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English term or phrase:unknown or anonymous pious?
Hi all,
I am looking for a proper modifier in English to describe some people who are righteous, pious or God-fearing. The topic which I translate deals with those pious people who do good deeds, give in charity, give a hand to the needy, etc. without showing themselves up. In other words, they do that secretly. For example, it dealt with one of the righteous people in the early Muslim age who used to financially support many poor families and none knew him except after his death because he used to put provision for them before their homes at the dead night.
Now, I have some suggestion and want to make sure that they make sense:
Unknown pious
Anonymous pious
Secret pious
If you come up with a better suggestion, your help will be highly appreciated.
Explanation: "Letters: Anonymous benefactor brightened day | thenorthwestern.com ... - [ Traduire cette page ]
Like Elaine Jungwirth who wrote to you, we too were benefactors of a kind person paying for our dinner. Friday, Oct. 5, we had been to three ... www.thenorthwestern.com/.../Letters-Anonymous-benefactor-br... - États-Unis -
:)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2010-12-09 17:59:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
just to put an end to Phil and airmailrpl's little disagreement: "pious", or indeed any other adjective, can only be used as a noun if it is preceded by the definite article "the" and if it refers to a collective plural. So in airmailrpl's examples "the pious" is used to refer to "pious people", but you can't use it to refer to a single pious person, as I believe Saleh intends to do. Similarly, you can speak of "the poor" but not "a poor" - in the singular, it's an adjective that requires a noun (person, man, individual etc)
Because it's exactly the same in FR.
The closest noun IMO would be "believers"... and "anonymous believers" sounds totally awkward and meaningless. This explains my use of "benefactor" - that is literally, in latin, "good doer" - for lack of a better word than "believer", which would make reference to God. On the other hand, goodness should be of divine nature...? Oh well... Wait and see if someone else finds the perfect term :)
The Art of Inventing Characters - Google Books Result
II — CLASSIFICATION VESTA I — The Pious 1. The Constant. Examples: besides the Virgin, the purest of the Saints, the Mexican Koat- ...
www.books.google.com/books?isbn=1409783391...
Where Even Angels Fear To Tread - Abyssos - Letra no Muita Música
We are the legion from the dusk the pious always feared. The sky turned to red as I slew the angels among the clouds. They fell to earth feather-light, ...
www.muitamusica.com.br › Abyssos
Letra da Música Astute Sceptre - Ondskapt (Letra e Clipe)
a mace long forgotten by the pious. Of the dousing fumes of the ancient snake lowing with unearthly rancour. I bear this sceptre of the underworld ...
www.letradamusica.net/ondskapt/astute-sceptre.html
Arabian Nights, In - Google Books Result
Richard F. Burton, Sir - 2008 - Fiction - 296 pages
I admired this with the utmost admiration and knew that he was of the sons of the pious. So I bestirred myself for his release and cured him and besought ...
www.books.google.com/books?isbn=1605206008...
Atheists Know More About Religion Than the Pious - Truthdig
Well, this is awkward. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life undertook a study in which nonbelievers correctly answered more religious ...
www.truthdig.com/.../atheists_know_more_about_religion_than... -
Come the Pious - Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine
9 Oct 2010 ... Here Come the Pious. A new Islamist body, the Popular Front of India, is causing alarm with its religious overdrive in the south. ...
www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename...asp
It seems to me that the first word has to be an adverb (eg "anonymously pious"). If you use an adjective, it makes "pious" look like a noun, which it isn't.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
4 mins confidence:
unknown pious
Explanation: This 'unknown pious deed' (ajnata sukriti) is root cause of many devotional advancements. Though the deed may not been performed in knowledge, ...
vedicschool.org/stories/matsya.html
Eid al-Adha Khutbah by Shaykh al-Mujahid Abu Yahya al-Libi (ha)
Yes, he is neither possessor of fame, cloth, prestige nor is he famous, he is among the unknown pious slaves; that are not known by the media and they do ...
forums.islamicawakening.com/.../eid-al-adha-khutbah-shaykh-al-mujahid-abu-yahya-al-libi-ha-9...
Explanation: Definitions of "discreetly" on the Web:
# with discretion; prudently and with wise self-restraint; "I sent for the sergeant of the platoon both men were in and asked him to try to find out discreetly what lay behind this"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
# Acting in a discreet manner; one that respects privacy or secrecy; quietly; diplomatically; Inconspicuously
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discreetly
Jack Doughty Local time: 03:11 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 67
11 mins confidence:
anonymous and altruistic pious
Explanation: anonymous and altruistic pious
Generous Giving : Giving among World Religions and Cults
38 Giving is anonymous and conditional on the individual's conscience.39 The ... duty and indebtedness and as opposed to the anonymous or altruistic giving ... the practice giving so that giving may sometimes be less about piety than it ... www.library.generousgiving.org/page.asp?sec=4&page=245 -
airmailrpl Brazil Local time: 23:11 Works in field Native speaker of: English, Portuguese PRO pts in category: 4
Explanation: I think the phrase you choose really depends on the whole sentence in its proper context. You could, for example, talk about someone who gives charity discretely, someone who gives charity anonymously, etc.
I do not favor the other options you listed:
Unknown pious
Anonymous pious
Secret pious
These all seem awkward to me.
If you are able to provide the whole sentence you are dealing with, I might have another (better) suggestion.
Amel Abdullah Specializes in field Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, sister!
Actually, this is the title of an article and this term is oft-repeated through the discussionالأتقياء الأخفياء
Anyhow, this section is not for Arabic English KudoZ. Moreover, I want native term, not just literal translation that may be suggested in Arabic->English pair
JAK
Explanation: "Letters: Anonymous benefactor brightened day | thenorthwestern.com ... - [ Traduire cette page ]
Like Elaine Jungwirth who wrote to you, we too were benefactors of a kind person paying for our dinner. Friday, Oct. 5, we had been to three ... www.thenorthwestern.com/.../Letters-Anonymous-benefactor-br... - États-Unis -
:)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2010-12-09 17:59:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or :
"humbly devout muslim"
schevallier Local time: 04:11 Works in field Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
