The Greek and Hebrew phrases that are often translated as “birds of the air” in English “refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are ‘field birds’.” (source: Bratcher / Nida)
Q’anjob’al also uses an established term for non-domesticated birds. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “Qʼanjobʼal has two distinct terms, one to identify domesticated birds and the other non-domesticated birds. The additional descriptive phrase ‘of the air’ seemed entirely misleading, for Qʼanjobʼal speakers had never heard of such creatures. Actually, of course, all that was necessary was the term for non-domesticated birds, for that is precisely the meaning of the Biblical expression.”
The Greek that is translated as “sow” in English is translated in Teutila Cuicatec as “sow wheat.” Unless a specific seed is mentioned, the Teutila Cuicatec reader assumes that it was chili pepper, since this is the only seed that they plant by broadcast sowing. However, since birds do not eat chili seed, nor does it produce such high yields, it was necessary to specify that wheat was sown. (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
The now commonly-used English idiom “fall by the wayside” (meaning failing or falling behind at something) was first coined in 1560 in the Geneva Bible. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 276)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:5:
Noongar: “‘One day, a man went out planting seeds. He planted the seeds in the ground, but some seeds fell on the path. People trod the seeds and birds ate them.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘There was a sower [who] went sowing. In his sowing, there was seed [sowed-thing] that fell in the middle of the road [lit., eye of the road], and so it was stepped on by people and pecked by birds.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘There was a person who went to his field to broadcast seed. As he broadcasted some seed happened to fall on the way. So-then it was stepped on and the birds went and ate it.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘There was a person who went to his field in order to plant. And of that which he planted there was some which fell on the path and was trodden on by people and birds ate it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He said, ‘On one-occasion, there was a person who went to broadcast seed in his swidden. While he was broadcasting the seed, some fell on the path and people were-stepping on it while moreover birds were-pecking-it-up.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘There was a person who scattered his planting-seeds. Well since the way he planted was by scattering (seed), some got scattered on the pathway, which is why it got trodden on, and as-soon-as-he-turned-his-back, it was eaten by the birds.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
exēlthen ho speirōn tou speirai ton sporon autou ‘a sower went out to sow his seed.’ The clause has a ring of solemnity because of the threefold repetition of a word from the same root. In ho speirōn the force of the article is generic; hence ‘a sower’ in many translations (cf. Revised Standard Version). tou speirai is final articular infinitive, ‘in order to sow.’
sporos (also v. 11) ‘seed.’
en tō speirein auton lit. ‘during his sowing,’ i.e. ‘as he sowed.’ auton refers to ho speirōn.
ho men epesen ‘some (seed) fell.’ ho is neuter though it refers to the masculine sporos. ho men is continued, not by ho de, but by kai heteron in vv. 6, 7, 8, also in the neuter.
para tēn hodon ‘by the side of the road,’ or ‘on the road,’ preferably the latter, as the next verb shows.
katepatēthē ‘was trodden on,’ ‘was trampled,’ cf. on 12.1.
ta peteina tou ouranou katephagen auto ‘the birds of the air ate it up.’ The phrase ta peteina tou ouranou (also 9.58; 13.19; and cf. Gen. 1.26; Ps. 8.9) has become a stereotype in which the genitive tou ouranou has lost its specific meaning; hence the rendering ‘birds.’ auto in the neuter refers to ho men at the beginning of v. 5.
Translation:
A sower went out to sow his seed is redundant in specific references to the process; hence some of the terms may have to be rendered more generically, or even omitted, which results e.g. in, ‘a man (or, farmer/husbandman) went out to sow his seed, or, to scatter-sow.’ Went out, i.e. from his house or settlement towards his fields; the verb indicates ingressive aspect. His seed. Some languages distinguish between ‘seed’ (as found on the plant) and ‘sowing-seed,’ e.g. Tae’ (lit. ‘pip/grain’ and ‘what-has-been-threshed-out’); in others the normal object of ‘to sow’ is the name of the plant sown, i.e. here ‘wheat/grain’ (for the rendering of which cf. on 3.17). The possessive may have to be described, e.g. ‘the seed he used,’ ‘the seed of his fields,’ but more often the form, if rendered at all, is better left unpossessed.
Some, or, ‘some seed,’ ‘a part (of the seed)’; in some Indonesian languages the idiom is, ‘there-was seed that’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘there-was one part (lit. one-half, which can be used also when the item is divided into more than two parts)’ (Malay). The fourfold ‘some’ in vv. 5-8 may require differentiation, e.g. ‘there-was one-part that … (twice), there-was also one-part that…, there-was again one-part that…’ (Bahasa Indonesia).
Along the path, preferably, ‘on the path,’ or, ‘toward the path’ (Sundanese, Batak Toba). For path cf. on 3.4.
And was trodden under foot, or with an indefinite active form, ‘and/there people (or, the passers-by) trod on it.’
The birds of the air, or simply, ‘the birds’ (see Exegesis), specifically the undomesticated birds (cf. 9.58), which is sometimes expressed ‘wild birds,’ ‘field birds.’
Devoured, preferably, ‘pecked up’ (Javanese).
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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