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 Zechariah 2:6

The beginning of a new discourse unit is marked in Hebrew by the occurrence of the interjections translated Ho! ho!, and by the imperative verb Flee. The Hebrew does not state who is spoken to in this verse, but it is obviously the Jews who were still in exile. Good News Translation makes this clearer by putting “The LORD said to his people” at the beginning of the verse. Good News Translation also links verse 6 with verse 7 and restructures them, but this does not seem necessary. As discussed above, such a procedure neglects the structure of the whole unit.

Ho! translates a Hebrew word that elsewhere often means “Woe!” (compare Hab 2.6, 9, 12, 15, 19). Here it may have something of the same feeling, suggesting that some evil will come on the land of the north. However, most English versions translate it here more as a term of exhortation. New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and New Revised Standard Version have “Up, up;” New English Bible/ Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh have “Away, away;” New International Version has “Come! Come!” (similarly Beck). Since all these expressions are rather artificial in English, Good News Translation omits any direct equivalent. Translators should try to use an appropriate expression showing urgency in their own languages if this is available. Contemporary English Version retains the urgency of Ho! ho! with “Run!” In certain languages this may also be an ideal place to use an ideophone expressing urgency.

Flee from the land of the north: The command to Flee may be translated as “escape from” (Good News Translation) or “run away from.” The land of the north means in this context Babylonia, as verse 7 makes clear. Although Babylonia was east rather than north from Judah, the road from Babylonia avoided the direct route across the desert, and approached Judah from the north. This is why the north is associated with both Babylonia and Assyria in the Old Testament.

Says the LORD occurs twice in this verse. The first occurrence probably helps to mark the beginning of the new unit, and the second probably marks the end of the first part of that unit. Good News Translation puts its equivalent “The LORD said to his people” just once at the beginning of the verse. This may be better style in many languages. Some translators may have other means of marking the equivalent discourse functions, for instance by particles.

For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens: This is a reference to the scattering of the people in many countries at the time of the exile. For I have spread you, see the discussion on “scattered” in 1.19. As the four winds of the heavens means in every direction. Good News Translation thus translates this whole clause in simple English as “I scattered you in all directions” (compare 6.5; Jer 49.36; Dan 8.8; Dan 11.4).

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .