethic) | 13:34 | — | New in kind (Christ’s self-giving love as the standard), not merely an addition to व्यवस्था (Torah). |
| The Way, the Truth, the Life (I Am #6) | मार्ग, सत्य आ जीवन | mārg, satya ā jīvan | Critical | Eternal Life, Unity with the Father | 14:6 | — | The clearest exclusivity claim in the book (“no one comes to the Father except through me”) — must not be softened. |
| True vine (I Am #7) | सत्य दाखलता | satya dākhlatā | Medium-High | Christian Identity in Christ | 15:1,5 | लता (generic creeper, rejected) | दाखलता is the established North Indian Bible-translation term for “vine”; retain rather than substitute a generic word. |
| Convict (elenchō) | दोषी ठहराएब | doṣī ṭhahrāeb | Medium-High | Holy Spirit as Counselor, Judgment | 3:20; 16:8 | — | Same root required at both occurrences for whole-book consistency (exposure/conviction of sin). |
| Overcome the world | जगतपर विजय पाएब | jagatpar vijay pāeb | Medium | Assurance, Judgment | 16:33 | — | Perfect-tense “already accomplished” victory, even before the cross has occurred. |
| It is finished | पूरा भ’ गेल | pūrā bha’ gel | Critical | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 19:30 | — | Completed, sufficient, once-for-all atoning accomplishment; must not read as mere defeat, nor as needing supplementation by human merit or ritual. |
| Receive the Holy Spirit | पवित्र आत्मा ग्रहण करू | pavitra ātmā grahaṇ karū | Critical | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 20:22 | — | Reuses पवित्र आत्मा exactly; proleptic enactment anticipating fuller Pentecostal outpouring. |
| Feed / tend my sheep | मेमनाके खुआउ / भेड़िक रखवारी करू | memnāke khuāu / bheṛik rakhvārī karū | Medium | (pastoral ministry, general) | 21:15-17 | — | Echoes “Good Shepherd” imagery (ch.10), now delegated to Peter. |
Section C — Whole-Book Structural Notes for Phase 2 Enforcement
- The “I Am” series (Section B) must be treated as a linked set across chapters 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, and 15 — the same honorific verb (छी) and consistent sentence pattern (“हम…छी”) must be used for all seven, so a reader recognizes the recurring formula in Maithili as clearly as in the Greek.
- The faith/believe asymmetry: unlike Romans (which uses both the noun विश्वास and can draw on a stable “faith” category), John supplies only the verb (πιστεύω, ~98x) and never the noun (πίστις, 0x). Phase 2 segment translators must not introduce the noun विश्वास where John’s Greek has no noun to translate — use विश्वास करब (verb) consistently, reserving the noun form only for genuinely nominal English glosses supplied by translators/study notes, not for Scripture text itself.
- New forbidden-substitution list for John (to be merged into the doctrine risk registry in Step 2, extending — not replacing — the Romans list):
- World: NEVER संसार — always जगत्
- Born again/from above: NEVER पुनर्जन्म — always ऊपरसँ नव जन्म
- Freedom/set free: NEVER unqualified मुक्त/मुक्ति — always स्वतंत्र/स्वतंत्रता (or तightly qualified मुक्त)
- Works: NEVER कर्म — always काज
- Worship: NEVER पूजा — always आराधना
- Light: avoid ज्योति — prefer प्रकाश
- (All Romans-era forbidden substitutions remain in force unchanged: मुक्ति/मोक्ष for salvation, धर्म/सतीत्व for righteousness, पुनर्जन्म for resurrection, अवतार for incarnation, शक्ति for power of God, वरदान alone for spiritual gifts, कर्मफल/भाग/पुण्य for grace, ब्रह्म/परमात्मा for Holy Spirit, संत/सती for saints.)
- वचन (Word/Logos) vs. वाचा (covenant): flag this near-homonym pair explicitly in all translator and reviewer training materials; consider a standing footnote at John 1:1 clarifying the distinction from वाचा for readers who may have encountered वाचा in Romans-based teaching materials.
- μένω (menō, “abide/remain”) requires ONE fixed Maithili verb chosen before Phase 2 begins (this analysis recommends बनल रहब); do not allow translators to alternate with टिकल रहब mid-document.
- Chapters with no new theological vocabulary requiring separate glossary entries: none — every chapter of John (1-21) contributed at least one load-bearing term captured in Section A or B above, consistent with the full-book coverage mandate; where a chapter’s contribution is narrative/structural rather than lexical (e.g., large portions of chs. 2, 7, 9, 12-13, 18, 21), this is noted inline in
07_semantic_analysis.mdrather than omitted.
This glossary must be loaded alongside the Romans-derived translation_memory.json before Step 2 (Bible Term Registry update) and Step 3 (Doctrine Risk Registry update) proceed. All “New (John)” entries above are proposals pending formal registry incorporation; all “Reused (Romans)” entries are already binding per the baseline hard rule.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dhārmiktā
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य, सतीत्व
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in John only at 16:8,10, within the Spirit’s threefold convicting ministry (sin, righteousness, judgment). Never धर्म or सतीत्व.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhār
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. John 3:17; 4:22,42; 12:47. NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष: John 3:17’s contrast of ‘save’ with ‘judge’ is a personal, relational verdict from a personal God, not release from an impersonal rebirth cycle.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान
Transliteration: punaruthān
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म, पुनर्जीवन
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. John 2:19-22; 5:28-29; 6:39-40,44,54; 11:24-25; ch.20. NEVER पुनर्जन्म. Mandatory distinguishing note required at 11:25 and ch.20 alike: Lazarus’s raising (return to mortal life, dies again) must not be conflated with Christ’s own resurrection (glorified, undying).
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, मालिक
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Thomas’s climactic confession ‘my Lord and my God’ (20:28) requires प्रभु and परमेश्वर together, with the highest honorific verb form, as the Gospel’s Christological high point.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक पुत्र
Transliteration: parameśvarak putra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वरक अंश, देवपुरुष
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. John’s structural purpose statement (20:31) hinges on this exact phrase; also 1:34,49; 3:16,18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4,27; 19:7.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: देहधारण
Transliteration: dehadhāraṇ
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: अवतार, देह प्रकट
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:14 is the primary NT text this doctrine name was coined to describe — single highest-stakes occurrence in the whole curriculum given Mithila’s own Ramayana geography (Janakpur, Sita’s mythological birthplace).
Jesus
Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईसा
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Used throughout John.
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: parameśvar
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: भगवान, ईश्वर
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:1-2,18; 3:16-17; 20:28 (Thomas’s climactic confession, the Gospel’s Christological high point).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:32-33; 14:26; 20:22. Consistently paired in John with the new term Counselor (सहायक); never ब्रह्म/परमात्मा.
Father
Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: pitā
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्मा, सृष्टिकर्ता
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. John’s most frequent divine title, especially in chs. 5, 8, 10, 14, 17; grounds the Father-Son unity doctrine.
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: अभिषिक्त पुरुष, अवतारी पुरुष
Original: Χριστός / Μεσσίας / מָשִׁיחַ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. John uniquely transliterates the Hebrew term itself (Μεσσίας, 1:41; 4:25) alongside the usual Greek Χριστός — both must be understood as naming the same figure, never assimilated to Ram/Krishna avatar-figures.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: वचन
Transliteration: vacan
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: अवतार, ब्रह्म, शब्द-ब्रह्म, वाक्
Original: ὁ Λόγος
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (1:1,14). CRITICAL near-homonym collision with वाचा (covenant) — वचन and वाचा are phonetically and visually close enough that oral teaching or non-native proofreading could confuse them; both must appear side by side in glossary training material with explicit disambiguation. Names the eternal, personal, fully divine Son, never an impersonal principle, and never the Vedantic शब्द-ब्रह्म/वाक् (speech-hypostasis) categories.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: एकलौता (पुत्र)
Transliteration: ekalautā (putra)
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: अंशधर पुत्र, दत्तक पुत्र
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (1:14,18; 3:16,18). Must not be read in the mundane ‘only child in an ordinary family’ sense एकलौता carries in everyday Maithili speech; always anchor to परमेश्वरक पुत्र with a note affirming unique, eternal, non-adoptive Sonship.
World Kosmos
Approved rendering: जगत्
Transliteration: jagat
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: संसार
Original: κόσμος
Category: God
New, John-specific; the single most pervasive new term in the book (1:10,29; 3:16-17,19; 4:42; 8:12,23; 12:31; 14:17,27,30; 15:18-19; 16:8,11,33; 17:6-25). FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION: संसार, the standing Hindu/Maithil technical term for the samsaric cycle of rebirth from which मोक्ष/मुक्ति (already forbidden for salvation) promises release.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: अनन्त जीवन
Transliteration: anant jīvan
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: मोक्ष, मुक्ति
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific; John’s signature term for the salvation Jesus brings (3:15-16,36; 4:14,36; 5:24,39; 6:27,40,47,54,68; 10:28; 12:25,50; 17:2-3). Names relational, personal, unending life through Christ, not escape from embodied or cyclical existence.
Born Again
Approved rendering: ऊपरसँ नव जन्म
Transliteration: ūparsã̃ nav janma
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific; the single highest new risk introduced by this book (3:3,5,7). NEVER पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation within the samsaric cycle) — English ‘born again’ sounds, on its face, like a paraphrase of rebirth doctrine, making this collision especially acute. Mandatory translator note required at every occurrence: this is a one-time, Spirit-wrought re-creation, not a repeatable cycle.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: मनुष्यक पुत्र
Transliteration: manuṣyak putra
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31). Draws on Daniel 7’s authoritative, glorious end-time figure; must not be flattened to mean merely ‘a human being,’ nor confused with (though it operates alongside) परमेश्वरक पुत्र.
I Am Absolute
Approved rendering: हम छी
Transliteration: ham chī
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι (absolute, no predicate)
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (8:24,28,58; 13:19; 18:5-6,8). Echoes the divine name of Exodus 3:14 (LXX ἐγώ εἰμι). Mandatory translator note connecting this to Exodus 3:14 required at every occurrence, since the connection is invisible without OT background. Must retain timeless present tense and highest honorific verb register.
Receive Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा ग्रहण करू
Transliteration: pavitra ātmā grahaṇ karū
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: Pneumatology
New, John-specific (20:22). Reuses पवित्र आत्मा exactly; must retain the personal, receivable nature of the gift, never an impersonal force absorbed or attained through spiritual technique.
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: उठाओल जाएब
Transliteration: uṭhāol jāeb
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὑψόω
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34). Double meaning (physically lifted up on the cross AND exalted in glory) must be preserved; do not split into two unrelated Maithili words. Mandatory translator note required at every occurrence.
One Unity
Approved rendering: एक
Transliteration: ek
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἕν (neuter)
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (10:30; 17:11,21-22). The neuter ἕν (essential/relational unity of two distinct Persons) versus masculine εἷς (a single Person) distinction is not grammatically marked by Maithili एक — requires standing catechetical clarification wherever this doctrine’s verses occur, not resolvable by word choice alone.
Worship
Approved rendering: आराधना करब
Transliteration: ārādhanā karab
Doctrine: True Worship (in Spirit and Truth)
Rejected alternatives: पूजा
Original: προσκυνέω
Category: Worship
New, John-specific (4:20-24; 9:38; 12:20). NEVER पूजा, the standard Hindu term for ritual worship of an image/deity at a shrine or home altar, a live daily practice across Mithila’s Vaishnava and Shaiva households.
Equal With God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक बराबर
Transliteration: parameśvarak barābar
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (5:18). The narrator affirms this as an accurate perception of Jesus’s true claim, not a hostile misreading — must be translated so it reads as an accurate description of Jesus’s actual claim, never softened.
Works
Approved rendering: काज
Transliteration: kāj
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कर्म
Original: ἔργα / ἔργον
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific (3:19-21; 5:20,36; 6:28-29; 7:3,7,21; 9:3-4; 10:25,32,37-38; 14:10-12; 15:24; 17:4). FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION: कर्म, the standard Hindu term for karma-bearing action with moral-cosmic consequence — using it here would quietly reintroduce a merit-accruing framework precisely where the grace/merit distinction must be protected.
Freedom
Approved rendering: स्वतंत्र करब / स्वतंत्रता
Transliteration: svatantra karab / svatantratā
Doctrine: Freedom from Sin through the Truth
Rejected alternatives: मुक्त, मुक्ति
Original: ἐλευθερόω / ἐλευθερία
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific and a NEW forbidden-substitution risk specific to this book (8:31-36). मुक्त/मुक्ति would import the same मोक्ष-adjacent rebirth-liberation associations already forbidden for ‘salvation.’ If मुक्त must appear at all, it may never stand alone and must always be tightly qualified (e.g. ‘पापसँ मुक्त’).
Resurrection And Life
Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान आ जीवन
Transliteration: punaruthān ā jīvan
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Eschatology
New, John-specific combination of established terms (11:25); reuses पुनरुत्थान exactly (Critical). Must distinguish Lazarus’s raising (return to ordinary mortal life, later to die again) from Christ’s own resurrection (ch.20, glorified, undying) in translator notes.
The Hour
Approved rendering: घड़ी
Transliteration: ghaṛī
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ἡ ὥρα
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1). Must carry the weight of a divinely fixed, climactic moment, not a mere clock-reference; structures the whole second half of the Gospel.
Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: मार्ग, सत्य आ जीवन
Transliteration: mārg, satya ā jīvan
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (14:6). The clearest exclusivity claim in the Gospel (‘no one comes to the Father except through me’); must be translated without softening the exclusivity.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: पूरा भ’ गेल
Transliteration: pūrā bha’ gel
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (19:30). Completed, sufficient, once-for-all atoning accomplishment; must not read as mere defeat, nor as needing supplementation by human merit or ritual.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार
Transliteration: susamācār
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: नीक खबर, शुभ सन्देश
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. NOTE: the noun εὐαγγέλιον does not occur anywhere in John’s own Greek text; सुसमाचार is retained only for curriculum/book-title framing (e.g. ‘यूहन्नाक सुसमाचार’) and must not be inserted into segment translations of John’s actual words where the underlying Greek has no such noun.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, दया, पुण्य, कर्मफल, भाग
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. In John occurs almost exclusively in the pair ‘grace and truth’ (1:14,17); must not imply the law given through Moses lacked all grace.
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: biswas
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, भक्ति
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL WHOLE-BOOK NOTE FOR JOHN: John uses only the verb विश्वास करब (~98 occurrences) and never the noun; do not manufacture a noun form in segment text, or trust-in-a-person will drift toward abstract भक्ति-style devotional disposition.
Holy
Approved rendering: पवित्र
Transliteration: pavitra
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: शुद्ध, निर्मल
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. John 6:69 (‘Holy One of God’), 17:11 (‘Holy Father’). Avoid शुद्ध, which leans toward ritual/Panjikaran-linked lineage purity.
Saints
Approved rendering: पवित्र जन
Transliteration: pavitra jan
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: संत, सती
Inherited from Romans package. In John, this corporate baseline term is applied uniquely in the singular to Christ himself at 6:69 (‘Holy One of God’ — see holy_one_of_god entry); flag this dual usage for translator clarity.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: पवित्रीकरण
Transliteration: pavitrīkaraṇ
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: शुद्धिकरण, संस्कार
Original: ἁγιάζω / ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. John 17:17,19 uniquely applies the verb form (पवित्र करब) reflexively to Christ’s own self-consecration (‘I sanctify myself’); distinguish by translator note from believers’ ordinary Spirit-wrought sanctification.
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: byavasthā
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, नियम
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:17,45; 7:19,23,49; 8:5,17; 10:34; 15:25; 19:7. NEVER धर्म.
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāp
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:29; 8:21,24,34,46; 9:41; 15:22-24; 16:8-9; 19:11; 20:23.
Glory
Approved rendering: महिमा
Transliteration: mahimā
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: तेज, ज्योति
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. John’s most pervasive term for Christ’s revealed divine honor: 1:14; 2:11; 8:54; 11:4,40; 12:23,28,41,43; 17:1-5,22,24.
Election
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक चुनाव
Transliteration: parameśvarak cunāv
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, किस्मत, प्रारब्ध
Original: ἐκλέγομαι / ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. John 6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19 (‘I chose you’) require the corresponding verb form चुनलनि built on this noun; never karma-determined destiny (प्रारब्ध).
Called
Approved rendering: बजाओल
Transliteration: bajāol
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: आमंत्रित, नेह पाओल
Inherited from Romans package. Not a frequent standalone Johannine term, but retained for consistency with the Election doctrine’s ‘chosen/called’ cluster in 15:16,19.
Calling
Approved rendering: बजाओल जाएब
Transliteration: bajāol jāeb
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: आह्वान
Inherited from Romans package. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency with the Election doctrine.
Covenant
Approved rendering: वाचा
Transliteration: vācā
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: अनुबंध, बिआह-सम्बन्ध
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Not frequent in John’s own vocabulary, but retained in this registry because of its CRITICAL near-homonym collision with the new John term वचन (Word/Logos) — both must appear side by side in all training material with explicit disambiguation.
Life Zoe
Approved rendering: जीवन
Transliteration: jīvan
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ζωή
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific (1:4; 5:26; 6:33,35,48,51,63; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6). Distinguish contextually from अनन्त जीवन — do not insert अनन्त where the Greek text has plain ζωή, e.g. at 14:6.
Light
Approved rendering: प्रकाश
Transliteration: prakāś
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: ज्योति
Original: φῶς
Category: Judgment
New, John-specific (1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46). Reject ज्योति, which carries strong ज्योतिष (astrology) associations already flagged in the baseline under ‘prophet.‘
Water And Spirit
Approved rendering: पानि आ पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: pāni ā pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific (3:5). Must not read as mere ritual purification — a live category in Mithila via संस्कार life-cycle rites and Panjikaran-linked lineage-purity concerns. Translator note should anchor this to Spirit-wrought inner cleansing, not ceremonial water.
Wind Spirit Wordplay
Approved rendering: हवा / पवित्र आत्मा (two separate words)
Transliteration: havā / pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα…πνεῖ
Category: God
New, John-specific (3:8). Greek πνεῦμα doubles as ‘wind’ and ‘Spirit’; Maithili has no single word spanning both senses. A mandatory footnote is required explaining the pun, or v.8 will read as an unmotivated non-sequitur.
Flesh
Approved rendering: देह / मांस (context-dependent)
Transliteration: deh / mãns
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
New, John-specific. John 1:14 (positive: the Word assuming flesh); 3:6 (limitation: what flesh cannot produce); 6:51-56,63 (sacrificial/participatory); 8:15 (superficial judgment). Same Greek word, opposite or shifting theological valence — translator notes required at each cluster.
Grace And Truth
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह आ सत्य
Transliteration: anugraha ā satya
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια
Category: Christology
New, John-specific pairing (1:14,17). Reuses अनुग्रह and सत्य exactly. Must not imply the Mosaic law lacked all grace — see John 1:17 translator note; avoid a supersessionist overreading.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक मेमना
Transliteration: parameśvarak memnā
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (1:29,36). Distinguish from regional बलि (animal sacrifice to appease a deity, active at Shakta shrines such as Ugratara); this Lamb’s sacrifice is God’s own initiative to remove sin, not an offering made to appease God. Mandatory translator note required at first occurrence.
I Am Predicate
Approved rendering: हम…छी
Transliteration: ham…chī
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι (with predicate)
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (6:35,41,48,51; 8:12; 10:7,9,11,14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1,5). Treat as a linked set requiring the SAME honorific verb (छी) and sentence pattern every time, varying only the predicate noun.
Counselor
Approved rendering: सहायक
Transliteration: sahāyak
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: दिलासा देनिहार
Original: ὁ παράκλητος
Category: Pneumatology
New, John-specific (14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7). Must convey a distinctly personal, legal-advocate/comforting presence (‘another Counselor,’ implying Jesus was the first), not an impersonal force or energy; always paired with पवित्र आत्मा at first mention per chapter.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: सत्यक पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: satyak pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Pneumatology
New, John-specific (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). Reuses पवित्र आत्मा and सत्य exactly; a further title for the same Counselor, not a separate entity.
Abide
Approved rendering: बनल रहब
Transliteration: banal rahab
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Rejected alternatives: टिकल रहब
Original: μένω
Category: Faith
New, John-specific; recurs over 40 times across John/1 John (15:4-10 alone, 10x). FIXED as बनल रहब — do not alternate with टिकल रहब mid-document, per the cross-document consistency rule.
Love
Approved rendering: प्रेम करब
Transliteration: prem karab
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: ἀγαπάω / φιλέω
Category: Faith
New, John-specific (agapaō: 3:16; 13:1,34; 14:21,23; 15:9,12-13; 17:23-26; phileō: 5:20; 11:3,36; 16:27; 21:15-17). Maithili’s single love-verb flattens the Greek’s occasional two-verb distinction; mandatory translator note required especially at John 21:15-17.
Glorify
Approved rendering: महिमान्वित करब
Transliteration: mahimānvit karab
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δοξάζω
Category: Christology
New, John-specific verb built on baseline महिमा (7:39; 8:54; 11:4; 12:16,23,28; 13:31-32; 14:13; 15:8; 16:14; 17:1,4-5,10). Must preserve the paradox that glory is achieved through suffering (12:23; 13:31), not despite it.
Judge Judgment
Approved rendering: न्याय करब / न्याय
Transliteration: nyāy karab / nyāy
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίνω / κρίσις
Category: Judgment
New, John-specific (3:17-19; 5:22,24,27,29-30; 7:24; 8:15-16,26; 9:39; 12:31,47-48; 16:8,11). Must convey personal, Christ-centered divine judgment, never impersonal karmic reckoning (कर्मफल/प्रारब्ध).
Convict
Approved rendering: दोषी ठहराएब
Transliteration: doṣī ṭhahrāeb
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἐλέγχω
Category: Judgment
New, John-specific (3:20; 16:8). Same root required at both occurrences for whole-book consistency, since 16:8’s Spirit-convicting ministry deliberately echoes 3:20’s light-avoidance logic.
Send
Approved rendering: पठाएब
Transliteration: paṭhāeb
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Original: ἀποστέλλω / πέμπω
Category: Christology
New, John-specific; extremely frequent (3:17,34; 5:36-38; 6:29,38-39,44,57; 7:29,33; 8:16,18,26,29,42; 9:4; 10:36; 11:42; 12:44-45,49; 13:16,20; 14:24,26; 15:21,26; 16:5,7; 17:3,8,18,21,23,25; 20:21). Grounds both the Incarnation and the church’s own mission (20:21); distinct from सुसमाचार प्रचार.
Perish
Approved rendering: नष्ट होएब
Transliteration: naṣṭ hoeb
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific (3:15-16; 6:12,27,39; 10:10,28; 12:25; 17:12; 18:9). Must convey real, personal loss before God, not a neutral return to samsaric cycling nor annihilation framed as morally neutral.
Rabbi
Approved rendering: रब्बी
Transliteration: rabbī
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Rejected alternatives: गुरु
Original: ῥαββί
Category: Church
New, John-specific (1:38,49; 3:2,26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8). Transliterate rather than default to गुरु, which carries the full weight of Mithila’s guru-shishya devotional tradition (reinforced by Vidyapati-linked bhakti veneration); गुरु may supplement only as a descriptive gloss, never standing alone as address to Jesus.
Living Water
Approved rendering: जीवनदायी जल
Transliteration: jīvandāyī jal
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Pneumatology
New, John-specific (4:10-14; 7:38-39). 7:38-39 explicitly identifies this image with the (not-yet-given) Holy Spirit; distinguish from the region’s sacred-river/tirtha ritual-purity associations.
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: जगतक उद्धारकर्ता
Transliteration: jagatak uddhārkartā
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
New, John-specific (4:42). Combines उद्धार and जगत् (both established); anchors the universal scope of salvation established at 3:16.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: जीवनक रोटी
Transliteration: jīvanak roṭī
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (6:35,48). First of the seven ‘I am’ predicates; reuses जीवन.
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: मांस खाएब / लहू पिबाब
Transliteration: mãns khāeb / lahū pibāb
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: φαγεῖν τὴν σάρκα…πιεῖν τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (6:51-56). Mandatory translator note required clarifying figurative, faith-participatory meaning (cf. 6:63), to prevent crude literalistic misunderstanding or collision with regional सत्तू/प्रसाद-type ritual food-sharing customs.
Holy One Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक पवित्र जन
Transliteration: parameśvarak pavitra jan
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (6:69). Reuses पवित्र जन (baseline’s corporate term for believers) in a distinct singular application to Christ himself — flag this dual usage for translator clarity.
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: नीक चरवाहा
Transliteration: nīk carvāhā
Doctrine: The Good Shepherd’s Sacrificial Love
Original: ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (10:11,14). One of the seven ‘I am’ predicates; sacrificial, personally-invested care, later delegated pastorally to Peter (21:15-17).
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: प्राण देब
Transliteration: prāṇ deb
Doctrine: The Good Shepherd’s Sacrificial Love
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (10:11,15,17-18; 13:37-38; 15:13). Must convey voluntary, authoritative self-giving (10:18, ‘no one takes it from me…I have authority to lay it down and to take it up again’), not passive victimhood.
True Vine
Approved rendering: सत्य दाखलता
Transliteration: satya dākhlatā
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: लता
Original: ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (15:1,5). दाखलता is the established North Indian Bible-translation term for ‘vine’; retain rather than substitute generic लता (creeper).
Temple Of Body
Approved rendering: मन्दिर (building) / देह (his body, metaphorically)
Transliteration: mandir / deh
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ ναὸς τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (2:19-22). मन्दिर retained narrowly for the literal Jerusalem building only, distinguished from the baseline’s rejection of मन्दिर for ‘church’; ‘temple of his body’ requires देह/शरीर plus explanatory apposition.
Medium Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: प्रेरित
Transliteration: prerit
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: दूत, पंडित
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. John’s only occurrence (13:16, ‘a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him’) is embedded in the foot-washing scene rather than describing formal office; keep distinct from the new John-specific verb पठाएब (send).
Peace
Approved rendering: शान्ति
Transliteration: śānti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: चैन, सुख
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. John 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26. 14:27’s ‘not as the world gives’ must be kept distinct from the region’s Sita-Ram domestic-harmony ideal.
Church
Approved rendering: मण्डली
Transliteration: maṇḍalī
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: मन्दिर, मठ
Inherited from Romans package. Not itself frequent in John’s narrative (which precedes the church’s founding) but retained for curriculum-level cross-reference and future teaching material; never मन्दिर/मठ.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक राज्य
Transliteration: parameśvarak rājya
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वरक राष्ट्र
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. John 3:3,5 (precondition of new birth) and 18:36 (‘my kingdom is not of this world’) extend the baseline’s Janak-dynasty royal-identity caution.
Mission
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार प्रचार
Transliteration: susamācār pracār
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: मिशन
Original: ἀποστολή / πέμπω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Implied throughout John 20-21’s commissioning scenes; distinct from the new John-specific term पठाएब (send), which names the act itself rather than the resulting activity.
David
Approved rendering: दाऊद
Transliteration: Dāūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Referenced briefly at John 7:42 regarding messianic expectation.
Israel
Approved rendering: इस्राएल
Transliteration: Isrāel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John 1:31,47,49; 3:10; 12:13.
Disciple
Approved rendering: शिष्य
Transliteration: śiṣya
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Rejected alternatives: चेला
Original: μαθητής
Category: Church
New term for John (not present in Romans, which had no narrative disciple-figures). Standard North Indian Bible-translation term; flag the guru-shishya devotional resonance active in Mithila’s Vidyapati-linked bhakti tradition — keep nearby प्रभु/परमेश्वरक पुत्र usage clear so discipleship is not collapsed into ordinary guru-veneration.
Darkness
Approved rendering: अन्धकार
Transliteration: andhakār
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Judgment
New, John-specific (1:5; 3:19; 8:12; 12:35,46). Standard term, paired consistently with प्रकाश.
Truth
Approved rendering: सत्य
Transliteration: satya
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: God
New, John-specific (1:14,17; 3:21; 4:23-24; 8:32,40,44-46; 14:6,17; 16:13; 17:17,19; 18:37-38). Note the Hindu philosophical resonance of सत्य as impersonal cosmic truth (Satyam); John’s usage is personal and Christ-centered (‘I am…the truth,’ 14:6) and must remain anchored to Christ’s person.
Sign
Approved rendering: चिन्ह
Transliteration: chinh
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: चमत्कार
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (2:11,18,23; 3:2; 4:48,54; 6:2,14,26,30; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18,37; 20:30). Reject चमत्कार, which over-centers the spectacular act; चिन्ह preserves John’s own framing of these acts as revelatory pointers to identity.
Earthly Heavenly Things
Approved rendering: पार्थिव बात / स्वर्गीय बात
Transliteration: pārthiv bāt / svargīya bāt
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: τὰ ἐπίγεια / τὰ ἐπουράνια
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (3:12). The contrast is the rhetorical point; keep the two phrases visibly parallel in Maithili.
Search Scriptures
Approved rendering: शास्त्र खोजू
Transliteration: śāstra khojū
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: ἐρευνᾶτε τὰς γραφάς
Category: Scripture
New, John-specific (5:39). शास्त्र also names the much broader Hindu category of Vedic/Puranic sacred texts; teaching material must make explicit this refers to the OT canon specifically testifying to Christ.
Slave Of Sin
Approved rendering: पापक दास
Transliteration: pāpak dās
Doctrine: Freedom from Sin through the Truth
Original: δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας
Category: Sin
New, John-specific (8:34). पाप reused exactly from baseline.
Children Of Devil
Approved rendering: शैतानक सन्तान / परमेश्वरक सन्तान
Transliteration: śaitānak santān / parameśvarak santān
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου
Category: Sin
New, John-specific (8:44; contrasted with 1:12-13). Spiritual, not physical/lineage, paternity; must not be misapplied polemically to any ethnic or caste group.
Deeply Moved Wept
Approved rendering: गहीरासँ व्याकुल भेलाह / आँसू खसौलनि
Transliteration: gahīrāsã̃ vyākul bhelāh / ãsū khasaulani
Doctrine: Humanity of Christ
Original: ἐμβριμάομαι / δακρύω
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (11:33,35,38). Must preserve real, visceral human emotion (not a stoic or merely ceremonial gesture) while maintaining the honorific verb register appropriate to Christ.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: नव आज्ञा
Transliteration: nav ājñā
Doctrine: The New Commandment of Love
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Church
New, John-specific (13:34). Must convey newness in kind (Christ’s own self-giving love as standard), not merely an addition to व्यवस्था; avoid duty-bound कर्तव्य पालन framing.
Overcome World
Approved rendering: जगतपर विजय पाएब
Transliteration: jagatpar vijay pāeb
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον
Category: Eschatology
New, John-specific (16:33). Perfect-tense ‘already accomplished’ victory even before the cross has occurred; जगत् reused.
Bridegroom
Approved rendering: दुल्हा
Transliteration: dulhā
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ὁ νυμφίος
Category: Church
New, John-specific (3:29). A warm, natural image; avoid overlaying with the specific Sita-Ram wedding narrative (Vivah Panchami) already flagged under ‘covenant.‘
Testimony
Approved rendering: गवाही
Transliteration: gavāhī
Doctrine: Faith/Belief in Christ
Rejected alternatives: साक्ष्य
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
New, John-specific; a major Johannine epistemic category (1:7-8,15,19,32,34; 3:11,26,28,32-33; 5:31-39; 8:13-18; 15:26-27; 19:35; 21:24). Keep consistent — do not vary between गवाही and साक्ष्य within translated text.
Blessed
Approved rendering: धन्य
Transliteration: dhanya
Doctrine: Faith/Belief in Christ
Original: μακάριος
Category: Faith
New, John-specific (20:29). Jesus’s word to Thomas extends the blessing of authentic faith to all future believers who trust without having seen.
Feed Sheep
Approved rendering: मेमनाके खुआउ / भेड़िक रखवारी करू
Transliteration: memnāke khuāu / bheṛik rakhvārī karū
Doctrine: The Good Shepherd’s Sacrificial Love
Original: βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου…ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου
Category: Church
New, John-specific (21:15-17). Echoes नीक चरवाहा imagery established at ch.10, now delegated pastorally to Peter.
Verily Verily
Approved rendering: सत्य-सत्य कहैत छी
Transliteration: satya-satya kahait chī
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: आमीन-आमीन
New, John-specific; identified in the Linguistic Gap Analysis (Step 8) as requiring formal registry inclusion. John’s doubled ἀμὴν ἀμήν (25x, e.g. 1:51; 3:3,5,11) is a distinctive authoritative-speech marker unique to Jesus’s diction in this Gospel. REJECT आमीन-आमीन, which reads as a liturgical closing response-word, not an assertion formula preceding a statement; सत्य-सत्य कहैत छी correctly signals ‘what follows is an authoritative pronouncement.‘
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: धन्यवाद
Transliteration: dhanyavād
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. John 6:11,23; 11:41.
Prophet
Approved rendering: भविष्यद्वक्ता
Transliteration: bhaviṣyadvaktā
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Note the definite ‘the Prophet’ (1:21,25; 7:40, drawing on Deuteronomy 18:15) names a specific expected end-time figure distinct from the general office (4:19,44; 9:17).
Prophecy
Approved rendering: भविष्यवाणी
Transliteration: bhaviṣyavāṇī
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: भविष्यफल
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies John’s fulfillment citations (e.g. 12:38-40; 19:24,36-37) though the noun itself is infrequent in John’s own text.
Serpent
Approved rendering: साँप
Transliteration: sãp
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὄφις
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (3:14). OT typological reference (Numbers 21); requires brief background note for readers with low OT literacy.
Grain Of Wheat
Approved rendering: गहूमक दाना
Transliteration: gahūmak dānā
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (12:24). Naturally resonant agrarian metaphor for a Maithili farming context; low risk.
Zeal
Approved rendering: जोश / उत्साह
Transliteration: joś / utsāh
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ζῆλος
Category: Christology
New, John-specific (2:17, citing Psalm 69:9). Explains the temple-cleansing as holy jealousy for God’s honor, not mere anger.
Increase Decrease
Approved rendering: ओ बढ़य, हम घटी
Transliteration: o baṛhay, ham ghaṭī
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Original: ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι
Category: Church
New, John-specific (3:30). John the Baptist’s programmatic statement of humble, self-effacing witness.
Referenced passages