king

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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:

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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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

large numbers in Angguruk Yali

Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”

This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.

Source: Lourens de Vries in The Bible Translator 1998, p. 409ff.

See also numbers in Ngalum and numbers in Kombai.

Translation commentary on Greek Esther 3:14

[Today’s English Version B.1; Revised Standard Version 13.1]

The entire contents of this Addition are the message or the letter sent by the king throughout his empire. Both Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version use a colon early in the verse to set off the author’s introduction to the letter from the king’s introduction that is the beginning of the letter itself. At the end of the verse, Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version use a second colon to mark the end of the king’s introduction and the beginning of the main text. The translator may need to restructure and use punctuation that is appropriate to the discourse structure of the receptor language.

The style of the letter is that of an official document, which begins with the identification of the sender. The king identifies himself formally by title and by name, The Great King, Artaxerxes. In many languages this title can be translated simply as “Big King Artaxerxes” or “Great Master of the Land Artaxerxes.” A difference should be maintained in translation between this title and the epithet “Artaxerxes the Great” (16.1 [E.1]), if possible. This, rather than “Xerxes,” is the name of the Persian king throughout the Greek text. Following the introduction in this verse is the text of the king’s message, which begins in verse 2.

In the Greek text the king writes in the first person singular in verses 2-3. Then the style shifts in verses 4-7 to the first person plural. Interpreters must decide whether the shift to the plural indicates that the king now includes his advisers also, or whether the plural is an epistolary plural, that is, a polite form of referring to oneself. Translators should normally follow receptor culture practice in rendering the king’s words. If they decide that the plural is an epistolary plural, they may follow the example of several common language translations that use the first person singular in verses 4-6 (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). The same problem occurs in translating the king’s decree in Addition E, which follows 8.12.

A copy of the letter: this may also be translated “This is the text of the letter” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; see also Bible en français courant). Today’s English Version emphasizes the legal character of the message, twice identifying it as a “decree,” but that information may preferably be left implicit.

On the hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia, see 1.1.

On the rulers of the … provinces, see 1.1. The governors under them (under the rulers of the provinces) translates a Greek word that referred to a district governor. New Jerusalem Bible says “and to their subordinate district commissioners” (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The words under them translate a Greek masculine plural participle that is more literally “the ones being subordinate.” The pronoun them is not in the Greek text. Nearly all interpreters understand this participle to describe only the word the governors, that is, the governors who are subordinate to the rulers of the provinces. It is possible, however, that this participle describes both the rulers and the governors, that is, “The Great King Artaxerxes to the rulers and governors, his subjects” (La Bible Pléiade). However, since most translations agree with the interpretation found in Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version, translators may prefer to follow them here.

Ethiopia: see comments on 1.1.

Writes thus: with these words Revised Standard Version introduces the main content of the letter that follows in the next verses. This should not be interpreted as leading the way to a quotation within a quotation, for it is all one letter.

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 .