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. )
The Greek that is translated as “bay with a beach” in English is translated as “hand of the sea and it had sand” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac and as “where the sea made an opening into the land, with a level place next to the sea” in Rincón Zapotec.(Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 27:39:
Uma: “When it became light, the workers of the ship saw that the land was visible. But they did not know what the name of that place was. And they also saw, there was a corner of the sea with beach that was not rocky. That is why their plan was, if they were able, to go aground there.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When it was day, they did not recognize what island that was that they could see nearby, but they could see the sea going-inland/a bay which had sand at the shore. They thought, if possible they would let the ship go aground there on that sand.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when it was morning, as for that land which we had come near to, the workers there on the ship did not recognize it. They saw this inlet of the sea and there was there a sandy beach, and they thought that if it were possible, it would be good to land the ship there.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When it had dawned, the workers saw-in-the-distance the edge of the ocean. They were not able-to-distinguish what country it was, but they saw that its edge was indented and sandy/gravelly, and they thought that perhaps it would be possible for them to direct (lit. cause-to-walk) the ship there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When it was really light now, they didn’t recognize which that land was to which we had come close. But they saw that there was a beach. ‘Ah,’ they said, ‘probably that’s a sandy-cove.’ And then they discussed that if possible they would try to come into shore there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
In some languages one does not speak of “a day coming.” One can, however, say “it became light” or “the sun was almost up.”
The sailors makes explicit the Greek pronominal subject “they.” It is not surprising that the sailors did not recognize the coast, for the storm had carried them away from their usual sailing route.
Most translators understand the Greek word to mean bay, though some understand it in the sense of “a creek” (King James Version, Moffatt). The only way the sailors felt it would be possible to save the ship would be to run the ship aground there, and so that is what they tried.
If possible may be related to the process of running the ship aground by translating “decided that they would try to run the ship aground.”
Run the ship aground is rendered in some languages as “cause the ship to reach the land,” “cause the ship to touch the land underneath the water,” or “cause the ship to go against the ground under the water.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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