years (age)

In Aekyom, years are counted as “turtles” (ambum).

Norm Mundhenk tells this story:

“Recently I was checking some New Testament material in the Aekyom language of western Papua New Guinea. It seemed relatively clear until suddenly we came to a passage that started, ‘When Jesus had 12 turtles, …’ Surely I had misunderstood what they said.
“‘Did you say that Jesus had 12 turtles?’
“‘Let us explain! Around here there is a certain time every year when river turtles come up on the banks and lay their eggs. Because this is so regular, it can be used as a way of counting years. Someone’s age is said to be how many turtles that person has. So when we say that Jesus had 12 turtles, we mean that Jesus was 12 years old.’
“It was of course the familiar story of Jesus’ trip with his parents to Jerusalem. And certainly, as we all know, Jesus did indeed have 12 turtles at that time!”

In Tok Pisin, krismas (derived from “christmas”) is taken as the fixed annual marker, so Jesus had 12 “christmases” (Jisas i gat 12-pela krismas pinis) or Abram (in Gen. 12:4) had 75 (Abram i gat 75 krismas) (source: Norm Mundhenk). In Noongar it is biroka kadak or “summers had” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

See also advanced in years.

rising up in numbers

In Gbaya, the notion of rising up in large numbers in the referenced verses is emphasized in with the ideophone gɛrɛm.

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

anger

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

Translation commentary on 2 Maccabees 4:40

And since the crowds were becoming aroused and filled with anger means the crowds were angry and getting out of control. Contemporary English Version combines these two clauses, saying “But since this crowd was turning into an angry mob.” We suggest changing the order of the two clauses, and combining them with the end of the previous verse, as follows: “39 … Crowds were gathering against Lysimachus in Jerusalem to protest this, 40 and they were becoming very angry and getting out of control.”

Lysimachus armed about three thousand men: Good News Bible has “Lysimachus sent 3,000 armed men,” which is not quite accurate. The men sent by Lysimachus were not necessarily soldiers, who already had weapons. They may well have been drawn from the young men associated with the stadium (verse 9). Lysimachus provided the weapons, and that needs to be said (see the model below).

And launched an unjust attack: Good News Bible lacks the important idea of an unjustattack, which refers to an unjustified attack. Lysimachus was not defending himself; he had not been attacked. So we may say “and he ordered them to attack the crowds without any cause.”

Under the leadership of a certain Auranus, a man advanced in years and no less advanced in folly: Auranus is otherwise unknown. Good News Bible renders a certain Auranus, a man advanced in years and no less advanced in folly as “Auranus, a man as stupid as he was old,” which is good, but some translators may find it a difficult model. Another possibility is “an old man named Auranus, who was just as stupid [or, foolish] as he was old.” A simpler model is “a stupid old man named Auranus.”

As a model for the last part of this verse we suggest:

• Lysimachus gave weapons to about 3,000 men and put them under the command of a foolish [or, stupid] old man named Auranus. Then, without any cause, he had them attack [the crowds].

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.