camel

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “camel” is translated in Muna as “water buffalo.” René van den Berg explains: “Camels are unknown; the biggest known animal is the water buffalo (though now rare on Muna).”

In Bislama is is translated as buluk: “cow” / “bull” (source: Ross McKerras) and in Bahnar as aseh lăk-đa which is a combination of the Vietnamese loan word for “camel” (lăk-đa) and the Bahnar term for “horse” (aseh) to communicate that the camel is a beast of burden (source: Pham Xuan Tin in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 20ff. ).

In the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) it was as ĸatigagtôĸ or “big-backed ones.” “Katigagtôĸ (modern qatigattooq), which has the literal meaning of ‘something with a big back.’ It comprises the noun ĸatigak (modern qatigak) ‘back’ combined with the suffix –tôĸ (modern –tooq) ‘something possessing a big X.’” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)

In Luke 18:25, Mark 10:25, and Matthew 19:24 some versions of the Peshitta translation in Syriac Aramaic (Classical Syriac) show an ambiguity between the very similar words for “camel” and “rope.” Some translations of the Peshitta, therefore, use the “rope” interpretation, including the Classical Armenian Bible (մալխոյ for “rope”), the English translation by George Lamsa (publ. 1933) (It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle), or the Dutch translation by Egbert Nierop (publ. 2020) (het voor een kabel eenvoudiger is het oog van een naald binnen te gaan).

In the above-mentioned three verses, it is translated in Noongar as “kangaroo” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

 

There were two types of camel known in Bible times the most common being the Arabian Dromedary camelus dromedarius, which was indigenous to the area. The two-humped Bactrian Camel camelus bactrianus was also known and prized, but it was imported from Central Asia.

Camels belong to the same family as the South American llama, vicuna, alpaca, and guanaco, but camels are much larger and have a big fatty hump on their backs. Bactrian camels may reach a height of about two meters (6.5 feet), while dromedaries are even bigger. Dromedaries are a uniform light fawn color, while Bactrian camels are darker, especially in winter when they grow longer fur.

Camels do not have hooves but a large footpad with two broad toes ideally suited to walking on sand. In other ways too they are ideally suited to life in desert areas. They store excess food in their humps and this makes it possible for them to go a long time without eating. Special blood cells also enable them to go without water for long periods. They also have a very efficient digestive system and can extract the maximum amount of nutrition from apparently dry vegetation. This adaptation to harsh environments means that camels can make long journeys through dry areas which would be beyond the abilities of other types of pack animal such as donkeys. Camels were used for riding and for carrying heavy loads. They were also used to pull carts.

In winter the fur of camels thickens and grows longer and then when summer comes they shed their winter fur in large wads. These wads of camel hair are collected and twisted into cords and ropes or spun into thread which is then used for weaving coarse cloth. This cloth was usually used for making tents but it was sometimes used for making outer robes.
Camels’ milk was used as food and drink but their meat was considered unclean by the Israelites.

In spite of the fact that camels were considered to be unclean for food they were a symbol of wealth and commerce. People or nations with many camels were automatically viewed as commercially successful and wealthy as the possession of camels opened up the possibility of transporting goods long distances and engaging in trade.

In areas where camels are not known, the word is often transliterated from Hebrew or the dominant language of the area. However, in some languages descriptive names have been invented. In some South American languages names meaning “hump-backed llama” or “big alpaca with a hump” have been used. Elsewhere expressions such as “hump-backed horse” have been used. A fuller description should usually be included in a glossary or word list.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about camels (source: Bible Lands 2012)

purple

The Greek that is translated as “purple” in English is translated as “blue-red” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson in Notes on Translation 1970, p. 1ff.) and in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).

In Kasua was a little bit more involved, as Rachel Greco recalls (in The PNG Experience ):

“The Kasua people of Western Province have no word for the color purple. They have words for many other colors: black, red, white, yellow, green, and blue, but not for the color of royalty.

“About nine New Testament passages mention people placing a purple robe on Jesus. The Kasua translation team always wanted to use the word ‘red,’ or keyalo, to describe the robe. Tommy, one of the translation team helpers, disagreed because this is not historically accurate or signifies the royalty of Jesus.

“One of the main rules of translation is that the team must stick to the historical facts when they translate a passage. If they don’t, then how can the readers trust what they’re reading is true? Other questions about truth could bubble in the reader’s minds about the Scriptures. For this reason, Tommy was not willing to change the word purple. So the team hung up the problem, hoping to revisit it later with more inspiration.

“God did not disappoint.

“Years later, Tommy hiked with some of the men near their village. They saw a tree that possessed bulbous growths growing on the side of it like fruit. These growths were ‘the most beautiful color of purple I’d ever seen,’ explained Tommy.

“’What is the name of this tree?’ Tommy asked the men.

“’This is an Okani tree,’ they replied.

“Tommy suggested, ‘Why don’t you, in those passages where we’ve been struggling to translate the color purple, use ‘they put a robe on Jesus the color of the fruit of the Okani tree’?

“’Yeah. We know exactly what color that is,’ the men said enthusiastically.

“Everyone in their village would also visualize this phrase accurately, as the Okani tree is the only tree in that area that produces this kind of purple growth. So now, among the Kasua people, in his royal purple robe, Jesus is shown to be the king that he is.”

king

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:

(Click or tap here to see details)

  • 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 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 Judges 8:26

And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was …: In Hebrew this verse begins with the word wayehi rendered And (literally “And it was”), which seems to mark an important “aside.” The amount of gold and other goods amassed shows how great the Israelite victory was. Many versions leave this introductory word untranslated. Some languages may have a special particle to mark such an aside, which sums up the spoils of war in a general way. They might say “Now, the weight of the golden earrings….”

The golden earrings that he requested refers to Gideon’s request in verse 8.24. Obviously if each of the 300 men gave even one gold earring, the weight and worth of the pile of gold would be considerable. In some languages it may be more natural to speak of “the gold earrings that Gideon received.”

One thousand seven hundred shekels of gold: The number here is impressive and probably symbolic. The number thousand is frequently used in this book, and the number seven is a very important one in the Gideon story (verse 6.1, 25; verse 8.14). The Hebrew reads literally “one thousand and seven hundred gold.” The word for shekels does not appear in the text but is assumed and made explicit in Revised Standard Version and several other versions (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The term is used later in this book (verse 9.4) and so can probably be assumed here. In Israel the shekel was of two types, one light and the other heavy. If the lighter shekel is used here as a measure, then the total weight of one thousand seven hundred shekels would be about 20 kilograms or 44 pounds. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “over forty pounds,” and Bible en français courant has “almost twenty kilograms,” thus avoiding the word shekels here. Most translations include a table of weights and measures used in the Bible, but modern equivalents in the text make for easier reading. As is true today, gold was considered the most precious metal, so this represents an incredible amount of money.

Besides the crescents and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian: Besides renders a Hebrew expression made up of three separate words (“to,” “part,” and “from”) that combine to convey the idea of “apart from,” “not to mention,” “without counting.” This means that the first sum is to be taken on its own, and the following items are additional. We might say “in addition to.” In some languages translators may need to begin a new sentence by saying “That does not include…” or “Along with the gold, they took/confiscated….” In this context the crescents may refer to the expensive jewelry taken from the camels of the Midianite kings (verse 8.21) or to the jewelry worn by these kings. The Hebrew text here is ambiguous. The Hebrew word for pendants probably refers to something that hangs around the neck. However, this term only occurs here and Isa 3.19, so its exact meaning is uncertain. Good News Translation renders the crescents and the pendants as “the ornaments, necklaces.” In some languages one word can cover both items. Contemporary English Version says that these crescents and pendants were made of gold, but this is not necessarily the case. Purple garments worn by the kings of Midian refers to the clothes worn by these kings. Purple is the color typically associated with royalty. However, in many cultures there is no word for purple or this color is not associated with kings, so translators may prefer to render purple garments as “expensive clothes.” Garments renders a very general Hebrew term (beged), referring to all kinds of clothing. It is not the same word rendered “garment” in the previous verse, which refers specifically to the outer cloth people used to wrap around themselves. This word will reappear in the story of Samson, where he promises sets of clothing to anyone who can solve his riddle (verse 14.12-13). Worn by the kings of Midian may refer to all three preceding items (the crescents, the pendants, and the purple garments) or simply to the last one. Worn by is literally “which on.” This clause may be rendered “that the Midianite kings wore.”

And besides the collars that were about the necks of their camels: Besides renders the same Hebrew expression noted above. Collars renders another Hebrew word for necklaces. It is hard to know if collars is an inclusio referring to the crescents mentioned above or whether this is a new item. Here the narrator makes it clear that these collars were around the necks of camels. In many languages it will be difficult to find separate words for all these different types of necklaces, and one term may have to be used throughout the text. For camels see verse 6.5.

Translation models for this verse are:

• The gold earrings Gideon received weighed around twenty kilograms. That does not include the half-moon ornaments, the necklaces, and the purple clothes the Midianite kings wore, nor the neck ornaments of their camels.

• The weight of the gold in the earrings Gideon obtained was over 40 pounds, without counting the Midianite kings’ crescents, pendants, and expensive clothes, as well as the expensive ornaments their camels wore around their necks.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .