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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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

Translation commentary on Ezra 6:1

Then: This represents an Aramaic adverbial expression that functions as a discourse marker to mark the continuation of the narration following from the preceding event. Good News Translation translates this with the conjunction “So,” while New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “Thereupon.”

Darius the king made a decree, and search was made: The text does not say what was stated in the king’s decree, but it does indicate the result of the decree. The request of the Persian officials was granted because a search was carried out for the decree of Cyrus. Good News Translation restructures the verse to make the content of the decree explicit in the form of a non-quotation: “Emperor Darius issued orders for a search to be made.” It then leaves it implicit that the search was carried out according to the emperor’s orders.

Babylonia: The Aramaic literally says “Babel,” which was the name of the city of Babylon, but this name could also refer to the province of Babylonia. Revised Standard Version and some other versions interpret it in the latter sense here (so Amplified Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), while many versions assume that it refers only to the city of Babylon in this context (so Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version). Since archives were kept in the treasury that was located in the city, the reference here is probably to the city of Babylon, but the search obviously included other places (see verse 2).

In the house of the archives where the documents is literally “in the house of books where the treasures” (see Ezra 5.17). The archives of royal documents were kept in the king’s treasury in each center where he had a residence. Revised Standard Version uses the term documents to refer to the “books” that were kept in the treasuries because they were not books in the modern sense of the word. In the Persian Empire clay tablets were used for writing Old Persian documents, but leather scrolls were used in the civil service for records written in Aramaic, the language of the Persian Empire. Elsewhere in the Middle East, papyrus was used as writing material, and in the last several centuries B.C., parchment, that is, sheepskin and goatskin, was increasingly coming into use for writing on. Scrolls were made of sheets of papyrus or of pieces of parchment. These were glued together in long strips that were written on and then rolled up for storage and safekeeping.

Were stored: This construction has a stative meaning; that is, the royal documents were put in a place where they could be kept and where they would be safe over a long period of time. Some languages may have an idiom to express the idea of being put away until needed, for example, “to put up” as though being put up under the thatch of a roof for safe storage.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .