Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 18:26:
Kupsabiny: “When David was told that message, he was so happy because he saw that he was going to become a son in law in the king’s family. And/But before that day when he would be given the king’s daughter,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The courtiers proclaimed to David what Saul had said and David was pleased with this decree to be married to the king’s daughter. Before the wedding took place,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When this was-told by the servants/attendants of Saul to David, he (was) pleased/happy to-become the child-in-law/(son-in-law) of the king. So before the time that Saul appointed/set/allotted to David arrived,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When the servants told that to David, he was very pleased that he could become the king’s son-in-law by doing that. The king had said how many days he would allow for David to do that. But before that time ended,” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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:
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.”
These words, that is, that Saul wanted no bride price except a hundred foreskins.
The expression it pleased David well will have to be restructured in many languages to make David the subject of the sentence: “David was well pleased” or, perhaps more naturally, “David was very happy.” The Hebrew is literally “the matter was right in David’s eyes” (so Fox, Chouraqui).
To be the king’s son-in-law: as in verses 22 and 23.
Before the time had expired: literally “and the days were not full.” This Hebrew idiom is found also in Gen 25.24; Lev 8.33; Jer 25.12, and elsewhere. These words are lacking in the Septuagint and are therefore placed in brackets in New American Bible. The text has not earlier stated that King Saul had set a time limit during which David was to kill the one hundred Philistines, but this seems to be the sense of these words (so Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Revised English Bible says “before the appointed time.” New Jerusalem Bible expresses a slightly different understanding: “And no time was lost.” Either way, the text indicates that David went about the task quickly. The Good News Translation rendering “Before the day set for the wedding” is an attempt to express the same idea, but it seems too explicit by suggesting that the king had actually planned a wedding and had set a wedding date.
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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