king

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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:

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  • 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 (Dinė) 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 If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior.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 Tobit 1:5

This verse refers to what happened after the political break with the dynasty of David. The people abandoned the worship of God in the temple, in favor of worshiping the images of calves or bulls set up at certain shrines in northern Israel (1 Kgs 12.28-33). This break was made by King Jeroboam the First about the year 922 B.C.

For my kindred see verse 3.

Our ancestral house of Naphtali is the same as “the whole tribe of my ancestor Naphtali” in the previous verse. It will not be necessary in most languages to repeat the name Naphtali; the phrase “my tribe” will be sufficient.

Sacrificed to the calf that King Jeroboam of Israel had erected in Dan and on all the mountains of Galilee: For sacrificed see the comment in the previous verse. Good News Translation makes it clear that the calf is a “gold bull-calf,” namely a young male. The textual variant “heifer” mentioned in the New Revised Standard Version footnote is quite minor and may be ignored. Contemporary English Version adds “idol” to the idea of calf by translating “offered sacrifices to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a calf.” In cultures where cattle are unknown, translators may borrow the word for “cow” from a major language and say something like “sacrificed animals to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a young male cow.” The use of the calf here with the definite article shows that this calf was an idol that Tobit’s readers were familiar with. Translators should try to find a term that brings this out. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version seem to understand that there was only one idol, situated in Dan. However, New Revised Standard Version suggests that there were a number of these calves set up in many shrines on the mountaintops of northern Galilee. Translators are urged to follow the interpretation of New Revised Standard Version.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• My relatives and everyone else in my tribe went to the town of Dan. There they offered sacrifices to the idol that King Jeroboam had made in the shape of a bull-calf. He had also placed these idols on hilltops all over northern Galilee.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Tobit. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.