threshing floor

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “threshing floor” in English is translated in Kim with twal or “termite mound” which are used to build threshing floors. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also thresh.

complete verse (Genesis 50:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 50:11:

  • Newari: “The Canaanites living there, seeing [them] weeping with broken hearts in the wheat drying field of Atad, said — ‘This turns out to be a dead body bringing of the Egyptians.’ So that place near the Jordan was called Abel Miziraim.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When the Canaanhon saw their mourning at the place-of-threshing in Atad, they said, ‘The [plural] Egiptohanon mourn very much/great.’ So-that place which (is) near the River ofJordan was called Abel Mizraim.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When the Canaan people-group who lived there saw them mourning like that, they said, ‘This is a sad mourning place for the people of Egypt!’ So they named the place Abel-Mizraim, which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘mourning of the Egyptians.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 50:11

Inhabitants of the land: these are identified in this verse as the Canaanites. We may therefore translate “When the people of Canaan saw….”

Saw the mourning on …: that is, “saw how the people were mourning at the threshing floor of Atad….”

They said may need to be expressed as “said to each other” or “said to themselves.”

This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: this comment made by the Canaanites is said to provide an explanation for the name of the place in the next sentence. The word rendered mourning by Revised Standard Version is ʾebel. The expression is literally “a heavy mourning,” which means “a very sad mourning.” Note how Good News Translation expresses the emphatic character of this remark.

Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim: see footnotes of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. As in most of the explanations of the origins of names in Genesis, it is the similarity of sound between two words that is said to be the explanation of the name. Translators may follow the models of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

It is beyond the Jordan: Good News Translation does not repeat this statement, which was made in verse 10.

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 .