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 realities identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:
- The approved Telugu translation and transliteration
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low) — generally lower than in this pipeline’s other Indian-language packages, reflecting Telugu’s mature, settled Christian vocabulary
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons — for several terms, the “rejected” alternative is not a non-Christian competing word but a theologically valid alternative from a different Telugu Christian denominational tradition
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation or consistency choice
Governing principles
- Established usage over invention — where existing Telugu Bible translation already has a settled rendering (దేవుడు, యేసు, ప్రభువు, రక్షణ, సువార్త, and even ధర్మశాస్త్రము for Law), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative, even where the pattern used elsewhere in this pipeline might suggest otherwise.
- Explicit documentation of denominational variance — where more than one Telugu Christian tradition has its own settled term (Holy Spirit, Holy, Church), this glossary names both, explains which communities use which, and locks one choice for this curriculum’s internal consistency.
- 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 (see the AI Translation Requirements’ Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions).
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, including the denominational-consistency reasoning unique to this Language Package.
Critical Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: తండ్రి
Transliteration: Tandri
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: సృష్టికర్త
God as personal Father, using the everyday Telugu word for father rather than the more distant, abstract సృష్టికర్త (creator).
God
Approved rendering: దేవుడు
Transliteration: Dēvuḍu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: భగవంతుడు
CRITICAL: దేవుడు is the standard, near-universally accepted Telugu Christian term across every denomination — a rare point of full consistency. Avoid భగవంతుడు in doctrinally precise contexts, since it carries a broader generic-deity register drawn from Vaishnava/Shaiva devotional Telugu literature.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: పరిశుద్ధాత్మ
Transliteration: pariśuddhātma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: పరమాత్మ, పవిత్రాత్మ
CRITICAL: never పరమాత్మ (the monistic Universal Self of Vedantic usage). పరిశుద్ధాత్మ is the majority Protestant/Baptist usage; పవిత్రాత్మ is more common in Catholic Telugu usage. This curriculum standardizes on పరిశుద్ధాత్మ and must hold it consistently across every lesson — the risk here is internal fragmentation, not doctrinal ambiguity, since both terms correctly denote the personal Holy Spirit.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: ఆపాదింపబడిన నీతి
Transliteration: āpādimpabaḍina nīti
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: స్వార్జిత నీతి
Credited righteousness from God, NOT self-earned righteousness (స్వార్జిత నీతి).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: శరీరధారణ
Transliteration: śarīradhāraṇa
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: అవతారం
CRITICAL: NEVER అవతారం. Tirupati’s Venkateswara (Balaji) temple, among the most-visited Hindu pilgrimage sites in the world, sits in Telugu-speaking Andhra Pradesh and keeps avatar theology a live, immediate reference point even in a region with a long-established Christian population.
Jesus
Approved rendering: యేసు
Transliteration: Yēsu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
యేసు is the shared standard across Telugu Protestant and Catholic usage alike — one of the few terms with no meaningful denominational variance.
Lord
Approved rendering: ప్రభువు
Transliteration: prabhuvu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: స్వామి
CRITICAL: established, consistent term across denominational lines. In Romans 10:9 the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = యేసు ప్రభువు. Must convey exclusive, supreme, presently-reigning Lordship.
Messiah
Approved rendering: మెస్సీయ
Transliteration: Messīya
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: అవతారపురుషుడు
CRITICAL: transliterated term; the unique OT-promised deliverer, not one of many avatar-descents.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: పునరుత్థానం
Transliteration: punarutthānam
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: పునర్జన్మ
CRITICAL: NEVER పునర్జన్మ. పునరుత్థానం is a one-time bodily event ending death, not another turn of a rebirth cycle.
Salvation
Approved rendering: రక్షణ
Transliteration: rakshana
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: మోక్షం, ముక్తి
CRITICAL: NEVER మోక్షం or ముక్తి (release from the rebirth cycle). రక్షణ (deliverance) is the long-established Telugu Christian term, shared with Kannada’s cognate రక్షణ/ರಕ್ಷಣೆ across the Dravidian-language Christian tradition of South India.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: దేవుని కుమారుడు
Transliteration: Dēvuni Kumāruḍu
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: అవతారపురుషుడు
CRITICAL: full phrase required. Conveys eternal, unique Sonship, not an avatar-figure or divinely-elevated human.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: అబ్బా
Transliteration: Abbā
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15; kept as transliteration alongside తండ్రి.
Adoption
Approved rendering: దత్తపుత్రత్వం
Transliteration: dattaputratvam
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: దత్తత తీసుకోవడం
Emphasizes full son-status and inheritance rather than a reduced or provisional status.
Church
Approved rendering: సంఘము
Transliteration: sanghamu
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: దేవాలయం, సభ
సంఘము (assembly/congregation) is the majority Protestant/Baptist usage, matching this region’s larger established denominational base; Catholic Telugu usage sometimes favors సభ. This curriculum standardizes on సంఘము and holds it consistently — mixing the two across lessons would read as careless to an audience with a century of settled church vocabulary, unlike a newer mission context where either term would simply be new information. Never దేవాలయం (Hindu temple).
Covenant
Approved rendering: నిబంధన
Transliteration: nibandhana
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: ఒప్పందం
నిబంధన is the long-established Telugu Bible term for a binding relational covenant; ఒప్పందం (a mutual contract) is too transactional.
Election
Approved rendering: దేవుని ఏర్పాటు
Transliteration: Dēvuni Ērpāṭu
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: విధి, కర్మ
God’s sovereign, personal choice (ఏర్పాటు, ‘appointing’), not విధి (impersonal destiny) or కర్మ (karma).
Glory
Approved rendering: మహిమ
Transliteration: mahima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: తేజస్సు
God’s radiant honor; avoid light-only imagery that could merge with generic divine-light devotional associations.
Grace
Approved rendering: కృప
Transliteration: kṛpa
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: పుణ్యం, కర్మఫలం
Unmerited favor apart from human merit. Telugu’s century-old hymnody and preaching tradition already carries a strong grace vocabulary, which lowers (but does not eliminate) the risk of merit-based confusion for readers from Vaishnava/Shaiva devotional family backgrounds.
Holy
Approved rendering: పరిశుద్ధ
Transliteration: pariśuddha
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: పవిత్ర, శుద్ధ
పరిశుద్ధ is the historic Baptist/Protestant-mission Telugu Bible term; పవిత్ర is more common in Catholic Telugu usage. Both are doctrinally sound, but this curriculum standardizes on పరిశుద్ధ throughout for internal consistency — the risk here is fragmentation across lessons, not syncretism.
Justification
Approved rendering: నీతిమంతులుగా తీర్చడం
Transliteration: nītimantulugā tīrchaḍam
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: క్షమాపణ పొందడం
Compound phrase required; a forensic declaration of right standing, distinct from simply receiving forgiveness (క్షమాపణ పొందడం).
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: విశ్వాస విధేయత
Transliteration: viswāsa vidhēyata
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: ధార్మిక కర్తవ్యం
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience flowing from faith already granted, not ధార్మిక కర్తవ్యం (religious duty), which reads as merit-earning obligation.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: దేవుని సామర్థ్యం
Transliteration: Dēvuni Sāmarthyam
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: శక్తి
Use సామర్థ్యం; never శక్తి — Andhra Pradesh’s prominent Shakta tradition (the Kanaka Durgamma temple at Vijayawada, one of the region’s most-visited pilgrimage sites) makes శక్తి read as a specific divine-feminine power distinct from the one God’s saving power.
Providence
Approved rendering: దేవుని పరిపాలన
Transliteration: Dēvuni Paripālana
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: విధి, కర్మసిద్ధాంతం
God’s personal, purposive governance, not fatalism (విధి) or the impersonal law of karma (కర్మసిద్ధాంతం).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: నీతి
Transliteration: nīti
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ధర్మం
Right standing before God received through faith, not cosmic duty (ధర్మం) or ethical/legal correctness in the generic sense.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: పరిశుద్ధపరచడం
Transliteration: pariśuddhaparachaḍam
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: శుద్ధీకరణ
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy, distinct from ritual purification.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: దావీదు వంశములో పుట్టినవాడు
Transliteration: Dāvīdu vamśamulō puṭṭinavāḍu
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.
Sin
Approved rendering: పాపం
Transliteration: pāpam
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: అధర్మం
Moral transgression before a personal God who judges and forgives.
Medium Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: అపొస్తలుడు
Transliteration: apostaluḍu
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: గురువు
Transliterated, established Telugu Christian term. Avoid గురువు, which implies a self-attained teaching authority rather than a delegated, sent commission.
Called
Approved rendering: పిలువబడిన
Transliteration: piluvabaḍina
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: ఆహ్వానించబడిన
Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.
Calling
Approved rendering: పిలుపు
Transliteration: pilupu
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: ఆహ్వానం
Noun form for the act/state of being called; pair with పిలువబడిన for the participle.
David
Approved rendering: దావీదు
Transliteration: Dāvīdu
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Established proper name form.
Faith
Approved rendering: విశ్వాసం
Transliteration: viswāsam
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: భక్తి
Personal trust in Christ; భక్తి carries devotional-reverence connotations from regional Vaishnava bhakti practice that do not require a specific, exclusive object of trust.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: అన్యజనులు
Transliteration: anyajanulu
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: విదేశీయులు
Non-Jewish peoples; విదేశీయులు (foreigners) is too narrowly national.
Gospel
Approved rendering: సువార్త
Transliteration: suvārta
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: వార్త
Long-established Telugu Christian term, settled across every denominational tradition in this region since the 19th-century mission era. Risk here is low-syncretism; the main task is simply not to drift toward the generic వార్త (mere news).
Intercession
Approved rendering: మధ్యవర్తిత్వం
Transliteration: madhyavartitvam
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Prayer on behalf of others; standard term.
Israel
Approved rendering: ఇశ్రాయేలు
Transliteration: Iśrāyēlu
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; established form.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: దేవుని రాజ్యం
Transliteration: Dēvuni Rājyam
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign, not a territorial or political kingdom.
Law
Approved rendering: ధర్మశాస్త్రము
Transliteration: dharmaśāstramu
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Unlike several other Language Packages in this pipeline, Telugu’s own established Bible tradition already renders ‘the Law’ (Torah) as ధర్మశాస్త్రము without significant syncretism alarm — Telugu ధర్మం carries less caste-cosmic-duty weight in everyday register than the corresponding word does further north, and the rendering is over a century old and deeply settled. Do not ‘fix’ this to a novel niyama-based compound; that would break established usage for no doctrinal gain.
Peace
Approved rendering: శాంతి
Transliteration: śānti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: మనశ్శాంతి
Relational peace with God through justification, not the inner calm (మనశ్శాంతి) sought through devotional or meditative practice.
Saints
Approved rendering: పరిశుద్ధులు
Transliteration: pariśuddhulu
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: సాధువులు
సాధువులు denotes a generic Hindu ascetic-holy-man category; పరిశుద్ధులు keeps sainthood as the corporate status of every believer.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: ఆత్మీయ వరములు
Transliteration: ātmīya varamulu
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: వరం
Always use the compound; వరం alone reads as a generic deity’s boon.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: ప్రోత్సహించడం
Transliteration: prōtsahin̄chaḍam
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Context-sensitive: use వినతి for entreaty; ప్రోత్సాహం for encouragement/building up.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: సహవాసం
Transliteration: sahavāsam
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: స్నేహం
Shared participation in Christ, not mere social friendship (స్నేహం).
Mission
Approved rendering: మిషన్ / సువార్తా ప్రచారం
Transliteration: miṣan / suvārtā prachāram
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Given Telugu Christianity’s long, indigenous, 19th-century-mass-movement roots, ‘mission’ carries markedly less colonial-baggage anxiety here than in more recently-evangelized contexts, though native-speaker review is still worthwhile for tone.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: ప్రవచనం
Transliteration: pravachanam
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: భవిష్యఫలం
God-inspired declaration, distinct from astrological forecasting.
Prophet
Approved rendering: ప్రవక్త
Transliteration: pravakta
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: జ్యోతిష్కుడు
God’s spokesperson, not a fortune-teller/astrologer (జ్యోతిష్కుడు).
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: కృతజ్ఞతాస్తుతి
Transliteration: kṛtajñatāstuti
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term. No significant risk.
Referenced passages