Language-specific Insights

camel

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “camel” is translated in Muna as “water buffalo.” René van den Berg explains: “Camels are unknown; the biggest known animal is the water buffalo (though now rare on Muna).”

In Bislama is is translated as buluk: “cow” / “bull” (source: Ross McKerras) and in Bahnar as aseh lăk-đa which is a combination of the Vietnamese loan word for “camel” (lăk-đa) and the Bahnar term for “horse” (aseh) to communicate that the camel is a beast of burden (source: Pham Xuan Tin in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 20ff. ).

In the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) it was as ĸatigagtôĸ or “big-backed ones.” “Katigagtôĸ (modern qatigattooq), which has the literal meaning of ‘something with a big back.’ It comprises the noun ĸatigak (modern qatigak) ‘back’ combined with the suffix –tôĸ (modern –tooq) ‘something possessing a big X.’” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)

In Luke 18:25, Mark 10:25, and Matthew 19:24 some versions of the Peshitta translation in Syriac Aramaic (Classical Syriac) show an ambiguity between the very similar words for “camel” and “rope.” Some translations of the Peshitta, therefore, use the “rope” interpretation, including the Classical Armenian Bible (մալխոյ for “rope”), the English translation by George Lamsa (publ. 1933) (It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle), or the Dutch translation by Egbert Nierop (publ. 2020) (het voor een kabel eenvoudiger is het oog van een naald binnen te gaan).

In the above-mentioned three verses, it is translated in Noongar as “kangaroo” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

 

There were two types of camel known in Bible times the most common being the Arabian Dromedary camelus dromedarius, which was indigenous to the area. The two-humped Bactrian Camel camelus bactrianus was also known and prized, but it was imported from Central Asia.

Camels belong to the same family as the South American llama, vicuna, alpaca, and guanaco, but camels are much larger and have a big fatty hump on their backs. Bactrian camels may reach a height of about two meters (6.5 feet), while dromedaries are even bigger. Dromedaries are a uniform light fawn color, while Bactrian camels are darker, especially in winter when they grow longer fur.

Camels do not have hooves but a large footpad with two broad toes ideally suited to walking on sand. In other ways too they are ideally suited to life in desert areas. They store excess food in their humps and this makes it possible for them to go a long time without eating. Special blood cells also enable them to go without water for long periods. They also have a very efficient digestive system and can extract the maximum amount of nutrition from apparently dry vegetation. This adaptation to harsh environments means that camels can make long journeys through dry areas which would be beyond the abilities of other types of pack animal such as donkeys. Camels were used for riding and for carrying heavy loads. They were also used to pull carts.

In winter the fur of camels thickens and grows longer and then when summer comes they shed their winter fur in large wads. These wads of camel hair are collected and twisted into cords and ropes or spun into thread which is then used for weaving coarse cloth. This cloth was usually used for making tents but it was sometimes used for making outer robes.
Camels’ milk was used as food and drink but their meat was considered unclean by the Israelites.

In spite of the fact that camels were considered to be unclean for food they were a symbol of wealth and commerce. People or nations with many camels were automatically viewed as commercially successful and wealthy as the possession of camels opened up the possibility of transporting goods long distances and engaging in trade.

In areas where camels are not known, the word is often transliterated from Hebrew or the dominant language of the area. However, in some languages descriptive names have been invented. In some South American languages names meaning “hump-backed llama” or “big alpaca with a hump” have been used. Elsewhere expressions such as “hump-backed horse” have been used. A fuller description should usually be included in a glossary or word list.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about camels (source: Bible Lands 2012)

serpent

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:

  1. koko manu with legs and wings, a kind of flying lizard;
  2. koko poli (koko belu), a kind of springing reptile using its tail to spring;
  3. 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.)

For some problems with the translation of nachash or “serpent,” see John Roberts’ Illustrating han-nāḥāš in the Garden of Eden .

See also birds or four-footed animals or reptiles, serpent, and snake.

jackal

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.)

See also jackal / fox.

ostrich

The Hebrew that is translated as “ostrich” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as ĸatigagtûssatdlo or “back-like ones.” “The Greenlandic translation of the term for ‘ostriches’ is a descriptive term based on the noun ĸatigak (modern qatigak) ‘back,’ followed by the participial suffix –toĸ (modern –toq), and then the suffix –usaĸ (modern –usaq) ‘something resembling,’ the entire word meaning ‘some- thing resembling something that has a back.’” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)

 

Both of the Hebrew words refer to the ostrich, and some scholars believe that they are really the singular and plural forms of the same word, written slightly differently as the result of a spelling mistake by a scribe. In ancient Hebrew writing they are very similar.

The word renanim may be related to a verb root that means “to call loudly”, a reference to the booming call of the male ostrich.

The Ostrich Struthio camelus is the largest living bird on earth. It cannot fly, because it has underdeveloped wings. It has a long neck and long legs and is about 2 meters (6 feet) tall. The head and neck are almost bald, being covered in short bristles. The male’s body is black with long white feathers on its wings. Its tail is white, gray, or light brown. The females are a uniform grayish brown.

Ostriches feed mainly on seeds, fallen fruit, and shoots and may occasionally eat a lizard or a frog. They also pick up and swallow small pebbles to aid their digestion. They live in small flocks of about twenty, of which four or five are males. They have very unusual nesting habits. The nest is nothing more than a large shallow hollow scraped in the sand. As many as ten females may lay their eggs in the one nest. Only one female and one male will incubate the eggs, however, with the female on the nest in the daytime, and the male taking over later in the afternoon. This is probably because the black male has better camouflage at night. Since ostriches breed at any time of the year, there are often three or four nests occupied by a flock.

During the day a female that is sitting on the eggs will leave the nest to feed. If any danger threatens, she will also leave the eggs and try to lure the threatening animal or human away from the nest. Since the eggs will keep warm in the hot sand the female may be away from the nest for a long time. Once the chickens are hatched, they follow the female that incubated them for a while, but females with chicks will fight among themselves until all the chicks of the flock are taken over by one dominant female. At any sign of danger, the chicks lie motionless under a bush, while the “mother” will try to lure the danger away.

Male ostriches make a series of deep booming hoots that can be heard great distances and which are often mistaken for the roar of a lion. (Fauna and Flora of the Bible is misleading in the statement that ostriches make a “hoarse complaining cry” at night.)

Even though there are only two certain references to ostriches in the Bible, both mention the heartless cruelty of this bird. This is probably a reference to the fact that a) most females lay eggs and then show no further interest in them, leaving them to another to incubate, b) the incubating female may leave the nest for long periods, and c) the hatched chicks are left to one female to care for, regardless of which other females laid the eggs or incubated them. Taken as a whole this seems to be contrary to all “natural motherly instincts.”

In savannah Africa where ostriches are well known there will be local words for ostrich. In Australasia the emu and cassowary are close equivalents, but a footnote may be needed, especially in the case of the cassowary, to indicate that the nesting habits of the ostrich are different, and since it lives in open savannah it can run much faster than the cassowary. Elsewhere a borrowing from the dominant language of the area may be necessary.

Job 39:13: This verse is difficult to make sense of in Hebrew. The general consensus among commentators is that it means something like “The wings of the ostrich beat rapidly [or, joyfully], but they certainly are not comparable to the wings of a stork.” The reference in Job 39:13 to the ostrich laughing at the horse and rider is a reference to the fact that ostriches can outrun horses. In some cultures this may need an explanatory footnote.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

ivory

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.)

cucumber

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.)

See also plant / gourd / ivy.

melon

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.)

Se also plant / gourd / ivy.

lotus plant

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.)