The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) 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.), 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. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:18:
Noongar: “‘This I will do’, he said to himself, ‘I will break down my grain houses and make bigger houses for keeping everything, my grain and all my other things.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Ah, I have an idea! I will just tear down my storehouse and build one that is bigger, so that there [locative] will be my putting-away-place for all my rice and my goods.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “A, I know as to what I should do,’ he said, ‘I will break down my storehouses and will build bigger ones than the first ones so that I can store there all that my plants yielded and all my wealth.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he said, ‘I will tear down these bodegas of mine and I will build again greater ones, so that all that I have harvested and all of my possessions might be placed in them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Ah, now this is what I will do. I will destroy all my granaries so that I will then build bigger-ones so that it will suffice as a place-for-me-to-store all my harvests and my possessions as well.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Probably it would be good if I break up these silos of mine, for I will then have much bigger ones built, so that places-to-put-into won’t lack for what I have harvested and for my belongings.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
kai eipen ‘and (at last) he said.’ After dielogizeto (v. 17, imperfect tense) eipen (aorist) marks the end of his deliberations and the reaching of a decision.
touto poiēsō ‘this (is what) I will do,’ introductory clause. touto is emphatic.
kathelō mou tas apothēkas ‘I will tear down my barns.’ For kathaireō cf. on 1.52. For apothēkē cf. on 3.17.
kai meizonas oikodomēsō ‘and I will build bigger ones,’ with apothēkas understood.
ekei ‘there,’ i.e. in the new bigger barns.
panta ton siton kai ta agatha mou ‘all my grain/corn and goods.’ panta goes with siton only. agatha refers to movable possessions in general.
Translation:
Pull down, referring probably not to mere destruction, but to the deliberate taking down of the barns in such a way that the material can still be used, as indicated e.g. in Balinese, which uses a word lit. meaning ‘to untie/loosen.’
Barns, or, ‘storehouses,’ in Indonesia often a term that basically means ‘rice barn,’ then ‘granary,’ ‘storehouse (for any kind of food and goods).’ A generic descriptive phrase, ‘place/building where are stored,’ may coincide with the expression employed in v. 17.
All my grain and my goods, or, ‘all this grain (of mine) and my other goods/possessions.’ For grain cf. on “wheat” in 3.17.
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
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