grain

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “wheat”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).

Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext) or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

Translation commentary on Sirach 40:22

The eye desires grace and beauty: The thought of The eye desiring something may be strange. Good News Translation‘s rewording here is effective in English. We could also say “People enjoy seeing things that are graceful [or, elegant] and beautiful.” Another possibility is “We enjoy seeing things that are beautiful and move gracefully.” However, the phrase grace and beauty in Greek does not exclude human grace and beauty.

But the green shoots of grain more than both: The green shoots of grain refers to the young grain in the fields, attractive in itself, but bringing with it the promise of a food supply. Good News Translation “new growth in the spring” is an accommodation to English-speaking readers, most of whom live in parts of the world where crops are planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn. The Greek does not mention a season; in fact, planting in Palestine was done in the autumn, and that is when the new growth would appear in the fields. An alternative model for this line is “But more than these [or, most of all] we enjoy seeing the new green shoots of grain in our fields.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.