Yesterday, my Choctaw language instructor and I had an interesting discussion about Byington's translation of the 23rd Psalm. Previously, I had mentioned that his translation of the English "still waters," which he writes as oka ontvla, literally translated as stagnant water. (I have since looked at my notes and that is stranded water, which I apparently translated into stagnant water. ) My own research had given me the information that there were two Bibles that were popular in Byington's time, so I called the Global Bible Society to see if anyone had more information. Byington was a Congregationalist (now he is referred to as Presbyterian), and I did try to ascertain what role the beliefs of the Congregationalist church might have played in his translations.
My Choctaw language instructor translated Byington a bit differently, scanning it as oka afoha as a place to rest near the water--it is peaceful, no one is fishing or doing anything around there. I did point out that he was looking at the Psalm with modern eyes and wondered what it might have meant to a Choctaw of the early 1800's. Choctaws like other Southeastern Indians must have had numerous stories related to bodies of water, and water would have figured prominently in their ceremonies. Monsters with magical powers lived in water, for example. It is almost impossible to go back, however, and obtain clear data about those times and the thinking. Christianity and the Removal happened to the Choctaw. Stories about specific rivers, streams, or lakes no longer had any meaning or place in a new religion and land.
Byington's dictionary does have a word for still water, oklhimpa, so why didn't he use that? Or he could have described the water as alhobi, "still and without wind." Byington's dictionary, of course, represents a lifetime of work. Perhaps, his translations of Psalms was done before he obtained a complete knowledge of the Choctaw language. Or the words for these ideas in the Byington dictionary may represent changes in the Choctaw language after the advent of Christianity.
My original interest in Psalms was to look for metaphors because these writings are metaphor rich. Part of what was interesting to me was that Byington apparently tried to translate the metaphors in the King James Version literally into Choctaw: There appears to be no effort find an equivalent idea in Choctaw. In contrast, in the Māori language, instead of joining the "body" of Christ, one joins his "canoe." Of course, enforcing the metaphors of the King James Version had a profound affect on the thinking of Choctaw people. Even though they were hearing their own language, that language no longer represented Choctaw ideas.
On my next meeting with my instructor, I will ask him about the ontvla to get his take on what Byington might have meant.
