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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 2:2

As in 1.19-20, the king is addressed in the third person in verses 2-4. Since it is not natural in some languages to speak to someone in the third person without causing confusion, translators may want to change to the second person as does Today’s English Version. At the same time the language style of the servants is that of the court, and this should be retained in translation. Today’s English Version‘s casual style implies a camaraderie that is out of keeping with the setting.

Then: the Hebrew conjunction translated Then in Revised Standard Version indicates a progression in the action, expressing either a temporal relationship with verse 1 or a logical relationship. Some translations leave the relationship between verses 1 and 2 implicit and do not translate the Hebrew conjunction (New Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant), while others use a temporal expression such as Then (Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New International Version, Nueva Biblia Española). Today’s English Version seems to suggest that verse 2 follows as the result of the action of verse 1.

The identity of the king’s servants who attended him is not clear. Though they may be the same as the servants mentioned in 1.10, this is not necessarily the case. They advise the king to have a search made for young women who possess two qualities: like Queen Vashti, they must be “beautiful in appearance,” and they must be virgins.

Who attended him: these words translate a participle meaning “the ones serving him.” These apparently were persons who regularly served the king, so translators may say something like “the king’s personal attendants” (New International Version) or “courtiers” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), that is, persons who serve at a royal court.

Let … be sought: literally “let them search.” The Hebrew verb has an indefinite third person plural subject. It is natural in some languages to translate this verb with a passive form such as “Let beautiful young virgins be sought” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) or “Let there be sought out” (Revised English Bible). Other languages may use an indefinite pronoun “one” as the subject, as in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Today’s English Version “Why don’t you make a search?” should not be understood to mean that the king himself will travel throughout the empire in search of beautiful young virgins. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “Why don’t you cause to search?” maintains the indefinite agent while suggesting that it is not the king himself who is to do the searching. Some languages will use a causative verb form such as “Let the king cause beautiful young virgins to be searched for for him.” Other languages will prefer to restate in the form of an active verb, “Let the king tell his servants to search for beautiful young virgins for him.”

Young virgins translates two Hebrew words. The first, naʿaroth, means “young women” (or, “maidens”) and may be used of young single girls who are still virgins, or also of young married women. The second word, bethuloth, often is used to refer to virgins, but it is frequently the context and not the word itself that specifies the idea of virginity. The context in Esther strongly suggests that the sense here is “virgins.” In verses 4-13 the words “maiden” and “maidens” are used without the Hebrew word bethulah, but verse 2 sets the context in which later references to “young woman” carry the component of sexual inexperience as part of the meaning. Many languages have a specific term for “young woman” that includes the idea of not being married. For virgin it may be necessary to use a descriptive phrase. This may sometimes be stated euphemistically as “not to have been with a man.”

For the king: the Hebrew as translated by Revised Standard Version makes it clear that it is on behalf of the king or for the king’s benefit that the virgins are to be sought.

Septuagint 2.2

The king’s servants: as in the Hebrew it is not clear who these servants are. The basic meaning of the Greek word is “doing service, ministering to.” Today’s English Version calls them “his advisers,” and Bible en français courant refers to them as “functionaries in his service.” It is evident that in this context they are giving him personal and yet official advice.

Girls translates a Greek word meaning “young women,” whether unmarried virgins or young married women. These young women are to be physically beautiful, as the Hebrew also says, and morally virtuous. The Greek describes this moral characteristic literally as “uncorrupt, pure.” Bible en français courant interprets this to mean that they are to be “young virgins” (so also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), although it is only in the next verse that the characteristic of being virgins is explicitly stated. Following the original text, translators should use a term or expression referring to moral uprightness or “good character,” as New Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version have done. In some cultures the functional equivalent will be “beautiful young women of obedient character.”

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 .