1While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman),
The Hebrew that is transliterated as “Miriam” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “tambourine” referring to Exodus 15:20. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In some Semitic languages, the transliteration for “Miriam” is identical to “Mary,” testifying to the fact that these names are identical (Arabic and the many translations that are reliant on Arabic: مَرْيَم, Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Ge’ez / Amharic and related languages: ማርያም).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 12:1:
Kupsabiny: “Moses had married a girl who hailed from the land of Cush. Miriam and Aaron opposed Moses because of that.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Moses married a Cushite woman. By reason of that woman, Miriam and Aaron began to criticize him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Now, Miriam and Aaron spoke-bad-thing-against Moises because he had-married the one-who-comes-from-Etiopia.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Moses’/My older sister Miriam and his/my older brother Aaron were saying this: ‘Is Moses the only one to whom Yahweh has spoken messages to tell to us ? Does Yahweh not speak messages to us two also?’ They told people that they were saying that because Moses/I had married a woman who was a descendant of the Cush people-group, but they were really saying that because they were jealous/did not want Moses/me to be the only leader of the Israeli people. But Yahweh heard what they were saying.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
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