Koops (UBS Helps for Translators) 2012 – Page 6

date palm

More than forty types of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) are found in dry tropical countries all the way from the Canary Islands, across Africa to India. They probably originated in the Middle East, where they are still found in abundance. In Leviticus 23:40 we read that the branches of date palms were to be used for the Festival of Shelters, and in John 12:13 people welcomed Jesus with date palm leaves. In the latter case there is a legitimate question of where they got the leaves, since Jerusalem is rather too high and cold for date palms. But the same could be asked about the prophetess Deborah’s palm (Judges 4:5), which was located between Ramah and Bethel, scarcely lower than Jerusalem. Jericho was known as the “city of palm trees” (temarim in Hebrew). Date fruits were eaten fresh or dried and pressed into “cakes,” and they were sometimes made into a drink. It is possible that in Deuteronomy 8:8 the Hebrew word devash that we normally take as “honey” refers to a syrup made from dates. The leaves were and are used for mats, baskets, fences, and roofs. Date palms are now cultivated intensively in the Jordan and Aravah valleys, around the Dead Sea, and on the coastal plain of Israel. The word “date” entered English from Latin dactylus via Old French datil. Latin got it from Greek daktylos, meaning “finger.”

The date palm typically grows to a height of 10-20 meters (33-66 feet) and has a cluster of immense leaves at the top. Each year, old leaves wither and droop, and people who own palms cut the old branches off. The tightly packed bunch of immature leaves is called lulav in Hebrew. Date palms start bearing fruit at around five to eight years of age. The sweet fruits, a little smaller than a human thumb, grow in large bunches. Inside the soft fruit is a very hard seed about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long. Date palm trees are either male or female, and there are places where the trees of one sex grow but no fruit is seen, because they lack pollination. Farmers prefer to propagate them by cultivating the suckers that grow at the base of the tree, rather than from seeds, which would produce too many male trees. The fruit appears on the female tree in the summer (June-August).

In Song of Songs 7:7 we find the palm used as a symbol of elegance and grace. In Psalm 92:12–14 we are told that the righteous will flourish like the palm tree, but Job 15:32 says the wicked will wither like a dry palm branch. In 1 Maccabees 13:37 the palm branch is a symbol of peace, but in 1 Maccabees 13:51 it is a symbol of victory (so also John 12.13; Rev 7.9; 2 Macc 10.7).

Translators living along the West African coast often substitute the oil palm or the coconut palm for the date palm, which is found normally in desert areas. Others are familiar with the fan palm (Borassus, “ruhn palm”) but they should note that the shape of the leaf of the fan palm is quite different from that of the date palm. I am not aware of a non-European language that has a generic word for palm. Since the function of palm branches in the Festival of Shelters is to build rough shelters, the type of palm tree does not make a lot of difference. The same is true for references where the image of the palm is used as a decoration, as in the description of the Temple (see 1 Kings 6:29 et al.). In cases where the fruit is mentioned, a transliteration is recommended, either from the Hebrew word tamar or from a major language.

In locations where oil and coconut palm trees are found, but no date palms, the oil palm is to be preferred. In places where no palms are found, it is still possible that the date fruit is found in markets, particularly in Muslim-dominated areas, where it may be a popular item for breaking the fast during Ramadan. In northern Nigeria, a dwarf species of date palm (Phoenix reclinata) grows in ravines and bears small edible fruits much like the big palm. At least one translation there (Berom) makes use of the local name.

It would seem then that if the date palm is not known at all, the options here are:

1. use the word for oil or coconut palm (and consider writing a footnote that indicates that the Hebrew words tamar and tomer and the Greek word phoinix refer to a similar tree that has a quite different fruit);
2. transliterate from Hebrew (tomera, tamara) and Greek (fonis, fowinik);
3. transliterate from a major language, for example, nakhal/temer (Arabic), dattier (French), datil/palmera (Spanish), mtende (Swahili), khajoor (खजूर) (Hindi), and hǎizǎo (海枣 / 海棗) (Chinese);
4. use a generic phrase appropriate to the context, for example, “beautiful tree.”

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

In Chichewa, gwalanga, the word for the local fan palm is used for translation. In rural areas people use the leaves for vegetables. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

aloe

The New Testament aloe must be distinguished from that mentioned in some versions of the Old Testament. In Numbers 24:6, Psalm 45:8; and some other places aloe refers to chips of fragrant wood from the agarwood tree found in northern India. However, the New Testament reference to aloe is to the true aloe Aloe vera. This aloe originated in southern Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar. The gel-like substance in the leaves of the aloe has been used as medicine for centuries, especially to treat burns and abrasions of the skin. It is also used as a laxative, and in modern times as an ingredient in all kinds of skin creams, soaps, shampoo, and even as a drink (in Asia), or as an additive to tea.

The leaves of aloe plants are stiff, fleshy spines that come out like fat knife blades from the center of the plant. They have spiny margins and are mostly solid green in color, but some are spotted or blotched. Most aloes have no visible stem, but some do have stems, and can reach a height of more than a meter (3 feet). The plants produce clusters of small red or yellow tube-like flowers that are borne on a stalk.

Aloes are native to southern Africa, Madagascar and Arabia, but are now found in tropical countries throughout the world. Translators in those areas will have local names for the plant. Since the one reference to aloe is a non-rhetorical passage, a transliteration from a major language is advised, but it will depend on what is done with myrrh, the other word in the pair.

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

pomegranate

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “pomegranate” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as kingmernarssûp or “big lingonberry.” “The Greenlandic word kingmernarssûp (modern kimmernarsuup) derives from kingmernaĸ (modern kimmernaq) ‘lingonberry’ (Vaccinium vitis-idaea ). The lingonberry is the fruit of a shrub from the heath family which is native to the boreal forest and tundra in the Arctic regions of North America, Europe, and Siberia, including western and southern Greenland. The term for ‘lingonberry’ has been modified with the suffix –ssuaĸ (modern –suaq ‘big’), resulting in a descriptive term meaning ‘big lingonberry.’ (Modern Greenlandic uses the Danish loanword granatæble.)” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)

The pomegranate Punica granatum has been grown from ancient times across the Middle East over to Iran and into northern India. It is widely cultivated throughout India and the drier parts of Southeast Asia, Malaya, the East Indies, and tropical Africa. Pomegranates are now found throughout the warm parts of southern Europe and across North Africa and Asia all the way to Nepal. Images of pomegranate fruits have been found in Pharaoh’s temple in Karnak, Egypt, dating from around 1480 B.C. In classical Latin the species name was malum punium (apple of Puni) or malum granatum (seedy apple). This has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (for example, German Granatapfel, “seed apple”). The English word “pomegranate” itself comes from Latin pomum (fruit, apple) via Old French. The Arabic rummân (رمان) passed into some other languages, including Portuguese romã.

The pomegranate is a small tree, growing to about 3-5 meters (10-17 feet) tall, with narrow, dark green leaves and many thorny branches. It has a lovely red flower. The fruit is a bit smaller than an orange and has a hard skin, which must be cut open to get at the tightly-packed pockets of seeds inside, each seed enclosed in a little bag of juicy pulp. The end of the fruit has a distinctive flower-like shape. The hard skin, which turns from green to red as it ripens, is used as a tanning agent, for medicine, and for ink. The seeds were sometimes made into wine. Pomegranate trees live up to two hundred years.

The pomegranate was one of the seven “special” foods mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8 that the Israelites would find in Canaan. The fruit was one of several brought back to the camp of the Israelites by the men who scouted out Canaan (Numbers 13:23). In Song of Songs 4:3 the bride of the king is said to have cheeks like halves of a pomegranate, a reference, probably, to their red color. The flower-shaped end of the pomegranate fruit made it an attractive decoration, for example on the fringe of the priests’ robes (Exodus 28:33f. and on the columns and furniture of the Temple (2 Kings 25:17).

In Jewish tradition the pomegranate stands for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 commands of the Torah. For this reason and others many Jews eat pomegranates on the Jewish New Year Festival (Rosh Hashanah). Jewish tradition also holds that the pointed calyx of the pomegranate is the original “design” for a royal crown.

The Babylonians believed chewing pomegranate seeds before battle made them invincible. The Qur’an mentions pomegranates three times, twice as examples of the good things God creates, once as a fruit found in the Garden of Paradise.

The pomegranate is only recently being grown outside of the Mediterranean area. In West Africa it has not yet become a popular fruit. Where it is known at all, it is called rummân (from Arabic). In Song 4.3 and 6.7 the references to the pomegranate are rhetorical. There a cultural equivalent representing redness or beauty could be used. Elsewhere in the Bible transliteration is advised, following a major language. The word pome simply means “fruit,” so the basic word to transliterate from is granate (compare granada in Spanish). A possible expression is “garinada fruit.” The Latin phrase Punica granatum for pomegranate means the “grenade” of Punica (= Carthage), a city in present-day Tunisia. The Latin word granatum means “filled with many grains or seeds.” Reflecting this, Bambara of Guinea uses “karanati fruit.” One could also use the Hebrew rimmon as a base. Areas influenced by Arabic may find a word like rummân, for example, roomaanoo in Mandinka. A footnote could describe the fruit as similar to a guava, red and seedy.

Although the pomegranate has been introduced recently throughout Africa, it is not well-known, so the name will most likely need to be transliterated. As the English name is quite long, the translator is advised to translate from another source or look for ways to shorten it, such as “granata fruit.”

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

oak

Three species of oak are found in Israel, the main ones being the Tabor oak and the Kermes (or common) oak. Both go by the name ’elon or ’allon in Hebrew. The similarity to the Hebrew word ’el (“god”) is significant, since these trees have long been associated with worship and with burial. Since the Tabor oak is the biggest, it is likely that ’elon and ’allon most often refer to that one. English versions have sometimes mistakenly translated the Hebrew word ’elah (“terebinth”) as “oak.”

According to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, Baker Book House, 1992), forests of Kermes oak (Quercus calliprinos or Quercus coccifera) covered the hill country of Israel from Carmel to Samaria in biblical times. The Kermes oak forest is the most familiar and important type of vegetation in Israel.

The Tabor Oak Quercus macrolepsis (= Quercus aegilops = Quercus ithaburensis = Valonea oak in Israel) apparently replaced the original common oak during the Arab period (800–1400 A.D.), but has itself been nearly destroyed in more recent times by the efforts of charcoal makers, limestone burners, and the Turkish rail-way. Tabor oaks are deciduous and are found mostly in Carmel.

The large Tabor oak reaches a height of 25 meters (82 feet), branching at around 5.5 meters (18 feet). The Kermes oak is more like a large shrub, normally branching at ground level. The Tabor oak loses its leaves every winter; the Kermes oak is evergreen and prickly.

Oaks were used to mark grave sites (see Genesis 35:8), and it is possible that the references to “oak of Moreh” or “oaks of Mamre” may hint at burial sites of famous people. They were probably also important in divination, if the reference in Judges 9:37 (see Translation commentary on Judges 9:37) to a “Diviners’ Oak” can be taken as typical. References to people named Allon (1 Chronicles 4:37) or Elon (Genesis 46:14 et al.) may suggest that the oak was a symbol of strength or beauty, or both.

Oaks grow mainly in temperate areas (Europe, North America, North Asia, and Japan) and the Mediterranean area, including North Africa. Translators in tropical areas will not have a local variety as an option. In historical contexts, therefore, it will be necessary to transliterate from a major language. In poetic contexts such as the prophets, the oak typically represents a large and very strong tree, and a local species with those characteristics can be considered.

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

plane

Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) confidently equates the ‘armon of Ezekiel 31:8 with Oriental Plane Platanus orientalis, mostly on the basis of the fact that Arabs call it dilba, which is derived from the Aramaic. The name ‘armon may come from the Hebrew word ‘erom meaning “naked,” referring to the way the bark peels off, leaving the seemingly naked trunk.

Plane trees may have been abundant in the past, if the common name “Wadi Dilb” is related to the Arabic dilba. In the present day, plane trees are fairly common in the upper Jordan Valley and its tributaries. It is widespread throughout the eastern Mediterranean region and in the hills of Iraq and Iran.

The plane tree is large and wide-spreading, with big branches and lobed, hairy leaves shaped like a hand. In Israel it can reach a height of 20 meters (66 feet) and the trunk 50 centimeters (2 feet) in diameter. Its flowers are small and green. The small seeds are contained in round, bristly fruits, which, when open, release the seeds with plumes that carry them great distances on the wind.

In Genesis 30:37 Jacob presumably chose to use branches of the plane tree because its bark can easily be peeled off in strips, exposing the white or yellow inner layer. In ancient times the plane tree was praised as a shade tree by the Greeks, Romans, and Persians. Ezekiel 31:8 associates planes, cedars, and beroshim (“cypresses” or “Grecian junipers”) with the “garden of God,” suggesting special beauty. In Sirach 24:14 wisdom is compared to the plane as a beautiful, big tree.

True plane trees are limited to Europe and North America, apart from the species that grows in the eastern Mediterranean region and Iran. (A wild maple tree in Britain is misleadingly called a “plane.”) Translators in Asia, Latin America, and Africa will have no local species available for the story of Jacob’s goat-breeding experiment in Genesis 30:37 and will have to consider a transliteration in keeping with the other trees mentioned there (poplar and almond). However, the passage in Ezekiel 31:8, where the plane is used in a metaphorical context, leaves room for local equivalents. Egypt, in this passage, is compared to a mighty cedar, against which other trees, such as the plane and the fir, do not match up. Rendering “plane” here will depend on what the translator does with the other trees.

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

nigella

The English versions of Isaiah 28:25 and 27 reveal the confusion of the translators who have encountered the Hebrew word qetsach. It has been rendered “fitches,” “dill,” “fennel,” and “caraway.” Against all of these renderings, Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) confidently asserts that the word qetsach refers to the nigella plant Nigella sativa, also called by the names “nutmeg flower,” “black cumin,” “black seed,” “charnushka,” and “kalonji.” The Aramaic and Arabic equivalent is qatscha. Jews, Arabs, and Europeans use nigella seeds to decorate cakes and bread up to the present. It is also used as a spice in cooking.

Nigella is planted and harvested annually. It grows to around 30 centimeters (1 foot) in height and has a lacy leaf like dill or carrot and a greenish-blue flower with five petals. The base of the flower becomes a seedpod that contains many round, black, sharp-smelling seeds.

Nigella is used by Isaiah as one of several species in a parable he tells to the leaders of Israel. A farmer, he says, does not destroy the results of one season’s work while preparing for that of the next season. This is spoken to know-it-all scoffers who claim that God’s ways are completely fixed. Against that Isaiah says that God’s ways are according to the conditions of his creatures, as a farmer plants and harvests according to the needs of the various crops.

The abundance of names for nigella is an indication of its popularity around the world. Fortunately the Latin name nigella is now replacing the confusing name “black cumin.” This is good because cumin is a totally different plant. Likewise, “nutmeg flower” and “black caraway” are losing favor. So translators can avoid the confusion brought on by the English by transliterating from a major language.

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

cassia

Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) is confident that the substance referred to by the Hebrew words qiddah and qetsi‘ah is oil or powder derived from the leaves, twigs, or bark of the cassia Cinnamomum cassia, a tree found in East Asia. The name “cassia” may possibly come from the Khasi people of north-eastern India and Bangladesh; earlier they lived in the area of Assam and Burma and were involved in the ancient cassia trade. So cassia oil may have been brought into Israel from East Asia. However, with respect to “cassia” and “cinnamon” in Exod 30:23 and 24, Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992) argues that these spices were probably not Asian spices as has often been supposed. Quoting research by Lucas and Harris on ancient Egyptian materials, he says that there is no evidence of these Asian spices in tombs in Egypt. If they were being transported by the deprived Israelites, why were they not used by the more prosperous Egyptians? Further, how was Moses to have access to these substances in remote Sinai? Hepper favors southern Arabia and northeastern Africa as sources for fragrant barks and resins.

Asian cassia trees grow to 10 meters (33 feet) tall. They have distinctive opposite leaves with three lighter-colored veins or ribs radiating from the base. Their rather small flowers droop in bunches.

Cassia is closely related to the well-known spice, cinnamon. In fact, much of the “cinnamon” sold in North America is cassia. Europeans and South Americans tend to use the real cinnamon from Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Since cassia is native to East Asia, translators there will know it by a local name. Since the passages that refer to cassia are non-rhetorical, translators elsewhere may transliterate this term from a major language. Cassia is of the genus Cinnamomum, which is completely different from the genus Cassia of which there are many species in Africa. So transliterations based on “cassia” are potentially misleading in Africa. To avoid a wrong association with African cassia (which is not aromatic), African translators could do one of the following:

1. transliterate from the Hebrew qiddah;
2. transliterate from English (kasiya) and write a footnote saying this tree has no relationship to the cassia tree of Africa;
3. substitute a well-known sweet-smelling gum.

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

terebinth

The Hebrew words ’elah and ’alah refer to any of three species of terebinth mentioned in the Bible: 1) the Atlantic terebinth Pistacia atlantica, 2) the Palestinian terebinth Pistacia palaestina, and 3) the Lentisk Terebinth Pistacia lentiscus, also called the mastic tree.

According to Zohary (Plants of the Bible, Cambridge University Press, 1982), the Atlantic terebinth, also called the teil tree, is found in the Negev, Lower Galilee, and the Dan Valley. Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, Baker Book House, 1992) says it was once abundant in Gilead, the trunk and bark being a possible source for aromatic resin (mastic) exported to Egypt. It is a dry-land tree that grows in the border areas between ever-green woodlands and the dwarf-shrub steppes (note “valley of Elah” in 1 Samuel 17:2 et al.). The nuts of the Atlantic terebinth are used for dyeing and tanning animal skins, but they can be eaten if roasted. They are often sold in Arab markets, are bigger than the nuts of the Palestinian terebinth, and are quite different from the true pistachio nuts.

The Palestinian terebinth is found mostly on wooded hills, often together with the common oak. Its little round nuts can be eaten whole, fresh, or roasted, and it is probably these nuts (boten) that were carried to Egypt by the sons of Jacob (Genesis 43:11).

The lentisk terebinth is a shrub or bush that grew in the hills of Gilead, and may be the source of the “balm/resin” (tsori in Hebrew) carried by the Ishmaelites in Genesis 37:25, and by the sons of Jacob to Egypt along with pistachio nuts in Genesis 43:11. The fact that Genesis 37:25 et al. all mention Gilead in connection with the resin tsori, suggests that its source was a plant unique to Palestine. That is why it could be used to trade for goods from Egypt. The references in Jeremiah (8:22 and 46:11) presumably refer to the salve made from the terebinth resin.

Terebinths look like oaks but have pinnate leaves. The Atlantic terebinth may reach a height of 10 meters (33 feet). The Palestinian terebinth species is shorter, reaching to 5 meters (17 feet). The lentisk terebinth, or mastic (gum) tree, is a small shrub or tree 1-3 meters (3-10 feet) in height that produces a sweet-smelling resin when the stem or branches are cut. The resin dries into hard lumps, which are then ground and dissolved in olive oil for medicinal use, per-fume, incense, varnish, and glue.

Both of the larger terebinths were revered by ancient Israelites and other peoples. They built shrines and altars in the terebinth groves, and sometimes buried people there. The resin of the lentisk terebinth was highly prized for its medicinal value, which is why the Ishmaelites and the sons of Jacob were carrying them as trade goods to Egypt. Sirach 24:16 uses the wide-spreading branches terebinth as a metaphor for wisdom.