being down / on the ground

In Gbaya, the notion of being down or being on the ground is emphasized with mbɔlɔlɔ, an ideophone used to describe the expresses the fact of being down.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 2:9

Her glorious vessels have been carried into captivity: Her glorious vessels refers to the Temple objects mentioned in 1Macc 1.21-23. Good News Bible and Goldstein translate vessels as “furnishings,” which is better, since it refers to both Temple containers and equipment. Good News Bible translates carried into captivity as “carried away as loot,” focusing on the stolen objects. New Jerusalem Bible is similar with “carried off as booty.” In languages that do not have the passive voice, this line may be rendered “Our enemies have carried away all the furnishings that had brought the Temple such great honor.”

Her babes have been killed in her streets: The pronouns Her and her in this line and her in the next one refer to Jerusalem. This reference to Jerusalem emphasizes the preciousness of the holy city in Jewish thought, but for most translators the deep feeling may be better reflected by following Good News Bible, which uses the first person pronoun “Our,” making the loss more personal: “Our children have been killed in the streets.” Another possible model is “They have killed our children in the streets.”

Her youths by the sword of the foe: Her youths refers to the “young men” (Good News Bible) of the city. Their enemies mostly used swords to kill them, but by the sword could include killing by any means. Alternative models for this line are “Enemy swords have killed our young men,” “The enemies have slaughtered our young men with their swords,” and “The enemies have used their swords to slaughter our young men.”

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.