king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Greek Esther 1:37

[Esther 1.20]

A fifth word is found in this verse relating to commands, pithgam, translated decree in some versions (Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “proclamation” in others (Today’s English Version), and “edict” in still others (New International Version). The important components in this word are that the command is in written form and it is made known as a public pronouncement or proclamation. The verb is proclaimed is literally “will be heard.” In this context a possible model for translating this part of the verse is the following: “When all the people throughout all the land of the king hear the decree that he has made….” Many languages have a special verb for making an official proclamation that can be used in translating this verse. For instance, a decree may be “announced” or “declaimed,” or it may be “cried out.”

In the words vast as it is, the word “it” can refer to the decree, as in Segond (“When people become informed of this decree that is so important”), but nearly all interpreters understand “it” to refer to the size of the kingdom, as in Today’s English Version; Revised English Bible has “throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom.”

For women to give honor to their husbands means in this context “to treat her husband with proper respect” (Today’s English Version; also New Jerusalem Bible). In this narrative, though, to treat one’s husband with proper respect means more precisely to “bow to the authority of their husbands” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “to show herself to be submissive to her husband” (Bible en français courant). It is the opposite of showing contempt to one’s husband, referred to in verses 17 and 19 above. The translator may need to choose either “honor” or “obey,” depending on which is the more appropriate in the context.

The words high and low, like “great and small” in 1.5, refer primarily to social rank or position and not to age (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “whatever their social position might be”). The Hebrew words “great” and “small” refer to the husbands (so Today’s English Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, and most translations). A few translations (Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) connect these words to the wives of the common people (1.17), that is, the low, and of the nobles (1.18), that is, the high: “all women, high and low alike, will give honour to their husbands.” Revised English Bible and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch are not the best models here.

Septuagint 1.20

Law is again the same Greek word nomos that has been used throughout the text. Today’s English Version restates to conform more closely to the Hebrew text (see above). In this conclusion by Muchaeus he generalizes from the women of high rank in verse 18 to “all the women.”

The Septuagint omits that the kingdom is “vast.” In addition it reverses the order to say “from the poor to the rich” rather than “high and low.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on the Book of Esther — Deuterocanon: The Greek Text. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .