witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated as “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca, as “telling the truth regarding something” (Eastern Highland Otomi), as “know something” in Lalana Chinantec, as “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “we ourselves saw this,” in Desano, as “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

elder (of the community)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the Danish Bibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

The German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).

Naomi

The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Naomi” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “changed identity” referring to the many life changes that Naomi goes through in the book of Ruth. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Naomi” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Translation commentary on Ruth 4:9: A Cultural Commentary for Central Africa

The reference to “buying from Naomi” is difficult for receptors to grasp, not only due to the cultural disparities which lay behind this conclusion of Boaz (as outlined above), but also because there is no previous hint in the text that Naomi was actually “selling” her land.
In fact, this would seem to be a very strange thing for a poor widow to do, for how then did she expect to support herself?

Source: Wendland 1987, p. 183.

Translation commentary on Ruth 4:9

The sequence of events is clearly marked here by the particle Then, which may be rendered somewhat more specifically in some languages as “and next” or “and after that.”

And all the others there is in Hebrew literally “and all the people.” It will be necessary to understand with one manuscript of Wright, Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate: “and to all the people.” This does not refer to all the people of the town, but to “all the people present” or “all those who were there.” This is appropriately rendered in English as all the others there.

You are all witnesses today may be translated in some languages as “You have all seen today.” In other languages, however, the role of a witness must be explained not only in terms of what people have seen, but also what they can later confirm; for example, “You have all seen today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to Chilion and Mahlon, and later you can tell folks that you have seen this happen” or “You have all seen today, and later you can explain how I have bought from Naomi everything….”

That I have bought indicates that the action belongs to the past, but the Hebrew tense of the verb shows quite clearly that this is an action which is accomplished at the very moment the words are spoken See Joüon, par. 112-113: “j’acquiers (hic et nunc, par mes paroles).” (cf. Smith-Goodspeed “I am buying”).

From Naomi is in Hebrew literally “at (from) the hand of Naomi.” This is a typical Hebrew idiom which can rarely be translated literally into other languages. The “hand” is a symbol for possession.

The relation of Chilion and Mahlon to the property is somewhat different from that of Elimelech, since the two sons inherited from their father. This must be made somewhat more explicit in some languages as “everything that belonged first to Elimelech, and accordingly to Chilion and Mahlon” or, even more explicitly, “everything that belonged first to Elimelech and then to his sons, Chilion and Mahlon.”

Quoted with permission from de Waard, Jan and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Ruth. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .