boat, ship

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).

In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”

Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:

“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.

“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”

In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

See also ships of Tarshish, harbor, anchor, and sailor.

Translation commentary on Wisdom 5:10

Following Good News Translation, we will deal with verses 10-12 as statements rather than comparisons. See the note above on verses 9-13. The author does not need to say all these things about ships, birds, and arrows in order to make his point. He is using poetic language, painting word pictures, for the sheer joy of it, much as we find in Job 38-39. In Greek there is considerable play with the sounds of words. Translators may allow themselves some of the same kind of play here, and enjoy using language creatively.

Like a ship that sails through the billowy water: This is a statement in Good News Translation (“A ship sails across the waves of the ocean”). Of course, ships at that time were hardly the huge vessels used for sea transportation today. A seagoing vessel of the author’s day could be as long as 30 meters (about 100 feet), and be about 6 meters at its widest (about 16 feet). Their holds could carry freight or passengers. All ships depended on sails, but warships might also use banks of oars. In cultures where sailing ships are unknown, we may say something like “A large boat moves across the waves of the sea.”

And when it has passed no trace can be found, nor track of its keel in the waves: The keel of a boat is a long timber curving along the deepest part of the hull. It is used poetically here, in a play on words in Greek, and translators need not worry about describing a keel or finding a name for it. The two lines have exactly the same meaning, saying that unlike on land, where a passing person or animal will leave a track, a ship in the water leaves none. When it has passed by, the water it passed through is just the same as it was before. Good News Translation “You cannot tell it was ever there” does not correspond exactly to anything in Greek, but it is a good translation. It expresses the meaning, clarifies “leaves no trace,” and provides a needed extra line. Translators might say “but when it passes, it leaves no tracks behind, nothing to show it was ever there.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.