wild boar

There is general agreement about the meaning of the Latin word aper. The animal referred to is the European Wild Boar Sus scrofa, which was once plentiful in forested areas of Europe and the Middle East from the Atlantic Coast to as far east as the Tian Shan Range in China.

Although wild boars are the ancestors of domestic pigs, they are much more active and robust animals. They are taller, almost a meter (3 feet) at the shoulder, and much more hairy all over. Their underside is covered in hairs longer than those on the rest of their body. Their color varies from gray to black. Adult males have short tusks that are used both for digging and for protection. They have flat mobile snouts that are also used for digging. The piglets, up to twelve in a litter, are covered with dark stripes and spots running from head to tail. The adults are extremely protective of the younger animals and are fearlessly aggressive. This makes them very dangerous animals. Wild boars are omnivorous, eating mainly roots, but also eating grass, leaves, insects, and small animals and birds. They need to live close to water, as they rely on the cooling effects of wallowing in mud to regulate their body temperature. In Israel they were found in the Huleh swamps, and even now they can be found in the Jordan Valley and in some remote wadis.

Like domestic pigs wild boars are considered by Jews to be unclean. They are also associated with ferocity and aggressiveness. In Egypt Assyria Babylonia and later in Persia Greece and Rome the boar’s head was a common symbol of military might.

Wild pigs similar to Sus scrofa are found in Africa and Asia. They include the Giant Forest Hog Hylochoerus meinertzerhageni of the equatorial regions of Africa; the Bush Pig Potamochaerus porcus, found in the savannah areas of sub-Saharan Africa; and the Crested Wild Boar (Soor) Sus cristatus, found on the Indian subcontinent, and in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and southwestern China. All of these share the aggressive nature of the wild boar.

In Indonesia and some Philippine islands the nearest equivalent is the Babirusa Babyrousa babyrussa. However, since this animal is not nearly as large or as fierce as the wild boar, translations in these areas should probably use an expression meaning “big, fierce babirusa”.

In the southern United States, Mexico, and adjacent areas of Latin America as far south as southern Brazil and Paraguay, the closest equivalent to the wild boar is the animal known as the collared peccary, javelina, or Musk Hog Tayassu angulatus. This animal is not as large or as fierce as the wild boar, so a more descriptive expression such as “big, fierce peccary” might be the best way of translating the word.

While Psalms 80:13 has the word chazir, normally translated “pig”, the context makes it clear that this is a wild animal, and “wild boar” is the better translation.

Wild boar, Wikimedia Commons

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

ravage

In Gbaya, the notion of “ravaging” (or “make waste”) in Psalm 80:13 is emphasized with lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti, an ideophone used to describe complete destruction, devastation.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

See also other occurrences of lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti.

complete destruction

In Gbaya, the notion of complete destruction is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophone hú̧s-hú̧s.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

feed on it

The Hebrew that is translated as “feed on it” in English is emphasized in Sar with the ideophone (a word that expresses what is perceived by the five senses) nánáḿ (“Animals eat its leaves nánáḿ“). Nánáḿ “means in totality, without exception or distinction, forming a whole. Examples: the wound is closed, they caught all the goats, he ate everything.” (Source: Ngarbolnan Riminan in Le Sycomore 2000, p. 20ff. ).

complete verse (Psalm 80:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 80:13:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “The boars from the forest are destroying
    and the beasts of the bush eat it.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Now wild boars can come in, trample, and leave [the place] in ruins.
    And wild animals can come, eat and go.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “And the wild-country pigs and other wild-country animals eat this.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “Warthogs finished it,
    and wild animals ate its fruits.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Nguruwe wa porini wanaharibu,
    pia wanyama wa porini wanakula.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “and wild pigs can trample the vines, and wild animals can also eat the grapes.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 80:12 - 80:13

After expending so much care and attention on his grapevine, why did God abandon it and let it be destroyed? He broke down “the fences” (made of stone, not wood or wire) that protected it, and now any passerby can pluck its fruit, that is, “steal its grapes,” and the wild animals are busy destroying it–a figure of the enemies of Israel invading the land and looting and destroying.

In verse 13a boar (Good News Translation “hogs”) translates the word for swine, pig; only here are “wild hogs” (boar from the forest) referred to in the Old Testament. The Hebrew singular for boar represents pigs in general. The verb translated ravages occurs only here in the Old Testament; it means “cut in pieces,” either by eating (so most translations) or by trampling on the vine (Briggs, Good News Translation; see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). If the parallelism with the next line is purely synonymous, the meaning “consume, eat up” seems more likely; New Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible have “gnaws”; another possible version is “tears at.” Something like ravages (Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, New International Version) expresses well the idea of the destruction caused by a wild animal. But it is more likely that the two verbs describe the devastation caused by wild hogs, or boars, as they trample down and devour the vegetation.

Good News Translation “wild animals” in verse 13b translates “what moves in the field” (see Revised Standard Version), a word that occurs only here and in 50.11b; New English Bible translates here “swarming insects from the fields,” which seems unlikely.

Due to the poetic extension of the vine, it is likely that many readers will have lost or forgotten the original reference to the vine in verse 8, and particularly to the symbolism of the vine as representing Israel. Therefore it may be necessary to repeat the referent; for example, “Why did you break down the fences around your vine which is the people of Israel?” or simply “Why did you break down the fences around your vine?” If the analogy with the vine has to be sacrificed in translation for the clarity of meaning, the translator may say something like:

• 12 Why did you let Israel’s enemies invade her land?
Now foreigners go through the land
looting and destroying it.
13 Like wild pigs they trample it,
and like wild animals they destroy it.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .