date palm

More than forty types of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) are found in dry tropical countries all the way from the Canary Islands, across Africa to India. They probably originated in the Middle East, where they are still found in abundance. In Leviticus 23:40 we read that the branches of date palms were to be used for the Festival of Shelters, and in John 12:13 people welcomed Jesus with date palm leaves. In the latter case there is a legitimate question of where they got the leaves, since Jerusalem is rather too high and cold for date palms. But the same could be asked about the prophetess Deborah’s palm (Judges 4:5), which was located between Ramah and Bethel, scarcely lower than Jerusalem. Jericho was known as the “city of palm trees” (temarim in Hebrew). Date fruits were eaten fresh or dried and pressed into “cakes,” and they were sometimes made into a drink. It is possible that in Deuteronomy 8:8 the Hebrew word devash that we normally take as “honey” refers to a syrup made from dates. The leaves were and are used for mats, baskets, fences, and roofs. Date palms are now cultivated intensively in the Jordan and Aravah valleys, around the Dead Sea, and on the coastal plain of Israel. The word “date” entered English from Latin dactylus via Old French datil. Latin got it from Greek daktylos, meaning “finger.”

The date palm typically grows to a height of 10-20 meters (33-66 feet) and has a cluster of immense leaves at the top. Each year, old leaves wither and droop, and people who own palms cut the old branches off. The tightly packed bunch of immature leaves is called lulav in Hebrew. Date palms start bearing fruit at around five to eight years of age. The sweet fruits, a little smaller than a human thumb, grow in large bunches. Inside the soft fruit is a very hard seed about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) long. Date palm trees are either male or female, and there are places where the trees of one sex grow but no fruit is seen, because they lack pollination. Farmers prefer to propagate them by cultivating the suckers that grow at the base of the tree, rather than from seeds, which would produce too many male trees. The fruit appears on the female tree in the summer (June-August).

In Song of Songs 7:7 we find the palm used as a symbol of elegance and grace. In Psalm 92:12–14 we are told that the righteous will flourish like the palm tree, but Job 15:32 says the wicked will wither like a dry palm branch. In 1 Maccabees 13:37 the palm branch is a symbol of peace, but in 1 Maccabees 13:51 it is a symbol of victory (so also John 12.13; Rev 7.9; 2 Macc 10.7).

Translators living along the West African coast often substitute the oil palm or the coconut palm for the date palm, which is found normally in desert areas. Others are familiar with the fan palm (Borassus, “ruhn palm”) but they should note that the shape of the leaf of the fan palm is quite different from that of the date palm. I am not aware of a non-European language that has a generic word for palm. Since the function of palm branches in the Festival of Shelters is to build rough shelters, the type of palm tree does not make a lot of difference. The same is true for references where the image of the palm is used as a decoration, as in the description of the Temple (see 1 Kings 6:29 et al.). In cases where the fruit is mentioned, a transliteration is recommended, either from the Hebrew word tamar or from a major language.

In locations where oil and coconut palm trees are found, but no date palms, the oil palm is to be preferred. In places where no palms are found, it is still possible that the date fruit is found in markets, particularly in Muslim-dominated areas, where it may be a popular item for breaking the fast during Ramadan. In northern Nigeria, a dwarf species of date palm (Phoenix reclinata) grows in ravines and bears small edible fruits much like the big palm. At least one translation there (Berom) makes use of the local name.

It would seem then that if the date palm is not known at all, the options here are:

1. use the word for oil or coconut palm (and consider writing a footnote that indicates that the Hebrew words tamar and tomer and the Greek word phoinix refer to a similar tree that has a quite different fruit);
2. transliterate from Hebrew (tomera, tamara) and Greek (fonis, fowinik);
3. transliterate from a major language, for example, nakhal/temer (Arabic), dattier (French), datil/palmera (Spanish), mtende (Swahili), khajoor (खजूर) (Hindi), and hǎizǎo (海枣 / 海棗) (Chinese);
4. use a generic phrase appropriate to the context, for example, “beautiful tree.”

Date palm, photo by Ray Pritz

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

In Chichewa, gwalanga, the word for the local fan palm is used for translation. In rural areas people use the leaves for vegetables. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

distance (long / wide / high)

The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Song of Solomon 7:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 7:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “Oh you tall palm tree, you are so very beautiful,
    your breasts are round like the fruits of that tree.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Your body is like a palm tree.
    And your breasts are like a bundle of fruits.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Your (sing.) stature/form/[lit. standing] (is) just like a palm/[palma] tree, and your (sing.) breasts (are) just like/as-if its bundle/clusters of fruit.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You are stately like a palm tree,
    and your breasts are like clusters/bunches of dates/fruit.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Song of Songs 7:7

The author of these poems has used trees (cedars) and plants (vines, flowers) as images of the two lovers. Here we find another. The young woman is likened to a palm tree. This almost certainly is a date palm rather than a coconut or other kind of palm, but in translation we may have to use a general term “palm tree” if there is no other, or use the actual name of a type of palm if there is no general term. If palm trees are unknown, then “tree” may be all that we can say. The most likely reason for using the palm tree model is that palms grow tall and slender, like a beautiful woman. This aspect of beauty is conveyed in the word stately, describing stature or height. In Hebrew the noun “your stature” has the demonstrative “this” attached, so it is rather emphatic, literally “this your stature is like….” In some languages a noun exists to refer to a person’s height, but in other languages a verbal or adjectival form will have to be used: “You stand tall like…” or “You are as tall as….”

Good News Translation suggests we give the meaning as “you are as graceful as…,” but the more accurate rendering is “you are as tall and graceful as….”

Your breasts are like its clusters: the fruit of the palm tree hangs in clusters just under its branches at the top of the tall trunk. The young man compares his lover to the palm tree by likening her breasts to these clusters. Of course the analogy cannot be carried too far. The woman has only two breasts. What he probably has in mind is that her breasts are round and full. In many parts of the world, palm trees will be a familiar item, and comparing women to these trees may be common. Where the palm is unknown we can call the clusters “fruit”: “Your breasts are like its [bunches of] fruit.”

In translation we can make the comparison clear if need be: “Your breasts are full and round like the [clusters of the] fruit of the palm,” or following on from the previous line, “Your breasts are full and round like its fruit.”

A possible translation of the whole verse is:

• You are as tall and graceful as a palm.
Your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Song of Songs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1998. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Song of Songs 7:7

7:7–9a

In these verses the man describes the woman with metaphors of a palm tree and various fruits. (In 5:15c–d she compared the man to a cedar tree.)

7:7a

Your stature is like a palm tree: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Your stature is like a palm tree is literally “This your stature is-like a date-palm tree.” A date palm tree is taller and more slender than many other trees. The man implied that the woman was tall and slender, like a date palm tree.

Some other ways to translate the comparison are:

You are tall and slender like a palm tree (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Your figure/stature is like a palm tree
-or-
You are tall like a palm tree (New Century Version)

palm tree: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as palm tree refers specifically to the date palm tree. It is a type of tropical tree that produces sweet fruit called “dates.” In some languages the date palm tree is not known. If that is true in your language, some other ways to translate it are:

• Use a more general word that refers to a tree like the palm tree, as in the Berean Standard Bible.

• Refer more generally to a tree that is tall and slender and produces fruit. For example:

tall slender fruit tree