Core Glossary
Core Glossary
translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.
Composition
The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:
- The approved Punjabi translation and transliteration
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice
Governing principles
- Established usage over invention, except where established usage is itself the risk — where Punjabi Bible tradition already has a settled rendering (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ, ਯਿਸੂ, ਪ੍ਰਭੂ, ਮਸੀਹ), this glossary follows it. The one deliberate exception is ਮੁਕਤੀ, where established usage carries genuine syncretism risk that this glossary manages through mandatory glossing rather than replacement.
- Distinguish “avoid the natural word” from “manage the natural word” — ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ and ਗੁਰੂ are rejected outright despite being the most fluent options available; ਮੁਕਤੀ is retained with a required clarifying gloss. These are two different risk-mitigation strategies, chosen based on how deeply each term’s competing meaning contradicts the doctrine and how entrenched its Christian usage already is.
- Explicit rejection, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why the tempting alternative is wrong, so a translator or reviewer understands the reasoning rather than just following a rule.
- Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document.
Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry
Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.
Critical Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: ਪਿਤਾ
Transliteration: Pita
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
God as personal Father.
God
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ
Transliteration: Parmeshar
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, ਭਗਵਾਨ
CRITICAL: NEVER use ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, despite it being the single most natural, warm, and common Punjabi word for God in daily Sikh speech. ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ inherently ties God’s identity to the specific Sikh doctrine of revelation mediated through the closed lineage of the Ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib; using it would imply endorsement of that revelation structure rather than a generic reference to the one true God. ਭਗਵਾਨ is the Hindu-devotional option, also rejected. ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ is the settled, neutral Punjabi Christian standard.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ
Transliteration: Pavittar Atma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ਬ੍ਰਹਮ, ਜੋਤ
CRITICAL: never ਬ੍ਰਹਮ (the Hindu Absolute). Also distinguish carefully from ਜੋਤ, the Sikh doctrine of a single divine light/spirit passed sequentially through the Ten Gurus into the Guru Granth Sahib as its permanent, living Guru — a real structural parallel to a personal indwelling Spirit that must not be collapsed into it. ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ is the personal Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, indwelling every believer directly.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: ਲੇਖੇ ਲਾਈ ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ
Transliteration: lekhe lai dharmikta
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: ਕਮਾਈ ਹੋਈ ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ
Righteousness credited to the believer by God, NOT earned righteousness (ਕਮਾਈ ਹੋਈ ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ, explicitly rejected).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: ਦੇਹਧਾਰਨ
Transliteration: dehdharan
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: ਅਵਤਾਰ
CRITICAL: NEVER use ਅਵਤਾਰ. This term carries a doubled risk unique to Punjabi: for Hindu-heritage readers it imports the avatar-descent framework, as in Hindi; for Sikh-heritage readers the entire concept of God taking bodily form risks being heard as incompatible with Waheguru’s revealed nature as ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ (Nirankar, “the Formless One”) — Guru Nanak explicitly taught against avatar theology. Segments teaching the incarnation to a Sikh-background audience need an explanatory bridge (this is a unique, once-for-all act of divine self-disclosure, not a recurring avatar-descent) rather than vocabulary substitution alone.
Jesus
Approved rendering: ਯਿਸੂ
Transliteration: Yisu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਈਸਾ
CRITICAL: use the established Punjabi Christian form ਯਿਸੂ. ਈਸਾ is used in Punjabi Muslim (Shahmukhi-script, Pakistani Punjabi) contexts and carries a distinct Islamic Christology; it is not used in this Gurmukhi-script, mainstream Christian curriculum.
Justification
Approved rendering: ਧਰਮੀ ਠਹਿਰਾਇਆ ਜਾਣਾ
Transliteration: dharmi thehraya jana
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ਮਾਫ਼ੀ ਮਿਲਣੀ
Compound phrase required for the forensic, declared-righteous sense; never abbreviate to ਮਾਫ਼ੀ (forgiveness) alone, which loses the legal-declaration dimension.
Lord
Approved rendering: ਪ੍ਰਭੂ
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਮਾਲਕ, ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ
Established Punjabi Christian term. Romans 10:9’s confession “Jesus is Lord” = ਯਿਸੂ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਹੈ। NEVER substitute ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, which ties God’s identity to the specific Sikh Guru-mediated revelation structure.
Messiah
Approved rendering: ਮਸੀਹ
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Transliterated term, established across Punjabi Bible traditions. The Anointed One fulfilling Old Testament promise, not one of many divine figures or gurus.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ
Transliteration: punar-uthan
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਪੁਨਰ-ਜਨਮ, ਆਵਾਗਵਣ
CRITICAL: NEVER use ਪੁਨਰ-ਜਨਮ or ਆਵਾਗਵਣ — the latter is the specific Gurbani term for the cycle of transmigration from which Sikh ਮੁਕਤੀ liberates. ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ is bodily, historical, once-for-all resurrection, ending the cycle rather than continuing it.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ
Transliteration: dharmikta
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ਧਰਮ, ਨਿਆਂ
CRITICAL: NEVER use ਧਰਮ. In Punjab ਧਰਮ carries not only the general South Asian sense of cosmic religious duty but the specific Sikh martial-righteous ideal of ਧਰਮ ਯੁੱਧ (dharam yudh, righteous struggle) central to Khalsa identity. ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ is right standing before God received through faith, not a duty performed or a struggle fought.
Salvation
Approved rendering: ਮੁਕਤੀ
Transliteration: mukti
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ਨਿਰਵਾਣ, ਮੋਖ, ਛੁਟਕਾਰਾ
CRITICAL AND DISTINCT FROM OTHER LANGUAGES: unlike Hindi, where मुक्ति is rejected outright, the established Punjabi Bible translation tradition itself already uses ਮੁਕਤੀ for salvation, and generations of Punjabi Christians know this word from hymns and preaching. This curriculum retains ਮੁਕਤੀ rather than break with that precedent, but requires a MANDATORY clarifying gloss on every doctrinally load-bearing occurrence distinguishing it from Sikh ਮੁਕਤੀ (merger with Waheguru and release from ਆਵਾਗਵਣ, the cycle of transmigration, achieved through the Guru’s grace and Naam-simran). Christian ਮੁਕਤੀ is a decisive, once-for-all reconciliation with a personal God through Christ’s death and resurrection, not a gradual liberation earned or attained through meditative practice.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ
Transliteration: Parmeshar da Puttar
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਦੇਵ-ਪੁਰਸ਼
CRITICAL: full phrase required. Conveys eternal, unique Sonship within the Godhead, not a demigod figure.
High Risk Terms
Adoption
Approved rendering: ਦੱਤਕ ਪੁੱਤਰਤਾ
Transliteration: dattak putrata
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: ਗੋਦ ਲੈਣਾ
ਗੋਦ ਲੈਣਾ (the common word for adopting a child) can imply reduced status; ਦੱਤਕ ਪੁੱਤਰਤਾ emphasizes full son-status with complete inheritance rights.
Apostle
Approved rendering: ਰਸੂਲ
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: ਗੁਰੂ, ਦੂਤ
ਰਸੂਲ (a Perso-Arabic loanword shared with Punjabi Sufi and Christian usage) conveys an authorized, sent messenger. NEVER use ਗੁਰੂ: in Sikhism this title is reserved exclusively for the Ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal, living Guru. Applying it to Paul or the apostles is a serious category error, not a stylistic softening.
Called
Approved rendering: ਸੱਦਿਆ ਹੋਇਆ
Transliteration: saddiya hoya
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: ਬੁਲਾਇਆ ਹੋਇਆ
Context-sensitive: Romans 1:1 = called to apostleship; 1:7 = called to be saints; 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.
Calling
Approved rendering: ਸੱਦਾ
Transliteration: sadda
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Noun form for the act or state of being called by God. Use ਸੱਦਾ for the noun; ਸੱਦਿਆ ਹੋਇਆ for the adjective/participle.
Covenant
Approved rendering: ਨੇਮ
Transliteration: nem
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: ਸਮਝੌਤਾ
Relational covenant bond, more than a legal agreement (ਸਮਝੌਤਾ). Established usage (ਪੁਰਾਣਾ ਨੇਮ, “Old Testament/Old Covenant”).
Election
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੀ ਚੋਣ
Transliteration: Parmeshar di chon
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: ਕਿਸਮਤ
God’s sovereign, personal choice; never ਕਿਸਮਤ (fate), a Perso-Arabic loanword used constantly in everyday Punjabi regardless of the speaker’s religion.
Faith
Approved rendering: ਨਿਹਚਾ
Transliteration: nihcha
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: ਸ਼ਰਧਾ, ਸਿਦਕ
The Punjabi Bible Society’s standard rendering: personal trust in Christ. ਸ਼ਰਧਾ carries Hindu devotional-reverence connotations; ਸਿਦਕ is a Sufi/Islamic-idiom term for steadfast trust common in Punjabi Sufi poetry and is not used in this Christian curriculum.
Glory
Approved rendering: ਮਹਿਮਾ
Transliteration: mahima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ਜੋਤ
God’s radiant honor and presence. Avoid ਜੋਤ (the Sikh term for the divine light/spirit passed through the lineage of the Ten Gurus into the Guru Granth Sahib) to prevent conflating Christ’s unique glory with that specific transmission-of-light doctrine.
Gospel
Approved rendering: ਖੁਸ਼ਖਬਰੀ
Transliteration: khushkhabri
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: ਸ਼ੁਭ ਸਮਾਚਾਰ
Established Punjabi Christian term, “good news.” Distinguish from any generic positive announcement; the gospel is the specific proclamation of salvation through Christ crucified and risen.
Grace
Approved rendering: ਕਿਰਪਾ
Transliteration: kirpa
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: ਮੇਹਰ, ਕਰਮ ਦਾ ਫਲ
Sikh theology already has a developed grace vocabulary (ਕਿਰਪਾ/ਨਦਰ, God’s gracious glance) that is genuinely gift-like, unlike Hindu karma-merit accounting — but Sikh kirpa is received through the Guru’s mediation and a life of Naam-simran (meditation on the divine Name), not through faith in Christ’s atoning work alone. Every use of ਕਿਰਪਾ in this curriculum must make the exclusivity of its source in Christ explicit; do not let the term’s Sikh devotional warmth substitute for that specificity.
Law
Approved rendering: ਬਿਵਸਥਾ
Transliteration: bivastha
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: ਧਰਮ, ਸ਼ਰੀਅਤ
The Mosaic law. NEVER use ਧਰਮ or ਸ਼ਰੀਅਤ (the Islamic legal-idiom term). ਬਿਵਸਥਾ is the established Punjabi Bible rendering.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: ਨਿਹਚਾ ਦੀ ਆਗਿਆਕਾਰੀ
Transliteration: nihcha di agiakari
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਫ਼ਰਜ਼
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience that flows from faith, not religious duty (ਧਾਰਮਿਕ ਫ਼ਰਜ਼) performed to earn standing.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੀ ਸਮਰੱਥਾ
Transliteration: Parmeshar di samratha
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ਸ਼ਕਤੀ
NEVER ਸ਼ਕਤੀ, which carries a Hindu goddess-power association relevant to Punjab’s significant Hindu population. ਸਮਰੱਥਾ (capacity/ability) avoids that association.
Providence
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧ
Transliteration: Parmeshar da prabandh
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: ਕਿਸਮਤ, ਹੁਕਮ
God’s personal, purposive governance. NEVER ਕਿਸਮਤ (fate). Do not substitute ਹੁਕਮ (the Sikh doctrine of Waheguru’s impersonal Divine Order/Command, to which one submits) as the translation itself — the two concepts have a genuine point of contact worth teaching comparatively (see Comparative Theology), but ਹੁਕਮ is too liturgically specific to serve as the term for personal, Fatherly providence.
Saints
Approved rendering: ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਲੋਕ
Transliteration: pavittar lok
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: ਸੰਤ
NEVER use ਸੰਤ. The Sant tradition is a living, institutionally active category in Punjab today (Sant-led deras and followings are a prominent feature of contemporary Punjabi religious life, alongside the historic Sant-mat/Bhagat tradition embedded in the Guru Granth Sahib itself). Calling every believer a ਸੰਤ would suggest each is an enlightened, guru-like holy figure with a following, not an ordinary believer set apart by God as Paul intends.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: ਪਵਿੱਤਰੀਕਰਨ
Transliteration: pavittarikaran
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ਸ਼ੁੱਧੀਕਰਨ
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy; distinct from ritual purification.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: ਦਾਊਦ ਦੀ ਅੰਸ
Transliteration: Daud di ans
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and fulfillment of the Old Testament covenant promise to David.
Sin
Approved rendering: ਪਾਪ
Transliteration: pap
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: ਅਧਰਮ
Moral transgression before a personal God, distinct from ritual impurity or accumulated bad karma.
Medium Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: ਅੱਬਾ
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Preserve the Aramaic transliteration in Romans 8:15. Unlike Bengali, this term is not already part of everyday Gurmukhi Punjabi vocabulary for Sikh or Hindu readers, so a brief explanatory note on its intimate, filial meaning is still needed, as in Hindi.
Church
Approved rendering: ਮੰਡਲੀ
Transliteration: mandli
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ, ਮੰਦਰ
ਮੰਡਲੀ (assembly/congregation) is the established term for the doctrinal Church. Never use ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ (Sikh place of worship) or ਮੰਦਰ (Hindu temple).
David
Approved rendering: ਦਾਊਦ
Transliteration: Daud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Established Punjabi Bible proper-name form.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: ਪਰਾਈਆਂ ਕੌਮਾਂ
Transliteration: paraiyan kaumaan
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ੀ
Non-Jewish peoples generally. ਕੌਮ is also the specific term for the Sikh Qaum (the Sikh nation/peoplehood), a central concept in Sikh political theology; ensure context makes clear “nations/peoples” is meant generically, not a reference to any particular qaum.
Holy
Approved rendering: ਪਵਿੱਤਰ
Transliteration: pavittar
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ਸ਼ੁੱਧ
Set apart for God and morally pure. Unlike several other terms in this glossary, ਪਵਿੱਤਰ is comparatively low-risk: it is also the natural word Sikh scripture and liturgy use for sacred purity (e.g. Amrit described as pavittar), so it carries no contradictory theological baggage here — an area of genuine overlap rather than collision.
Intercession
Approved rendering: ਵਿਚੋਲਗੀ
Transliteration: vicholgi
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Mediating prayer on behalf of others before God.
Israel
Approved rendering: ਇਸਰਾਏਲ
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Established proper-name form.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਰਾਜ
Transliteration: Parmeshar da Raj
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign. In Punjab, ਰਾਜ carries strong historical-political resonance from the Sikh Empire and the Khalsa political aspiration voiced in daily Ardas (“Raj Karega Khalsa”). Segments using this term should make clear God’s kingdom is a spiritual reign, not a call to political sovereignty.
Mission
Approved rendering: ਪਰਚਾਰ
Transliteration: prachar
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Proclamation of the gospel; use alongside ਮਿਸ਼ਨ where a loanword is contextually appropriate.
Peace
Approved rendering: ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: ਸਹਿਜ
In Romans 5:1, relational peace with God through justification. ਸਹਿਜ names a specific Sikh meditative state of spiritual equipoise attained through Naam-simran; do not let it substitute for the relational, once-secured peace Paul describes.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: ਆਤਮਿਕ ਦਾਤਾਂ
Transliteration: atmik daatan
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: ਵਰ
Spirit-given enablements. ਦਾਤ (gift) is comparatively low-risk in Punjabi since ਆਤਮਿਕ (Spirit-given) anchors its source clearly.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: ਉਤਸ਼ਾਹਿਤ ਕਰਨਾ
Transliteration: utshahit karna
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Context-sensitive: ਬੇਨਤੀ (entreaty) for beseeching; ਉਤਸ਼ਾਹਿਤ ਕਰਨਾ (encourage) for building up.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: ਸੰਗਤ
Transliteration: sangat
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: ਦੋਸਤੀ
OPPORTUNITY: ਸੰਗਤ (the gathered faith community) is one of the most positive, natural-fit terms in this glossary. It is central to Sikh communal worship (ਸਾਧ ਸੰਗਤ, the company of the holy gathered at the Gurdwara) without importing a contradictory theology, so it functions as a genuine bridge word for “fellowship” rather than a risk.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: ਭਵਿੱਖਬਾਣੀ
Transliteration: bhavikhbani
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
God-inspired declaration.
Prophet
Approved rendering: ਨਬੀ
Transliteration: nabi
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Perso-Arabic loanword shared with Punjabi Islamic and Sufi usage; established and unambiguous in Punjabi Christian usage as God’s spokesperson.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ਧੰਨਵਾਦ
Transliteration: dhanvad
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term. No significant doctrinal risk.
Referenced passages