boat, ship

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”

Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:

“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.

“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”

In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

See also ships of Tarshish, harbor, anchor, and sailor.

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 11:1

Then the king of Egypt gathered great forces, like the sand by the seashore, and many ships: The connector Then is not necessary. This event didn’t happen immediately after Jonathan’s victory in the previous chapter. A better connector is “Meanwhile.” The Greek text does not name Ptolemy at this point, but since he has already been introduced in 1Macc 10.51 (see the comments there), and is named in verse 3 below, there is no reason not to use his name at this point. He has been absent from the narrative a good while, so it would be helpful to add his name here. Good News Bible does this by expressing the king of Egypt as “King Ptolemy the Sixth of Egypt.” The comparison with sand is familiar in the Old Testament (see, for example, Gen 22.17; Josh 11.4). Instead of sand, Good News Bible has “grains of sand,” which is more natural in English. In languages where sand is not used for counting, we may render like the sand by the seashore as “more than anyone can count.”

And he tried to get possession of Alexander’s kingdom by trickery and add it to his own kingdom: Trickery is a better choice of words than “trap” in Good News Bible. Good News Bible uses this sentence to lead into the next verse, and this works. However, reversing the two sentences in this verse is also possible. A model that does this is:

• Meanwhile, King Ptolemy the Sixth of Egypt intended to trick Alexander in order to gain possession of Alexander’s kingdom [or, all Alexander’s lands], and add it [or, them] to his own. So Ptolemy gathered more troops than there are grains of sand on the seashore, as well as many [or, a large fleet of] ships.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.