cardinal directions

According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:

1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks

Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)

Celestial Bodies

East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):

  • Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
  • Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
  • Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
  • Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mono (DRC): “of-hole-sun” (west)
  • Belanda Bor: “place morning” and “place evening”
  • Shambala: “side sink sun” (south)
  • Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
  • Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
  • Bari: “Morning Star” / “Venus” (east)
  • Chopi: “sky” (north) (source for this and six above: Angelika Mietzner and Helma Pasch in Skase Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 4, 3/2007 )

Geographical Landmarks

  • Kele: “down-river” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
  • Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Lamba: “to the Aushi country” (north) / kumausi and “to the Lenje country” (south) / kumalenje (source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
  • Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
  • Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
  • Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
  • Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
  • Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)

Climatic Phenomena

  • Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
  • Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)

Bodily Reference Points

  • Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
  • Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
  • Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
  • Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
  • Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
  • Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
  • Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”

See also people of the East and three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east.

Translation commentary on Sirach 43:16 - 43:17

In some Greek manuscripts, and in the traditional verse numbering, the lines of these two verses have become confused. Good News Translation reflects the correct order, according to the Hebrew and some Greek manuscripts. It is the numbering in Ziegler’s Greek text. Verse 17a precedes verse 16; then comes the rest of verse 17. Translators are urged to follow Good News Translation‘s order. In the discussion below, the Revised Standard Version citations are given in the Good News Translation order.

The voice of his thunder rebukes the earth: Good News Translation follows Greek manuscripts other than those used by Revised Standard Version. Instead of rebukes, Good News Translation reads a Greek word used of a woman in painful labor. Instead of speaking of the earth having labor pains, however, Good News Translation says “thunder twists the earth in pain.” It is a striking figure, appropriate to Palestine, where the hills and canyons cause the thunder to echo loud and long. Translators who feel the figure is too difficult may render this line as “When he speaks, thunder shakes the earth [or, the earth shakes with thunder].” In languages where the expression for thunder is something like “the sky roars,” we may say “His voice roars in the sky and shakes the earth.”

At his appearing the mountains are shaken: An appearance of God is sometimes described in the Old Testament as making the earth quake. Compare Jdg 5.5; Psa 68.8; 77.18; Jer 10.10; Hab 3.10. Good News Translation, reading the Hebrew, has “by his strength” instead of “when he appears.” We suggest that translators follow Revised Standard Version and the Greek here. Contemporary English Version has a helpful model following the Greek: “and at the sight of him, mountains tremble.” However, those who wish to follow Good News Translation and the Hebrew may do so with good conscience. Another possible model is “He uses his power to shake the mountains.”

At his will the south wind blows: At his will is rendered “Whenever he wishes” by Good News Translation.

So do the tempest from the north and the whirlwind: The Greek word translated tempest seems to refer primarily to windstorms; the Hebrew supports this. A whirlwind is a wind that rotates in a circular pattern. It may be as harmless as a “dust devil,” which is a small column of moving air that carries dust into the air in a visible column, or it may be as violent as a tornado. Although true tornadoes are very rare in Palestine, the emphasis here is on the strength and force of the wind. Good News Translation reverses the clauses in this line to make it sound better in English. This line continues the previous one. The two lines may be expressed as “Whenever he wishes, winds blow from the south and the north, and so do the whirlwinds.”

He scatters the snow like birds flying down: Instead of flying, Good News Translation uses the word “fluttering,” which is used ordinarily of birds, but can be used of any lightweight object—such as snowflakes—moving with the wind as it slowly falls.

And its descent is like locusts alighting: Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation gives a hint as to what this means. It probably refers to snow covering the ground, like a dense swarm of locusts. New English Bible says “they settle like a swarm of locusts.” Another possible model is “and it [the snow] covers the ground like a swarm of locusts.” Contemporary English Version combines the last two lines as follows:

• God sends the snow,
and it settles on the ground
like a flock of birds
or a swarm of locusts.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.