boat, ship

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”

Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:

“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.

“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”

In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

See also ships of Tarshish, harbor, anchor, and sailor.

papyrus

Although there has been considerable debate among botanists as to the identity of the various types of reed in the Bible, there is general agreement that the Hebrew word gome’ refers to the Papyrus Cyperus papyrus, based on etymological and practical grounds. As for the Hebrew word ’eveh, the phrase “skiffs of ’eveh” in Job 9:26 suggests that it refers to papyrus, since boats in Egypt were made of papyrus, apart from those made from wood. However, versions are divided between “papyrus” (New International Version) and “reed” (NRSVue, Revised English Bible) in this passage.

Papyrus is a very tall grass producing many flower stems that can be as much as 6 meters (20 feet) tall and 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter. The head at the top the stem separates into hundreds of branches that spread out like the top of a palm tree. Each one has small flowers. Papyrus was the most versatile grass in the Ancient Near East. In Egypt it was used to make boxes, mats, ropes, and especially paper. Perhaps its use in boats came to the mind of Jochebed when she wanted to save her infant son Moses from the wrath of the Pharoah (Exodus 2:3). Job’s companion Bildad uses papyrus as an example of a plant that needs water, and further as a slam at Job suggesting he must have sinned (Job 8:11). Isaiah 18:2 refers to “ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus” as emblems of the great political power of Egypt. Poor people also used papyrus for barrels, huts, sandals, and clothing. Perhaps surprisingly, papyrus was not usually used for baskets. The baskets of the Egyptians, like those in sub-Saharan Africa today, were made of coiled construction using a core of date palm leaflets, fibers, or the split midrib, with a fiber wrapped around the core, like a guitar string.

There are over six hundred kinds of Cyperus growing in tropical and warm climates throughout the world, but many do not resemble the papyrus. For example, the tigernut sedge, found in West Asia and Africa and producing a tasty tuber (also called chufa or Zulu nut), belongs to the Cyperus genus. So also do the coco grass and several other types used for mats throughout Asia. The papyrus proper is now rare in Egypt but rampant in northern Uganda, where it is called sudd.

Most of the contexts where gome’ is found are rhetorical (Exodus 2:3 being the exception), opening the way for translators to substitute local equivalents. However, if the original plant name is replaced, it is usually good to document the original in a footnote, especially where the word identifies a particular area, as in Isaiah 18:1, where papyrus vessels are identified with “Ethiopia.” In Exodus 2:3 the mother of Moses did not use “bulrushes” (Revised Standard Version, King James Version) but papyrus, nor did she make a “basket” (NRSVue) but a “box” (tevah in Hebrew). If there is a word for “box,” it should be used. Otherwise, the general word for “basket” can be used, and a type of strong grass used for baskets should be used for the material. The following options are available for gome’:

1. use a local strong grass;
2. use a descriptive phrase such as “strong grass”;
3. use a generic word for “grass”;
4. leave the plant implicit as part of the verb “weave” or the noun “box/basket” in Exodus 2:3;
5. use “rush” (Revised English Bible), “papyrus reeds” (Living Bible), or “reeds” (Good News Bible).

If transliterations are needed for papyrus, some possibilities are French jonc and Portuguese/Spanish papiro.

Cyperus papyrus, Wikimedia Commons

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 9:25 - 9:26

Job returns to the theme of the swiftness with which life passes away. In 7.6 he said “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.” He now uses the figure of a runner. My days are swifter than a runner: the word runner is found also in 2 Samuel 18.19-33, where the runner is a bearer of an urgent message for the king. Good News Translation avoids the analogy of the runner and says “My days race by.” This line may also be rendered “the days of my life pass swiftly” or “my days are all quickly gone.” They flee away repeats the thought of the first line without using a parallel comparison. They see no good is an idiomatic way of saying the days are without happiness, or nothing good happens during the passage of the days. In many languages days cannot be described as being able to see, like people, and so we may have to restructure this expression to say, for example, “nothing good happens to me” or “my days pass by without anything good happening to me.”

They go by like skiffs of reed: the comparison shifts from the runner on land to small, speedy boats made of reeds. The word for reed is used only here. The more common term is “papyrus” as in 8.11 and in Isaiah 18.2. Skiffs of reed or papyrus were Nile boats whose sides were made of papyrus reeds and which were known for their swift travel on the river. Line a may be rendered, for example, “My days go quickly like fast sailing boats.” In areas where sailing boats are unknown, the comparison may be shifted to any swift water craft; for example, “My days flow swiftly like a fast dugout.” Where boats are completely unknown it may be necessary to drop the image and say, for example, “My life is very soon over” or “The days of my life come quickly to an end.”

Like an eagle swooping on the prey: the third analogy shifts again, from water to the air. This time the comparison is to the eagle or hawk pictured as swooping down out of the sky to snatch its prey. Prey translates the Hebrew “food,” and Good News Translation attempts to be more specific still with “rabbit.” Translators may find it necessary to substitute another bird of prey. The pictures of the runner, the skiff, and the eagle all emphasize the swiftness of the passing of time, and so whatever comparisons are used, they must be characterized by swiftness of movement.

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 .