cardinal directions

The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post).

In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)

“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

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 cardinal directions / left and right.

Translation commentary on 1 Maccabees 12:37

So they gathered together to build up the city: The pronoun they refers to the people of the city. For this sentence Good News Bible has “The people worked together to strengthen the city’s defenses,” which shifts the focus a bit, but does so to good effect. It describes the citizens agreeing and working toward a common goal, which is what the text says they did. However, we would not combine this sentence with the next one, as Good News Bible does. Good News Bible seems to say that two sections of the city wall had fallen, and that is what the people fixed. More than that is intended; the two sections described in the next sentence are only examples.

Part of the wall on the valley to the east had fallen: The valley to the east is the Kidron Valley, which Good News Bible names by saying “a part of the east wall along the Kidron valley had collapsed.” Translators may name it if they wish, but it adds nothing but another name, which will be helpful only to people with some knowledge of the geography of the city.

And he repaired the section called Chaphenatha: The pronoun he is better rendered “Jonathan and his men,” since he did not repair the wall by himself. Good News Bible is mistaken to render this clause as “and the Chaphenatha section was in need of repair”; the text says Jonathan repaired it. But there is another way to read this clause in connection with the previous; for example, An American Translation translates “and part of the east wall by the ravine collapsed, and he replaced it with the so-called Chaphenatha.” Goldstein is similar with “Part of the wall of the eastern valley collapsed, so he replaced it by the structure called Chaphenatha.” No one knows what Chaphenatha means or what it refers to; there is only speculation. Without knowing what it is, it is hard to be confident about how to translate the last clause. Translators may go in either of the following two directions to render the last sentence of this verse:

• Part of the wall above the Kidron valley on the east had fallen, and Jonathan and his men repaired the section called Chaphenatha.

• Part of the wall above the Kidron valley on the east had fallen, and Jonathan and his men replaced it with the structure called Chaphenatha.

We prefer the latter model for no better reason than that it makes better sense.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.