The translation of the Bible into the Manchu language was started in the 18th century, but only the translation of the New Testament has been published.
The translation of the Bible into the Manchu language was started in the 18th century, but only the translation of the New Testament has been published.
The Jesuit scholar and painter at the court of the Qianlong Emperor, Louis Antoine de Poirot (1735–1813), made a translation of the Old Testament into Manchu some time before 1790, but this translation was never published. A copy of the translation is preserved in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. [1]
The first published translation of the Bible into Manchu was made by Stepan Vaciliyevich Lipovtsov [Степан Васильевич Липовцов] (1770–1841). Lipovtsov had been a member of the eighth Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing from 1794 to 1807, where he had learned Manchu, and was later a member of the Russian Foreign Office. In 1821, the British and Foreign Bible Society commissioned Lipovtsov to translate the New Testament into Manchu. [2] In 1822, 550 copies of the translated Gospel of Matthew were printed in Saint Petersburg; however, most of these were destroyed in a flood. [3]
In 1833 the British and Foreign Bible Society sent George Borrow (1803–1881) to Russia to supervise the completion of the translation of the New Testament into Manchu. Borrow learned Manchu in six months using Lipovtsov's translation and a Manchu-French dictionary. Within two years Lipovtsov and Borrow had completed the translation of the New Testament, and in 1835, 1,000 copies were printed in Saint Petersburg. Borrow wanted to go to China to distribute the translation, but the Russian authorities refused to let him take the Bible with him in case it damaged diplomatic relations between Russia and China. It was not until ten years later that the translation made its way to China. In 1859, parallel Chinese and Manchu translations of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were printed in China, but by then Manchu was no longer a widely spoken language. [3] A reprint of the Manchu translation of the New Testament was made in Shanghai in 1929. [1]
ᠮᡠᠰᡝᡳ
ᡝᠵᡝᠨ
ᡳᠰᡠᠰ
ᡥᡝᡵᡳᠰᡨᠣᠰ
ᡳ
ᡨᡠᡨᠠᠪᡠᡥᠠ
ᡳᠴᡝ
ᡥᡝᠰᡝ Wylie: Mousei echen Isus Gheristos i tutapuha itche ghese, Möllendorff: Musei ejen Isus Heristos i tutabuha ice hese, the New Testament, published under the British and Foreign Bible Society.
The following is a sample showing the Manchu translation of the Lord's Prayer from Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9–13, together with the corresponding English translation from the Authorized King James Version of 1611.
| Translation | Mathew 6:9–13 | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Authorized Version , 1611 | Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ¹¹Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. | |
| S. V. Lipovtsov, 1822 | ᠠᠪᡴᠠ ᡩᡝ ᠪᡳᠰᡳᡵᡝ ᠮᡠᠰᡝᡳ ᠠᠮᠠ᠈ ᠠᠮᠠ ᡳ ᠴᠣᠯᠣ ᡤᡳᠩᡤᡠᠯᡝᠮᡝ ᡨᡠᡴᡳᠶᠠᡴᡳᠨᡳ᠈ ᠠᠮᠠ ᡳ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ᡝᠩᡤᡝᠯᡝᠨᠵᡳᡴᡳᠨᡳ᠈ ᠠᠮᠠ ᡳ ᡥᡝᠰᡝ ᠠᠪᡴᠠ ᡩᡝ ᠶᠠᠪᡠᠪᡠᡵᡝ ᠰᠣᠩᡴᠣᡳ ᠨᠠ ᡩᡝ ᠶᠠᠪᡠᠪᡠᡴᡳᠨᡳ᠉ ᠮᡝᠨᡳ ᡳᠨᡝᠩᡤᡳᡩᠠᡵᡳ ᠪᠠᡳᡨᠠᠯᠠᡵᠠ ᠵᡝᠮᡝᠩᡤᡝ ᠪᡝ ᡝᠨᡝᠩᡤᡳ ᠮᡝᠨᡩᡝ ᡧᠠᠩᠨᠠa/span> | Abka de bisire musei ama, ama i colo gingguleme tukiyakini, ama i gurun enggelenjikini, ama i hese abka de yabubure songkoi na de yabubukini. Meni inenggidari baitalara jemengge be enenggi mende xangnara, mende edelehe urse be meni guwebure ba tuwame, meni ama de edelehe babe guwebure, membe endebure bade isiburakv, elemangga ehe ci uksalara be bairengge, cohome gurun toose, ten i derengge enteheme ama de bi sere durgun, ameng. |
George Henry Borrow was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. His best-known books are The Bible in Spain and the novels Lavengro and The Romany Rye, set in his time with the English Romanichal (Gypsies).
The Douay–Rheims Bible, also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament, was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syro-Malabar Church.
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world.
Since the arrival of Christianity in China, the Bible has been translated into many varieties of the Chinese language, both in fragments and in its totality. The first translations may have been undertaken as early as the 7th century AD, but the first printed translations appeared only in the nineteenth century. Progress on a modern translation was encumbered by denominational rivalries, theological clashes, linguistic disputes, and practical challenges at least until the publication of the Protestant Chinese Union Version in 1919, which became the basis of standard versions in use today.
The Serampore Mission Press was a book and newspaper publisher that operated in Serampore, Danish India, from 1800 to 1837.
The royal Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander is an illuminated manuscript Gospel Book in middle Bulgarian, prepared and illustrated in 1355–1356 for Tsar Ivan Alexander of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The manuscript is regarded as one of the most important manuscripts of medieval Bulgarian culture. The manuscript, now in the British Library, contains the text of the Four Gospels illustrated with 366 miniatures and consists of 286 parchment folios, 33 by 24.3 cm in size.
The earliest preserved translation of the Bible into the Mongolian language dates to 1827, but there is a written record of what may perhaps have been a translation existing as early as 1305. Since 1827, numerous other translations have been made.
The history of Bible translations into Macedonian is connected in its early years with the history of Bible translations into Bulgarian. After the codification of Macedonian in 1945, in 1952 a liturgical edition of the four Gospels was printed as the first official translation into standard Macedonian.
Work on translation of the Bible into the Kazakh language began with the work of Charles Fraser of the Scottish Missionary Society. Fraser's translation of Matthew was published in 1818, and the New Testament in 1820 by the Russian Bible Society. J. M. E. Gottwald, a professor at Kazan University, revised it, and this was published in 1880 by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Kazan, and it was republished in 1887, and 1910. George W. Hunter, of the China Inland Mission in Ürümqi, considered this translation to be "a good translation, into Astrahan-Turki", he does not seem to have considered it to be Kazakh. Darlow and Moule say that it was intended for Kyrgyz in the neighbourhood of Orenburg, and the language was sometimes called "Orenburg Tatar". According to Rev. W. Nicholson of the Royal Asiatic Society in St Petersburg this translation was intended for "The Kirghese hordes—Great, Little, and Middle, as they are called—[who] occupy various regions in Southern Siberia, Central Asia, and west of the Caspian Sea." George A. King says Fraser's translation was into the language of the "Western Kirghiz or Kirghiz-Kazak, though they disown the name Kirghiz".
Translation of the Bible into Malayalam began in 1806. Church historians say Kayamkulam Philipose Ramban, a scholar from Kayamkulam, translated the Bible from Syriac into Malayalam in 1811 to help the faithful get a better understanding of the scripture. The Manjummal translation is the first Catholic version of the Bible in Malayalam. This is the direct translation from Latin. The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles were translated by the inmates of the Manjummal Ashram, Fr. Aloysius, Fr. Michael and Fr. Polycarp. The Pancha Granthy came out from Mannanam under the leadership of Nidhirikkal Mani Kathanar in 1924. The Catholic New Testament was published in full in 1940, and has influenced development of the modern language.
Bible translations into Oceanic languages have a relatively closely related and recent history.
Biblical translations into the indigenous languages of North and South America have been produced since the 16th century.
The Athabaskan language family is divided into the Northern Athabaskan, Pacific Coast Athabaskan and Southern Athabaskan groups. The full Bible has been translated into two Athabaskan languages, and the complete New Testament in five more. Another five have portions of the Bible translated into them. There are no Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages with portions of the Bible translated into them.
The Bible was translated into the Manx language, a Gaelic language related to Irish and Scots Gaelic, in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Bible has been translated into many of the languages of China besides Chinese. These include major minority languages with their own literary history, including Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Russian and Uyghur. The other languages of China are mainly tribal languages, mainly spoken in Yunnan in Southwest China.
Traditionally Russia used the Old Church Slavonic language and Slavonic Bible, and in the modern era Bible translations into Russian. The minority languages of Russia usually have a much more recent history, many of them having been commissioned or updated by the Institute for Bible Translation.
The history of all Bible translations into Slavic languages begins with Bible translations into Church Slavonic. Other languages include: