Today I (Misha) was checking the Zanaki translation of Genesis 41. In verse 43 the verse (in the NIV) says: "He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt."
Zanaki people have not traditionally traveled in chariots and there is no Zanaki word for a chariot. The translators have decided to use a descriptive phrase for "chariot" and to include a picture (not the one above, which is one I shamelessly lifted from the internet, but one drawn specifically for Bible translations). Their phrase seemed fine to me at first: "a vehicle pulled by horses". The Zanaki word for vehicle puzzled me a little bit at first, however: "mootoka". This word doesn't look like any Zanaki word I'd ever seen before and I was trying to figure out the root of the noun and other linguistic features of it to try to identify it when it suddenly clicked. It's English! You don't recognize it" Sound it out - mootoka. Does it seem familiar? Think British English if it hasn't clicked yet for you. Got it now? Yes, motorcar. :-) Amazing how our own language is a bit tricky to identify when the spelling and pronunciation gets a little bit tweaked!
And for those of you who are concerned about scriptural meaning here: yes, I was immediately concerned that readers would think that the chariot had an engine and made sure the Zanaki translators checked it out in villages and with other Zanaki people before agreeing it its use in Scripture. Turns out it's okay; the word has come to mean anything that has wheels, like a wagon or cart, not just a motorcar.
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