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 2 Esdras 15:39

And the winds from the east shall prevail over the cloud that was raised in wrath: The connector And is better rendered “But” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The winds from the east shall prevail over may be rendered “the east winds will be stronger than.” The cloud that was raised in wrath refers to the menacing dark clouds coming from the other directions (south, north, and west). This clause may be translated “But the cloud from the east will be stronger than the dark, menacing clouds from the other directions” or “But the wind from the east will be stronger than all these other destructive clouds.”

And shall dispel it: The pronoun it refers to the storm clouds from the other directions (south, north, and west), so this clause may be expressed as “and will cause them to break up [or, disappear].”

And the tempest that was to cause destruction by the east wind shall be driven violently toward the south and west: Again tempest translates the Latin word meaning “star” (see the comments on verses 13 and 36). The Latin text of this verse is unclear, as the footnotes in Good News Bible and Contemporary English Version indicate. Both New Revised Standard Version and New English Bible have notes indicating doubt over the meaning of the Latin word translated “tempest” or “storm,” and Myers (page 333) warns that his translation is somewhat “conjectural.” We might say the same of our model below. The meaning of this sentence seems to be “The star that was going to cause ruin [or, destruction] will be driven swiftly by the east wind to the south and west” or “And the east wind will make the star that was going to cause destruction go swiftly to the south and west.”

Here is a possible model for this verse:

• But the east wind will be stronger than the dark, menacing clouds from the other directions, and will cause them to break up. The star that was going to cause ruin will be driven swiftly by the east wind to the south and west.*
* Verse 39 in Latin is unclear.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.