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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 Job 34:18 - 34:19

These two verses describe God in his dealings with human rulers and the poor.

Who says to a king, ‘Worthless one’: who says is literally “one says,” and most adjust the vowels, as in the ancient versions, to make God the subject of says. Even Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the change as followed by Revised Standard Version, which has no footnote. Revised Standard Version makes verses 18 and 19 questions which begin with the relative who in the first line of each verse. The result is an awkward construction in English. Many translators prefer to translate these two verses as statements, and this is recommended. Worthless one translates a term of abuse found, for example, in 1 Samuel 25.25; 1 Kings 21.10. For a subject to address a king in this way was punishable by death (see 2 Sam 16.7, 9; 1 Kgs 2.8). The Hebrew term is a compound word which means “having no value” or “good-for-nothing.”

And to nobles, ‘Wicked man’: the thought in this line moves from the greater authority of kings to the lesser authority of nobles. These persons were referred to in 21.28 as “princes.” The equivalent in many languages is “chief” and “elders,” or “headman” and “old men.” Wicked man or “evil person” is singular in Hebrew because it matches Worthless one in the preceding line. In translation it will most often have to agree with nobles, which is plural. Many translations treat these abuse words as quotations, as in Revised Standard Version. Good News Translation treats them as part of a subordinate clause, “when they are worthless and wicked,” and thereby loses much of the emotive impact in English.

Verse 19 is a second relative clause describing God’s impartiality. Who shows no partiality to princes translates “does not lift up the face of princes.” See 13.18 for discussion of this expression. The word translated princes is used in 3.15 and 29.9. These are high-ranking officials, not necessarily sons of a king. Shows … partiality means “to take the side of,” “be unfairly in favor of,” or “to like one more than the other.”

Nor regards the rich more than the poor: the form of the parallelism is the reverse of the typical kind of poetic heightening, in that the metaphor occurs in line a and the common term in line b. Regards the rich, as in line a, means “favor the rich,” “give the rich better treatment.” The word translated rich is rare, but it occurs in parallel with “nobles” in Isaiah 32.5, and here with princes, and in contrast with the poor.

For they are all the work of his hands is the reason why God treats them all alike. In Revised Standard Version this line is taken as part of the question which began in verse 17. Good News Translation avoids the awkwardness of such a long question by making statements in verses 18 and 19. Verse 19 may also be rendered idiomatically in some languages; for example, “God does not share the seat of chiefs, and he does not treat the rich better than the poor, because he is the one who made them all” or “God does not sit down among the leaders, and he treats the rich and the poor alike, because he is their creator.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .