10Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master, and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 24:10:
Kankanaey: “Then he got-ready ten of his master’s camels (loan kamel) and he loaded (on them) all kinds of very-nice things-to-arrive-with. Then he and his travelling-companions set-out to go to the country of Nahor who was a sibling/cousin of Abraham in the region of Mesopotamia.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “After that he took ten of his master’s camels and very expensive gifts and went toward Aram-naharaim, the city where Nahor, Abraham’s younger brother lived.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Afterwards, the servant took ten camels and expensive things-for-gifts from his master Abraham. He then set-out going-to Aram Naharaim, the city where Nahor lived.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and loaded them with all kinds of goods that his master gave him to take along. Then he left to go to Aram-Naharaim, which is in northern Mesopotamia/Syria. He arrived in Nahor city.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
Ten of his master’s camels is literally “ten camels of his master’s camels,” which Revised English Bible translate “ten camels of his master’s herds.” For discussion of “camel” see 12.16.
The word translated departed in Revised Standard Version occurs in the Hebrew but does not fit in the sentence, because the same verb occurs later in the same sentence. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends it be omitted; however, this will depend on the structure of the translator’s language.
Taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master: taking is supplied by Revised Standard Version. The Hebrew text has “and all good things of his master were in his hand.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project rates the Hebrew as {A} and says the sense of “and all good things” is that the servant took ten camels “and all the best things of the master.” “Best things” refers to gifts from Abraham to his relatives in Mesopotamia. Good News Translation interprets this clause to refer to the servant “who was in charge of Abraham’s property.” Most modern translations follow the interpretation of Revised Standard Version, and this is the one recommended by the Handbook. Some translations include in the rendering of all sorts of choice gifts “… to give to them there.”
And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia: see discussion of arose followed by another verb of action in 13.17. In English this expression is most naturally translated “he went,” “he set out for.” Mesopotamia translates Hebrew ʾaram-naharaim (as also in Deut 23.4; Judges 3.8). ʾAram refers to the country of the Arameans, which at that time extended from Mesopotamia to northern Syria. Naharaim means “two rivers” and refers to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq. The whole expression appears to mean “that part of Aram that is between the two rivers,” which Speiser calls “Central Mesopotamia.” In some translations the information “a long way to the north” is given with to Mesopotamia, to help readers who are not familiar with the geography of that part of the world.
To the city of Nahor: this may refer to the city in which Abraham’s brother had lived, or to the place by that name in the district of Haran. Good News Translation understands it to be “the city where Nahor had lived in northern Mesopotamia.” Bible en français courant says “the city of Nahor in upper Mesopotamia.” Either interpretation is acceptable.
In transliteration none of these place names will be recognizable by many readers. However, we may help the reader by saying “to the city called Nahor in the region called Mesopotamia” or “to the town where Abraham’s brother Nahor lived in the area of Mesopotamia.” The map of the Ancient World, page 18, shows Mesopotamia and Haran in relation to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. If footnotes are used, we may say, for example, “Nahor is in the area of Haran in what is now known as northern Iraq.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.