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 Santali (Ol Chiki script) translation and Roman transliteration
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice, including whether a term is provisional pending native-theologian and native-typesetter confirmation
Governing principles
- Honest flagging of a thin tradition, on the Fulfulde model — the majority of compound theological terms in this glossary are marked provisional, reflecting Santali’s genuinely less-settled theological-study vocabulary rather than papering over that gap with false confidence.
- Explicit rejection, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why the tempting alternative from Sarnaism’s bonga/jaher framework is wrong (see
alternatives_rejected). - Loanwords preferred over borrowed native high-god vocabulary for God-language — Isor is used rather than Marang Buru or Sing Bonga specifically to avoid syncretism, a deliberate and explicitly documented choice rather than a default.
- Dual confirmation required — beyond the usual theologian/native-speaker review this pipeline applies elsewhere, Santali entries additionally require native Ol Chiki-typesetter confirmation of orthography, a review dimension unique to this language in the current batch.
- 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: ᱟᱡᱚᱜ
Transliteration: apu
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
God as personal Father; apu is the ordinary Santali word for father, chosen for its warmth and intimacy rather than an existing bonga-elder title such as Marang Buru.
God
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ
Transliteration: Isor
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Marang Buru (the presiding elder deity of the Sarnaism bonga pantheon, avoid as the primary term), Sing Bonga (the sun-spirit/creator figure in Sarnaism, avoid as the primary term)
CRITICAL: Isor (a regional loanword ultimately from Sanskrit-derived Ishwar, attested in Christian usage across several Munda and Adivasi-language Bible translations) is used here provisionally rather than the indigenous high-god candidates Marang Buru or Sing Bonga, to avoid presenting the biblical God as simply an existing bonga under a new name. This is a genuinely live and contested missiological question — Bible translators working in other animist-background Munda and tribal languages have sometimes chosen to adapt an indigenous high-god term instead of a loanword — and this choice should be revisited with a Santali-speaking theologian rather than treated as settled, consistent with this language’s thinner translation tradition.
Grace
Approved rendering: ᱵᱤᱱᱟ ᱜᱚᱬᱚ ᱮᱢᱚᱜ ᱠᱟᱱᱟ
Transliteration: bina goro emok kana
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: bonga dan (an offering given to a bonga to secure favor or avert misfortune, never use as a substitute)
CRITICAL: a provisional descriptive compound (‘given without needing to be earned’) is required, since Sarnaism’s ritual life is structured around dan (offerings) made to bongas at the jaher to secure protection and avert misfortune — a reciprocal, exchange-based logic. Grace must be taught as favor given entirely apart from any offering or ritual exchange, a genuinely new category for a Sarnaism-background reader, not merely a corrected word. This rendering should be confirmed with a Santali-speaking theologian before wide deployment.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: ᱯᱚᱵᱤᱛᱨᱚ ᱟᱛᱢᱟ
Transliteration: pobitro atma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: bonga (a generic spirit-being from Sarnaism’s populated spirit-world, never use), bhut (a malevolent or restless ghost-spirit, never use)
CRITICAL: pobitro atma must always be used in full. Bare atma or bonga names one spirit among the many village, ancestor, and nature spirits recognized in Sarnaism and addressed through jaher ritual; the personal, singular, indwelling Holy Spirit of Romans 8 must be sharply distinguished from that populated spirit-world, and from bhut, a distinct and feared category of restless or malevolent ghost-spirit.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: ᱮᱢᱚᱜ ᱠᱟᱱ ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱪᱟᱞᱟᱜ
Transliteration: emok kan joto calak
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: nam kan joto calak (righteousness obtained/earned by one’s own effort, the explicit rejected opposite)
CRITICAL: a provisional compound (‘righteousness that has been given’) distinguishing credited from earned righteousness. This concept has no ready equivalent in Sarnaism’s offering-and-ritual-exchange framework and must be explicitly taught. Given this language’s thinner theological-translation tradition, this rendering should be treated as provisional and confirmed with a Santali-speaking theologian before wide deployment.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: ᱦᱚᱲ ᱦᱚᱲᱢᱚ ᱨᱮ ᱦᱮᱡ ᱟᱠᱟᱱᱟ
Transliteration: hor hormo re hej akana
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: bonga rapa’ana (a bonga ‘taking hold of’/possessing a human medium, as an Ojha may describe during a healing ritual, never use)
CRITICAL: a provisional descriptive compound (‘came in a human body’) stands in for a single fixed theological term, which does not exist in currently available Santali Christian literature. This must be sharply distinguished from bonga possession, in which a spirit is understood to temporarily seize or work through a human medium during ritual — a real, currently practiced framework in Sarnaism and in Ojha-led healing. The incarnation is the eternal Son’s permanent, personal, and unique assumption of human nature, not a temporary possession. Confirm this rendering with a Santali-speaking theologian; treat as provisional.
Jesus
Approved rendering: ᱡᱤᱥᱩ
Transliteration: Jisu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
CRITICAL: Jisu follows the pattern used in Bengali- and regional-influenced Santali Christian usage; confirm the exact settled form against a current printed Santali New Testament before this curriculum is finalized, given the thinner and less standardized state of Santali Bible publication.
Justification
Approved rendering: ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱪᱟᱞᱟᱜ ᱢᱮᱱᱛᱮ ᱵᱟᱭ ᱡᱚᱠᱷᱚᱱ
Transliteration: joto calak mente bay jokhon
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: maapa (forgiveness alone, too narrow)
CRITICAL: a provisional descriptive compound (‘being pronounced properly conducted’) attempting to carry the forensic, once-for-all legal-declaration sense; no single Santali term or settled compound for this exact concept is attested in currently available literature. Must never be abbreviated to mere maapa (forgiveness), which loses the ‘declared righteous’ dimension central to Romans 4. Treat as provisional pending theologian confirmation, consistent with this language’s thinner translation tradition.
Lord
Approved rendering: ᱛᱷᱟᱠᱩᱨ
Transliteration: Thakur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Marang Buru (the presiding elder deity of the Sarnaism bonga pantheon, avoid as the primary term for Christ’s Lordship to prevent placing Christ inside the existing pantheon)
CRITICAL: Thakur (a regional loanword for ‘Lord/Master’ attested in Bengali-influenced Christian usage in the wider region) is used provisionally rather than Marang Buru, the presiding elder deity of the Sarnaism bonga pantheon, to avoid presenting Christ as merely the greatest among many recognized bongas. This choice is a live, contested translation question — some Bible translation efforts among animist-background peoples have instead adapted an existing high-god term rather than importing a loanword — and should be revisited with a Santali-speaking theologian rather than treated as settled.
Messiah
Approved rendering: ᱢᱚᱥᱤᱦᱚ
Transliteration: Mosiho
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
CRITICAL: transliterated term, following regional Bible-translation convention. The Anointed One fulfilling Old Testament promise; not one figure among the many bongas recognized in the Sarnaism spirit-world.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: ᱜᱩᱡᱟᱜ ᱠᱷᱚᱱ ᱡᱤᱣᱤ ᱨᱩᱦᱲ
Transliteration: gujag khon jiwi ruhur
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
CRITICAL: a provisional descriptive phrase (‘rising alive again from death’) rather than a single fixed technical term, reflecting the thinner translation tradition. No developed reincarnation doctrine is attested as central to mainstream Sarnaism, unlike several other languages in this pipeline, but this curriculum must still state plainly, rather than assume, that Christ’s resurrection is a single historical, bodily, once-for-all event, since the concept of a dead person returning to bodily life has no ready native parallel and could otherwise be misheard as describing a ghost (bonga) manifestation.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱪᱟᱞᱟᱜ
Transliteration: joto calak
Doctrine: Salvation
CRITICAL: a provisional compound (‘being properly/correctly conducted’) for right standing before God received through faith. Sarnaism’s own conduct expectations are oriented toward maintaining ritual and social harmony with the jaher, the bongas, and the community, rather than a legal-forensic standing before a personal God; this distinction must be taught from the ground up. Confirm with a Santali-speaking theologian before wide deployment.
Salvation
Approved rendering: ᱵᱟᱸᱪᱟᱣ
Transliteration: bachao
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: bonga khon rokha (protection/rescue from a malevolent bonga, secured through an Ojha’s ritual intervention, never use as a stand-alone gloss for eternal salvation)
CRITICAL: bachao (a widely shared regional Indic loanword meaning ‘rescue/save’) is the best-attested general term, but Sarnaism has no developed eschatological salvation category at all — its ritual life, centered on the jaher and led by the Naeke, targets protection from malevolent bongas, good harvests, and community harmony in this life, addressed when disrupted through an Ojha’s intervention against witchcraft or bonga affliction. This is a genuine conceptual gap, not a wrong-existing-word problem, and must be taught from the ground up rather than corrected from a nearby term.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱦᱚᱸᱯᱚᱱ
Transliteration: Isor reyag honpon
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: bonga hopon (a lesser spirit-being’s offspring within the bonga pantheon, an explicit downgrade and rejected)
CRITICAL: full phrase required, built on Isor (see ‘god’ entry). Must never suggest one spirit-being’s offspring among the many bongas recognized in Sarnaism’s populated spirit-world; this doctrine must be taught as unique, eternal Sonship within the one God, a genuinely new category requiring extended explanation.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: ᱟᱵᱵᱟ
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved as a transliteration alongside apu (Romans 8:15), following the pattern used by related regional Bible translations.
Adoption
Approved rendering: ᱦᱚᱸᱯᱚᱱ ᱞᱮᱠᱟ ᱮᱢ
Transliteration: honpon leka em
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
A provisional descriptive compound (‘given/treated as a child’); formal legal adoption is not a well-documented category in traditional Santal clan (paris) kinship structure, which is organized around exogamous patrilineal clans. This curriculum should stress Romans 8:15-17’s full inheritance-rights sense explicitly rather than assume a ready cultural equivalent, and confirm this rendering with native speakers.
Called
Approved rendering: ᱵᱟᱞᱟᱣ ᱠᱟᱱᱟ
Transliteration: balaw kana
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation. Must be distinguished from a person being ritually summoned by a bonga through an Ojha or Naeke, or from a witchcraft-accusation (daain) context, where ‘calling out’ a person carries a very different and sensitive social meaning.
Calling
Approved rendering: ᱵᱟᱞᱟᱣ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱠᱟᱹᱢᱤ
Transliteration: balaw reyag kami
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Noun form for the act/state of being called, kept structurally parallel to balaw kana (called).
Covenant
Approved rendering: ᱠᱟᱛᱷᱟ ᱮᱢ
Transliteration: katha em
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
A provisional descriptive compound (‘a given word/promise’) for a relational covenant bond; confirm this rendering’s exact naturalness with a Santali-speaking theologian, as no crystallized single covenant-theology term is attested in currently available Santali Christian literature.
Election
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱵᱟᱪᱷᱟᱣ
Transliteration: Isor reyag bachao
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
God’s sovereign, personal choice; must be distinguished from any sense of a village or clan being under a particular bonga’s protection by tradition, which is a matter of inherited communal ritual relationship, not personal, relational choice by a sovereign God.
Faith
Approved rendering: ᱵᱤᱥᱣᱟᱥ
Transliteration: biswas
Doctrine: Faith
biswas (a widely shared regional Indic loanword for belief/trust) is the best-attested general term in currently available Santali Christian literature. The object of faith must always be specified in context; without that, biswas risks reading as generalized confidence in the bongas’ goodwill rather than personal trust in Christ.
Glory
Approved rendering: ᱢᱟᱦᱤᱢᱟ
Transliteration: mahima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
God’s radiant honor and presence. Avoid metaphors that could conflate with Sing Bonga (the sun-spirit, associated with radiant light) or with the reverence shown Marang Buru; God’s glory is his own self-existent majesty, not a nature-spirit’s association with light.
Gospel
Approved rendering: ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱠᱷᱚᱵᱚᱨ
Transliteration: joto khobor
Doctrine: Gospel
ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱠᱷᱚᱵᱚᱨ (‘good/complete news,’ khobor being a widely shared regional Indic loanword for ‘news’) is a plain descriptive rendering, offered provisionally pending confirmation from a Santali-speaking theologian, since no crystallized single Santali theological term for ‘gospel’ is attested in currently available literature.
Holy
Approved rendering: ᱯᱚᱵᱤᱛᱨᱚ
Transliteration: pobitro
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: saga (ritually restricted/taboo, e.g. the jaher grove itself, avoid as a substitute)
pobitro (a shared regional loanword) conveys moral purity and being set apart for God. saga names ritual restriction or taboo status, e.g. as applied to the jaher grove itself, and must be kept distinct from moral holiness.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: ᱵᱤᱥᱣᱟᱥ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱢᱟᱱᱟᱛ
Transliteration: biswas reyag manat
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: jaher ren niyom manat (rule-observance of jaher ritual custom, a works-based misreading)
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience that flows from faith, not observance of jaher ritual custom and offering obligations.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱯᱟᱣᱟᱨ
Transliteration: Isor reyag pawar
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: bonga ren pawar (a bonga’s or an Ojha’s ritual/exorcistic power, avoid as the primary term)
A provisional compound for God’s saving power (Romans 1:16), kept categorically distinct from the ritual or exorcistic power attributed to bongas or wielded by an Ojha against witchcraft and affliction.
Providence
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱫᱮᱠᱷᱟ ᱨᱮᱠᱷᱟ
Transliteration: Isor reyag dekha rekha
Doctrine: Providence
God’s personal, purposive care; Romans 8:28 should be taught as relational confidence in a personal God, not attributed to maintaining good standing with the bongas through consistent ritual observance.
Saints
Approved rendering: ᱯᱚᱵᱤᱛᱨᱚ ᱦᱚᱲᱠᱚ
Transliteration: pobitro horko
Doctrine: Sainthood
Corporate term for all believers set apart to God (Romans 1:7); must not be narrowed to suggest a specialist ritual class paralleling the Naeke (village priest) or Ojha (healer).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: ᱯᱚᱵᱤᱛᱨᱚ ᱦᱚᱪᱚᱭᱮᱱ
Transliteration: pobitro hoc’oen
Doctrine: Sanctification
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy, distinct from the ritual purification a Naeke performs before jaher sacrifices.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: ᱫᱟᱭᱩᱫ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱡᱟᱛᱤ ᱠᱷᱚᱱ
Transliteration: Dayud reyag jati khon
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; a provisional descriptive phrase conveying physical lineage, resonating with the strong Santal cultural emphasis on clan (paris) and lineage identity, but requiring explicit Old Testament covenant background since there is no analogous royal-covenant concept in Sarnaism.
Sin
Approved rendering: ᱯᱟᱯ
Transliteration: pap
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
pap (a shared regional loanword) conveys moral transgression before a personal God. Must be distinguished from ritual offenses against the jaher or bongas, which in Sarnaism are addressed through Naeke-led purification and sacrifice rather than understood as guilt before a holy, personal God.
Medium Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: ᱠᱩᱞ ᱠᱟᱛᱮ ᱠᱩᱞ ᱦᱚᱪᱚᱭᱮᱱᱟ ᱦᱚᱲ
Transliteration: kul kate kul hoc’oena hor
Doctrine: Apostleship
A provisional descriptive phrase (‘a person sent with a sending/commission’) for authorized, commissioned ministry. Confirm regional naturalness with Santali-speaking theologians, since no single-word rendering is attested.
Church
Approved rendering: ᱠᱚᱞᱤᱥᱤᱭᱟ
Transliteration: kolisiya
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: jaher (the sacred sal-tree grove, never use)
kolisiya (transliterated) refers to the gathered assembly of believers. Must remain clearly distinct from jaher, the sacred grove that is Sarnaism’s central worship site.
David
Approved rendering: ᱫᱟᱭᱩᱫ
Transliteration: Dayud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Standard proper-name transliteration, following regional Bible-translation convention; confirm exact Santali form against a current published Santali Scripture edition.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: ᱮᱛᱟᱜ ᱦᱚᱲᱠᱚ
Transliteration: etag horko
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Non-Jewish peoples; a plain descriptive rendering (‘other/outside peoples’). Use with sensitivity given the strong, currently active salience of Adivasi versus non-Adivasi (diku) identity categories in Santal social and political life.
Intercession
Approved rendering: ᱦᱚᱭᱚᱠᱚ ᱞᱟᱹᱜᱤᱫ ᱵᱤᱱᱛᱤ
Transliteration: hoyoko lagit binti
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Prayer/petition made on behalf of others (Romans 8:26-27); must be kept distinct from petitions traditionally carried to the bongas through a Naeke’s sacrifice or an Ojha’s ritual mediation on a household’s or village’s behalf.
Israel
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱨᱟᱭᱮᱞ
Transliteration: Israyel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; standard transliteration.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ᱤᱥᱚᱨ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱨᱟᱡ
Transliteration: Isor reyag raj
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign; should be explicitly distinguished from any territorial-political framing, given contemporary Adivasi land-rights and self-governance movements in the Santal-majority regions of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha.
Law
Approved rendering: ᱟᱭᱤᱱ
Transliteration: ain
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
ain (a shared regional loanword for law/rule) refers to the Mosaic Law/Torah in this curriculum. Should be distinguished from the Manjhi-Paragana traditional village council system’s own body of customary social law, which governs a different domain (community discipline, marriage, land) than Mosaic religious law.
Mission
Approved rendering: ᱠᱷᱚᱵᱚᱨ ᱠᱷᱚᱱ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱠᱟᱹᱢᱤ
Transliteration: khobor khon reyag kami
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
‘The work of the news.’ Santal communities have a long, mixed history with Christian mission (the 19th-century Norwegian Santal Mission being foundational but also entangled with the colonial administrative period); this curriculum should frame evangelism as the church’s own ongoing calling, with sensitivity to that history.
Peace
Approved rendering: ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱤ
Transliteration: santi
Doctrine: Peace with God
In Romans 5:1, relational peace with God through justification, not the community and ritual harmony with the bongas and the jaher that Sarnaism’s offerings are meant to maintain.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: ᱟᱛᱢᱟ ᱨᱮᱭᱟᱜ ᱫᱟᱱ
Transliteration: atma reyag dan
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: Ojha ren cetan (an Ojha’s healing/exorcistic ability, avoid as a substitute)
A provisional compound (‘gift of the Spirit’) must be kept distinct from the ritual healing and exorcistic ability attributed to an Ojha. Spirit-given gifts serve the church; they are not techniques for countering bonga affliction or witchcraft.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: ᱨᱚᱲ ᱮᱢ
Transliteration: roṛ em
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Context-sensitive: use for encouragement/strengthening; use binti (entreaty/pleading) for beseeching contexts. Confirm exact regional forms with native speakers.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: ᱡᱚᱛᱚ ᱛᱷᱟᱶ
Transliteration: joto thang
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
A provisional descriptive term for shared togetherness/community; confirm regional naturalness with native speakers given limited established Santali Christian devotional vocabulary for this specific sense.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: ᱵᱚᱠᱛᱟ ᱠᱟᱹᱡᱤ
Transliteration: bokta kaji
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
God-inspired declaration; distinct from an Ojha’s divinatory pronouncements during a healing ritual.
Prophet
Approved rendering: ᱵᱚᱠᱛᱟ
Transliteration: bokta
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: Ojha (a traditional healer/diviner who may claim to communicate with bongas, never use)
God’s spokesperson; must not be confused with an Ojha, the traditional healer and diviner recognized in Santal village religious life, or with a Naeke’s ritual role.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ᱥᱟᱨᱦᱟᱣ
Transliteration: sarhao
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
A general term for praise/gratitude. No significant doctrinal risk, though confirm regional naturalness with native speakers.
Referenced passages