circumcise, circumcision

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The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “cut the flesh”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo (Dinė): “cut around”
  • Javanese: “clip-away”
  • Uab Meto: “pinch and cut” (usually shortened to “cut”)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun, Western Highland Purepecha: “put the mark”
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
  • Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
  • Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
  • Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
  • Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
  • Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Central Mazahua: “sign in his flesh”
  • Hopi: “being cut in a circle in his body” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mandarin Chinese: gēlǐ (割礼 / 割禮) or “rite of cutting” (Protestant); gēsǔn (割损 / 割損) or “cut + loss” (Catholic) (Source: Zetzsche)
  • Tibetan: mdun lpags gcod (མདུན་​ལྤགས་​གཅོད།), lit. “fore + skin + cut” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Kutu: “enter the cloth (=undergarments)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .

Joshua

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joshua” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts a trumpet of rams’ horn, referring to Joshua 6:4 and following.


“Joshua” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

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

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Joshua .

complete verse (Joshua 5:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 5:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Joshua sharpened those stones and went to circumcise those people of Israel at a place called Hill of Circumcision.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So Joshua made a flint stone blade and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore Josue made knives, and circumcised the Israelinhon (men) there at the Mount of Circumcision.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So Joshua made knives and circumcised the Israeli males at a place that is now called ‘Circumcision Hill’.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 5:3

Did as the LORD had commanded, and he may be omitted from translation on the grounds that the information is clearly implicit. One may render “So Joshua circumcised….” Although in verse 2 the command is to Joshua (Make some knives) and in the present verse it is stated that Joshua circumcised the Israelites, it is difficult to imagine that he alone did these actions. Rather one must assume that he was the responsible person, given the command by God to see that it was done. If the language has a causative form, then it is possible to render “Cause (some men) to make some knives (of flint) and cause them to circumcise the Israelites” or “… and cause the Israelites to be circumcised.” Otherwise one may render

• “Command some men to make knives out of flint and circumcise those Israelites who have not yet been circumcised.” 3 So Joshua obeyed the LORD’s command, and the place where the Israelites were circumcised is now called Circumcision Hill.

A place called Circumcision Hill obviously means that the place got its name from this event, not that it was called that before the mass circumcision of the Israelites. Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible transliterate the Hebrew name; Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translate “the Hill of the Foreskins.” In order to indicate that this place was not previously called Circumcision Hill, one may translate “a place which since that time has been called Circumcision Hill.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .