The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Absalom” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the signs depicting “hair + caught” referring to 2 Samuel 18:9. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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.”
Because there is a great deal of repetition in these two verses, the order of the various elements has been modified by Good News Translation, and the statement that Absalom fled appears only once. Likewise the place name Geshur is found only once in Good News Translation. In the same way it may be helpful in the receptor language to group together all the elements that have to do with Absalom and translate them first before dealing with the description of what David did. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar to Good News Translation, except it restructures differently by stating first that David mourned a long time for Amnon, and then tells that Absalom fled to the king of Geshur. This order of events may be more logical in other languages also.
But: the beginning of a new paragraph may be sufficient to communicate the idea of the conjunction here.
Talmai: According to 3.3 this king of Geshur was Absalom’s grandfather. It seems logical that Absalom sought refuge with his maternal grandfather when he was afraid of being apprehended by his own father. In the Masoretic Text of this verse, Talmai’s father is named “Ammihur” (American Standard Version, New English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), but most modern translations say Ammihud, which is the corrected reading in the margin of the Masoretic Text.
And David mourned for his son day after day: the Hebrew text has only a pronoun implied in the third person masculine verb form, where Revised Standard Version has David. But this kind of clarification is probably necessary in most languages. Even King James Version supplies the name here. It should also be made clear in translation that the son David mourned was Amnon and not Absalom. The words day after day are a way of describing a long period of time. Compare the same sort of expression in Gen 39.10; Judges 16.16; and 2 Chr 24.11.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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