The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Saul” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.
In this verse, where English translates “Saul (defeated),” the Tagalog translation translates “nina Saul” because the context of the text makes clear that Saul and his army men defeated the Amalekites. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal directions. (Source: Don Slager)
Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.
Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 15:7:
Kupsabiny: “When the Kenites had left, Saul fought the Amalekites right from Havilah to Shur on the eastern side of Egypt.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “After that Saul attacked the Amalekites living in the area from Havilah to Shur, the east of Egypt.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then Saul and-company attacked the Amaleknon from Havila up-to Shur, east of Egipto.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then Saul’s army slaughtered the Amalek people-group, from Havilah town in the east to Shur town in the west. Shur was at the border between Israel and Egypt.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
As earlier in this story, Saul represents his whole army. If necessary, translators may say “Saul and his soldiers” or something similar.
The Amalekites: literally “Amalek” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Fox). See the comments on verse 2 and 14.48.
From Havilah as far as Shur: the location of Havilah is uncertain, but apparently it was on the west coast of Arabia, north of modern Yemen. Shur is located in the desert region in the Sinai Peninsula, on the northeast border of Egypt and east of the present Suez Canal. According to Gen 25.18, Havilah and Shur formed the western limit of the territory where the Ishmaelites lived.
East of: literally “in front of” (Chouraqui, Fox). Other translations include “close to Egypt” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “at the border of Egypt” (New Century Version), “on the borders of Egypt” (Revised English Bible), and “on the frontier of Egypt” (New American Bible). Some interpreters think the Hebrew “in front of” here means “east.” Translations reflecting this interpretation include Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version (“just east of Egypt”).
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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