Canaan

The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Canaan in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Japheth

The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Japheth” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “Europe,” referring to the fact that Japheth traditionally is seen as the forefather of the European people. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Ham and Shem.

More information on Japheth .

Shem

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Shem” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “Arab,” referring to the fact that Shem traditionally is seen as the forefather of Semitic people, including Abraham and his descendants (see Genesis 11:26 et al.)(Source: Steve Parkhurst)

Note that the terms “Semite” and “Semitic” are derived from “Shem.”


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

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Ham and Japheth.

More information on Shem .

Ham

In the Tuvan Bible translation project, the official policy (…) was to keep the spelling of names of major characters the same as in the Russian Synodal translation. However, the translation team and representatives of local Tuvan churches agreed that deviation in proper name spelling from the RST would be allowed on a case-by-case basis if there was a concrete need to do so.

Such a need arose with the name of Noah’s son Ham (חָ֥ם) in Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament.

In Russian, as in English, this is transliterated with three letters — Хам (Kham). In Russian, the name of this character has entered the language with the meaning of “boorish lout, impudent person” because of how Ham treated his father; in Tuvan, however, the word Хам (Kham) already means “shaman.” Since the Tuvan people continue to practice their traditional religion in which shamans play a major role, the translation team felt that leaving the transliteration of this name with the exact spelling as in Russian might cause needless offense to Tuvan sensibilities by unwittingly causing the text of Gen. 9:20-27 to portray shamans as the targets of Noah’s curse. Therefore, the translation team chose to avoid this potential stumbling block while continuing to maintain a close sound correspondence with the name of the biblical character as Tuvan Christians already knew it from the RST text. This was done by doubling the vowel — Хаам. Tuvan has long vowel phonemes that are written with a double vowel, so this is perfectly acceptable from the point of view of Tuvan orthographic conventions.

The correspondence of the Tuvan version of the name to the Russian Synodal spelling is still recognizable, but hopefully, the wrath of Tuvan shamans and their supporters has been averted by this small disliteration.

The rationale behind such an approach to spelling changes in names is concisely described in the foreword to the Tuvan Bible for the sake of transparency

Apparently, the similarity of the English version of this name to the food item (as in “I’ll have a ham and cheese sandwich”) is not deemed offensive enough to the meat-packing industry for a similar disliteration to be performed in English Bible translations.

Source: Vitaly Voinov in The Bible Translator 2012, p. 17ff.

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies “African,” referring to passages like Psalm 105:23. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Shem and Japheth.

More information on Ham (son of Noah)

Noah

The Hebrew, Latin; Ge’ez and Greek that is transliterated as “Noah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that combines the letter N + “boat.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

The following is a stained glass window depicting Noah by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:

Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Noah .

complete verse (Genesis 9:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 9:18:

  • Kankanaey: “These are the children of plural Noe who went-out from the ark, Sem and Ham and Jafet. (This Ham, that is the one who had-as-descendant Canaan.)” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The ones who came out of the ship with Noah were his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “These were the children of Noe who were with him in the ark: Shem, Ham and Jafet. (Ham is the father of Canaan.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The sons of Noah who came out of the boat were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham later became the father of Canaan.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 9:18

The sons of Noah: that Noah had three sons by the names given here is affirmed in 5.32; 6.10; 7.13. Who went forth from the ark means “who left the boat” or “who came out of the boat.” Their coming out of the boat was after the flood ended.

Ham was the father of Canaan breaks the rhythm of verse 18. This information seems to be introduced at this point in anticipation of the cursing of Canaan in verses 25-27. Some scholars believe this identification was inserted at a later time, or that the writer of this section is working from a different tradition than that which is behind the previous paragraph. Note that Good News Translation places this information between parentheses. Languages have different ways to handle parenthetical information, and translators should follow ways that are natural in narrative discourse rather than presenting the reader with marks that may be unfamiliar. In any event the words are to be translated. We may need to say in translation “Ham had a son named Canaan” or “Ham’s son was Canaan.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .