The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “ivory” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as tûgânigdlo or “(narwhal) tusks.” “The word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) ‘tusk’ does not refer specifically to the tusk of an elephant; rather, it is most closely associated with the noun tûgâlik (modern tuugaalik) ‘narwhal,’ which literally means ‘tusked one.’ The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a medium-sized whale with a single long tusk, and is native to the Arctic region, including Greenland. The use of the word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) as an equivalent of ‘ivory’ has the unmistakable effect of situating the Greenlandic version in an Arctic context.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
In Newari it is translated as “elephant tusks” (source: Newari Back Translation).
The Hebrew that is translated as “cucumber” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as naussorssuit or “big plant.” “The word for ‘cucumbers,’ naussorssuit (modern naasorsuit), the plural of naussorssuaĸ (modern naasorsuaq), is based on the root naussoĸ (modern naasoq), meaning ‘something that grows,’ with a suffix –ssuaĸ (modern –suaq) ‘big,’ meaning ‘big plant.’”
In the 1895 Northern Sami translation (a new translation was published in 2019) the translation was njalgga šaddoid (modern njálgga šattuid) or “sweet plants.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
The Hebrew that is translated as “melon” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as putdlagaussat neĸaussartôrssuit or “something big with a lot of meat that will swell up in the future.” “The term for ‘melons,’ putdlagaussat neĸaussartôrssuit (modern pullagassat neqassartoorsuit), is based on the root putdlâ- (modern pullaa-), meaning ‘swell’ with the future suffix –ssaĸ (modern –ssaq) followed by neĸe (modern neqi) ‘meat, food’ with the same future suffix –ssaĸ (modern –ssaq), the suffix –tôĸ (modern –tooq) ‘very,’ and the suffix –ssuaĸ (modern –suaq) ‘big,’ with the entire phrase literally meaning something like ‘something big with a lot of meat that will swell up in the future.’ ” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
The Hebrew that is translated as “lotus plant” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as orpît alángivfigdlit or “shadow-giving trees.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
The Hebrew that is translated as “coriander” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as kuániarssuit or “angelica.” “Kuániarssuit (modern kuanniarsuit) [is] a plural form based on the stem kuáneĸ (modern kuanneq), ‘angelica’ (angelica archangelica), an herb native to Greenland and other Arctic and subarctic regions, used as a seasoning in food and as a kind of tea.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
According to Exodus 16:31, the miraculous food called “manna” that God sent to the wandering Israelites in the desert was “like coriander seed, white.” Coriander Coriandrum sativum did in fact grow in Egypt and the Holy Land. However, its seed is not very white, but more brown or gray, and Numbers 11:7 tells us that the color was that of bdellium, of which we know almost nothing for certain. Further, the Septuagint has the Greek word korion, which is not coriander. The Arabic name gidda, the cognate of the Hebrew word gad, refers to a different plant, namely wormwood. To complicate the matter further, Exodus 16:14 describes manna as “flaky,” whereas coriander seeds are spherical or egg-shaped.
In view of these difficulties, Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) expresses doubt as to whether the word gad actually refers to the plant we now know as coriander. He speculates that early translators, not knowing what gad referred to, took the Punic word goid (𐤂𐤃) for coriander, and made the association between gad and coriander. The writer would have done us a favor if he had said “like coriander flowers,” which can be white, but unfortunately the text has “seed.” Maybe an early narrator or scribe made a mistake in transmitting the text. Could the Hebrew word perach (“flower”) perhaps have been replaced by zera‘ (“seed”)?
However, it is possible that coriander seed really was intended, and that the point of comparison between manna and coriander seeds was their size, which is about 4 millimeters (3/16 inch) in diameter, the size of a peppercorn. (Thus Revised English Bible and New American Bible have “like coriander seed, but white.”) Another possibility is that the writer was thinking of the way the seeds cluster, or of their firmness. We are told in Numbers 11:8 that the people pounded the manna in mortars and ground it in mills, suggesting some degree of hardness.
The coriander plant is around 60 centimeters (2 feet) in height, the upper leaves being finely divided and the lower ones broad, with tiny white or reddish flowers, and a strong odor. The seeds are oily, brown or gray, and about the size of small peas. The leaves and seeds were used in ancient times in cooking, and are still used for soup and salads up to the present. The fragrant oil from the seeds is sometimes used in making perfume and medicine.
Translators can give a generic rendering, as Good News Bible has done (“like a small white seed”), omitting reference to coriander (but including it in a footnote). It is also possible to follow REB and NAB (“like coriander seed, but white”), which disassociate the seed from the color. If this is done, translators may transliterate “coriander” from a major language or from the Hebrew gad. Coriander flowers, photo by Nigel Hepper
The Hebrew that is translated as “spirit (or: Spirit) of God” (also: “wind of God”) in English was translated in the early 18th century Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation by Hans Egede as Guutip anersaava or “God’s breath.” He explained: “I cannot find no other word in the language suitable for articulating the idea of a spiritual being.” (Quoted in Flemming Nielsen in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 113ff.)
Incidentally, the word anersaaq for “breath” that Egede had used has now morphed into meaning “spirit,” so the current translation (publ. 2000) has “Guutillu anersaavata” or “spirit of God,” using the same words.
The Greek that is translated as “serpent” in English is translated in Uab Meto as koko, a semi-mythical animal.
Pieter Middelkoop (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 130ff. ) explains: “In various translations [the Hebrew term] nachash is rendered by ‘serpent’, but the difficulty is that in Uab Meto there is no general word for serpent. Curiously enough they use a general word, kauna, including all kinds of insects, iguana, lizards and serpents. But the python is never called kauna: it has its own name in Uab Meto, i.e. liuksain. But Atoni people [the groups that speaks Uab Meto] never mention its name because it is taboo and so circumscribe it as, Uis meto, ‘Lord of the dry land.’ And whereas lizards, etc. are also called kauna, the crocodile is excepted, never being called kauna. Its name, besimnasi, is also taboo and therefore it is indicated by the title, Uis Oe, that means ‘Lord of the water.’
“Each kind of serpent is indicated by its own name, preceded by the word kauna, so, for instance, kauna umeke is a kind of serpent, the principal food of which are mice, and therefore it is also called kaunifo, ’mice serpent’; and kaun usau, a kind of poisonous viper. Consequently it is impossible to render serpent’ in Uab Meto with kauna because it covers too wide an area of very different species. (…)
“Now in Timor there is a kind of semi-mythical animal, i.e. koko. There are three kinds of koko:
koko manu with legs and wings, a kind of flying lizard;
koko poli (koko belu), a kind of springing reptile using its tail to spring;
koko kauna, a very big kind; some old Atonis told me that it is nearly as big as a python, but different in hue. However, the explanations concerning its size differ rather much, but anyhow the koko is a mythical figure in the stories, that can speak and converse with man.
“(…) One cannot say that it is only a mythical figure, because the Atonis say that their ancestors have seen it and had intercourse with it. Nowadays, when one asks if anybody has seen it, the general reply is in the negative. As an exception, one may meet someone who says that he has.
“It is quite clear that the koko in the belief of the Atonis is of the same species as the nachash in the Scripture.”
In the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) it was translated as pulateriârssuk or “bade earthworm.” “The translation employs a descriptive Greenlandic word, pulateriârssuk (modern pulateriaarsuk) ‘snake,’ which is based on the noun pulateriaĸ (modern pulateriaq) ‘earthworm’ (itself derived from the verb pulavoĸ [modern pulavoq] ‘creep, crawl’) combined with the suffix –arssuk (modern –arsuk), meaning ‘bad,’ that is, ‘bad earthworm.’ This term would have easily created a frame of reference for the target audience irrespective of whether they were familiar with snakes.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
The Hebrew that is translated as “jackal” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as qimmit nujuartat or “wild dogs.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
