purple

The Greek and Hebrew hat is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext). In Silimo it is translated with a local reference: “the colour of the wipegen berry” (source: Buzz and Myrna Maxey ).

In Kasua was a little bit more involved, as Rachel Greco recalls (in The PNG Experience ):

“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.

“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.

“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.

“God did not disappoint.

“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.

“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.

“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.

“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?

“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.

“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”

In Numbers 4:13, Gbaya uses the ideophone soi-soi to emphasize the purple color. Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation and soi-soi designates something that has a red or purple color, or a thing with a clear or clean appearance. (Source: Philip Noss)

Translation commentary on Greek Esther 8:39

[Esther 8:15]

It is not clear whether verse 15 introduces a new scene at some indefinite later time, or whether the same scene continues from verse 8. If the latter, all of the material in verses 9-14 is simply a continuation of events surrounding the writing and proclamation of Mordecai’s edict before returning to verse 8 to resume the story from that point. These verses then stand in marked contrast to 3.15b, which describes the scene after the first decree was issued.

Mordecai was dressed in royal robes of blue and white, the same colors as the cotton curtains and the hangings in the royal banquet scene in 1.6. And he wore a mantle of fine linen and purple, words that also remind the reader of the cords of white linen and purple in 1.6. Mordecai’s new position is clearly revealed by the “clothing of royalty” that he wore (compare 5.1). His status is now markedly different from that of the days when he sat at the gate of the palace.

The Hebrew says “clothing of royalty,” and some versions use similar general terms; for example, “a royal garment” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “royal garments” (New International Version), “royal dress” (Bible en français courant). Others like Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version interpret Mordecai’s clothing to be royal robes (compare 5.1). The translator may restate to say “dressed in the great clothes of a king” or “dressed in blue and white clothes like a king.” The second item of clothing is usually understood to be a “cloak,” a mantle (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Chouraqui). This is a garment that was wrapped around oneself or that hung over one’s shoulders. The translator may wish to use a descriptive phrase.

The great golden crown that Mordecai wore was not the royal crown that the king or the queen wore. The Hebrew word for the royal crown in 1.11; 2.17; 6.8 is different from the word here in verse 15, which refers to the turban worn by high officials. If there is no technical term for a turban, one may describe it as “cloth wrapped around head [of important men]” or “head wrapping.” If it was cloth, it was decorated with gold or it had gold stitching. It was not, of course, a scarf.

The Hebrew says that the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. This is the opposite of 3.15, where Susa was “thrown into confusion.” Some languages may have to say “the people of the city” rather than “the city.” Restructuring may also be used, such as “the city was filled with happy shouting and rejoicing” or “the city rang with the sounds of happy shouting and rejoicing.” The word “shouting” should be used with care, because in some languages it may have connotations of negative emotions such as fear and anger that are not appropriate in this situation.

Septuagint 8.15

Though the Hebrew specifies the colors of Mordecai’s robe, the Septuagint says only that he went out dressed in the royal robe. In addition to the golden crown cited in both versions, the Hebrew says that Mordecai wore a “cloak” of purple linen, while the Greek says he wore a turban, or “diadem” of purple linen.

The people … rejoiced: as Today’s English Version indicates, the reaction of the people may have been more enthusiastic than mere rejoicing. But Today’s English Version seems too much influenced by the Hebrew parallel. It will be better to use a more general term such as rejoiced or “were very happy.”

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 .