Cyrene

David Clark (in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 54ff. ) explains the complicated odyssey of the name “Cyrene” into Mal: “[Mal formed a word] based on the Thai form Sairin (ไซรีน), which in turn is based on the English pronunciation of the form ‘Cyrene’ rather than on the Greek spelling or pronunciation. Mal makes further adaptations as required by its own phonology, and the name becomes Saylin. The Mal form is thus at three removes from the Greek, being mediated through Latin, English, and Thai.”

More information about Cyrene .

Translation commentary on 2 Maccabees 2:23

Good News Bible inserts a paragraph break here, which is helpful.

All this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book: The writer tells us here that this book (2Maccabees) is a condensation, or abbreviation, of the five books that Jason wrote on the subject. If translators have followed our suggestion to introduce Jason of Cyrene in verse 19, some of this information can be safely omitted. Compare Good News Bible‘s treatment of both verses. The Greek uses two different words for volumes and book, but one term can be used in translation without distorting the meaning. However, in languages like English that have more than one word for “book,” two may be used as in Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, and Contemporary English Version. The pronoun we is the “editorial we,” and is well translated “I” by Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version, and New English Bible. Good News Bible‘s model for this verse is simple and clear, and so is Contemporary English Version with “I will now try to summarize Jason’s books in one volume.”

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.