One Little Vowel…

… or how God ‘dvu’-ed the world!

It was just about bedtime when I got a Facebook message from a friend and former Wycliffe short termer.

Hi Uncle John!

Ages ago you posted a link to a story about vowels…! I think it was changing vowels at the end of the word ‘love’ in a particular language changed the meaning and this is how they discovered about God’s love. Does this sound familiar?!? If so, could you tell me where to find the story as I’d like to share it at house group on weds. Thanks!

It wasn’t much to go on, but a few minutes research produced the answer. It was a brilliant story from Cameroon about how a Wycliffe translator was inspired by a dream to find the key to understanding God’s love in the Hdi culture. Here’s an extract…

Lee asked the Hdi translation committee, which included the most influential leaders in the community, “Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?”  “Yes,” they said. That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone.

“Could you ‘dva’ your wife?” “Yes,” they said. That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well.

“Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?”  Everyone laughed. “Of course not!  If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.”

Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”

One little vowel ending to a verb opened up the understanding of God’s love for the Hdi people in Christ. Read the whole story here on the Wycliffe Global Alliance website.

I honestly can’t remember where my young friend picked this story up from me, but since the celebration of Jesus’ birth as a human baby is so imminent, it seems appropriate to blog it (maybe) again.