alarmed / shaken / panic / confounded / confused

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “alarmed,” “shaken,” “panicked,” “confounded,” “confused” or similar in English is translated in the Catholic Mandarin Chinese Sigao version with historical Chinese idioms: jīnghuāng shīcuò (驚慌失措 / 惊慌失措) and jīnghuáng shīcuò (驚惶失措 / 惊惶失措): “panicked and at a loss.” (Source: Toshikazu S. Foley in Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies, 2011, p. 45ff.)

complete verse (Isaiah 37:27)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 37:27:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people of those cities have no more power
    and they don’t know what to do.
    They are like things that grow in fields that have been tilled
    like grass that grows on a roof or when the sun has burned them, they dry up.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So those who live there have become weak.
    They have become dismayed and feel shame.
    Like the grass of the field,
    like the soft grass,
    before it becomes long, sprouting on the roof of the house
    [they] have become like shriveled grass.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The residents of the towns which you (sing.) have-destroyed lost strength; they were afraid and put-to-shame. They were like a grass in the field which easily withers or grass that grow on the roof of the house, when it sprouts (it) immediately becomes dry.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The people in those cities have no power,
    and as a result they are dismayed and discouraged.
    They are as frail as grass and plants in the fields,
    as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses
    and is scorched by the hot east wind.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

cardinal directions

According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:

1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks

Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)

Celestial Bodies

East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):

  • Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
  • Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
  • Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
  • Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mono (DRC): “of-hole-sun” (west)
  • Belanda Bor: “place morning” and “place evening”
  • Shambala: “side sink sun” (south)
  • Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
  • Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
  • Bari: “Morning Star” / “Venus” (east)
  • Chopi: “sky” (north) (source for this and six above: Angelika Mietzner and Helma Pasch in Skase Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 4, 3/2007 )

Geographical Landmarks

  • Kele: “down-river” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
  • Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Lamba: “to the Aushi country” (north) / kumausi and “to the Lenje country” (south) / kumalenje (source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
  • Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
  • Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
  • Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
  • Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
  • Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)

Climatic Phenomena

  • Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
  • Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)

Bodily Reference Points

  • Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
  • Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
  • Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
  • Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
  • Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
  • Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
  • Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”

See also people of the East and three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 37:27

While their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded: Their inhabitants refers to the people living in the fortified cities captured by Sennacherib. They were totally overwhelmed by the Assyrians. As in the previous verse, the verb tenses here should be past (so Good News Translation). Shorn of strength translates an idiom that is literally “short of hand.” It describes the captured people as powerless. Good News Translation expresses it well with “were powerless.” Other possibilities are “were lacking in strength” and “were very weak.” Are dismayed and confounded describes the state of mind of the captured people. The Hebrew verb for dismayed may mean they were discouraged (so Revised Standard Version) or afraid (so Good News Translation), while the verb for confounded may mean they were humiliated (so New International Version, Revised English Bible) or confused (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation; see the comments on these verbs at 20.5).

And have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops …: Yahweh gives three images here to reinforce his statement about the weakness of those defeated by the Assyrian army. Using three or four examples is typical of Isaiah’s poetic style. This second half of the verse is literally “and they were plants of the field and tender grass, grass on the housetops….” The Hebrew text has metaphors here, but Revised Standard Version and many other translations change them to similes. Translators may use metaphors or similes here, but similes will often be clearer, especially if the point of comparison is added. New Jerusalem Bible does this by saying “were weak as grass, were frail as plants, were like grass of housetop….”

Grass on the housetops refers to the grass and weeds that grow on the flat roofs of houses. They grow in the dust that gathers in the corners and cracks of the roofs. Normally such growth cannot sustain itself because there is no depth of soil. It withers quickly due to intense heat or a lack of moisture. For housetops see the comments on 15.3.

Blighted before it is grown: There are two textual problems here. First, instead of blighted, the Hebrew text has a word meaning “field.” Like Revised Standard Version, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project emends the text to read “blighted,” that is, scorched or burned. This follows the parallel text of 2 Kgs 19.26. Second, the Hebrew expression rendered before it is grown can also mean “before standing grain.” Like Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, most scholars emend this to read “before the east wind.” De~Waard accepts these two changes to the Hebrew text. He suggests that Revised English Bible offers the best rendering for the last two lines of this verse: “as grass on the rooftops blasted by the east wind” (similarly Good News Translation). We recommend that translators follow this emended text. For “the east wind,” see the comments on 27.8.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Their inhabitants were powerless,
they were discouraged and humiliated.
They were like plants, like new grass,
like grass growing on the roof,
scorched by the east wind.

• The people living there lost all strength,
they were afraid and confused.
They were like plants in the field, like new grass,
like grass growing on the roofs of houses,
burned by the east wind.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .