בְּנֵ֖י חָ֑ם כּ֥וּשׁ וּמִצְרַ֖יִם פּ֥וּט וּכְנָֽעַן׃
8The descendants of Ham: Cush and Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In the Tuvan Bible translation project, the official policy (…) was to keep the spelling of names of major characters the same as in the Russian Synodal translation. However, the translation team and representatives of local Tuvan churches agreed that deviation in proper name spelling from the RST would be allowed on a case-by-case basis if there was a concrete need to do so.
Such a need arose with the name of Noah’s son Ham (חָ֥ם) in Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament.
In Russian, as in English, this is transliterated with three letters — Хам (Kham). In Russian, the name of this character has entered the language with the meaning of “boorish lout, impudent person” because of how Ham treated his father; in Tuvan, however, the word Хам (Kham) already means “shaman.” Since the Tuvan people continue to practice their traditional religion in which shamans play a major role, the translation team felt that leaving the transliteration of this name with the exact spelling as in Russian might cause needless offense to Tuvan sensibilities by unwittingly causing the text of Gen. 9:20-27 to portray shamans as the targets of Noah’s curse. Therefore, the translation team chose to avoid this potential stumbling block while continuing to maintain a close sound correspondence with the name of the biblical character as Tuvan Christians already knew it from the RST text. This was done by doubling the vowel — Хаам. Tuvan has long vowel phonemes that are written with a double vowel, so this is perfectly acceptable from the point of view of Tuvan orthographic conventions.
The correspondence of the Tuvan version of the name to the Russian Synodal spelling is still recognizable, but hopefully, the wrath of Tuvan shamans and their supporters has been averted by this small disliteration.
The rationale behind such an approach to spelling changes in names is concisely described in the foreword to the Tuvan Bible for the sake of transparency
Apparently, the similarity of the English version of this name to the food item (as in “I’ll have a ham and cheese sandwich”) is not deemed offensive enough to the meat-packing industry for a similar disliteration to be performed in English Bible translations.
Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff.
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies “African,” referring to passages like Psalm 105:23. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
“Ham” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .
More information on Ham (son of Noah)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 1:8:
The sons of Ham: Verses 5-7 listed descendants of Noah’s son Japheth. Now in verses 8-16 the writer turns to the descendants of Noah’s son Ham. Since the writer is referring here to people by geographical regions, Good News Translation adds “were the ancestors of the people who bear their names.”
Cush is a transliteration of the Hebrew name, which refers to the region south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. In Greco-Roman times this region was called Ethiopia and included parts of the modern countries of Ethiopia and Sudan. Some modern versions say “Ethiopia” (Contemporary English Version, Moffatt, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Contemporary English Version further explains in a footnote the more precise location.
The Hebrew name translated Egypt is Mitsrayim. Some modern versions simply transliterate the name (so New Century Version, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Nueva Versión Internacional, Reina-Valera revisada), but most give the modern name “Egypt.”
Put has been identified as Somalia by some scholars, but most identify it with part of present-day Libya, as do the Septuagint and the Vulgate in several passages in Ezekiel. Rather than transliterate the name, as in Revised Standard Version, it will be better to use the modern name “Libya” (Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Beaumont).
Canaan is considered to be the ancestor of the peoples who inhabited the land of Israel before the Israelites did. Old Testament writers frequently refer to these inhabitants as “the Canaanites” (see, for example, Gen 12.6).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
1:8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
The descendants of Ham ⌊were⌋ Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
-or-
⌊Noah’s son⌋ Ham ⌊had four⌋ descendants. ⌊They became the people of⌋ Cush, ⌊the people of⌋ Mizraim, ⌊the people of⌋ Put and ⌊the people of⌋ Canaan.
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