king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 Maccabees 11:38

Now when Demetrius the king saw that the land was quiet before him and that there was no opposition to him: The land was quiet before him means no battles were going on and none were threatened. There was no opposition to him means no one opposed Demetrius’ rule. We may reverse the order of these clauses, saying “When King Demetrius saw that no one was opposing him and that his kingdom was peaceful.”

He dismissed all his troops, each man to his own place: Troubles began when he dismissed all his troops. The king’s army consisted of professional soldiers. Their life and livelihood was in the army, and this action meant that they were now without jobs. They would resent this. In ancient times dismissed veterans were potential sources of danger. This would prove to be the case here. Each man to his own place means the soldiers were sent to their own home towns. An alternative model for this clause is “he sent all his own soldiers back to their own homes.”

Except the foreign troops which he had recruited from the islands of the nations: Demetrius kept in service only the mercenaries from the Greek islands. For the islands of the nations, see the comments on 1Macc 6.29.

So all the troops who had served his fathers hated him: His fathers refers to the Syrian kings before Demetrius~II whom the soldiers had fought for. Nothing in the Greek corresponds to Good News Bible‘s clause “because they had lost their source of income,” but it is certainly helpful, and may well be necessary for readers to understand what is involved here. We normally expect soldiers to be happy to be sent home. Contemporary English Version expands this sentence even further by saying “But this made his own soldiers turn against him, because they had fought for many years, first in his father’s army and then in his.”

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.