Exegesis:

nai (only here in Mark) ‘certainly,’ ‘assuredly,’ ‘exactly.’

kurie (in the vocative only here in Mark) ‘Sir’: a title of respect, not the Christian title ‘Lord.’

kai ta kunaria ‘yet the (little) dogs.’

hupokatō tēs trapezēs ‘underneath the table.’

trapeza (11.15) ‘table.’

esthiousin apo tōn psichiōn ‘they eat the crumbs’: the phrase esthiein apo ‘to eat of’ indicates the thing of which one partakes (not the idea of ‘some’ of it).

psichion (diminutive) ‘crumb,’ ‘bit’: perhaps here the word refers to the bits of bread used to clean the hands of the guests and then thrown under the table to the dogs (cf. Rawlinson).

Translation:

Yes cannot be translated literally in many languages, for there is no direct yes-or-no question. There is simply a negative statement it is not right…. Moreover, in a high percentage of languages if one is going to show agreement with a negative statement, one must use a negative, not a positive, reply. For example, in Tzeltal the woman’s reply must be ‘No sir; but even the dogs….’ In some languages, however, one can use the expressions ‘you are right’ or ‘you have said true,’ to indicate agreement with the preceding statement, whether in a positive or negative form.

Lord is probably not the better rendering at this point. The woman’s respect for Jesus is generally regarded as not equivalent to a recognition of his divine status, so much as a very polite means of address.

The children’s crumbs cannot be translated as a possessive construction in some languages, since these are not crumbs which belong to the children, but crumbs from the bread which they have been eating. They are therefore ‘crumbs from the children’ or ‘crumbs from the children’s bread,’ Pamona translates ‘the left-overs of the food,’ while Javanese has ‘the spilt (food).’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .