Before we begin, I should like to clarify the issue as to whether it was a big fish or a whale that swallowed Jonah.
The Hebrew is very clear – it was a fish.
At the risk of alienating the fish-sceptics amongst my audience, the fact that a whale breathes air using lungs does not make it a mammal. (This comes from the fish-truther magnum opus of the author who wrote Typee and Omoo – Herman Melville.)
NJV. From the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God; he said:
Iatmul. Madi’yak si’magiba li’ka Wakkadwanak ni’ma ñaankak wakala Wa’vi.
from the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed = madi’yak si’magiba li’ka… wakala Wa’vi
madi’yak = belly
si’magiba = in the fish
li’ka = from
wakala = he prayed
Wa’vi = Jonah
si’magiba li’ka from the fish has two components:
1. si’magiba = in the fish
2. li’ka = it stays.
Jendraschek’s dictionary has a number of word that he translates as fish, and he does not specify further.
I chose si’magi because the initial syllable si’m body reinforces the fact that, when created, this story was allegorical rather than literal.
madi’yak lower part of the belly reinforces the allegorical descent into the underworld.
Jonah comes from Hebrew yonaw’ (ינה) dove.
Again, while Jendraschek’s dictionary includes several words for fish, he does not specify any of these. I chose wa’vi because it contains the syllable vi to see.
Jonah 1:1
And came the word of Yahweh to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:
(Rough word-to-word)
Jonah saw the word of the Lord before he heard anything.
to Yahweh, his God = Wakkadwanak ni’ma ñaankak
Wakkadwanak = to Yahweh
ni’ma = big
ñaankak = to the man
ni’ma ñaan is the Iatmul word for God.
ni’ma = big
ñaan = person.
In addition, ñaan can also mean someone’s child and husband’s father: the Son and the Father.
Yahweh comes from the Hebrew hawyaw (היה) to become, to be.
My translation of Yahweh is Wakkadwun I become.
Exodus 3:13-14 BSB
Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites, and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent be to you.’”
KJV. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
Iatmul. Madi’yak si’magiba li’ka Wakkadwanak ni’ma ñaankak wakala Wa’vi.