fainted and fell

In Gbaya, the notion of fainting and falling in Greek Esther 5:15 is emphasized with mbɔɔfɔɔ, an ideophone that refers to the movement of sliding slowly or the act of declining.

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

Translation commentary on Greek Esther 5:15

[Today’s English Version D.15; Revised Standard Version 15.15]

She fell fainting: literally “she fell from her faintness.” Today’s English Version adds the word “again” at the end of this verse, since Esther had already fainted once before (see comments on verse 7).

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 .