Esther

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Esther” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting a star on a crown, referring to her being a queen and her name likely meaning “star” (see here ). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Esther” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

king

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 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 Esther 2:16   

Good News Translation has restructured this verse by arranging the references to time in a manner more natural in English style. La Bible du Semeur provides another way of restructuring: “It was the tenth month, that is, the month of Tebeth, of the seventh year of his reign, that they took Esther to the emperor in the imperial palace.”

The text does not say who took Esther to King Xerxes, only that she was taken. Perhaps the king’s eunuchs were the ones who took her to the king. In some languages a specific verbal construction of either a verb or a verb plus preposition may be used to indicate that Esther was being taken to the king as his wife. It may also be necessary to restate the clause in the active voice; for example, “And when they took Esther to King Ahasuerus.”

The tenth month was approximately from mid-December to mid-January of our modern calendar. (See the detailed comment and diagram of the Hebrew calendar, page 97 and following.) Tebeth, found only here in the Old Testament, began with the new moon that would appear about mid-December to mid-January of our modern calendar. This is the first event in the book that the author locates according to month. He cites the month first by number in the Hebrew fashion, and then by its Babylonian name that the Jews used from the time of the captivity. Almost all versions retain both the ordinal and the name used by the author. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, however, omits the name of the month: “in the tenth month of his seventh year of reigning.” The Living Bible also omits the Babylonian name but substitutes the modern English name: “in January of the seventh year of his reign.” The use of two calendars in identifying months is evidence of the importance the author gives to time and to history in telling the story of Esther. The two calendar systems should be maintained in translation. The Babylonian name may be transliterated like other proper nouns. A footnote may then be used to explain Tebeth, or a glossary entry may discuss the Old Testament calendar system.

Seventh year: about 478 B.C.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .