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 9:6

In Susa the capital refers not to the city of Susa but to the citadel (so New Jerusalem Bible, “In the fortress Shushan”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New American Bible; see comment on 9.11). This verse tells that five hundred men, or “people,” were killed in the fortress of Susa on the thirteenth of Adar; and verse 15 indicates that on the fourteenth of Adar three hundred more men were killed in the unfortified lower city of Susa. In Hebrew the words “and in Susa the citadel” are in an emphatic position at the beginning of the verse. Both Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version show this emphasis with the addition of the word “itself,” that is, “in Susa the capital itself.” This emphasis anticipates the king’s question below (see comments on verse 12) and should be conveyed in translation in a way that is appropriate to the receptor language.

In keeping with the author’s stylistic use of repetition and pairs of near synonyms, this verse repeats two of the same words used in the preceding verse. There the noun forms were used. Here they occur as verbs, and Revised Standard Version faithfully translates slew and destroyed.

The Hebrew says literally that five hundred men were killed. Since the Old Testament sometimes uses “men” to include both men and women (see Exo 16.16; Deut 24.16), possibly both are meant here. “Five hundred people” as in Today’s English Version and New Revised Standard Version is less specific than the Hebrew but may be correct, though nearly all translations say “five hundred men,” including Revised English Bible (see also verse 12 below).

Septuagint 9.6

The Greek says the city of Susa, not “the citadel” (see also Septuagint verses 11 and 15 below). As in the Hebrew, the Greek is literally “five hundred men” (so Revised English Bible), though women were perhaps included in this number (so New Revised Standard Version and Today’s English Version).

The Greek says only that the Jews killed, while the Hebrew uses a pair of synonyms saying that they “killed and destroyed.”

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 .