Language-specific Insights

mandrake

The Hebrew that is translated in English typically as “mandrake” is translated in various French translations (Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle Français courant, Parole de Vie) as pommes d’amour or “love apples” which indicates the function as an aphrodisiac (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). Likewise, in a number of German translations (Luther, Gute Nachricht Bibel), Liebesäpfel with the same meaning is used. Incidentally, in both German and French the respective terms also refer to candy apples .

In Elhomwe it is translated as woohura, a traditional medicine that “turns infertility to fertility” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Nyamwezi as ntalantu’, a plant that “is known to have many medicinal purposes for womanhood, one of those is fertility” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext).

 

Commentators do not agree on the identity of the Hebrew word duda’im. While many assert that the word must refer to Mandragora or Mandrake Mandragora autumnalis, Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) says it cannot be so since mandragora has never grown in Mesopotamia, where the story of Genesis 30:14ff. takes place. In Song of Songs 7:13 duda’im refers to some sort of “choice fruit” associated with apples, and cultivated on river banks (not dug up in the fields, as was the case with duda’im in Genesis). Whatever the original plant was (in Mesopotamia), when the story was told in Israel they used a word that was known to the hearers, namely duda’im. In Genesis the context implies, though not directly, that duda’im has something to do with fertility. And the most popular conception-inducing plant in Bible times, according to scholars, was the mandragora (mandrake). The translators of the Septuagint and the Targum, with their own ideas about love and fertility, took duda’im in its Holy Land setting rather than trying to establish the identity of the plant in the Mesopotamian context. The English versions have copied the Septuagint, using “mandrake.”

The mandrake is a stemless herb related to the potato and tomato but grows lower to the ground. Its leaves are dark green, reaching 30 centimeters (1 foot) long and 10 centimeters (4 inches) wide, spreading out rose-like from the center. Purple or blue flowers appear on stalks out of the center and develop into yellow fruits that, when ripe, look like eggs in a bird’s nest. They have a distinct smell that some find sweet and others unpleasant. The mandrake’s large root is often forked, giving the appearance of a human body, which is perhaps the basis for its widespread reputation as a love potion throughout the Middle East and Europe, and for its name, the “love apple.”

The supposed magical properties of mandrakes are many and bizarre. It is said to scream when pulled out of the earth. The leaves are said to shine in the dark. In the Middle Ages Germans dressed them up and made sacrifices to them, lest the spirits be offended. French people believed little elves lived inside them and required daily offerings. As recently as 1630, three women in Hamburg were executed for witchcraft on the grounds that they had mandrake roots in their homes. Arabs call mandrakes the Devil’s candles.

The options to translate “mandrake” are:
1. Translate using a similar plant, such as the wild garden egg (so Berom of Nigeria) plus a footnote. In Hausa of Nigeria gautan daji (or yalo) would be a possible model in some places.
2. Translate using a functional equivalent, that is, some local plant known as an aid to conception, as Tiv of Nigeria has done (mkehem).
3. Create a descriptive expression such as “love flower” (Contemporary English Version) or “love fruit.”
4. Transliterate from Hebrew duda’im or a major language and write a footnote saying that this plant may have been considered an aid to conception. When transliterating, it may be useful to add “root of” as a tag, showing that it was the root of the plant that was effective.

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

eat (Genesis 25)

The Hebrew that is translated as “eat” in English is translated in Nyamwezi as nchoyangi’zye or “eat ravenously” (“chow down”). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

hovering over the face of the waters

The Hebrew in Genesis 1:2 that is translated into English as “moving (or: hovering) over the (sur)face of the waters” is translated into Ebira as “(the spirit of God) stayed above the water doing NANANA [ideophone].” (Source: Rob Koops)

In Bari it is translated with bibirto, “which is used of a bird hovering over its nest or fluttering round a bunch of ripe bananas.” (Source: Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)

In Kutu it is translated as “spreading over the water” and in Nyamwezi as ku’elela: “to circle around slowly over water, without touching it.” In Kwere it is translated with katanda, which carries the meaning of being ‘spread out’ over the water as one would spread a blanket out over a bed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

buried in a good old age

The Hebrew in Genesis 15:15 that is translated as “buried in a good old age” in English is translated in Nyamwezi as u’lazyi’kwe visoga or “buried well,” an idiom that means one has died having lived a good/fulfilling life. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

made life bitter

The Hebrew in Genesis 26:35 that is translated as “made life bitter” or similar in English is translated in Indonesian as “made heart bitter” (Alkitab Terjemahan Baru translation) (source: Daniel Arichea in The Bible Translator 1983, p. 209ff. )

In Nyamwezi, nnandyo is used, a term that communicates that “they brought sorrow/bitterness into their lives (from this point forward).” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

first-fruits

The Hebrew that is often translated as “first-fruits” in English is translated in Nyamwezi as ntomolwa or “first benefits of anything you bring in.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

swear / vow

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” in English is otherwise translated as:

  • “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal)
  • “loading yourself down” (Huichol)
  • “speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca)
  • “say what could not be taken away” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “because of the tight (i.e. ‘binding’) word said to a face” (Guerrero Amuzgo)
  • “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “drink an oath” (Jju) (source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).
  • “cut taboos” (Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.