desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew and Latin that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
  • Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

sunrise, sunset

The Hebrew and Greek terms that is translated as “sunrise” and “sunset” or similar in English are translated in Chichewa as “sun coming out” and “sun entering.” The understanding is that the sun moves and that when it is evening it goes back where it belongs. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also periods of the night.

complete verse (Numbers 21:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 21:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “And when they left there they came to set up their tents at Iye-abarim which is in the wilderness looking towards Moab in the East in the distance.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They moved on and set up tents in the wilderness of Iye-abarim to the east of Moab.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “From Obot, they set-out and camped at Iye Abarim, in the desert which is there in the east side of Moab.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then they left there, and went to Iye-Abarim, in the desert on the eastern border of Moab.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 21:11

And they set out from Oboth, and encamped at Iye-abarim: The exact location of Iye-abarim is also unknown. Good News Translation calls this place “the ruins of Abarim,” since the transliterated Hebrew word Iye (ʿiye) means “ruins” or, more precisely, “heaps of stones.” Heaps of stones in the desert mark the direction of watercourses. “Abarim” refers to the mountain range east of the Dead Sea (see 27.12; 33.47).

In the wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise means Iye-abarim was in the desert just east of Moab. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “in the wilderness bordering on Moab to the east,” and Good News Translation is similar with “in the wilderness east of Moabite territory.” The Israelites did not yet enter Moab itself; rather, they were going around it along its eastern border. The country of Moab was just east of the Dead Sea. Its people were related to the Israelites since they were the descendants of Lot and his older daughter (Gen 19.37).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .