king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 10:28

Moses had warned that the king of the Israelites was not to have a large number of horses for his army (Deut 17.16).

Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue: Revised Standard Version speaks of the import of horses while Good News Translation talks about “the export of horses.” The meaning is that Solomon’s agents controlled the import of horses into Israel, horses that were exported from Egypt and Kue.

The Hebrew name for Egypt is Mitsrayim. The consonants in Mitsrayim are similar to those in the place name “Musri.” Since Musri and Cilicia were two ancient countries in what is now southeast Turkey and were centers of horse breeding in Solomon’s time, many interpreters correct the Hebrew to read “Musri” (so Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy,Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Osty-Trinquet, Gray). It is interesting to note that the text of the New International Version Study Bible reads Egypt but the study note on this verse indicates the text should read “Muzur.” The same kind of confusion exists in 2 Kgs 7.6; 2 Chr 1.16; 9.28. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text. Some translations omit Egypt in this verse, considering it to be a later insertion from the following verse (so New American Bible).

King James Version and Reina-Valera revisada translate the Hebrew word for Kue as “linen yarn.” Other interpreters have understood the Hebrew word to mean “a pool, collection, or group.” This whole verse in Nouvelle version Segond révisée, for example, reads “They brought Solomon’s horses from Egypt: a group of the king’s merchants went to take them in groups, at a set price.” But the word Kue is widely recognized today to refer to a place, which was called “Cilicia” in the Greco-Roman period. Since the name “Cilicia” is better known among speakers of American English than the name Kue (which is used in Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), Good News Translation has used the better-known name (also New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Anchor Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

Translators may wish to explain the location and significance of these two place names in a footnote as Good News Translation has done. Compare also the footnote inParola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente: “These two places of Asia Minor [that is, Musri and Cilicia] were famous for the breeding of horses.”

The king’s traders received them from Kue at a price: The Hebrew word rendered at a price probably means “at market price.” Compare “at the prevailing price” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “at the standard price” (New Living Translation). Other interpreters, however, understand this word to mean simply that the king’s agents paid for the horses (Revised English Bible “by purchase”) without any indication of whether it was at market price or some other price. Compare New American Bible: “from Cilicia, where the king’s agents purchased them.” Good News Translation appears to follow this second interpretation by restating the information and saying simply that “The king’s agents controlled the export.” Good News Translation leaves implicit that the king’s agents paid for the horses.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .