LIBRARY OF PRINCETON MAY 3n 2007 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY n Mf n! fenj &A MULT/E TERRICOLIS LINGUA, C(£LESTI BUS UNA. r fltS) ■ ^'aM.(yi^\A^cjL) i'd\j^j(;^i!>^^^ ^'^' V. '\) ^^i^ A HISTORY OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES IN EYERY LANGUAGE AND DIALECT INTO WHICH TRANSLATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE ILIUSTEATED BY SPECIMEN PORTIONS IN NATIVE CHARACTERS; COLOURED ETHNOGRAPHICAL MAPS, TABLES, INDEXES, ETC. NEW EDITION, ENLARGED AND ENRICHED. _o\x- nOAAAI MEN 0NHTOI2 T A Si T T A I, MIA A' A 0 A N A T O 1 2 I N. LONDON : SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS: AT THE WAREHOUSE FOR BIBLES, NEW TESTAMENTS, CnURCH SERVICES, PRAYER BOOKS, LEXICONS, GRAMMARS, CONCORDANCES, AND PSALTERS, IN ANCIENT AND MODERN LANGUAGES J 15, PATERNOSTER ROW. CONTENTS. PREFATORY REMARKS. A Cx-AssiFiED List of the Languages into which the Scbiptukes have been Translated. An Alphabetical List of Typographical Specimens. The Ethnographical Maps, illustrating the Monosyllabic Languages — The Shemitic Languages — The Medo-Pebsian Family — The Sanscrit Family — The Indo-European Languages of Europe — The Finno-Tartarian — The Polynesian — African — North and South American Languages — with Letter-Press Description. The Series of Native Alphabets with their Powers. Alphabetical Index to the Memoirs of the Versions. PAGE CLASS I.— THE MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES 1 Engraved Specimen of Burmese and Kuassee, p. 7 ; Tibetan, 20 ; Karen and Lepcha, 115; Siamese, 337. CLASS II.— THE SHEMITIC LANGUAGES 22 Engraved Specimen of Syro-Chaldaic, p. 20. Map exhibiting the Ancient Diffusion of the Hebrew Language, p. 31. CLASS m.— INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.— Medo-Persian Family . . • . Ci Engraved Specimen of Hakari-Kurdish, p. 91. Sanscrit Family ............ 86 Engraved Specimen of Pali, Urita or Orissa, and Telinga, p. 91 ; Assamese, 115; Cutcheb, Cashmerian, Gujerattee, Tamul, 133; Bengalee, Canarese, Cingalese, 141; Mooltan and Malayalim, 337. Celtic Family ............ 151 Teutonic Family ............ 174 Greco-Latin Family ........... 227 Engraved Specimen of Wallachian, p. 141. Tubaco-Illyrian Family .......... 289 Sclavonic Family ........... 291 Engraved Specimen of Sclavonic and Russ, Servian, Bulgarian, p. 291. CONTENTS. PAGE CLASS IV.— DETACHED FAMILIES.— Ugro-Taktaeian Languages.' EusKAKiAN Family ........... 814 Finnish Famu.y ............ 319 Engraved Specimen of Karelian and Zikian, p. 338 ; Tschebemissian and Mordvinian, 356- TuNGusiAN Family ........... 334 Engraved Specimen or Mantchou, p. 334. Mongolian Family ......'...... 337 Engraved Specimen op Mongolian, p. 337; Cal.muc and Buriat, 338. Turkisu Family ............ 34] Engraved Specimen op TscnnwASCHiAN, p. 334. Caucasian Family ............ 353 Engraved Specimen of Georgian, Civil and Ecclesiastical, p. 334. Samoiede Family ........... 355 Eastern Asian and Corean Families ......... 356 Engraved Specimen op Japanese and Loochooan, p. 356. CLASS v.— POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES 360 Engraved Specimen of Javanese, p. 115. CLASS VI.— AFRICAN LANGUAGES 397 CLASS VII.— AMERICAN LANGUAGES 438 A CLASSIFIED TABLE OP THE LANGUAGES OF THE ENTIRE EARTH, illustrating THE necessity for CONTINUED EXERTION IN THE SPREAD OF THE ScRIPTUBES . . . 477 PREFATORY REMARKS TO THE SECOND EDITION. It is remarkable that, among all the branches of history, religious, political, social, literary, and scientific, which have from time to time obtained such numerous and such able exponents, the history of the Oracles of God, until the publication of the first edition of this Work, remained unwritten, at least in the form of an unbroken and complete narrative. The materials for such a work had, it is true, been accumulating from century to century ; and fragmentary portions of this history enter into the composition of many profound and learned treatises ; while facts and incidents connected with the subject or illustrative of it have been supphed even to profusion by writers of almost every age, creed, and nation. But that mass of information remained as yet unavailable to the generality of readers. The " Bible of Every Land," then, for the first time brought together from all sources, ancient and modern, the many details bearing on that history which above all others involves the temporal and eternal interests of mankind, and thus produced a clear and condensed accoimt of the means by which the Scriptures were transmitted from generation to generation. It investigated the circumstances under which they have been translated into the principal languages of every land ; — and the agencies by which copies of the inspired writings in these languages have been multiplied and dispersed among the nations, tribes, and kindreds of the earth. In the preparation of this new and enlarged edition these investigations have been pursued, and the greatest care has been taken to furnish the latest accessible information on every point. The Arrangement of the whole work is in strict conformity with the latest dis- coveries in ethnology. For, although the Editors have not departed from the one great object of displaying in these pages, the history of the Holy Scriptures, they have carefully reviewed the origin and condition of the nations to which special versions have been given, as well as the distinguishing characteristics of the languages into which the Divine Oracles have been transferred. The elements of these languages, the stock or stocks from which they sprang, and their affiliation with other languages, have been examined more or less in detail ; and the singular precision -with which all languages range themselves, according to the PREFATORY REMARKS. order of their mutual affinities, into classes, families, and subdivisions, is exhibited by means of Tables of Classification, perhaps the first of the kind compiled in our language. The "Bible of Every Land" has thus in some degree assumed the character of an ethnological manual, and as such it may possibly prove a stepping-stone to those who desire to pass from the study of two or three isolated languages to the enlarged consideration of Language in general, and of the laws upon which all languages are constructed. Such investigations, if laboriously, patiently, and honestly conducted, can lead to but one residt. For the affinities by which families and even classes of lan- guages are linked together are so close and intimate, that the more deeply they are examined, the more profound becomes our conviction of the truth of the theory respect- ing the original unity of language. This volume is illustrated by Specimen Portions of all the extant and attainable versions of the Scriptures, printed in their own proper characters. The ]\laps to the several sections of the work exhibit the geographical location and extent of each language, and likewise show how far the divine light of the Holy Scrip- tures in the vernacular languages of the natives, shines over the world. A very interesting feature of the present Work will be found in the conclusions which have been drawn from the mass of missionary and epistolary evidence respecting the effects which may have followed the perusal of existing versions of the Scriptures. All reasonings on this subject, however, even with the most ample opportunities of forming a correct judgment, can at best be but approximations towards the truth. KnoAvn only to God is the number of His spiritual worshippers. The Word of God is still quick and powerful, in every tongue and among every nation, and it cannot return unto Him void : therefore let us " in the morning sow our seed, and in the evening withhold not our hand." The question ' which shall prosper, this or that^' — or ' whether they shall both be alike good,' is one of the secret things which belong unto the Lord most High. The Publishers would fain express their deep obligation to the numerous friends who have taken part in the ^preparation of this laborious work, were such an enumera- tion suitable ; but they cannot refrain from recording the particular value of the aid afforded by His Highness Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the Missionary Societies of this country and of America; also by the Rev. S. C. Malan, M.A., and by William Hughes, Esq., F.R.G.S. London, 15, Paternoster Run; 1860. ALPHABETICAL LIST OP SPECIMENS IN NATIVE CHARACTERS. PAGE Accra . 415 Adiyah 346 Affghan . . 72 Aimara 471 Albanian 289 Alemannic . 178 Amharic 61 Ancient Greek 227 Anglo-Saxon . 191 Northumbrian . 195 Aneiteum 392 Arabic 48 Arawack 474 Armenian : Ancient 75 Ararat 75 Modern . 75 Assamese {plate x ) 115 JJASHMURIC 402 Basque, French 314 „ Spanish 318 Bengalee {plale v ) 109 Berber . 403 Bohemian 300 Breton . 170 „ Dialects 173 Bulgarian {plate vi ) 307 Bullom 409 Buriat {plate vii .)339 Burmese {plate i.) 7 Caffeb 426 Calmuc {plate vii ) 338 Canarese {plate v ) 141 Carib, see Karif. Carniolan 305 Carshun . 56 Cashmerian {pi. iv .) 120 Catalan or Catalonian 265 Chaldee . 39 Chinese 1 „ Grass writing . 4 PAGE PAGE Chippeway . 450 Faroese . 226 Chocktaw 461 Feejeean . 390 Cingalese {plate \ '.) 147 Fernandian . 420 Coptic . 397 Finnish . 319 Cornish 169 Flemish 205 Cree . 448 French . 254 Syllabic . 449 Le Fevre's Version 256 Creolese . 211 Olivetan's „ 256 Croatian, or Dalmatian Geneva ,, 256 Servian 304 De Sacy's „ 257 CuraQoa . 270 Ostervald's 257 Cutchee or Catchee Swiss . ,, 257 {plate IV .)117 Normandian „ 259 Daco-Romana or Wallachian (j}l. v .)279 Burgundian „ French Basque 260 314 Dacota or Sioux 463 Dajak . Danish Delaware Dorpat Esthonian Dualla Dutch . 371 217 447 329 418 208 Gtaelic . Galla . Georgian : {pi. viii. Civil character Ecclesiastical „ German : 158 432 ) 353 353 353 Engush : Luther, 1825 181 Wiclif, 1380 196 Van Ess, 1842 . 181 Tyndale, 1534 . 196 Giisner, 1836 182 Coverdale, 1535 196 Kistemaker, 1848 182 Matthew, 1537 . 196 Ghadarasi 405 Cranmer, 1539 197 Gipsy . 130 Taverner, 1549 197 Gothic . 174 Geneva, 1557 197 Grebo . 414 Bishops', 1568 . 197 Greek, Ancient : Rheims, 1582 198 Textus Receptus . 227 Douay, 1847 . 198 Mill's, with various Authorised, 1611 198 readings 233 Blayney, 1769 . 198 Septuagint . 236 Enghadine 287 Greek, Modern : Esquimaux . 438 Maximus Calliopoli Esthonian, Dorpat 329 tan's Version, 1638 241 | „ Reval . 330 Hilarion's „ 241 Ethiopic . 57 Greenlandish, 1799 441 PAGE Greenlandish, 1822 443 Gujerattee {plate iv.) 123 Makahi {plate iii.) 84 Harrotee . . 106 Hawaiian . 375 Hebrew . . 22 New Test., Green- field's Version 29 Society's „ . 29 Hindustani . . 94 In the Devanagari character . 95 In Roman . . 96 Hinduwee . . 100 Hungarian . . 325 „ Wendish 310 Icelandic . 214 Indo-Portuguese 275 Irish: In Irish character 160 In Roman . 160 Munster . 161 Isubu 419 Italian : Malermi's Version 277 Diodati's „ 277 Martini's „ 277 J apanese {plate ix.) 356 Javanese {plate x.) 369 Jewish-German . 186 Judeo-Persian . 71 Judeo-Polish . .188 Judeo-Spanish . 267 Karaite-Tartar 350 Karass, or Turkish Tartar :— ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TYPOGRAPHICAL SPECIMENS. Seaman's Version, 1666 . . 317 Brunton's Version, 1813 . . 347 Karelian (plalc vn.) 328 Karen, Sgau (plate x.) 1 6 „ Slio or Pwo (plate X.) If! Karif or Carib . 473 Karnata, or Canarese (plate V.) 141 Katchi (plate iv.) 117 Khaspoora . .121 Khassee (plate i.) 17 „ In Romnn 17 Kunkuna . . 129 Kurdish (plate ni.) 82 .LiAPPONESE . . 322 Latin Versions of tlie Old Testament : Ante-Hieronymian 245 Vulgate . . 245 Pagninus's 245 Munster's . 246 Leo Juda's . 246 Castalio's . . 246 Junius and Tremel- lius's . 247 Schmidt's . . 247 Dathe's . . 247 Latin Versions of the New Testament : Ante-Hieronymian 252 Erasmus's 252 Beza's . . . 252 Castalio's . . 253 Schmidt's . . 253 Sebastian's . 253 Schott's . . 253 Goeschen's . 253 Lepcha (plate x.) 21 Lettish or Livonian . 310 Lifii and Nengone 394 Lithuanian . . 312 Loochooan (plate ix.) 357 Mahratta . 126 Malagasse . . 386 Malayalim (plate xi.) 145 PACE Malayan : Arabic, Calcutta, 1817 . . .360 Roman,Oxford,1677 361 „ Brower, 1668 362 „ Serampore, 1814 . . 364 Arabic, Singapore, 1831 . . 365 Arabic, Robinson's 1823 . . 366 Maldivian . . 150 Maltese, 1829 . 53 1847 . . 54 Mandingo . . 406 Manks . . .166 Mantehou (plate viii.) 334 Marathi . . 126 Massachusett . . 445 Mayan . . 468 JNIexican . . . 465 Micmac . . 454 Modern Greek . 241 Mohawk . . 456 Mongolian (jilate xi.) 337 Mogrebin, or African or Moorish Arabic 55 Mordvinian (plate ix.) 331 Mosquito . . 469 Moultanor AVuch (p. xi.) 118 Mpongwe . . 421 Munipoora . . 16 JNamaqua . 430 Nepalese or Khaspoora 121 New Zealand . 383 Norse . . . 214 Ojibwat . . 453 Old Saxon . .189 Orenburg-Tartar . 349 Orissa (j)late in.) 116 Otomi . .467 Pali (plate III.) 91 Peguese 11 Persian 64 Judeo- . 71 Piedmontese Polish . Portuguese : Almeida's Version Pereira's „ Boys' Piovenfal or Romaunt Lyons MS. . Paris MS. [8086] Paris MS. [6833] Dublin MS. . Grenoble MS. Zurich MS. . Pushtoo . Qn rAOE 286 298 271 271 271 281 281 281 282 282 282 72 324 Rakotongan 378 Reval Esthonian . :V29 Romanese, Romonsch, or Upper and Lower Enghadine 287 Rommany . .130 Russian (plate vi.) 295 Sahidic Samaritan Samoan Samogitian Sanscrit 401 35 388 313 86 Dr. Carey's Version 90 Saxon, Old . . 189 Sclavonian (plate vi.) 291 Sechuana . . 423 Servian (plate vi.) 302 Siamese {plate xi.) 12 Sindhee . . 117 Sioux . . .463 Sirenian (plate vii.) 332 Sisuta or Sesuto . 425 Slovakian . . 306 Sorabic, see Wendisb. Spanish : Eeyna's Version 261 Scio's ,, 261 Amat's „ 261 Spanish Basque . 318 Surinam Negro- PACE 408 222 41 41 Enjrlish 212 Susoo . Swedish . Syriac, Peshito „ Philoxcnian Syro-Chaldaic (pi. ii.) 45 Ia-IItian . . 376 Tamul (plate iv.) 133 Telinga (plate ui.) 138 Tibetan (p)late ii ) 20 Tigre ... 60 Tongan . . 381 Toulouse . . . 283 Trans-Caucasian Tartar . . 352 Tscheremissian (plate IX.) 331 Tschuwaschian (plate viTi.) 351 Turkish . . . 341 Turkish-Armenian 346 Turkish-Tartar, see Karass. Turco-Greek 345 U KDoo or Urdu . 94 Uriya (plate iii.) 116 V AUDois . . 284 Virginian . . 444 \Y ALLACHIAX (p. VI.) 279 Welsh : Salisbur3''s Version, 1567 . . 151 Dr. W. Morgan's Version, 1588 . 151 Bishop Parry's Ver- sion, 1620 . 151 Bible Society's . 151 WcndLsh or Sorabic, Upper and Lower 308 Wendish, Hungarian 310 Wuch, see Moultan. Y ARRIBA . 411 ZiBiAN (jilale vn.) 332 A LIST or THE LANGUAGES INTO WHICH THE SCRIPTUEES, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED. XOTE— THE NAMES OF LANGUAGES IX WHICH VERSIONS OF SCEIPTUEE HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATED OR PROJECTED, BUT NETEB COMPLETED OE CIKCDLATED, ARE PHINTED IN ITALICS. MONOSYLLABrC. CLASS I. Chinese, 1. Burmese, 7. Arahinese or Ruhheng, 10. Peguese, Talain, or Mon, 1 1 . Siamese, 12. Laas or Lau\ 14. Camhojan, 15. Anamite, 15. Karen, 15. Munipoora, 16. Khassee, 17. Tibetan, 20. Lepcha, 21. SHEMITIC. CLASS XL Hebrew, Old Test., 22. Hebrew, New Test., 29. Samaritan, 35. Chaldee, 39. Syriac, 41. Syro-Chaldaic, 45. Modern Syriac, 45. Arabic, 48. Judeo-Arabic, 52. Maltese, 53. Mogrehin or W. Arabic, 55. Carshun, 56. Ethiopic, 57. Tigre, 60. Amharic, 61. INDO-EUROPEAN. CLASS III. Medo-Persian Family. Persian, 64. Judeo-Persian, 71. Pushtoo or Aifghan, 72. Beloochee or Bulochee, 74. Ancient Armenian, 75. Modern Armenian, 75. Ararat-Armenian, 75. Kurdish, 82. Arraeno, 82. Hakari, 84. Ossitinian, 84. Sanscrit Family. Sanscrit, 86. Pali, 91. Hindustani or Urdu, 94. Hinduwee, 100. Bruj or Brij-bhasa, 103. Canoj or Canyacubja, 104. Kousulu or Koshala, 104. Bhojepoora, 104. Ilurriana, 105. Bundelcundee, 105. Bughelcundee, 105. Harrotec, lOG. Oojein or Oujjuyunee, 107. Oodeypoora, 107. Marwar, 107. Juyapoora, 108. Shehawutty , 108. Bikaneera, 108. Buttaneer, 108. Bengalee, 109. Magadha, 114. Tirhitiya or Mithili, 114. Assamese, 115. Uriya or Orissa, 116. Cutohee or Catchee, 117. Sindhee, 117. Moultan, Wuch, or Ooch, 118. Punjabee or SilA, 118. Dogura or Jumboo, 120. Cashmerian, 120. Nepalese or Khaspoora, 121. Palpa, 122. Kumaon, 123. Gurwhal or Schreen- agur, 123. Gujerattee, 123. Mahratta, 126. Kunkuna, 129. Rommany or Gipsy, 130. Tamul or Tamil, 133. Telinga or Teloogoo, 138. Karnata or Canaresc, 141. Tulu, 144. Malayalim, 145. Cingalese, 147. Maldivian, 150. Celtic Family. Welsh, 151. Gaelic, 158. Irish, 160. Manks, 166. Cornish, 169. Breton or Armorican, 170. Teutonic Family. Gothic, 174. Alemannic or Old High German, 178. „ Dialects, 179. German, 181. „ Dialects, 185. Jewish-German, 186. Judeo-Polish, 188. Old Saxon, 189. Anglo-Saxon, 191. English, 196. Flemish, 205. Dutch, 208. SurinamNegroEnglisli,212. Creolese, 211. Norse or Icelandic, 214. Danish, 217. Swedish, 222. Faroese, 226. Gkeco-Latin Family. Ancient Greek, 227. Modern Greek, 241. Latin, 245. A LIST OF THE LANGUAGES, etc. French, 254. Spanish, 261. Portuguese, 271. Indo-Portuguese, 275. Italian, 277. Daco-Romana or Wal- lachian, 279. ProvenQal or Romaunt, 28 1 . Vaudois, 284. Piedmontese, 286. Romanese or Romonsch, or Upper and Lower Enghadine, 287. Catalan, 265. Judeo-Spanish, 267. Cura?oa, 270. Dialect of Toulouse, 283. Thbaco-Illykian Family. Albanian, 289. Sclavonic Family. Sclavonic, 291. Russ, 295. Polish, 298. Bohemian, 300. Servian, 302. Croatian or Dalmatian- Servian, 304. Carniolan, 305. Bosnian, 306. Slovakian, 306. Bulgarian, 307. Wendish, Upper, 308. Wendish, Lower, 308. Wendish, Hungarian, 310. Lettish or Livonian, 310. Lithuanian, 312. Samogitian, 313. UCRO TARTARIAN. CLASS IV. Edskabian Family. French Basque, 314. Spanish Basque or Escuara, 318. Finnish Family. r Finnish Proper, 319. Lapponese, 322. Quanian or Norwegian Laplandish, 324. Hungarian, 325. Karelian, 328. Olonetzian, 328. Dorpat Esthonian, 329. Reval Esthonian, 330. Tscheremissian, 331. Mordvinian or Mor- duin, 331. Zirian or Sirenian, 332. WoguUm, 332. Ostiacan or Ostjahian, 332. Wotagian or Wotjdkian,533. TuNGUsiAN Family. Mantchou, 334. I'ungusian Proper^ 336. Mongolian Family. Mongolian Proper, 337. Calmuc, 338. Buriat, 339. Turkish Family. Turkish, 341. Karass or Turkish Tartar, 347. Orenburg-Tartar, 349. Karaite-Tartar, 350. Tschuwaschian, 351. Trans-Caucasian Tar- tar, 352. Caucasian Family. Georgian, 353. Samoiede Family. Samoiede, 355. Dialects of the Is- lands OF Eastern Asia, AND OF COREA. Japanese, 356. Loochooan, 357. Aleutian, 358. C'orean, 359. POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN. CLASS V. Malayan, 360. Low Malay, 367. Formosan, 368. Javanese, 369. Dajak, 371. Bima, 372. Batta, 373. Biigis, 374. Macassar, 374. Hawaiian, 375. Tahitian, 376. Rarotongan, 378. Marquesan, 380. Tongan, 381. New Zealand or Maori, 383. Malagasse, 386. Samoan, 388. Feejeean, 390. Aneiteum, 392. Lifu, and Nengone, 394. Australian, 395. AFRICAN. CLASS VI. Coptic, 397. Sahidic, 401. Bashmuric, 402. Berber, 403. Ghadamsi, 405. Mandingo, 406. Jalloof, 407. Susoo, 408. Bullom, 409. Sherbro-Bullora, 410. Yarriba or Yoruba, 411. Haussa, 412. Timmanee, 413. Bassa, 414. Grebo, 414. Accra, 415. FaiUee, 416. Ashantee or Odjii, 417. Dualla, 418. Isubu, 419. Fernandian, 420. Mpongwe, 421. Sechuana, 423. Sisuta, 425. Cafire, 426. Zulu, 429. Namaqua, 430. Galla, 432. Kisuaheli, 434. Kikaraba, 435. Kinika, 435. AIVIERICAN. CLASS VII. Esquimaux, 438. Greenlandish, 441. Virginian, 444. Massachusett Indian, 444. Mohegan, 444. Delaware, 447. Cree, 448. Chippeway, 450. Ojibway, 453. Ottawa, 453. Pottawattomie, 454. MIcmac, 454. Abenaqui, 455. Shawanoe, 455. Mohawk, 456. Seneca, 458. Cherokee, 459. Chocktaw, 461. Dacota or Sioux, 463. Iowa, 464. Pawnee, 464. Mexican, 465. Otomi, 467. Terasco, 467. Misteco, 467. Zapoteca, 467. Mayan, 468. Mosquito, 469. Peruvian or Quichua, 470. Aimara, 471. Guarani, 472. Brazilian, 472. Karif or Carib, 473. Arawack, 474. EEMAEKS 0^ THE MAP ILLUSTRATING THE MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. The Monosyllabic languages are spoken exclusively in tlie sonth-eastem angle of the continent of Asia : their area is little inferior in point of extent to the whole of Europe. The various nations by wliom these languages are employed all belong to one stock or family, and are distinguished, in a more or less modified degree, by the Mongolia type of physical conformation. The religion which has obtained the widest acceptance among this race is Buddhism, but other forms of belief are also received. The religion of Confucius, and the Taouism of Lao-tsze, for instance, prevail to a considerable extent in China; and a rude species of idolatry, said in some instances to resemble that practised by the Esquimaux, is predominant among the wild untutored tribes of the mountains, who stiU preserve their independence in the very midst of the civilised nations of this race. The Monosyllabic languages are referable, geographically and philologically, to three grand divisions, namely, the languages of China, the languages of the Indo-Chinese or Transgangetic peninsula, and the languages of Tibet and the Himalayas. I. LANGUAGES OF CHINA. CHINESE is the language of China, an extensive country, of which tlie entire surface forms a kind of natural declivity from the high steppe-land of Central Asia to the shores of the North Pacific. The moun- tain chains which traverse this region are not generally remarkable for extent or altitude, the chief physical characteristic being the broad water-sheds, witli their corresponding fertile, alluvial valleys, whereby this large portion of the earth's surface is rendered a peculiarly fit abode for an industrial, agricultural people. Various dialects (according to Leyden, about si.xteen in number) prevail in the difiei'ent provinces of China, but they are merely local varieties of Chinese. Distinct languages are spoken among the mountain and forest districts by uncivilised tribes, who are supposed by some to have been the original possessors of the country. II. LANGUAGES OF THE TRANS- GANGETIC PENINSULA. AN AMITE is predominant in a line of country border- ing on the Chinese Sea, and extends inland as far as the westernmost of those longitudinal ranges of mountains of which, with their corresponding valleys, this peninsula is composed. The Anamite language is spoken, with little variety of dialect, by the Tonquinese and Cochin Chinese, two nations who evidently at no very remote period formed one people. In moral and physical characteristics they closely resemble the Chinese, and tliey are said by some of the neighbouring tribes to have been originally a Chinese colony. / CIAMPA, or TSHAMPA, is still spoken in the very south of Cochin Cliina by a people who, before tlieir annexation to the empire of Anam, formed a separate and independent nation. CAMBOJAN is the language of Cambodia, a country in the south of tlie peninsula, lying between two parallel ridges of mountains, and divided into two nearly equal parts by the river May-kuang or jMekon. The Cambojans, who are akin to, if not identical with, the Kho men, are supposed to derive tlieir origin from a warlilce mountain race named Kho, the Gueos of early Portuguese historians. SIAMESE is more widely diffused than any other Indo-Chinese language ; its various dialects prevail over more than half the peninsula, and are spoken, with little interruption, in a northerly direction, from Cambodia on the south to tlie borders of Tibet on the north. This wide difiusion may in part be accounted for by the early conquest of As- sam by Siamese tribes. The dialect of the ancient Siamese or T'hay tongue, which is now convention- ally designated the Siamese, is spoken in Siam, an extensive kingdom south-west of Burmah. LAOS, or LAW, is a Siamese dialect pervading the very interior of the peninsula; it is conterminous with the Cambojan, Anamite, Siamese, Burmese, Chinese and Sliyan languages. The Laos people boast of an ancient civilisation ; and their country, noted for the vestiges it contains of the founders of Buddhism, is the famed resort of Buddhistic devotees. SHYAN is another Siamese dialect, and is spoken to the north of Burmah, between China and Munipoor. MAP OF THE MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. AHOM, an ancient Siamese dialect, is not marked on the Map, because extinct, or only preserved in the hooks of the Assamese pi'iesthood. It is remarkable that not a single trace of Hindoo influence, either Buddhistic or Brahministic, can bo found in Ahom literature. KHAMTL though the most northern of Siamese dialects, varies but little from the dialect of Bankok, the capital of Siam. It is spoken by a small moun- tainous tribe in the north-east corner of Assam, on the border of Tibet. SINGPHO is the language of the most powerful of the mountain tribes, and prevails in the north of the Burmese empire, almost on the confines of China. It is conterminous with the Khamti and Shyan on the north and south, and with the Chinese and Munipoora languages on the east and west. PEGUESE prevails in the Delta of the Irawady, within the province of Pegu, formerly a part of the Burmese dominion, but transferred to British rule in 1852. BURMESE is the language of the dominant people of the empire of Burmah. Including its cognate dialect, the Arakanese, it extends from the Laos country to the Bay of Bengal, and from Munipoor to Pegu : it is also predominant throughout the maritime province of Tenasserim, in the south-west of the peninsula, which is now British territory. ARAKANESE, as we have before observed, is an elder dialect of Burmese : it prevails thi'ougli a narrow strip of country along the Bay of Bengal, from Chittagong to Cape Negrais. SALONG, or SILONG, is the name of an assemblage of small islands in the Mergui archipelago, between the Andaman Isles and the south-west coast of tlie peninsula. These islands ai'e about one thousand in number : the predominant language is a peculiar one, and little is at present known concerning it ; yet it is generally referred to the Monosyllabic class. KAREN is spoken in three diversities of dialect, by uncivilised tribes irregularly distributed over the regions lying between the eleventh and twenty-third degrees of north latitude, but chiefly to be found among the jungles and mountains on the frontiers of Burmah, Siam, and Pegu. Some of these tribes are designated red Karens, from the light colour of their complexion, a circumstance supposed to result from the great elevation of their mountainous abodes. KHYEN, or KIAYN, perhaps more generally called Kolun, is spoken by some wild tribes dwelling in North Arakan, and on various mountain heights west of the Irawady. These tribes are of more importance in an ethnographical than in a political or historical point of view. According to their own tradition, they are the aborigines of Ava and Pegu. It was the opinion of Ritter, that the Khyen and Karen tribes are descended from the mountainous races of the chains of Yun-nan, dispersed, probably since the Mongolic conquest of China, in a southerly direction. KOONKIE is a wild unwritten dialect, said to resemble the Arakanese. It is spoken by the Kukis, a people who have been identified with the Nagas and Khoo- meas. They dwell to the north of Arakan, on the frontiers of Munipoor and Cachar. MUNIPOORA is predominant in Munipoor, a small kingdom forming part of the nortliern boundary of Burmah. CACHARESE is spoken by a numerous tribe in a district of considerable extent, lying east of the Bengal district of Sylhet. This language is con- terminous with the Munipoora on the east, and the Khassee on the west. KHASSEE is spoken on a range of hills forming part of the southern border of Lower Assam. The people to whom it is vernacular are called Cossyahs or Khasias. *,* The interposition of Assamese (whicli is a Sanscrit langna^e nearly allied to Bengalee) in the area otlierwise exclusively occupied by flionosyllabic langu:ifrcs, has given rise to much conjecture ; but it is now generally believed tliat the natives of Lower Assam originally employed a ^Monosyllabic dialect, but were led by their contiguity to Hindustan, and by political and other circumstances, to adopt a language of tliat country. Upper Assam is still peopled by various tribes speaking Mono- syllabic languages. in. LANGUAGES OF TIBET AND THE HIMALAYAS. LEPCPIA is spoken by a tribe apparently of Tibetan origin, dwelling on the south side of the Himalayas, on and near the eastern frontier of Bootan. ABOR and MISHIMI are the languages of uncivilised tribes inhabiting an extensive range of hilly country on the borders of Bootan and Tibet, between the ninety-fourth and the ninety-seventh degrees of east longitude. TIBETAN is spoken by the widely-diffused race of Bhot in Tibet, Bootan, Ladakh, and Bultistan or Little Tibet. This extensive range of country lies among the Himalayas, in the south-eastern angle of the plateau of Central Asia. The geographical position of the Bhotiya, and likewise some of their moral and physical characteristics, would appear to connect them with the nomadic nations of that vast plateau, if their peculiar language, which approxi- mates in some respects to that of China, did not indicate their relationship to the Chinese : and this affinity, oir tlie one side with the Chinese, and on the other with the Turkish, Mongolian, and Tungusian tribes of Central Asia, has caused this remarkable race to be regarded as the connecting link between these two great divisions of the human family. ?fc=,r= =fc: ' - . ^ It / '^^4 n^* l^-J S,3M»^ A.; I . f|-^--'^' ' i '^ *.| • ry L i b ." llll if Hs -8 Ssl-fl r .. '-. '' ^ M v_ ' f r" —iT h\ THE SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. The Shomitic languages are rema.rliabl,v few in number, altliougli (as is shown in the accompanying Map) they are spread over a vast portion of the world, extending from Persia and the Persian Gulf on the east to the Atlantic on the west, and from the IMediterranean on the north to an undefined distance into the interior of Africa on the south. There are, in fact, but three or, at most, four distinct Sheniitic languages at present spoken ; and although the history of this wonderful class of languages leads us far back into remote antiquity, yet a much greater diversity of dialect does not appear at any time to have existed. It is shown in one of the appended memoirs that the Phcenician, once pre-eminently the language of civilisation, was substantially the same as the ancient Hebrew ; and this conformity of language between two races of different origin (the Phcenicians being a Hamite, and the Hebrews a Shemitic people) is a phenomenon which yet remains to be explained. The Shemitic languages now disused as mediums of oral communication, and which are therefore not represented on the Map, are the following: — ■ Samaritan, originally identical with Hebrew. Ancient Syriac and Chaldee, which, however, have their representative in Modern S.^Tiac. Pehlvi, the ancient tongue of Media, a compound probably of Chaldee and Syriao with Zend. Various Arabic dialects ; Himyaritic, the parent of Ekhkili. Gheez, or Ethiopia, now superseded by its modern dialects, Tigre and Amhario. The Shemitic race is considered by eminent physiologists to equal, if not to surpass, all other branches of the human family, in perfection of physical formation. Yet its characteristics are by no means invariable. The Syrians, who still pre- serve their lineage pure and unmingled among the mountains of Kurdistan, have a fair complexion, with gray eyes, red beard, and a robust frame. The Bedouins, or Arabs of the Desert, are thin and muscular in form, with deep brown skin and large black eyes ; the Arabs in the low countries of the Nile bordering on Nubia are black, while other tribes of this people dwelling in colder or more elevated situations are said to be fair. The Arabs in the valley of Jordan are reported to have a dark skin, coarse hair, and flattened features, thereb}' approximating to the Negro type. The Jews differ from the nations among whom the.y are located by a pecidiar cast of ijhysiognomy : in Cochin they are black, in the south of Europe they are dark, while in the north of Europe, and occasionally in England, they are xanthous, with red or light hair. The Shemitic nations have been most peculiarly honoured in being chosen as the race of whom, according to the flesh, the Messiah was born. To them also was given the knowledge of the one true God ; and to the Hebrews in particular was committed the sacred trust of the Divine oracles. Monotheism, although defaced by human inventions, is the religion of this race : the recognition of a false prophet prevails among the Ai'abs ; yet, in common with the Jews, they acknowledge the existence of one God. Two people of this race, the Syrians and Abyssiuians, have embraced Christi- anity as their national religion. ARABIC, originally the language of a few wandering tribes in the desert of Arabia, is now one of the most widely-diffused of existing languages. It prevails in Arabia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Khuzistan, Egypt, Nu- bia, and Barbary. It is extensively employed as the language of religion and commerce on the eastern and western coasts of Africa, and it is supposed to penetrate far into the interior of that great continent. As might be expected from its vast extension, this language branches out into dialects as many in number as the countries in which it is spoken. EKHKILI Is a modern dialect of Himyaritic, the southern branch of the Arabic language. It is spo- ken by an uncivilised mountainous tribe of Hadra- maut, in the south-east of the Arabian peninsula. Ekhkili is of especial value in an ethnographical point of view, as it furnishes the link between the MAP OF THE SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. Shemitic languages of Asia antl those of Abyssinia. The ancient Hlinyarites are believed to have been Cushites, of the race of Ham. TIGRE, a dialect immediately derived from the ancient pjthiopic, is predominant in a small portion of the kingdom of Abyssinia. The resemblance still to be traced between Tigre and Ekhkili has corroborated the hypothesis that Ethiopia was originally peopled by a colony of Himyarite Arabs, who may have received their alphabet from India. The singular system of syllabification to be remarked in the an- cient Hlmyaritic alphabet (from which the Ethiopic was borrowed), bears a strong affinity to ancient Deva-nagari alphabets, as preserved in inscriptions of the time of Asoclius. AMHARIC is a more corrupt dialect of Ethiopic than Tigre, having suffered greater changes from foreign admixture. Amharic is predominant throughout nearly all Abyssinia, but various other languages are likewise spoken in that kingdom. These lan- guages, partaking as they do of a Shemitic element and of the African character, form so many con- necting links between the Shemitic and the African languages. MODERN SYRIAC, the only living representative of the ancient Chaldee and Syriac tongues, is preserved among mountain fastnesses between Mesopotamia, Ar- menia and Pfirsia. What relation this language may bear to the idiom of ancient Babylon and Nineveh is not yet precisely known ; but light is rising upon the ruins of these ancient cities, and the arrow-headed characters are in process of being deciphered. With the capture of Babylon, in the commencement of the sixth century before our era, the early political supremacy of the Shemitic race departed ; and the government of the world passed into the hands of the Japhetic nations, by whom it is still maintained. And thus the fertile plains of Western Asia, the proper home of the Shemitic race, are governed and chiefly inhabited by people of the Japhetic stock, in literal fulfilment of the prophecy, that " Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem." Other prophecies are in progress of fulfilment, by which more than their original glory will be restored to the sons of Shem. \* A Supplemental Map, illustrating the Early DifTusion of the Hebrew language, will be found at page 31) following the article " Hebrew." THE MEDO-PERSIAN LANGUAGES. The Medo-PiTsian languages form a branch or family of tliat great class of languages which has been variously denominated by ethno- graphers Inilo-Eiu'opean, Japhetic, and Iranian or Arian. The first of these appellations indicates the geographical distribution of tliis class, one of its brandies (tlie Sanscritic) being rernacular in India, while other brandies, though connected in origin and in structure witli Sanscrit, are predominant in Europe. Tiie term Japhetic is sometimes applied to the languages of this class, because tlie nations by whom tliey are spoken are supposed to be descendants of Japlieth ; and the designation Iranian, or Ai*ian, refers to their connection with tlie land of Iran, or Persia, the Ariyana-Vaeja of the Zend-Avesta, and the Ai-iavarfa of Sanscrit writers, the Ariana of Greek geographers. The area of the Medo-Persian languages includes about one-tentli part of the entire surface of Asia : the countries now comprehended within this area are Persia, Khorassan, Turcomania, the greater part of Turkestan, AfFghanistan, Beloo- chistan, and Luristan ; also Ktirdistan, Armenia, and a district among the Caucasus Mountains. The origin of the Medo-Persian nations has never been ascertained : they advanced at one step from obscurity to empire. Their very existence was scarcely known beyond the elevated plateau which from time immemorial they appear to have occupied, until their future greatness was depicted in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel. Suddenly they emerged from their mountainous abodes, captured the " Great Babylon," and founded an empire which, in point of extent, exceeded even that of Rome itself. The physical conformation of the Medo-Persian nations, which is decidedly of the European type, corroborates the testimony afforded by their languages as to their affinity with the principal nations of Europe. A Shemitic language, the Pehlvi, is supposed to have been predominant at some very remote period in Persia, but it originated in the provinces bordering on Assyria ; and under what ch-cumstances it became the general language of Media is still matter of conjec- ture. A yet more ancient language is the Persepolitan, a true Medo-Persian idiom, vestiges of which are preserved in arrow-headed, or cuneiform characters, like those of Assyria, on the monumental inscriptions which have of late years been discovered among the ruins of ancient Persian cities. The Zend, another Medo-Persian language, now extinct, and therefore not represented on our Map, is preserved in the sacerdotal books of the Guebres and the Parsees. The earliest religion of the Medo-Persian race appears to have been that of fire-worship. They are now, with few exceptions, followers of Mohammed, the Armenians being the only nation of this stock by whom Christianity has been received. PERSIAN, although marked in the Map as predominant in Persia and part of Turkestan, is only one of the many languages spoken in that wide territory. It is remarkable that all the countries properly belonging to the Medo-Persian race are likewise inhabited by tribes of foreign origin, who dwell side by side with the original inhabitants. Even the throne of the great Cyrus is occupied by a monarch of the Turkish race, and the whole country is overrun by nomadic nations of Turkish, Arabic, and Mongolian origin. Some of these wandering tribes, however, as the Hazarehs and Eymauks on the north of Affghanistan, speak dialects of the Persian language. PUSHTOO is the language of Affghanistan, a moun- tainous tract of country lying between Persia and Hindustan. The Hindkees, an Indian people speak- ing a Sanscritic dialect, form part of the population. MAP OF THE M EDO-PERSIAN LANGUAGES. BELOOCHEE is one of the languages of Belooclustan, a country situated between Affghanistan and the Indian Ocean. Many Tajiks, or Persians, reside in Beloochistan, and hence Persian prevails in some of the districts, especially at Kelat. The Brahooes, and other nations speaking Sanscritic dialects, also occupy part of this country. KURDISH is the language of the Kurds, wild nomadic tribes, known in history as the Carduchi and the Parthians. They are chiefly located in Kurdistan, a mountainous tract of country between Armenia and Persia. They likewise form the bulk of the popu- lation of Luristan, in the east of Persia. OSSITINIAN is spoken by the Ossetes, a Median colony, who, in concert with Caucasian tribes here- after to be mentioned, occupy the central portion of the chain of the Caucasus Mountains. ARMENIAN is spoken by about one-seventh part of the population of Armenia, a country chiefly com- posed of mountainous chains, of which Mount Ararat forms, as it were, the nucleus. The language of the Armenians, and their traditions respecting their mythical heroes and ancestors, which are almost identical with those of the Persians, prove them to be of the Medo-Persian stock ; and it has even been thought that they were once one people with the Persians. Lilie the Jews, however, whom they re- semble in other respects, the Armenians are scattered as traders and merchants among all the nations of the world ; so that the language of Armenia, in one or other of its dialects, is heard in all the trading cities of the East. i<^>F<>- /:,/,„ if '\r^ ■ '■*JUti„,i- f <■ 1 ^^ 1 V ' ' / / .M.,Jf.j -c ■s- r •*^^ J-- / p ^ /> ii w f ' / 1- 1/' •i^. u ny s 1 '^ 1 > 1 M„,. ■t^^^'^' 9 /- .'rT . ".J.,T.,,^ y^ "*'"■ *■ ^^r \ « (\ ( ,/„,.„ '"^- ^ > *V 0 v? ■« E e * '■ .'r -4 i- >T \ "'tr" /.j^ ^--' « "S MuMlit of*' (7.ii*.i L^^^u^tianaiit.<'rJ't''^'^f <* -^i ■:-i.' BAY O f Andaman UA* ^l ,..i„ „^)"i o.i.jvi'^!'; !» Oof"*.. ° , iic-x'-^ysfi. ^ , Isla/ids ^^■-, <^ o >T. 1- in U] trt C ^ c i v* < j " < :; 7; 0 \ ^ -«? q: 1^1 O c a. ' 'I. si! 4. .. I %*- ./^ *?S;~ '.--.-^■•■ii.' THE POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES. This Map requires little or no explanation, only two varieties of language being spoken through the large portion of the earth's surface which it represents. These two varieties are the Polynesian and the Negritian. The former is spoken in a great variety of dialects in the islands of the Indian and Pacific Ocean ; and the Malayan peninsula is the only continental region in which it has ever been known to predominate. The Negritian may be called with equal propriety a strictly insular language : one of its dialects prevails, indeed, in the centre of the Malayan peninsula, but with this exception it is spoken only in certain islands of the Indian and Pacific. It is chiefly predominant in the Isles of New Guinea, Florcs, Timor, Louisiade, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, and New Hebrides (as indicated on the Map by the red tint) ; but some of its dialects are likewise spoken in the interior of islands where the Polynesian or Malayan variety of language is otherwise predominant. The Polynesian islanders approximate, in their physical conformation, to the Mongolian variety of mankind ; whereas those to whom the Negritian languages are vernacular resemble in some respects the Negro race. By some recent writers, however, a community of origin is assigned to all the natives of those widely-distributed islands ; and the difference in their personal appearance is attributed to the influences of civilisation, and of various incidental circumstances. THE AFRICAN LANGUAGES. The peculiarities and affinities of the African languages being fully discussed in the annexed memoirs, the Map which exhibits their distribution needs little explanation. Four varieties of language have been shown to prevail in Africa : — I. — The Coptic, a language derived from the Ancient Egyptian, forming a link between the otherwise dis- connected Shemitic and Hamitic classes. 11. — The Berber, which as well as the Amharic, Galla, and other Abyssinian languages, is clearly connected with the Shemitic class. III. — The Nigro-Hamitic languages, so called by Dr. Krapf, because spoken by the descendants of Ham along the banks of the Niger and its tributary streams in Western Africa. These languages are spoken by the Negro race, properly so called. IV. — The Nilo-Hamitic languages, so named by the same eminent philologist, because he supposed that the original home of the race by whom tliey are spoken was near the sources of the White Nile. These languages, in their various dialects, prevail through the whole of Africa south of the equator. For a particular description of the languages composing this division, see pp. 397-435. «?' > '^^ \ .,.„^ I- « O -^ LJ ^' ^^ ■<; Ml i .5 ?, • iitl.illliiiifilii: * « ■? ^^ I *^ 1 1; ^ t; t: !; ' I i ^ 5 X it.. i ? IrlilliHiffiiil^lljjiHii •^ < t ML ^4 III lie ,-' ** V i i 'i ;• ?. ' THE AMERICAN LANGUAGES. Notwithstanding the persevering researclies, the zeal, and the learning, which have of late years been hroiicht to bear upon the languages and antiquities of America, the great question respecting the origin of the first inhabitants of that vast continent still remains as far from solution as ever. Physiology affords no aid in determining this question ; for in the reddish colour of their complexion, in the deeply-marked outline of their features, and in other physical peculiarities, the American Indians differ more or less from all other classes of men. That the natives both of North and South America are, however, descended from one and the same branch of the human family, has been inferred from the obvious coincidences in the grammatical structure of their languages. But with this similarity in structure, great variety exists between the respective roots or vocables of these tongues ; and these glossarial differences have led to the division of tlie American languages into numerous groups or families, of which the following arc the principal : — ESQUIMAUX is spoken along the entire northern coast of North America by a people who, in physical conformation, appear to be intermediate between the natives of North Asia and the hunting tribes of America. For a description of this nation, and of the Greenlanders who are of cognate origin, and who employ a dialect of the same language, see pp. 438- 441. ATHAPASCAN, or CHIPPEWYAN, is a language spoken in several different dialects by numerous tribes who occupy a broad belt of country, stretching from east to west, south of the Esquimaux area. ALGONQUIN is the collective name of numerous distinct American nations, who at the first period of European colonisation, occupied (together with the Iroquois) the greater part of Canada, and all the northern and middle portion of the territory of the United States. The northern branch of this race borders on the Athapascan area, and reaches from Hudson Bay to the Rocky Mountains : it includes the Knistineaux or Crees, the Algonquins Proper, the Chippewas or Ojibways, the Ottawas, the Potta- wattomies, the Missinsig or Mississagis, and the Montagnais. The north-eastern branch comprehends the Abenaquls, the Micmacs, and some smaller tribes. The Algonquin idioms spoken along the Atlantic, and generally designated the New England or Virginian tongues, were the Massachusett, Narra- gansett, Mohegan, Susquehannok, and Delaware. The tribes to whom these languages were vernacular have long been driven by European settlers from their original territories, and some of them are extinct. Delaware is, however, spoken by a still powerful nation. It may here be observed, that in this Map the original as, well as i\\e present distribution of the several languages is indicated. The Western Algonquin branch includes the Illinois, Shawanoe, Black-feet Indian, Shyenne, and some other tribes. The Bethunks, who were the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland, and who are probably now ex- tinct, have lately been proved to have been an Algonquin nation, and to have employed a dialect of that language. IROQUOIS is the name of a race dwelling among and encompassed by Algonquin tribes. The Iroquois country, it will be seen on the Map, lies in the midst of the Algonquin area, and is divided into two parts. The northern Iroquois division lies in the region near Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie, and comprises the Five Nations, namely, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Senecas, and Cayugas. The Hurons or Wyandots also belong to this division. The South- ern Iroquois division occupies the country now called North Carolina, and comprised the Tuscaroras and several inferior tribes, as the Tuteloes, Nottoways, and Meherrins. The Iroquois, though occupying MAP OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGES. a territory inferior in extent to that of the Algonquins, have enacted a more importiint and conspicuous part in history ; and at the time of the discovery of America they were found greatly to surpass tlio Algonquins in coui-age, civilisation, and intelligence. No remarkable difference, however, in physical conformation ajipears to exist between these two races. SIOUX, or DACOTA, is the third great division of the American Indians, and comprises the tribes inha- biting the prairie country of the interior, from the Mississippi to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The principal nations belonging to this division are the Dacotas, the Winebagoes, the Assiniboins, the Osages, the lowas, and the Upsaroka or Crow Indians. The Sioux tribes are more barbarous, and preserve the primitive habits of their race more tlian the eastern tribes. FLORIDIAN, or APPALACHIAN, is a name which has been applied by some philologists to the lan- guages originally belonging to the Southern United States. Some of these languages are now extinct, and their relation to each other is in some instances difficult to be discovered. The languages included in this group are Natchez t_now all but extinct), Muskogee or Creek, Lower Creek or Seminole, Chocktaw, Cherokee, and Catawba. The Cherokee nation is now increasing rather than decreasing in numbers, and is apparently progressing towards a higher stage of civilisation than has yet been attained by any other native tribe of America. PANIS-ARRAPAHOES is a designation which has been employed by recent writers to comprehend a vast number of hitherto unclassified languages, pre- dominating within the portion of the United States territory lying to the westward of the Rocky Moun- tains, in Oregon, and in California. The term itself is compounded of Pawnee and Arrapahoe, the two principal languages of this division. These lan- guages have as yet been little studied, and, with the exception of the Pawnees, the barbarous tribes to whom they are vernacular are comparatively little known. CENTRAL AMERICA. MEXICAN was the language of the semi-civilised tribes of Mexico, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the country. This language was, and is still, spoken by the Aztec race in the dioceses of Mexico, Mechoacan, New Galicia, New Biscay, Oaxaca, and Guatemala. The other principal languages now spoken in the ancient empire of Mexico, and in Central America, are the following: — Otomi, spoken to the north of the Mexican area. Terasco, in the diocese of Mechoacan. Mayan, in Yucatan, Tabasco, and Merida. Misteco, in Oaxaca. Totonac, in Puebla de los Angeles. Huasteca, in Huastecapan, a part of Mexico. Zapoteca, Mixe, and six other languages in Oaxaca. Mame, Quiche, and six other languages in Gua- temala. Pira, and seven others (scarcely known to Euro- peans), in New Mexico. The numerous other languages of Central America are little known, and still unclassified. SOUTH AMERICA. Less is known respecting the ethnology of South America than perhaps of any other region in the world. The Catholic missionaries have furnished us with grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies, catechisms, and works of devotion in many of these languages ; but it yet remains to examine in detail the structure of this multitude of dialects, and to classify them according to their several affinities. As a provisional method of classification, some recent writers have proposed to include the almost innumerable tongues and dialects of South America under three grand divisions : — I. — The Andian, or Ando-Peruvian languages, spoken by all the nations dwelling on or near the great mountain chain in the west of South America. In- cluded in this division are, therefore, the following languages : Peruvian or Quichua, and Aimara, spo- ken in the ancient empire of the Incas in the north ; and in the south, the Araucanian or Moluche lan- guages of the Southern or Chilian Andes : closely allied to this branch are the languages (as Tehuel) spoken by the Patagonians. II. — The languages of Eastern South America, of which the principal branches are the Guarani and Tupi, of Paraguay and the Brazils, and the languages of the Caribbean group, so called because spoken on or near the shores of the Caribbean Sea : this group includes the Karif and Arawack, of which an account is given in pp. 473, 474. III. — The languages of Central South America, spoken by tribes who inhabit the interior forests and llanos or plains between the regions of the Cordillera and of the Parana. Little has been yet effected in ex- amining the structure of these languages, or the peculiarities of the nations with whom they are ver- nacular. The only languages of South America in which versions of the Scriptures have been given or attempted, are the Peruvian or Quichua, Aimara, Guarani, Brazilian or Tupi, Karif, and Arawack ; and of these a description will be found in pp. 470-474. THE ALT II A BETS. After Specimen portions of the different Versions of the Scriptures had been procured and prepared for this Work, it appeared desirable, in order to furnish every available aid in the examination and comparison of these Specimens, to provide if possible a series of Native Alphabets. But here a serious difficulty presented itself. Many of the characters in which the Specimens are given are little laiown even to the learned in Europe, and some of them had never before perhaps appeared in print in this country; there is therefore no work to which the student can refer, if he wishes to ascertain the relative value of the Avidely-difFering Alphabets in which these Specimens are printed. Every eifort, therefore, was made to procure a complete series ; but as it was found that very many Alphabets could not be obtained, the design of supplying the com- parative Tables was about to be relinquished. As it is, however, well known to philologists that in the Imperial Printing-office at Vienna there exists an unrivalled collection of foreign types, formed by the skill and untiring diligence of the Imperial Commissioner, M. Alois Auer, the Publishers represented to the Imperial Government the difficulty experienced in enriching the Bible or Every Land with the necessary Alphabets, and solicited permission to purchase from the Imperial Printing-office those not procurable in England. This appeal was immediately responded to ; and with great liberality. His Majesty the Emperor at once directed a complete series of the Alphabets in all the characters d-e used throughout the book, together with the powers of each letter to be forwarded free of cost for the use of the present work. The Alphabets, therefore, which the Publishers have the satisfaction to include in their work, are printed from types cast and prepared in the Imperial Printing-office at Vienna, and presented by the Emperor of Austria as a contribution to the Bible of Every Land. THE ALPHABETICAL LIST. PAGE Ahom n Albanian 21 Amharic 6 Anglo Saxon .... 19 Arabic 5 Hindustani Signs . . 5 Persian „ . . 5 Pushtoo „ . . 5 Malayan „ . . 5 Moorish „ . . 5 Armenian 8 Assamese 11 Bengalee 11 Burmese 2 Cashmerian . . . . 12 Chinese 1 Cingalese 18 Coptic 31 Uncial .... 31 English 19 Old ... . 20 Estrangelo-Syriao .... 4 Elhiopio 6 Georgian 2i Ecclesiastical . . 24 German 20 Old 20 PAGE Greek 20 Gujerattee 13 Hebrew .... 4 Rabbinical 4 Hindustani-Arabic . 5 Irish .... . 19 Japanese : — — Chinese Signs 29, 30 Firokana . 26—33 Katakana . . 25 Javanese .... 32 Arabic Signs . . 32 Kamata Mahratta Malayan . Arabic Letters Malayalim Maldivian . Persian Signs Arabic „ Mantchou Moeso-Gothio Mongolian Moorish- Arabic Letters Moultan . 16 14 31 5 17 18 18 18 23 19 23 5 12 PAGE Old English .... 20 Orissa 11 Pali 10 Peguese 3 Persian 7 Persian-Arabic ... 5 ■ Maldivian ... 18 Pushtoo-Arabic ... S Rabbinical Hebrew ... 4 Russian 21 Samaritan 4 Sanscrit 9 Sclavonic 22 Servian 21 Siamese 2 Sindhee 12 Syriao 4 — Estrangelo ... 4 Tamul 14 Telinga 15 Tibetan 3 TJriya 11 Wallachian 21 Wuch 12 A KEY PRONUNCIATION OF THE ALPHABETS. As almost every language has sounds or articulations peculiar to itself, which can never be described in writing, and must be heard to be rightly appreciated, it would be vain to attempt to define such sounds or articulations by numbers or otherwise. All that general readers, for whom this Work is intended, require, is to have an approximate idea of the value of every letter in Foreign Alphabets. This object will be attained by the following list of elementary sounds, the value of which is known to every English reader. VOWELS. a pronounced like a in fat. a „ a \n father. e „ ay in day. e „ e in the French tete, fete. e „ e mute, in the French /e, me, te, etc. i ,, ! in pit. i „ ea in peat. o „ „ 0 in dot. 6 11 „ u in dote. u ii „ u in pull. u „ „ 00 in pool. u " „ the French dur, pur; or like oo in good, as pronounced in Devonshire. ai .. „ ey in eye. au „ „ ow in how. eu » „ the French eu in peu,jeu, etc. In aU other diphthongs or triphthongs each vowel is to have its full value independent of the others ; «-g- iao, i-a -0, etc. aoi, a-o-i. CONSONANTS. b, d, f k, I, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, 2, th, sh, to be pronounced as in English. g always hard, as in guard, game, etc. h prefixed is aspirate ; joined to a consonant it is guttural, like ch in loch. J as in the French, Jeu, je, etc. ch as in Church. n a strong nasal. ' between a consonant and an /(, shows that they are to be sounded distinct, thus g'h, g-h. ' before a consonant or a vowel is a strong guttural, as 'ain, the letter JJ, c or d, in Shemitic languages. Most Indian Alphabets have a class of letters said to be cerebral or palatal, the pronunciation of which differs widely from most European sounds. Those letters are distinguished by a dot placed under; thus, d, d'h, t, t'h, n, etc. In all other combinations, every consonant is to have its full value. PRONUNCIATION OF THE ALPHABETS. THE PHONETIC ALPHABET. The Phonetic Alphabet consists of 3 1 letters, namely, the 21 useful letters of the common alphabet (q and t being rejected,) and 10 new ones. 0 is used for the sound of sh, or as c is pronounced in " vicious, social ; " and_; is used for the French _/ (zh), or « in " vision." Hence tc represents ch, tch, in cJiess, catch ; and dj represents J, dg , va. John, edge. T" and ?o are consonants ; «>/» heing replace 1 by hie. The vowels a, e, i, o, have invariably their short sounds as m pat, pet, pit, pot ; u is pronounced as in ptill. All the other old letters have their usual signification. The italic letters in the words in the third line denote the sounds of the letters. VOWELS. CONSONAJJTS. Phonotype. R ij, 8 £. * .1 ; O o, 0 cr. HJ m ; IS s : K fl, 3 d, TJ g. Example, alms, age,air, eat; all, ope, food; son, bitt: thin, then, sing. Phonetic form, smz, sdj.er, it: ol, erp, fmd; S5n,b5t : bin, den, sig. U, as in unit, unite, duty, value, is a double letter, and is written thus : " yuinit, yuneit, diuiti, valiu." In the Book of Genesis, the Psalms, and the Gospel of Luke, printed in the Mikmak language by Mr Pitman, of Bath, in the Phonetic Alphabet, for the British and Foreign Bible Society, the vowel in son, love, but, is represented by " ij." Since these portions of the Word of God were carried through the press, the more appropriate and ele- gant type " s " has been adopted for this sound. The order of the Phonetic Alphabet and the names of the letters are, Consonants. — k, g; h; y: t, d ; c, j ; s, z ; b, d : p, b ; f , V ; W: g, n, m ; 1, r. Names. — Ice, ge ; etc; ye: ti, dl; ic,ji; es,zi; id, di: pi, hi; ef,vi; wc : ij), en, am ; el, ar. Vowels. — a, B ; e, 8 ; i, i ; o, o ; 'S, a ; u, m : Names, — at, a ; et, e ; it, i ; ot, q ; nt, © ; ut, m : Class I.] ALPHABETS. [Monosyllabic. CHINESE RADICALS. J A- ^. A A A n >-. y u 'I J c L + ni tij r A 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 23 29 30 31 32 33 34 P n ± ir ^ 35 ^ 36 ^^ =f yj, 42 r \\] 46 43 44 45 47 48 49 S\ 52 3L 50 51 53 54 55 56 57 hi 58 61 62 63 64 ^ 59 ^ 60 I) ^ 65 ;^ 0 a n Jh ill 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 'J k A Tit )^ + A J 71 r jin. 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 ,07 08 109 ^ 110 ^ 111 -^ 112 )\^ 113 ^ 114 Ik 115 ^1 116 IC 117 118 * 119 m fin I- tm 120 121 1*1 n 122 in. ^' ^. I. i^ 150 S. 151 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 ■ 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 ^ 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 ISO e P f1 151 ■ 162 ■ 163 164 165 166 167 163 169 170 171 '^ 172 il M :ft 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 ^ 1 * m 188 187 188 ■ 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 20? 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 Class I.] ALPHABETS. [Monosyllabic. BURMESE. SIAMESE. 33 a *3301 a P\0 i gf ® r © I - 33 e 6@0 0 C5~ h ka k'ha 8 OO 3 O ga 223 g'ha C Sa O cha 30 '^h'ha (^g) dja Q] dj'ha p na 9 ^^ p 9 da O d'ha OD na CO ta OO tha 3 da O d'ha P na O pa O p'ha O ba 00 b'ha O ma OO ya C| G[ ra CO la O va 0 sa 0 sha 00 sa 00 h 8 '=> Go OO OO IL OO "51 @ o 3 o L 6 6 o o o 4 a kirn ku kae kyo kra kri krva kvya k'ham k'hu k'hya thrva gu nam cb Cham chum chcha chva cho aj djja 3Ligaturt2. ^ ajjha o Q § Section. | Pause. '3 kva g kya g kyu ^ kra .g kru S] kla (3 khu 15 k'hva ^ ka P k'hya P k'hra i| k'hru ^ gva g gya ^ gyu ^ gra 3 gru ^ grva 21 gla ^ gssa ^ nn S "=^ ^ chu ^ ch'u f ch'va § ju ■5 nu '^ nva >5 tu 5 tra ^ tbra ■5 fju '5 dva -> dra -§ dru ■5 nu 1 pu 9 pya ^ pra ■§ P'hu 5 P'hya § p'hyu 3 P'hyva ^ phru 5 bu S bya i by" ^ bra 5 bss I bru a "^ I blu ^ mu S mya § myu ^ mss ^ ju ^ jva 1 za f zva ^ zla 3 zlu I -ya ^ ru ^ rkya f rgya ^ rgyu £^ ma 5 rcha i^ ija 5 rna rta rda ma rba ^ raia |l rmya 5 rchva ^ rva S rla ?j Iga 'gJ Ina ^ lea % «a' '^ Ita '^ Ida 5j Ipa ^ Iba •^ Iva ^ Iha ^ shu •H shva -^ ssu ^ ssku ^ sskya ^ sskra 51 ssga ^ ssgya S ssgyu ^ ssgra ^ ssgm cj, ssna 5 ssna 3 ssnu 5 ssta ? ssda ? ssdu § ssna ? ssnu s ssnra ^ Bspa S sspu ^ sspya 5| sspra rj ssbra ^ ssma ^ Bsmya S. ssmra ^ ssza ^ ssra S ssia ^ hva ^ hra ^ hra Class II.] ALPHABETS. [Shemitic. HEBREW. RABBINICAL, SAMARITAN. SYRIAC. ESTRANCELO SYRIAC. N /spirit I lenis 6 m. /spirit I /spirit I lenis »:Q .a a b, V It* nr* / spirit '^ I'- I lenis 2 b, b'h 3 3 b, b'i] "X -^ -^ \ g -:?^3a b J g. g'h i *r g. gh r ? d n d 1 d, d'h 7 ^ d, d'h Ol "^ h Cp. he n h 9 c <^ w, u CI G w, u 1 w, n 1 ^ h 1 > ds "* -^ " kh, hh Ok, kh f ds t "i w, u _ V • ^ ^ -^ -i t n kh P' ^ ds 1 .». ^ J ^A ^ A .* i a t 15 C i^ ^ ok ^ kh + + ii a k, kh j.i t X ? t \ V ^ V. I J f k, kh 3 1 31 Hi m Jo la. io m : Q a m i r> 0 (n j.i V ^ 1 3 Ti U 1 i ■J4 k, kh ^a >.m m 0 s i>A s 1 J r n ; D s ^ 1 0 I 1 s >J ts, 3 a. JZL o k ; D ?) p, ph p 1 :i ^- wO «^ n c k -i X f» ts i r i f r ^ ^ I 3L. I. L. sch D \ lamed \J q 55 V "^ "^ eg H p la \> " Foinel ant) ot^e T Signa. •J r ujL sch r^ tha UotocI Signa, •V H H i I i: : i O Q o ■* A * i A t. th Q ' , , •• . - — ' •:• 3 .*.''-* • -I Class II.] ALPHABETS. [Shemitic. ARABIC. alphabet. ILignturcs PERSIAN ARBITRARIES. FiniU. MeJial. luitml. •St bch ^ hhh s= mh t— > ^~ < i * J UL \ \ a,e,i,o,n j t/~ br ^ schdj «S mkh ' ' ' - , " P I— > w« •«. i . ?b C*^^' bm <:*' schh * mi^ J j French V S 8 O k^ wil; ; t rtr bh si^ schkh y-si nH * * < 1 ; ; s, th 1 ■ ■ ^ bj <^ schh J z A sr <<» sskh <^s£ yh s£^ jtsch ^ htsch ^ u- >. -.^ s * * * rc/» .^ a <5« ES J^^ ii 111 C<^^ ym >c> .o ia ^'o z, dli ^ hh TT yh MALAYAN LETTERS. i, i^ k W t -S- hdj ^ i4i (^ yy ^ P^ > p n,ng <_» oi A 9 f Jitfurts. .^ X ds jj= (J^ -^^ •= 1 . ^ A V 0 9 8 7 ■; 0 «« i 6 5 4 r r 1 3 2 1 — J J 1 >' HIND 4^ r'h.d'h JSTANl LETTE RS. ■ BS (>r (j^ -=- -=j r^ir » « .< > m O n, n «f gh ■> r «J kh I dh ^ v> ■i i 1 j' n , y— «xu J" (J^ -^ -^J fr ft f>- kb :^ k- i 4^ g'h j^ .^ *i, ^ th J J a w, n « A * 4 ib b, t iii d'b »■> dh j^ J£^ ^ tc^ (Sh 4; ph : ^ P ♦ 1 4; bh ^ A _9 f ^^c 1 '1 1 . 1 y.i i' th - t' [ 4^" th X. X k Class II.] ALPHABETS. [Shemitic. ETHIOPIC AND AMHARIC. U ba U] sa ^ qa •V kha n ka H - *J? dya ! K pa T ps U- hu UJ- su * q° % khu TV- ku H- ^» ;? dyu K. p" 1; p« y. hi m. si ^ (li ■^ khi U "^ H. ^i J? dyi /^ pi X pi V ha- m sa J qa 5 khi Hi ki H zi ^ dyi A pi J pi y he m se ^ qe -^ khe u "^^ H, ze JS dye A> Pe T pe M h ^ s 1 ^ q ij kh •n "^ ■H ^ ;?" dy ?^ P T P If ho A la so ra "{^ kho ^ na ^ ki -^[1* cha H zi T-T* • 11 ja 7 ga ^ pi ft tza T pi Dipijtijonfis. A* lu 4, ru fh bu J. nu ■^ chu ■Vf ju 7. gu ^ tzu ^ kna A. li & ri a " \ - TX «>>' ■h: 3i ^ gi A. t^* 1>^ kui A ,i ^ ra fi hi f* na Tl Chi ■W ji P gi J\ tzi S kua A. le A. re a "^ £ ne TI ^be T£ je 1 ge A. tze $ kue A 1 c r -n ^ -h - ■^ Oh K j 1 g R" t^ ^ ku Af i5 c ro n bo i no TI Chi •F fo •? gi ft tzo •Jo chua he i^ se ■t te T gne ^ we g je m>tbe ^ ze ^ kua ;h l' M s i^ t ^ gn or " ^ ^ (^ t'h 6 ^ ft ku) fh ho 1^ BO ■t* to ^ gno /D wi P- jo fn thi jP zo MX k\ia ^ ma H* scha T'*tya A a 0 a ;? da *nT tscha A. fa ^ m kue ku J> mn Pb schu % tra A- " O " R. to fTftschu ^ fu 0^ mi H. schi TJ tyi A. ' PL ' ^ di nXtsohi 4. « > gua 0\ ml Pi Bcha 3^ tyi A a CJj i J? di IfTf tschi 4 f» 7\ gui Cfi me n sche % tye A, « ^ e ^ de rrt tsche 4, fe ;i gua ^ m Ti sch Tf. ty 7\ e 6 ^ ^ a YJ* tsch 4: f :i gue

t bd t s'b J ly ^ bkk rr bk • * sr la Ima /r jkk J, _>; ^':: ^> s,th /^ bm r'^ shr J Im X p'hir ^ • ' ^« br pd > s tsr lb > t'hr ^ ? f 2. tsch .', ^. pr > tr J ly •ap t * 5 h' CC pk > sr Li ma ^ 'apr e ' ' C' kh ph 4^ sh > ms 4 r sm ^ > d * * >> 'ab J> nd > gl« A i ti^ y J sr . 4 i> 'as />v nb //> ghr A t s'hr s'h' yP h'r r nm 1/ ghjr s'hma C/-^ T'' 7; C/- ^ 4 s'h > ghr chr J 4 ny htd pkk <^~^ ^ d tb ndsch { hi >« •lib (/ ^ ^ ^ BS >/ fr i ba ^ (/ ^ ^ t/ *' 't t'b' i fm ■ 4 hnd .hn / nmr r tin ; km -^ .bp -f htd D ^* '^ 6 g» J* <-' fh J ky yd y. F - ^ io '» ^ f J ty fe^t^ ka ^ yh 4 ylh 0 * '' c? 1 h'b / kk Jt blh c^ fcy ^^rr r^ ^.cy,. ^ h'P J'c/ kl Ji plh .^ ny J- J " J ^ > h'r r mk /^y- yr.ir X -m /•> <" -' r m 7 h'm hh ^ km smr sdh kbdj C/ -^- •^** c/ n ^ h'j 0 ky ^? tmr < stsh ^ ^ w, u > khm J lb jp ghh i k- -,•'* Vv ^^/ Id f khdj .f ghj (J -r^j ^1:1 --- y,i << sdj * ip > khr X phr Class III.] ALPHABETS. [Indo-European. ARMENIAN. Eoman. Italic. c- » \)>^ Az A^^ stsh l> ^ Y)^ ^ ll2 ,«^,£. stsb f ** pe p llH g (J» «- lb r^fF p llH 5 n» - rh *b ?^ * k ^< n D" ^ *bt* i^ -;< h IJ- s 'h ?^ -? '- Qj^ -i- \\J_'L V7,V 'brr t a^ dz iKti w.v \f Ir ye, e 'Kt.^ gb vS- C I? i- y«' e ^XjL'L gh S'T ■ d O^iL' z A'^ dj VPP r .«t^^ A'^ dj f*r f r li^ e \yss m ^> jr i? ts bfr e ^]^^// m >> r ' ts r\^/i e (5 J J h.J b*^ tiv ru= « (5c/ ^ V* P (bard) f<)» \!- V- th %t. « t|, ^ ^ p (haid) . .,1 k (hard) h/i/5 i n- 0 0« 0- bH ' n- 0 (). 0 hL'- > 1> 1. t tsh Ib* f U- ' i> ^ i tsh i|»^ • |ll ^ ^ kh «l"t -^ ]ll ^ ^ kh o-I'"uropfan. SANSCRIT. ?r a J fha Hfgaturts. mj :l 3 da op k ^ chcha (r tn e n 0 V x^ i S' dha HT na r^ ta Sr fha ^ kka Wi kta ^ chna 'pf chra ^ sr tna tra nt nta ^ ? ■ via ■s, sha 3^ i ^ ktya ^ chwa ^ twa ^ ntr 3C . u ^ ktra ^ ktwa ^ ch'hraa ^ ch'hya fh du ^ ^ nti-ya ntwa ^ n sha sna ^J^ u ^ da WI kna ^ ch'hra ?; du v^ ^ nna 5T sra ^l ri y d'ha ^?T i^ya ^ ch'hwa ? dr nra SI scla ^ i ri ^ na CH kma ? dj ?: dga c P ^ swa ^^ Iri rj( pa dtii kya ^ toa ^ djna, nya !T ajra dgya dgra pt G ^ sh shta ^T^ e TT p'lia ^ krya 3 1 ^ " dg'ha pta '^ shtya ai 0 ail ka tha SI Da y\ bha IT ma 7J ya ^ kla ^ kwa ■^ ksh ^ ksha i^ khna ^ nclia ^ ndja ^ nna J ttsa ^ tpa '^ tma 1; ■ dg'hra dda ddra ddwa Udha pna pra pla pwa pvya p'h p'hma shtha shthya shna shwa s sna IT gha _ na rT la ^ va ITT] 7^ Vhra T^ khwa J g T gn 51 tya Z tsha ^ tsa ddhna dd'hya dna m 3 P'hya b bra stra sr sra sla ^ ^ cha ch'ha ^ sa, sha 5T J rr sha ij gna I gr ^ thma & ^ z dba dbra db'ha bh b'hra m h hu sT dja 1 "^ V( gra in db'hya ^ mna W hii ^ dj'ha H sa E g'li ^ ddha ^ db'hra mra ^ hr oT na ^ ha 3 g'hna _ ^ dbha ^ dma ^ mla ^ hri Z t> 3S 1^ M ghra IT dya ^ dya ^ mwa ^ hjia ^ nka m^ d'hna ?: dra C y ^1 iFfgures anlj ^Points. ^ nksha -3- ^ d'hma ?ii drya r 1 r- hma ^ ^ ^ ^ M •^ nk'ha TiZf d'hya s dwa T r '^ hya \ \ */ "-^ ^ 5 nga TJ n ^ dwya 1 2 3 4 5 ^ ng'ha TIT nna eT dvra ^ ru ^- bra i 6 to t; ^ o 7 8 9 10 fl nna ^^ nma tT tta z y dh d'hna 1: ru 1 Jed hi-yi hla : \r ^ nya ^ ttra 'tT d'hra ^ Ina ^ hwa 1 I) t ch W ttwa ^ d'hwa m Ua P hvya ■1 J Class III.] ALPHABETS !. [Indo-Eueopean. PALI. aipfjabrt. iligatutte. H a m ka % da njl kya on - •ta in ' •ma Ml a a 3 gX' O ggi d'ha nl '^ 1 ^. in III g'ba A na nP ^ J} H mu ? 1* na tt pa Xifl g'ba % t" a mba y ' 0 cha f£k ch'ha 19 p'ha a' % tva a mbn e e B "^^ O ba BB ■Chi flW tva •in ya e 8 " fli dj'ha It b'ha as - * dd'ha •^ yya If ma H chcba G aa na III ya Jl chcha 1^ dva t ru Ifi ta 1 nn s si n ' §i ra ai chya WW & 0 U t'ha IN •la CI cljj'ha CS, °ta J» •si H d'ha fM - iS "'^''^ ^L nd'ba 119 . Q|t '"1 8 V A nna Ill ssa nil ■» a O va £. M division • m fli U sa tC ttha g '^^'^ ; ^ M t'ha III ha ^J5 nda gi bha £^ nlhl Class III.] ALPHABETS. [Indo-Eukopean. BENGALEE. AHOM OR ASSAMESE. URIYA OR ORISSA. r s da ■Q O i © da tx u d'ha na V n IW y ^7 r s d'ha ^ ^ n ^ ta ^^ u ^- -u 51 na ^ rr t'ha da m ch, j 6 ta » 1 4t ^ d'ha na >^^ n ifv:) 1 a G- e ^ tha da ©^ 0 3c pa p'ha -XTI t, d XX b <-3 ^ dha (^ c^ »» 1 ha 13 I 0 fT na ■;p ka jit kha b'ha ma TOO th, dh W s i3G Gn ^^ ei pa 5t ga ■?! ya •a m £f p'ha ^ g'ha ■§■ na T ^ ra la ^ n YV h i r ^ ha P cha 'B chcha ^ dja ^ dj'ha sa sba \3 P b r^ a % ka ^ bha ^ ? sha ha (^ kha > na ^ la I^ kra a b'hra Q cha ^ va ^ kya, ksha ?t gna T ■ya -ra n. ka YO 13 ko g chcha «1 sa W djna, nya % ncha •^ n'dja r- m -la r^ ki r8 b ku i a dja g) djha El sa sha e. t iq tra Ua sra r? Id i y^ kai ^ na i: ha Tif dda swa '3* dru ^ shta n kn yjf kan 3Lifl{ itureg. ^ d'hva ■^ na "53 shna sta & kra 5 tra ^ ntu ^ st'ha n ku Y^ kau i^ ksha H •ya fp nt'ha ^ nd'ba ^ ^ sraa swa / Y^ ke yJ? b keu ' S chchi s stha shta gj nma ^ stra ^_ .^ kna u mb'ba q nva (Sl Pta o- 1 m pause /vV ki •^ koi Q thi pause n Class III.] ALPHABETS. [Indo-Eukopean. S INDHEE. MOULTAA 1 OR WUCH. CASHMERIAN. m a XT a Is dha ^ a fir jha O i ^ a IT na © " of i U ta ^ ka 6" * *^ na 3-^ i O tha 17 da ^ kha 3^ u Tf dha iy ga @ u ^ pa ■j; ■=; u J na T>) gha U r 3 ta ■JJ ca 5 ''^ T7 1 ■q- tha te cba «^ pha 13: 1 3: da 3V ja ^ T- 1 IT dha •O*. jha ■ kha a "^ F^ e =T na v3 "* •sXj p•-^ ai If pa 3 ta T] ma F 0 Z5 Plia % tha "F au ■3 ba '^} na 51 ya ; h >l ma -3 ta () ca ^ ka ^ ya '^l tha ^ ra ■pT kha 7 ra «^ (la (5 dha ^ cha IT ga W gba rT la ■? va >S~' na ^ la XT na ►f ca M pa 31 ja P" ca tf sha 4> pha ^ va ■^ cha ^ ja >^ sa T; ha Tro ba ■»l bha vT da r^ sa Ei'sati ttrs. ^i ma j)\ na 'ST kya T£ pra 't^ ya 5 ^^ ^ cu Hf mpa 2 ra ^ jya ^ ija 3 t^ 12 la ^ tma 73i cu O va •X^ tha :^ ti-a ^ tu ^fl= sma V\ sa ^ ncu •^ sva ^ ha ^ da ^ nu S hya "ij tra • pause ^ nya ■r f vowel > \ omitted 12 Class III.] ALPHABET s. ^Indo-Eubopean. CUJERATTEE. 5H ] Jl djha ilitjatutcs. •a 2n J 2 ta ya ^ ^ dj'hi S '•'■" ^1 •b'hu 5tn •a 2niJ i tha ^ >- ^ dj'hu 2i t'hu ^. (5 da 5^ ^ ^ dj'hu 4 "^ '^1 •b'hu ^ ' 6 dha u(i khi ^ ti S> '" '^J @ " Ui na U^ k'hu J tu 1 ^" ^ ^' ^ « iX ta ^ thu ^ tu £(l dhi ^ - ^ -^ 21 t'ha ^rt §i ^ fhi gj dhu X vu an ^ da ^ ^ J t'hu gl d'hu c-n u \. ■6 ^ d'ha 5^^ ^ K t'hu ^ "' s •" 2ni H na id g*^ A di ^ nu ^1. •" ^11 • 0 H pa ^ g'hu i du ^ - i?i ^' ~s . M p'ha ^ g'hu ^ du ^ P' J ™ sni ^ ba ><] Chi (d d'hi ^ ^" ^ ™ •=^ au C!9 b'ha ^ chu ^ d'hu •i. P« :^ ^^ 5tl m. bhu ^ chu ^ d'hn va '>^' % - M ka •H ma ^ chchi ufl ni V phn =^ - Oi ^^^ ^ va g chchu Ub nu y p'hu r(1 ^^' 01 ea CH la P chchu Uk nu ^ bi ^ Shu ^ g'ha il ra ei r5?nl ,^f nn LP rU ^^ e ^ d'ha «j 0, 0 1^ 1 nu ST nn LP rU ^51 d ^ na NDO-EUBOPEAN. TELI N C A. © « ^ cha, tsa ^ va -S) Chi ^ ddu fP ra tP a ^ chcha, ts'ba ^ sa xSj chu i^i" dd'ha 0 ri S? i g dja, dza sba ^ ohe qji d'ha fe ri 04 r 002 dj'ha, dz'ha ^ 6a Ooy "JJlia ^r* na C5 ru 4S » Stna ^ ha n'O^ djhi ?> - 00 1 45^ n &) ta ^ la OSiT" djhu ^ ni ® U «Uij ru ^ t'ha &3 rba af^ n» 5^ nn ex3 In OOkiy ru c§ ?» I pause S2> nu ■^ ne yVT. lo r >- J3 d'ha ^^ ka S^ 1" •^ nna CO Ua ^ lu P3 ?» S^ ku •& t^ ^ po CO Ui oJ e e^ ta ^ t'ha ^JT> kii t^ du gy PPU 15^ ba oy va ^ i §^ ko lb ve S$ da ©5 "" £D ai (SL ksba © ti B V7a 80 ° 2|S d'ha 7\ ge ^ ti ^ bbu ^ wu 1j 0 -^ na SG t" S^ ma ^ Shi 0 m •^ P» ?^ ge ^ te S» mi 1^ P'ba 1^ gau e5J ttu — 0 535 °"i ^ sba •^ i- shta : " 9li ba 1 g'ha (g) tra 5b me ^ ka <^ bha ghu cy> da ^ mo ?3^ sa aj k'ha oJj "» 1 a dl S6s mma ^ Bsa K ^" 035 y» 1 ghu Co du dXrj ya -» a ^ o-€ 0 Q» ^•"' tJ" ra 25^ na "S de So y« y^ e 2i »* 0 la Siu nn S' do c\\v> yo -. K A R N A T A. © a tp a s? i ■^ i d- u Ui u '^.^^^ r nooy rr 1 gj na s5 "^a f5 chcha 85 ^a !50 djba VAX) T 1 o^ na T 11 & ta 5D e CJ tha oS e S§ da £D ai 1 d'ha a, 0 ("2 na ta 0 ^ ta 2^ au ^ fha 0 ni ZS* da Q ^^ d'ha i ka ^ na SD k'ha 2S pa 'i^ ba ■ij5 bha ^ ma cc:^ ya t5 fa e) la o) va ^ sa 053 sha -^ sa T5^ ha S^ la So ra ^ ksha de do 7^ g" 1 iSi tu ttn tte tra da di de dri pu pra bha ^ x5 '' er° la ^ lo "S ya 53^ va ^ vn oS," sba & shta Po/2 ho c-g au <§) ' — o / sign of 0 \ duplication TiJ" 1,11 Class III.] ALPHABETS. [Indo-Eueopean. MALAYALiM. OS'O a 5*3) na Eigatares. (-J pa, ba K) gr CUJ ddha ^ ■ya 0^ shta ■^ e a£) pha C/3 gda g) dya ^ yu ka, ga £-i la •yma ^ sma eu kha OJ va ^ chu 03 nda ^ J (SIP sra oo ga C/3 sa ^ chcha CTUJ ndha ^ 1 j-yyu ^ ssu rLQJ g'ha ,-:a^ sha ^ chchu CYT) nna ^ eg na Cf\J sa «^ djja 00 nma © ru ^ s-ha Qj /cha, dja, \ sha .U5 ha ©(m-i ncha OOJ nva ® ITl hu hu ii' chcha ^ la ecsfci nnu <^ pu ^ rgga ^ dja y rl § tu '^ pu fClD rtha -^ hr cLei djna O rha enSh 6^ ttu nka ntu CO pta pna ppa 1 lu Ikkn 6o 1 Ua rlu ^ ^f.SU rC9. 1 2 3 4 £ 6tT2 nma (J^ pra fej Ipa i rltu 6 5 a 7 a 4 .-^ ^o 9 0 m tu 6^ bu ^. Ima Q rliu Class 111 •J ALPHABETS. ri NDO-EnEOPEAN. CINGALESE. MALDIVIAN. Eisa tutcs. ©It iForm. flcin iFonn. 18 Class III. ] ALPHABETS. [Tndo -EtTROPEAK. IRISH. MSSO-COTHIC. ANGLO-SAXON. Aa a ENGLISH. §.0 . 1. ^ a Jjloman. Italic. vV A ■ -a (I I B b Bb b Aa Aa 2( a . Qfl^l" m r g C c c Bb Bb Cc Cc 5 h b ^l1ln „ j e e e Dd Dd C C 0 0 0 0 U 1 Fp f Ee Ee X) x> d "Pv P 1 Q5 g Ff Ff ee e n« ] h h bh h c^g Gg ^^ ■r n - Hh Hh V^ f (|) th II i li li S S f 8 Cc t » V . I Kk k 55 g 11 ' K k LI 1 Jj Kk Kk hh ^ U u t. A 1 CDin m LI LI I'j; i V V V H m Nn n Mm Mm N n 0 0 0 Nn Nn 1^0 . 2. G, y Pp p Oo Oo a a a N n n Rp r Pp Pp 6 b b O 0 0 n n St s Qq Qq C c c P P P n p Tc t Rr Rr t) b d Rp r 1* ' Qu V. Ss Ss e e e S r s S s VP V Tt Tt PP .- C r t T t Xjc X Uu Uu S 5 8 U u u Vv Vv Tl h h 4 agns Y v.y ty y Wtv Wv 1 1 i 5 nn ^ ^ Z Z z Xx Xx ei 1 0 w © si Yy n» IT • dh, th Yy TTl m m 1 C " I>1' Zz Zz 19 Class III.] ALPHABETS. [Indo-Edeopean. GERMAN. OLD ENGLISH. GREEK. (Bnttnhtxs- Comnton. ^ jHa a a ar ^ ha ^ quod SI a as b 6 c A a a B 13 b iBh b fi an, am If he tp que ffi c Ty g iCf c 0 ao {p ho q) quoque © b P b Ih ba Ic be fi h, etc I in, im ^5 quam r (g e S f ® 9 © fl S 1) £ e e fa) bo ^ § ^ JJiJ iff f ? J i" f re Sii ^ K ^1^ e I5g g \A bet I \cum, f il tp re 8 I 0 0 th Hjl) "^ ^ nd ? rum m m 91 n la n ® 0 Kk k IfJlt i it ct }-nn it- f (T s O 0 V P ^ A 1 JRk k J con ss £l q H r 31 /J. m JU 1 tyj cha n an a I. 91 r € t iV 1/ n |IHm m (^ Che 0 on ft - 2; t Hi u MA H^ x /Rnn ° ^ cho ^ pre f se U u 9S b W vo 0 0 0 UId 0 to CO P pri t ter 3B w 13 1) /Ztt p ^|, P (f '^ K (k V V vv Zs, z § S'-a q qui » cf ? 1 f. .. J. t, vvvvv Class III." ALPHABETS. [Inuo-Eukopean. ALBANIAN. RUSSIAN, SERVIAN AND WALLACHIAN. P.O. 1 1. Ua. 2. Eoman. Etalir. a* a V a R ngh A a a ^^ ts Aa ■^ ^^ ts mi 1 ■ e c e i gj B6 b 4h tsh B6 b Hh thh ■9H, J 1 1 i S ngj B B w. » mm sh Be w> V lUm Bh 00 0 0 0 V V r r g.ii mu^ sktsh r z g.h mui sUtsh Yv y 6 u tv u Jl- y ps e It Aa d 1»1. (mute) Aa (mute) -Hii w ^ - • u « J E e ye, e bibl ui Ee e Mm y ^tfe b X ch Hi a; j bb (soft) Hi h j bb (uoft) ;i & g .> e 3 ch ^\ J e s 1 t 3 3 z Ge e S3 z 6e 6 LL dh V i A * Mil i lit ye Uu i Hd ye ti. t a £1 th I ts ■%. nd Mh ; 10 K) yu till 1 Ww yu CO « z 7 ds i « li i fla ya /» i Hh ya k 1 nds <** b Kk k Be ph Kii k Oe Vh tT^' - f w ft nib . 1 A A 1 Vv y, w cJ' ./I 1 Fr y,w tT^ . H 1 Id p 55 Dl ■1 Ij V n M M m Jii Jb ly M Jfl m ^h Jb ly ^^ n K kj ^ tsch Hh n H.H. ny //h n ILtb ny \\ ng ai P C k 3 dsch Oo 0 Rh ty Oo 0 an ty lO Is I 8 X y ndsch Hn p 'B^ dsh n u V TH} dsh 15 1. B » r 5 St •© ii BS t rr X sch Pp r ^^ ddsh Pp r Vv ddsh H t C f -/ J Cc = H8 u Cc s S s u ■wt^ f ^ii ch V }• % scht V tc Tt t R»i5 iu Tm t ISis iu tz tzj ^ 3 m » nj (^ as ia un ia un ff z h gh W w X X eh Mia ia A^a? CO M ia ia tv Class III. J ALPHABETS. [iNDO-EUEOrEAN. SCLAVONIC. ©lagolitisl). ©in Sclnfaantc, $.a. I. ©lU Sclabom'r, iJo. 2. ifl ill a [T'lD P 1 /I a » " fla a o^ f Be b Bb ^ B b * J 1 Hh i 3 - bi J hk (soft) ("HI rrn > i Rl^ kh H -1 • i t (soft) Hh j Ii i -BI? ye K8a. Vv ts 1 J •fe ye 66 e Kk k HPrp y,dy ft 9 tsh K k 121 ] •ya A J Aa 1 lOw yu % A k III 111 sh A 1 \0 y^i Hh n •ya [ftl [ft 1 Wff" • shtsh H n HA ya Oo 0 Ow (\A(W ■" w J 0 0 ^ a nn p • 0 n p 1^ a Pp r Oo^ ffp ■ ■n I 1 (soft) p ^ 2 >= Gc s ^§ (soft) Pp . Q] Bi ye c ^|r p^' Tt t *"t psi ov ■ 3a ^ JD jp yu T t »0» th or f oy .. ! ®« thorf aa . • 0 oy u V y ^a . Vir y 22 Clasp IV.; ALPHABETS [Uqko-Taeiaeia.n. MANTCHOU. MONGOLIAN . ^ ^ H •i 9 J> ^ O . 1 •i a J T' H. •i C J> O O' J! 8 J H -J e 6 ^ -1 ^ ^ i Oo ^p» ^ _ kh A ^ ^ i ^ ^ d > 6 o n i d ^ c d^ a^ Cj' ^' I! C d a 2>' AAA - '^ i ^ s\ J 0 >l ' > X - ts i Cj 0 Li 1 4. an ^ > > - thb Cj ^ u '^ •" 'H -L n y V - - eh (soft) ' H ,^ ^ ^ 1 '^ k I ^ - - - -1 h i,f. 1- - ■g ^ I*. -- - tshh 2> *> 1 ^ b Lh ^i 1- - kh Jo 'I, - - dshh * ^ ::1 gh p ^ 5> J b (solll O o ^ k J ? 3? - ■P Higatttrcs. i^ < ^ > J- s ^ ^ ^ ^ "i O o - g . ■ il a> S) 5) g) bo ti i\ ^ m ^ ^ ^ t. sell ©' ©• S)- g)- bu -M -p ■p 1 It J) ^ g) bo, ^ ^ ^ r It ^> - d ^ 5? ^ i? pi ♦ -^ 1^ t ^ ^ re ^ > i: es v4 - dsh y ^ gk 1' ma :IJ ml 23 *^» ye 5^ A sen Cl,A 9B IV.] ALPHABETS. [t] foEO-TAKTAHIAN. GEORGIAN. j (JDibil. fficcltsiastical. 6 a ! 3 k 0 t G *= ? g t 8 8 b g 9 1 m n eg u ^ wl ^ d. 0» lil( n *! l| wKu.ou) ^ a cl e i, ie s P" r • dsh, dj 1 T tp p h 3 w en- 0 <^ k d ^ ^J TtJ e 'b '/i k 2 z i P £^ gh b kb T« f (; w, V fl 11 gh CO h (mute) th ^ ^ J r 9 sch ^5 kkh Y> "h z (soft) 3ij sh o i L 3 ^ tscli J h (mute) P ,1 h(mute) j (^ m th •n 1 ^ (i tsh Gt Q ts ULiQU tureg. d9 (.J am ar as ak agh if) no es ewn cith wa was fUj 'kli J ke ^ keb ]|6 kn \fS sa yrono ui ^Ij k T>-n: 1 ch 3 m Ji rh ds P (n ths ? (J kh V U khh ,* akh ^ we :^ ks 0||) Phe 5o i <^ I (French) 4 ad ^ wl Qj6 kwa 0| Pbw t/||^ qa (L lu 0 t TU h (mute; TS? ed f vlo Qjp kwn T ■'I j (French) .Kj; h" # r eg el ^ # wgh wkli rallj Is 9_ ™o Uj|6 qwa B g tsh ^ en oIIj ths U|j:5 ja U1||D qwn 1 cJ» A r ^ P h 4 ep oft thkh (^ ™ ^ sbo j bll s 24 Class IV. J ALPHABETS. [Ug ro-Tartabian. JAPANESE. -KATAKANA CHARACTER. -f i ■o ro ;^ fa ;<^' ba Jf^' pa - ni :t ^ 4^ ■fo jH' bo po f- f e -< ■ be -\o pe to )■" do tsi 4 J f dzi ^ nu >■ ru /I- J ^ wo ^ wa 3 »^ -" 7 ;' /J ka 7 ^ J tsn dzu 1 ) no >7 ku ^" gu ya -3 V ge 7 f» 7" bu 7 pu 3 ko a'" go 5^ e or ye ^ te 7" de 71 ■ a •U- sa f t ^-' J^^ ghi a. yn y .X J I. I X 1 I J l^ 5^ t? ye 3; t t •e^ bi U° P' ^ 1 f- mc -i J > se -t J "fe^ ze X. su >■ zu Ei'gaturES. ■Z\ in, i-i j^ domo 3> tama 7 taudza ^ tsumi Y umi - ■ ni i ^ . 6 ■ ra ■ yo 0 ■ne • ro HZ 1. t- ■ zo ^ (^ A ■ do ^ fe o ' 8- t l ^ ^ ■ ta ^ l^ ^ ^ ^ s h hi > fo ■y> i-> ci -^ tr t ► fa 1^' > tsi t 0 * or WO y tsu >• na A •70' ^ dzi "t ^o h ^\ I ^ bo ^- H ^ ^1 kj ^1 -^«- -z 3 1 5 ■ wa ^"1 ^ . *v >>*] % ^ .^r- fe X -^v- ^ V /sr fX ba be 0 0 ri 6 ka re dsu la l' >^ -hy >>> J>^ ^•J fS^ t. ^> J k- H . i 20 Class IV.] ALPHABETS. [Ugro-Tartabian. JAPANESE.- FIROKAN A CHARACTER. V>' .' ^ ■ • mn 5^ ■ ya 5 1 5 ■ sa ■ me ■ fi t V ^ ^ b u . or WU 5^ i 4 ■ ko 1 % . 1 - mi t t ^ t Ij i&' • su 5 ^ X ^M ^' J tx \ w t t - ma 4" ■ go ■ za 4 2/^^^. % ^ ^ ^ 4> ■ wi 1 t; ^' . i ■ si 9 h <^ J 1 t\ ^" 1 J^ «i • ^ J r -] ^ 1 . ^. (7> 9 > no > ke t X ' te ^ ^ ^ y ki h t • mo 0- T n. ft ■zi e-J 4J *j ^. % n- 4? ^- - ^*i % 1 r • zu c ^ r • ghe ^ ^^ -^' -^ f^^ < -kii -fu ► de r •ghi 4 ► ye ► se < J ^' I ■tf 1 /L " >J 7a ® i ti ^^1 > Gn > bu 1) > a > yu 1 ■ ze ► n ^\ ^J ^j ^j ^. €. 0 point Class IV.l ALPHABETS. [ Ugko-Taexakian. JAPANESE.- FiROKANA CHARACTER. Ei'saturts. •^ rosi Z i'^" e" >■ d2UEi 11 "" r IS mezi U. fasi J^ kajesi e J lil > koto IL miEi I f 1^ basi ^^ kavasi 1^1 li ■ kusi I. ' si 1^ nisi ^ kasito fe lJ ) kosi \ C^ -2_, ■ nasi 1] If " t |J kuzi r ■ goto i siwo li^. ■ fosi r. • gasi ^ V kuru a i simo j^ bosi £■ 1^1 y^ gusi m asi i yezi ]t dosi IJ • yosi 1> ■ nazi li^ ?\ sa » fi ^ risi 1 J 1^ tasi /\\ ^ • masi k sasi |tff bisi ' J li sazi 9 mo 1* rasi g dasi ■^ naru a. mazi ic zasi li mosi Xx rubesi i" l^^ [^ gesi t kisi It" zasi £? wowo ifi. ■ resi 13 • rasi 1^ fuzi fe- li nsi ■ m6si / wosi "^. tsudzu li. B •'"^' ?. h nzi ©oubling Signs. « / < 4 4 «^ i < 28 Cl.ASS IV.] ALPHABETS. [Ugro-Tartakian. JAPANESE.-FIROKANA CHARACTER. v.** itsi ■ iys A^ ima ■ isi A' inu ^ roku ]3 ra t fan lil 1^ ■ fana ^J ^1 -fe- ■ fawa -^J /">. fast ^ fatsizlu ^ ban .^. ni ^ ■ nin A fci be ^ > to - tori ■ tosi tokoro do do tsi tsitsi tsiu di^incsc Sfgns. ^ J wotoko 4 waka ka kadzi kado 1') )>1J - kawa H kage t^ kadzu- mura ^ kane 43-- •ttt ^ ^ f? • yo *?■ i-s % t J jS' yo" f yosai ^ yotsu taro tara tama n J: n J 5 ^ J tamon tamai - tai dai dan tatsi tsuki (r^ nan ^ muio ):J] utsi uye t agenda no-yama no-tsikai b J k h k ku kuni kuiTi ya Class IV.] ALPHABETS. [Ugro-Taktakian. ^1 yama n mata mato matsi matsa JAPANESE. -FIROKANA CHARACTEI fu ■ koto ftita ^ kome dljintsc Signs, k bH ^ 1 % ^ % • ko ^ ^ ;h 'J> J ;^" ^ ^ kokoro >^ i<9 J ^ j <^ • kono ^ . hA A goto gorosai i ^ J tei ^ ten ± ■^ saka f sakitsi sai-gio % ^ P- kitsi in-. - me ^^ ^ midza mid- zuma ^ ;^ / simano- ^ \ suke -]- ziu yemon B 1 r? fito ^ 1 1 ^ ■ si ED J ^Z ■) ■ sitsi -t J fiaku fiakorio / mosi ^ moto ^ mokn . soke 30 Class V., VI.] ALPHABETS. [Polynesian and African. MALAYAN. 'A 'a \ A a 1 •I -i I U u \ B b T t ^ Tz b? ^ TJ S HI Hi Ch di D d Dz dz R r Z z S sf sj (i t Tftstf cr» DI dl ^ Th til Tl tl Cn Gh gh F f PP Kb kh Kk Gg L 1 M m N n C w 1 A w H h IjtJ t COPTIC. J J f rr 6e ^^ Hh Oe Ii Kk A A Mm Nn £z Oo nn b,v g l',b Pp r CC s Tt t,d Tr i,y ^ «{) ph JC X ch, sc \}/ \|; ps 0)0) 0 qq f eg h b Ja hh O 6^ sh, sch (^ 0) sh t+ ti IttflltS. A ^ M N en B e e i i M M em 06 0 P U) er A a B b,v r g A d e e 5C z H i,e e th ■ i K k A 1 U m M n f X O 0 n P,b P r 1 c s T t,d T i.y * ph ^" ch, sc H- ps u; 0 q f s g tr sh, gh ^ sh 2 h b hh + ti 31 Class V.] ALPHABETS. [Polynesian or Malayan. JAVANESE. 6 ^. a flsn ta Htsatures. ornQ i 9JI sa jm ha d dya (UU|- ^ re ? O va d na ^ ta J ■ya ^ re ^ »£| e OOA o la pa (jji nu d^ cha (^ chu ^ Jk tu sa yu (CI na ^ cba O. e (101 da OJj, su (3 ta O 110—2 0 as OJUI ja ya ru 0 a va vu d1 na c3 "" -A pa ULD 0 OA -* •«; ha 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 9 0 32 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMOIRS. PAGE Abe.vaqui 455 Bima . . . . Accra 415 Bohemian . Adiyah or Femundiau 420 Bosnian . . . . Affghan or Pushtoo . . 72 Brazilian and Guarani African or Moorish Arabic , Breton or Armorican . or Mogrebin . 55 Bruj or Brij-bhasa . Aimara .... 471 Bughelcundee Albanian .... 289 Bugis and Macassar . Alemannio or Old High Bulgarian German 178 Bullom A leutian or Aliout-Liseyeff 358 Bulochee or Beloochee . Araharic .... 61 Bundelcundee . Anamite .... 15 Buriat . . . . Ancient Armenian 73 Burmese Greek . 227 Buttaneer or Virat Aiieiteum 392 Anglo Saxon 191 Catpeb or KafEr . Arabic .... 48 Calmuo .... Moorish or Africar , Cambojan . or Mogrebin . 55 Canarese or Karnata . Arakanese or Rukheng . 10 Canoj or Canyacubja Ararat, Armenian 79 Carib or Karif Arawack .... 474 Carniolan . Armenian, Ancient . 75 Carshun .... Ararat . 79 Cashmerian 80 Catalan or Catalonian . Armorican or Breton . 170 Catchee or Cutchee . Asbantee or Odjii 417 Central India Dialects . Assamese 115 Chaldee Australian, New S. Wales 395 Cherokee Aztec or Mexican . 463 Chinese JjASHMrKIC Chippeway or Ojibway . 402 Chocktaw . Basque, French 314 Cingalese Spanish or Escuara 318 Coptic .... Bassa 414 Corean .... Batta 373 Cornish Beloochee or Bulochee . 74 Cree Bengalee .... 109 Creolese Dialects . 114 Croatian or Dabnatian- Berber .... 403 Servian . Bhojepoora . . 104 Curacao Negro Dialect Bikanecru . 108 Cutchee or Catchee PAGE 372 . 300 306 . 472 170 , 104 105 , 374 307 . 409 74 , 105 339 7 108 426 338 IS 141 104 473 305 56 120 263 117 106 39 459 1 450 461 147 397 339 169 448 211 304 270 117 Daco-Romaka or Wal- German .... 181 lachian 279 Ghadamsi . 405 Dacota or Sioux . 463 Gheez or Ethiopic . 57 Dajak 371 Gipsy or Eommany . 130 Dalmatian-Servian or Gothic .... 174 Croatian 304 Grebo .... 414 Danish .... 217 Greek, Ancient 227 Delaware 447 Modem . 241 Dialect, Negro, of Curacao 270 Greenlandish . 441 Negro, of Surinam 212 Guarani and Brazilian 472 Dialects, Bengalee . 114 Gujerattee 123 Cognate, Siamese 14 Gurwhal or Schreenagur . 123 Hinduwee . 103 • India, Central 106 Maeeotee . 106 Dogura or Jumboo . 120 Haussa . . . , 412 Dorpat Esthonian . 329 Hawaiian 375 DuaUa or Dewalla . 418 Hebrew— Old Testament . 22 Dutch .... 208 New Testament 29 iliNGHABiiTE, Upper and Memoir descrip- tive of . . . 31 Lower, or Eomanese . 287 Hindustani or Urdu 94 English .... 196 Hinduwee . . . . 100 Escuara or Spanish Basque 318 Dialects 103 Esquimaux 438 Hungarian or Magyar 325 Esthonian, Dorpat . 329 Wendish . 310 Keval . 330 Hurriana . . . . 105 Ethiopic or Gheez . 57 Icelandic or Norse . T ASTEB .... 214 416 India, Central, Dialects of 106 J^roese .... 226 Indian, New England . 444 Feejeean .... 390 Indo-Portuguese 275 Femandian or Adiyah 420 Iowa .... 464 Finnish . 319 Irish 160 Flemish .... 205 Isubu .... 419 French .... 254 Italian .... 277 Basque 314 Fonnosan 368 Jalloop 407 (jTAELIC .... Japanese .... 356 158 Javanese .... 369 GaUa .... 432 Jewish-German . 186 Georgian .... 353 Judseo-Arabio 52 German, Old High, or Judajo-Persian . 71 Alemannic 178 Judeo-Pulish . 188 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMOIRS. PAGE PAGE Judeo-Spanisli . 267 Mexican or Aztec . 465 Jumboo or Dogura 120 Micmao .... 454 Juyapoora . . . • lOS Misteco . . . ■ 467 Mithili or Tirhitiya . 114 JVaitib or Caffre 426 Modem Armenian . 80 Karaite-Tartar . 350 Greek . 241 Karass or Turkish-Tartar 347 Syriac 45 Karelian . . . . 323 Mohawk . . . • 456 Karen, Karayn, or Karieng 15 Mohegan 444 Karif or Carib . 473 Mon, Talain, or Pegueso . 11 Karnata or Canarese . 141 Mongolian Proper . 337 Kbaspoora or Nepalese . 121 Mogrebin, or African or Khassee .... 17 Moorish Arabic . 55 Kikamba . . . . 435 Mordviniau or Morduin 331 Kinika .... 435 Mosquito . . . . 469 Kisualieli . . . • 434 Moultan, Wuch, or Ooch 118 Kousidu or Koahala 104 Mpongwe . . . ■ 421 Kiimaon . . . . 123 Munipoora 16 Kunkuna 129 Najiaqua Kurdish 82 430 Nengone or Lifu . 394 Jjaos or Law 14 Nepalese or Khaspoora . 121 lapponese . . . ■ 322 Negro Dialect of Curacoa 270 Latin .... 245 Dialect of Surinam 212 Lepcha . . . . 21 New England Indian . 444 Lettish or Livonian 310 New S. Wales Australian 395 Lifu and Nengone 394 New Zealand or Maori . 383 Lithuanian 312 Norse or Icelandic . 214 Loochooan . 357 Norwegian Laplandish Low Malay 3G6 or Quanian 324 IVlacassak and Bugia . 374 OdJII or Ashantee . 417 Magadha or Magudha . 114 Ojibway or Chippeway . 453 Magyar or Hungarian 325 Old Saxon . 189 Mahratta or Maratlii . 126 Olonetzian 328 Malagasse . 386 Oodeypoora 107 Malay, Low . 366 Oojein or Oujjuyunee . 107 Malayalim . . 145 Orenburg-Tartar 349 Malayan . . . • 360 Orissa or TJriya 116 Maldivian . . 150 Ossitinian . . 84 Maltese . . • • 53 Ostiacan or Ostjakian . 332 Mandingo . . 406 Otomi . . . ■ . 467 Manks .... 166 Ottawa .... 453 Mantchou . . 334 Oujjuyunee or Oojein . 107 Maori or New Zealand . 383 Pali ... . Marathi or Mahratta . 126 91 Mnrquesan 380 Palpa .... . 122 Marwar . 107 Pawnee . . . ■ 464 MaBsachuaett . 445 Peguese, Talain, or Mon . 11 Mnvnn . 468 Persian .... 64 PAGE Peruvian or Quiclma . 470 Piedmontese ... 286 Polish 298 Portuguese ... 271 Pottawattomie . . .454 Provengalor Romaunl . 281 Punjabee or Sikh . . 118 Pushtoo or Affglian . 72 QuANiAir or Norwegian Laplandish . . .324 Quichua or Peruvian . 470 IvAliOTONGAjr . . .378 Eeval Esthonian . . 330 Romaunt or Provenoal . 281 Romanese or Upper and Lower Enghadine . 287 Eommany or Gipsy . . 130 Eukheng or Arakanese . 10 Russian .... 295 OAHIDIC .... Samaritan . Samoau .... Samogitian . Samoiede Sanscrit Saxon, Anglo . Old . . . Schreenagur or Qurwhal Sclavonic .... Sechuana Seneca Servian . . . • Sesuto or Sisuta . Shawanoe Shekawutty Sherbro-BuUom . Siamese .... Cognate Dialects Sikh or Punjabee Sioux or Dacota . Sindee . . . • Sirenian or Zirian . Sisuta or Sesuto Slovakian Spanish . . • • Basque or Escuara Surmam, Negro Dialect of 401 35 388 313 355 86 191 189 123 291 423 458 302 425 454 108 410 12 14 118 463 117 332 425 306 261 318 212 PAGE Susoo .... 408 Swedish . . . .222 Syriac .... 41 in Hebrew characters 45 Modem . . 45 Syro-Chaldaic ... 43 Tahitian ... 376 Talain, Mon, or Peguese . U Tamul or Tamil . . 133 Telinga or Teloogoo . . 138 Terasco .... 467 Tibetan .... 20 Tigr6 .... 61 Timmanee .... 413 Tu-hitiya or Mithili . 114 Tongan .... 381 Toulouse ... 283 Trans-Caucasian Tartar . 352 Tscheremissian . . 331 Tschuwaschian . . .351 TuluorTuluvu . . 1« Tungusian Proper . . 336 Turco-Greek and Turkish- Armenian . . 345 Turkish . • -341 Tartar or Karass 317 XJprEE and Lower Engha- dine or Romanese . 287 Upper and Lower Wendish 308 Urdu or Hindustani . . 94 Uriya or Orissa . . 116 V Atroois . . . ■ 284 Virat or Buttaneer 108 Virginian . . . • 444 "W'*TT,ACHIAN or Daco- Eomana . 279 Welsh 151 Wendish, Hungarian . 310 - Upper and Lower 308 Wogulian 332 Wotagian or Wotjakian . 333 Wuch, Ooch, or Moultan 118 Yakkiba or Toraba 411 Zapoteca . 467 Zirian or Sirenian . 332 tijc ffiible of lEoerg ffanJi. PAGES CLASS I.— MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES .... 1-21 CLASS IL— SHEMITIC LANtlUAGES 22-63 CLASS IIL— INDO-EUKOPEAN LANGUAGES .... 64-313 CLASS IV.— UGEO-TARTAEIAN LANGUAGES . . . 314-359 CLASS v.— POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN LANGUAGES . 360-396 CLASS VI.— AFRICAN LANGUAGES 397-437 CLASS VIL— AMERICAN LANGUAGES 438-475 THE BIBLE OF EYEBY LAND. CLASS L-MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. CHINESE. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 13.* 1^ iri ^^ ^ Afio # jt> PiVl A # Ifn i^ m. z iM B^ f: ^i^"- 'iHo 3i^ z IP Mo m f\ ^^^' 1 p M z -^ M ^ trn '# ^ , Z /j^^ #. i^b" a M m a m. n i± m i |5) ^ ^ 7bo A X ^ ^ » A m ^ Ifn Vj 7b 1^ %. f'l' 7^^ /^ K. ^ la ^ m. ^ 3^ M il3 7b. R ^;f 7b i" ^^ i?^ Ifn 7h n Z A A ■|# m ^^ m # f«^ -It Etl ^ ^. m #. ^ ^ m ^ m f% ^^ # a li^ p ^\i ^ 1^' It J^I 7b A ^ Ifn 4ff m. f.1 -ffi. ft yi ^0 £ ^ HE # ^ Hi -w yf. M'' I'l', rfti,^ m ;i± ^ A t^ ^ m r/n i ;^ m K m %x ^ =■7; -Ifio ^ JB( w^ Bi ^ z yi -r. m ifn" z ^o 7b Z ^ . ^ 75 Ifn z B I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT, AND STATISTICS. The Chinese empire, called "the land of Sinim" (Isaiah xlix. 10), — the land of the Chinas (Manu X. 84), — and Chin or Machin, in Persian writers. Includes within its area about a third of the Asiatic continent, and occupies little less than one-tenth part of the whole habitable globe. China proper, in which alone the Chinese language is vernacular, comprises eighteen provinces, each of which is equal in extent and population to some European kingdoms ; it forms about a fourth part of the entire region generally regarded as tributary to the Chinese emperor, and contains an area of not less than 1,297,000 » From Dr. Morrison's Translation, issued in 1823, by the Anglo-Chinese College, in twenty-one Volumes. 2 2 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class I. square miles. According to tlie oflicial documents furnislied by tlie census taken in 18L3, tlie popu- lation of China proper amounted at tliat time to upwards of 360,000,000, — or more tlian a third part of the estimated number of the entire human race ! And astounding as such a computation may appear, there seems no sufficient reason to doubt its correctness, or to question tlic proba- bility of a considerable increase having taken place during the period since elapsed. Indeed, persons ■whose local experience has given them the best means of observation, uniformly concur in regard- ing the above number as underrated rather than the reverse.' Thousands annually migrate from China to the shores of the Indian Archipelago ; and Mr. Crawfurd, the late resident at Singapore, estimated the number of Chinese dispersed throughout the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Singapore, Malacca, Penang, Siam, Tonquin, and adjacent districts, at 734,700. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The language used by this vast population exhibits certain affinities vritli some of the idioms of Central Asia; while it is distinguished by some remarkable characteristics of its own. The first great peculiarity is the remarkable fact, that in the written language of China the words or characters are not, as with ourselves, representatives of spoken sounds, but symbols of abstract ideas. It contains no alphabetical letters in our sense of the term ; and every written character is an entire word, with a uniform meaning in all parts of the empire, independent of its conventional sound in the various local dialects. This constitutes a great difficulty in the acquisition of the language ; not, however, to the extent that has been generally supposed. It is true that in the standard national Lexicon, published by command of the emperor Kang-he in the seventeenth century of the Christian era, there are found as many as 44,449 distinct characters. According to the Tseu'-wei of Mei-tan, their number is only 33,000; and in the Pin-tsee-tsien, 20,000. Most of these, however, are either obsolete, or of very rare occurrence ; so that in the penal code of China, translated by Sir George Staunton, and in the Chinese Version of the New Testament, the result of a careful collation has proved that there are only about 3000 characters in very general use. For practical purposes, that number even may be reduced to about 2,200. The Chinese characters have been sometimes compared to the hieroglyphics of Egypt. The resemblance, however, is not complete ; as Chinese writing was never confined to a priestly caste, and is, moreover, a more artificial and ingenious system of ideographic combinations. There are 214 original characters or roots, into some of which every one of these 44,449 characters may be resolved by the process of dissection or analysis, and which form the foundation of the meaning as well as the basis of the lexicograpliic arrangement of each compound character. The written symbols of the Chinese may be divided into six classes. The Jirst class, called seang-hing, or " images," comprehends those which appear to have been originally mere rude pic- torial representations of visible objects, although in process of time the original resemblance has been almost lost ; as e. g. the symbols for a field ^ , a man /[ , a horse ,^ , a sheep '^ , etc. The second class contains the characters called hwei-ee, or of " complex meaning," which represent a combination of simple ideas; e.g. H {jih), "the sun;" and g (gtie), "the moon," written together thus, HH , read " ming" and mean, " light, brilliancy." The iliird class contains the characters called che-sze, or "indicating the thing;" e.g. _1_, for "above;" ~T~, for " below ;" now written, j-" (s hang), and ~[\ (hea). 1 It has often been said that tlie population of Clima is relatively as dense as (or denser than) tliat of England. According to the census of 1851, the population of Eugland and Wales amounted to 17,926,509, equal to an areraiie of 310 inhabitants to the square mile, while the jjopulation of England (without AYales) averaged 335 inhabitants to che square mile. The former ratio, applied to China, would be equivalent to a total of more than four hundred millions, and the latter to upwards of four hundred and thirty-four mdlions, of mhabitants. This eonsideration may serve to diminish the surprise, almost the doubt, with which the statements regarding the enormous population of China have sometimes been received. Class I.] CHINESE. 3 Thefourth class is but small. It contains tlie characters called cliwan-chu, or " inverted;" as A {Jin)t " a man" (standing); PI {die), " a man" (lying down) " a corpse." The ^fth class contains the characters called kea-tsiei, or " borrowed ;" i. e. conveying an abstract idea borrowed from the object they represent; e.g. ^^ (•«*«), "the heart," is sometimes put for " mind," " to understand," etc. The sixth class contains the characters called hing-shing, or " representing the sound," which are very numerous. These characters are partly representative, and partly syllabic, or phonetic. One element in the character, viz., the image, determines the meaning and fixes the genus ; the other element, for the most part a group of strokes without any actual meaning, indicates the sound, and marks the species. Thus, e.g. S, which represents "a place," answers to the Chinese word le ; joined to the character ^ (3/")i "fish," it forms the symbol ■ffl!E, the name of the fish, le, "a carp." In addition to the characters of those six classes, there are others, found especially in local dialects, which appear to be formed arbitrarily, without respect to any system of classification. Among the 44,449 characters which form the Chinese language, there are about 1500 primitive characters in very common use, which we may imagine to have been the whole stock of symbols at a very early period of history, and which had not only a definite idea, but also a definite sound attached to each. As every character in Chinese is pronounced in speaking as a monosyllable, it would come to pass that their ideas, and the written characters by which they expressed those ideas, would increase far beyond what they would be able to pronounce by separate sounds amid the monosyllabic poverty of their spoken language. Many ideas would all be expressed in speaking by one and the same mono- syllabic sound. Instead of selecting an entirely new character, they would take some well-known character in general use, having the same sound; and by merely adding one of the 214 roots or simple elements to influence the meaning, they would form a new combination, the whole being in eflect a new written symbol, of which one part influences the sound, and the other the sense. Let us take the example of ^|J le, profit. We may suppose this to have become one of the 1500 primitive characters, having its definite sense and established pronunciation. There is another le in the spoken language, meaning a "pear-tree". Thus, by taking the character ^|J "profit, "whichhas the sound of le, and adding the radical character -J^ muli, "wood," they formed a now combination, 2|j^ le, a " pear-tree", of which the upper part gives the sound, and the lower the sense. So again on the same principle, by combining the same primitive %\\ le, with the radical having the sense of " disease," a new character !j^ is virtually formed pronounced le, but having the sense of " dysentery." So again for writing the word le having the sense of "hatred," they combine the same primitive ^|J with the radical bearing; the meaning; of "heart," the whole forming a new symbol Mi le, " hatred," of which the upper part gives the sound, and the lower influences the sense. And on the same principle, there are ten phonetic derivatives from the same primitive ^|] le, all having the same sound of le, but having dliFerent meanings according to the radical character with which le is combined. There are four or more different kinds of hand-writing, in which every character in the language may be written. The Chinese are great admirers of caligraphy, and place much value on a skilful handling of the pencil. Each symbol means a word, — Implies a single idea, — and is not susceptible of declension, of con- jugation, of gender, or of number, according to the Latin form. This gives the Chinese language a sort of (to us) childish character, capable however of great beauties of a peculiar kind. This language has two principal styles. The ancient and classic style, called koo-tven, which is terse and energetic; for in it one word means many things, since it may be taken for a noun, an adjective, a verb, or even a particle. And the modern style, called kwan-liwa, or " mandarin tongue," which is written and spoken with some provincial difference, by educated men, from one end of the Chinese empire to the other. This, unlike the koo-wen, is diffuse and rather lax. For instance : wei tlieen tsvng ming in MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. SPECIMEN OF CHINESE GEASS AVEITING, THE LOKD's PBAYEK, FROM ADELUNG's MITHEIDATES; EEVISED. [Class I. J^ tcl.hi j|^ kuai ^ jin 1^ mi vfe. hoe Y^ thsing j^ yc ^ sche fe kia A^ jin JB kifln ^11 stt ^ yfn <^ yeii 7^ thsin kiiln n sche %? mein ^ P tschi sb h^ thaing ^ kiQn ts^ns -^ schi w«3i ^ kifln ^ tliien ^ thi ^^ ming % '-g "g, wi'i ^ tscbi ^ schin ^ kiOn Ity tsclung >^ ling ^ Nb6 ^ tschi ^ kifln ^ tsii ^^ tsing "7 thiin ^ tsche jS kifln koo-toen, means that a clear intelligence belongs to heaven only. Those four words are explained in kwan-Juoa, by sixteen, thirty-eight, or even a greater number of words. We will notice some of the pecidiarities of the spoken language. The absence of an alphabet has deprived the Chinese of an important means of preserving a uniformity of spoken language througli every part of the empire. A native of China would be altogether unintelligible, speaking his local patois at a distance of 200 miles from his home ; and yet, like the Arabic figures of arithmetic in western countries, the written character is everywhere the same throughout the whole of China, though in reading and speaking the local pronunciation becomes in fact a separate language. Thus the symbols for tweiitif-tiuo, though written the same, are spoken by a native of Peking urh-shih-urh, by a native of Ningpo gne-a-gne, by a native of Canton e-shap-e; in the same way as "twenty-two" would convey the same idea but have a different sound in each language of Europe. The dialect of the capital, com- monly called the mandarin or court dialect, is used as the medium of intercourse between the govern- ment officers and the literati in all parts of the country, to obviate the inconvenience of the local dialects. The greatest difficulty in acquiring the spoken language consists in the fact already men- tioned, the monosyllabic nature of Chinese words ; which causes a complicated system of tones, and redundancy in the colloquial style. There are 450 mono.'iyllabic sounds of which the Chinese organs of speech are susceptible ; among those monosyllables, some are liable to the four principal accents ; others to three, two, or one accent only, whereby the number of syllables is brought to 1203. According to P. Premare, p. 36, the original monosyllables are 487, and the modified syllables, 1445 ; and these have to be divided among 44,449 written characters. But with all these contrivances of varied tone, a large number of ideas will be expressed by the same sound and the same tone. Xo difficulty is produced thereby in the written language, as each word is a different character, having a different visible form ; but great perplexity is frequently caused in speaking, and hence a redundant style is employed in conversation, which is altogether unnecessary, and is considered very inelegant in a written composition. A well-known Protestant Missionary, now labouring in China, has been heard to make a challenge that he could write a moral treatise in Chinese, of which each character would have only the sound of e, or ih, or yih. The impossibility of understanding the meaning of such a Class I.] CHINESE. 5 composition wlien read aloud to a person who lias not tlie writing itself before liim, will be apparent to every one, unless, in reading it aloud, an additional number of sounds are employed for each cha- racter to prevent confusion. Hence has arisen the practice of employing two or more monosyllabic sounds in speaking, where one would have been sufficient in writing. Thus the spoken language becomes in one sense no longer monosyllabic. This addition is made either by reduplication of the sound, by using two synonymous words, or by forming some other conventional compound. Thus, lor instance, the character for father and that for axe are both pro- nounced _/bo. In speaking they employ _/bo-/«i« (a father-relative), and/oo-tofo (an axe-head). When it is borne in mind that the Chinese aim at great brevity and conciseness in their written compositions, and that a breach of the rules of literary taste is a great offence in the estimate of Chinese scholars, it will easily be seen that it is impossible for a foreign student to place the Holy Scriptures before the minds of this civilised but benighted people in a style at once adapted to the taste of the educated, and suited to the understanding of all classes of the native population, without the assistance of learned natives. III. VERSIONS OF THE SACKED SCRIPTURES, IN CHINESE. It has been related, though upon disputed authority, that in the Chinese province of Shen-se, in 1625, a curious monument was discovered, bearing inscriptions relative to a translation of the Sacred Scriptures into Chinese, supposed to have been executed at a very remote period. It would appear that in A. D. 637, Olopen, a Christian missionary, arrived in China, and succeeded in obtaining an interview with tlie Emperor : the result, it is said, was highly favourable, for the Emperor commanded Fam-hiuen-lim, the prime minister, one of the most learned of Chinese scholars, to translate the sacred books brought by Olopen. But if this edict was ever issued or executed, it is certain that not one of the copies of the version thus produced is now in existence. A few portions of the Sacred Scriptures appear to have been translated at various times by the Romish missionaries in China, but no successful eiforts were made by them towards the produc- tion of an entire version. In 1806 a translation was commenced in Bengal under the superintendence of the Rev. David Brown, Provost of the College of Fort William ; he employed for tl\is purpose Joannes Lassar, who was an Armenian Christian, but a native of China; and in 1807 a copy of S. Matthew in Chinese, translated and beautifully written by Lassar, was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Lambeth Library. In 1808 the Rev. D. Brown transmitted to the Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society the first sheet of this translation that had passed through the Chinese press. It had been printed from wooden blocks, cut by chintz pattern makers; but early in 1811 metal types were used in printing the Scriptures at Serampore, and this mode of printing Chinese is now generally adopted by our missionaries, in preference to the native method of printing from wooden blocks. The preparation of the version, from about the year 1808, was taken up by the Serampore missionaries: Dr. Marshman and his son, in conjunction with Lassar, completed and printed it at Serampore in 1822, under the liberal patronage of tlie British and Foreign Bible Society. Each ■sheet of this version was subjected, by the indeflitigablc translators, to an almost incredible number of revisions, and the whole was diligently conferred with Griesbach's text. Another version was made by Dr. Morrison, who about the year 1807 was sent to China by the London Alissionary Society. Before his departure from England he had obtained some knowledge of the language, and in aid of his important undertaking he took with him the copy of a Chinese MS. belonging to the British Museum, and admirably executed by some unknown hand; it was apparently a translation from the Vulgate, and from the beauty of the style was judged to be the production of a native.' It was written by order of Mr. Hodgson, in 1737-8; he presented it, in 1739, to Sir Hans Sloane, through whom it came into the possession of the British Museum. It contained a condensed harmony of the Gospels, and likewise 1 Mr. Gallery (Systema Phon., p. 80) says that this version -veas written by the Jesuits, and incautiously made over to the Englisli by J. Marchini, superintendent of the College of the Propaganda, at IJome. 6 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L the Acts, and all tlie Epistles of St. Paul, with the exception of that to the Hebrews, of whicli the first chapter only had been translated; when death, or some other cause, arrested the hand of the translator. Dr. Morrison says, concerning this MS., that in translating the Now Testament, he, at the commence- ment, derived great assistance from the Epistles, but that afterwards they caused him much labour in verifying, and in effecting such alterations as his judgment suggested. In the translation of the Old Testament, Dr. Morrison made considerable use of Bishop Kewcome's version of the twelve minor prophets, and of Lowth's Isaiah; he also referred continually to the original Scriptures, the Septuagint, Vulgate and French Versions : he never appears, however, to make any remarkable departure from the sense of the Authorised English version. Dr. Morrison after labouring alone for some years in China was provided with a valuable coadjutor in Dr. Milne, who was sent to aid in the work of translation, by the London Missionary Society. The liistorical books of the Old Testament, and the book of Job, were translated by Dr. Milne, and he died while employed in their revisal. The entire version was completed in 1823. At tlie anniversary of the Bible Society in 1824, Dr. Morrison presented the sacred volume at the meeting, and Mr. Butterworth related the following incident : — " It is now many years ago, that in visiting the library of the British Museum, I frequently saw a young man who appeared to be deeply occupied in his studies ; the book he was reading was in a language and character totally unknown to me. I asked the young man what it was; he replied modestly. The Chinese, and said, I am trying to understand it, biit it is attended with singular difficulty; if the language be capable of being surmounted by human zeal and perseverance, I mean to make the experiment. Little did I think," continued Mr. Butter- worth, " that I then beheld the germ, as it were, of that great undertaking, the translation of the Sacred Scriptures into the Chinese language." The production of this most important version, and of the numerous successive editions through which it has passed, is mainly if not entirely due, ruider Pro- vidence, to the generous aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who, from first to last, advanced more than ten thousand pounds in furtherance of the translation and circulation of the Cliinese Scriptures. About the year 1836, a revised edition of the New Testament was produced by the joint labours of Messrs. Medhurst, Gutzlaff! Bridsman, and J. R. Morrison. But this work, although in idiomatic correctness a great improvement on preceding versions, was considered by competent authorities as loose and paraphrastic, and the work of translation was felt to be still incomplete. In 1843, the Protestant missionaries in China assembled in Hong-kong, and recorded their wish for a new version of the Scriptures in the Chinese language, better adapted for general circulation than any hitherto published. They recommended that the task of preparing such a version should be confided to a body of Delegates, and this proposal met with the fullest sanction and support at the hands of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The labours undertaken by the Delegates were commenced in 1847 ; the version of the New Testament was completed in 1850, and that of the Old Testament five years later. The "Delegates' Version" (as this edition of the Scriptures in China is generally called) is that now adopted by the Protestant missions, and an edition of 50,000 has been printed at Shang-hae and Hong-kong, under the sanction of the British and Foreign Bible Society. IV. — INCREASED OPENINGS FOR THE DIFFUSION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. By the terms of the treaty of Nanking, concluded on the termination of the war between Great Britain and China in 1842, increased facility was gained for the work of Christian missionai'ies. IMissionary labourers were allowed to reside in five important and populous cities, spread over 1000 miles of coast, to which natives from the remote provinces of the empire continually resort. At each of those cities, except the city of Canton, to which foreign intercourse had been formerly limited, and where a strong anti-European feeling had been excited by the insolent intolerance of the old system, the missionaries made visits of twenty or thirty miles into the surrounding country, and Pkte I •^ -2 V- To H O It' Is/ 1 f^ 1^ j2 t^ fei S TZ . K) 1^ re' V rr o 1^ ■^ - K/ K/e tr'*;L3 en S It K> !9 gi o r to 40 ^ 10 /W 1*5 4 fc7. 00 10 i 1^ re IS •a- 19 30 B V K> 30 30 tr 1^ o Ofi- s 3 <5^ o h onJkD g 8 g ^ §;§ §1 Q p CD (p 8 (T 8 G' 8 8 <<3 ^ Q O °» O CJ»- Q OJCQ " ■ 8> '?" "'^'¥' o c^ S b 0=* ,-- n o n (-0 = 8^ a, g^ 8 ^ o 8 "8 <% r s 9? o o 3k o ^"14 ,- 5^ s 8 ^^e" ^ & °G^ 8 ?, o '^ '^ 8 r;^^ 8 3 dv^ 8 ^ ^ Q S C03 ^ ^ 8 3 a 2.^"' ^ o a^c5) c^g^og- 3 o 3 *-0 CO 8 C®^ 8 °g 8 CO %) ay 2 ^3 00 o p ^80 o 8 8 -o ^^^ O Ci C5^ 8 R 3 8 o 3 to o o <-o 8 8 ^ 3 3K o 8 OCT Ci/s- 8^ = ? o ?^°3 8 8 -> cv Cr>. (P Cs Class I.] CHINESE. 7 experienced a friendly reception from all classes of the native population. Tliese openings for the introduction of Christian truth have been greatly extended by the course of subsequent events, in con- nection with the war which terminated in 1858. The treaty of Tien-tsin, concluded in that year be- tween China and the allied powers of Great Britain and France, provided for the opening of several additional ports, as well as for free intercourse with the interior on the part of English and French settlers, — missionary or otherwise. Notwithstanding the partial impediments which have arisen from the more recent renewal of hostilities, the openings thus made have not been neglected, and there is reason to expect the happiest results from the concessions which have been extorted from the govern- ment of China. Further insight into the customs and character of the people has proved that there is very little religious bigotry among the Cliinese; that there is nothing like the system of Hindoo caste known in their civil institutions ; and that their idolatrous priests do not (like the Hindoo Brahmins) exercise any influence on society, or possess any respect in the minds of the people. The state religion of Confucius is more a system of political ethics than of religious morals. The religion of the people is generally the more modern religion of Buddhism. In other words, a speculative atheism appears to be the belief of the sage, the statesman, and the scholar : idolatry, stripped indeed of Hindoo obscenity and blood, is the system received by the uneducated classes. Irreligious apathy, with godless indifference to every thing concerning a future life, appears to be the main characteristic of this people, and the principal obstacle to the success of Christian missions. Education is, however, greatly encouraged and patronised by the government, as the usual road to the honours and emoluments of the state. Books are everywhere in great requisition. The Holy Scrip- tures are in all parts received with avidity; and a desire of knowledge, and a spirit of curiosity and inquiry, are extensively prevalent among the people. Except the worship of the spirits of ancestors, there is no form of superstition universally and strongly enthroned in the aflections of learned and unlearned. In spite of renewed hostilities with the Chinese government, and of the general apathy of the population at large, there are yet many indications which lead to the belief that with the in- crease of labourers, the increased dilRision of the Holy Scriptures, and more earnest prayer for the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the work, we shall in due time see Christian churches raised in China, and the gospel producing its blessed results among this benighted though highly civilised race of man- kind. The names of Leang Afa, and of other Chinese converts, are first-fruits (it is to be hoped) of an impending harvest of more extensive missionary success in the empire of China. Instances of decided converts, and promising inquirers, are mentioned in the latest Keport (I860} of the British and Foreign Bible Society. BURMESE, INCLUDING ITS COGNATE DIALECT ARAKANESE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE BURMESE VEESION, by De. JUDSON, see Plate 1, page 7. I. EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Burman (called by the natives, mranma, myanmd, or byatnmd) Empire lies south of Assam, from which it is separated by the little kingdom of Munipoor, and extends over more than one-fourth of the Eastern Peninsula of India. Although the boundaries are not very clearly defined, and have been materially contracted to the southward by the late war between Great Britain and Burmah, terminated in 1853, which resulted in the cession to Britain of the extensive maritime province of Pegu, it is supposed even now to comprise an extent of territory which is greater than the area of the British Isles. According to recent information, the total amount of population in Burmah and Ava 8 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L amounts to about 3,000,000, but tbis number appears to comprise no fewer tban cigbteen different tribes and nations. Tbc Burmans constitute tbe bulk of tbe population in tbc British provinces of Martaban, Ye, Tavoy, and Jlergui or Tenasscrim, wbicb include an area of 32,500 square miles, and a population of 118,000 persons. Throughout these provinces Burmese is the language of the court, of official proceedings, and of general conversation. II. — CHAKACTEIUSTICS OF THK LANGUAGE. The tyrannical nature of the government, and the degraded servile character of the people, are legible in the structure of the Burmese language. Although this language, like the Chinese, is totally destitute of inflection, yet, by means of suffixes and affixes, not only are the relations of case, of mood, tense, etc., determined, but even the rank both of the speaker and of the hearer is indicated. A distinct set of words is used in reference to the common acts of life, when performed by the great or by priests. Thus the term expressive of eating, when the action is performed by ordinary individuals, is tsah ; but if a priest is said to be eating, the term is pong-bay. Again, the word in common language for boiled rice is ta-men ; but a priest's boiled rice must be distinguished as soone. These distinctions add precision to the language, but greatly augment the difficulties of its acquirement. It has been conjectured that the Burmese was originally a dialect of the Chinese family of languages, and that it was moulded into its present form by admixture with the Pali, which, with the worship of Boodh, was introduced into the Indo-Chinese countries from Hindoostan, by the circuitous route of Ceylon. The Chinese origin of many of the Burmese words is still apparent; and of the four peculiar tones pertain- ing to the Chinese, two are in use among the Burmans. Nearly all the abstract and metaphysical terms of the Burmese language are, however, derived immediately from the Pali, and in Dr. Judson's Dictionary, it is said, the number of Pali words amounts nearly to four thousand. All pure Burmese words are monosyllabic, and even the polysyllabic terms engrafted on the language from the Pali, are, in general, subjected to certain orthographical changes, and pronounced as if each syllable were a dis- tinct word ; this circumstance, together with the frequent recurrence of guttural, sibilant, and nasal sounds, renders the language monotonous and unmusical to the ear of a stranger. Words closely allied in signification (as an adjective and the noun it qualifies) are, however, united in writing so as to form one word, and sometimes six or eight words are thus strung together, forming words of such formid- able length as to renund us of the polysyntlietic dialects of America. As many words have two, three, or even ten significations with the same orthography, this manner of connecting words is of important service in removing ambiguity. Numerals are generally combined with a word descriptive of the form, or some other quality of the noun to which they belong, and in that state they are joined to the noun, and constitute one word. In tliis peculiarity the Burmese language resembles tlie Siamese and Chinese languages.' The Burmans, like the Germans, delight in long and highly involved periods: in a simple phrase the agent is generally put first, then the object, and lastly the verb ; and as compared with the English idiom, the words of a Burmese composition may be said to stand directly in an inverted order. " The character of the language," says Dr. Leyden, " has a very considerable effect on the style of the compositions which it contains. Repetitions of the same turn and expression are rather afiocted than shunned, and a kind of native strength and simplicity of phrase, with short sentences full of meaning, are the greatest beauties of which the language admits." Although the Burmese language can boast of numerous literary productions, it was comparatively little known to Europeans until the establishment of the Baptist Mission at Rangoon. It numbers many dialects : some say, as many as eighteen. The Burmese Alphabet is derived from the Sanscrit, through the Pali, the sacred language of the empire. It consists of twelve vowels and thirty-two consonants. In point of form, it surpasses all the alphabets of Western Asia in simplicity ; almost all the letters being citlier a circle or a portion of it, or a combination of two or more circles, called for that reason, tza-lonh, or "round writing." Although Class I.] BURMESE. 9 the sounds in some cases are different, the same system of classification prevails as in the alphabets of Hindoostan. The first twenty-five consonants are distributed into five classes, viz., the gutturals, the palatals, the cerebrals, the dentals, and the labials. The first letter of each class is a simple articulation, smooth and soft, the second is the aspirate of the first ; the third letter has a corresponding rough and hard sound, and the fourth, according to the Sanscrit system, is the aspirate of the third, but the Burmese do not distinguish it in sound from the third : the fifth letter is the corresponding nasal. Of the consonants, not included in the above classes, five are called liquids, one is termed an aspirate, and anotlicr though pronounced th, is properly a sibilant. Vowels, when they enter into combination with consonants, are represented, as in the Indian languages, by certain abbreviated forms, called sijmhols, placed before or after, above or below, the consonant. Four of the consonants also combine under symbolic forms vrith other consonants, and thus the compound consonants are formed. The accents offer a great impediment to the acquisition of the language, as words which are the same in ortho- graphy, vary greatly in signification according to the accent they receive. The light accent is denoted by the sign (°) placed under the letter; the heavy accent by (°) placed after the letter. On the other liaud, a great number of words are pronounced very differently from the way they are spelled; and the pronunciation of the language, even by educated natives, is generally indistinct. Two small parallel lines ( II ) are used to separate sentences, and sometimes the clauses of sentences. III. — VERSIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. Three MS. translations of small portions of Scripture were made by Koman Catholic missionaries before the establishment of a Protestant mission in this empire ; but the first attempt to procure a complete version in this language was made by the Baptist missionaries of Serampore. About the year 1807 Felix Carey, the son of Dr. Carey, settled in Burmah as a missionary ; he applied very diligently to the study of the language, and in conjunction with Mr. Chater, who resided for a short time in the country, he produced a translation of two or tliree Gospels. In this work great aid was derived from a book of Scripture extracts, afterwards printed at Serampore, containing accounts of the Creation, the Fall, the history of Our Lord, and the main doctrines of Christianity ; the MS. was written in Burmese by an Italian missionary then residing at Ava ; he had studied Burmese and held daily intercourse with the natives for twenty-five years, and yet he declared that he still continued to find something new and complicated in the language. In 1815, 2000 copies of the Gospel of S. Mat- thew, by Messrs. Chater and Carey, were printed at Serampore; but this is a very imperfect translation, and is said to be quite unintelligible to the Burmans. Mr. Carey had studied medicine in Calcutta, and he introduced vaccination in Burmah; this led to an interruption of his labours as a translator, for in 1813 he received a summons to the court of Ava, to vaccinate the royal family. Not having suf- ficient virus in his possession, he was sent with almost regal honours to Bengal to procure a further supply. On his return in 1814, when proceeding from Rangoon with his family to Ava, the royal residence, he was shipwrecked, and his wife and children all perished. Yet shortly after, leaving his missionary work, he accepted the office of ambassador from the Court of Ava to the Bengal govern- ment. The translation upon which he was engaged was transferred to the Eev. Dr. Adoniram Judson, who had a short time previously arrived in Burmah under the auspices of the American Baptist Board. Dr. Judson recommenced the version, and in 1816 was joined by Mr. Hough, with whose aid, and the present of a press and types from Serampore, the Gospel of S. Matthew was printed at Rangoon in 1817, as introductory to the entire New Testament. In 1821, Dr. Judson gives the following account of his progress in the translation, which he appears to have made immediately from the Sacred original. " I have engaged Moung Sheva Gnong (a convert) to assist me in revising the Acts, but he is so par- ticular and thorough that we get on very slowly, not more that ten verses a day, though he is with me from nine in the morning till sunset." During the first Burmese war, in 1825, IMr. Hough repaired to Serampore with various books of Scripture revised and prepared for the press; and under his super- intendence 21,500 copies of different portions of the New Testament were there printed. Never, in 10 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L modern times, have Christian missionaries been subjected to such bitter sufferings and privations as those which have been endured for the sake of the Gospel of Christ in Ava. The bonds, and imprison- ments, and sufferings of Mr. Hough and Jlr. Wade at Rangoon, and of Dr. Judson and Dr. Price at Ava, at tlie close of the war above referred to, are fresh in the recollection of Christians. These events greatly retarded the work of translation. More than once the mission was entirely suspended ; but eventually all turned out for the furtherance of the Gospd, inasmuch as many territories by this war were placed under British protection. The second and later struggle between Great Britain and the Burmese power has resulted in political arrangements still more important in reference to the progress of missionary labour in this large portion of the Asiatic continent ; the province of Pegu having, in 1853, been annexed to the territories of British India. The first complete version of the Burmese New Testament was issued from the press in December, 1832. The edition consisted of 3000 copies, and was printed under the patronage of the American and Foreign Bible Society. In 1834, Dr. Judson completed the translation of the Old Testament, which has since been published by him in handsome quarto. (Second edition of 5000 in 1840.) On this subject he has the following touching entry in his journal : " Jan. 31, 1834. — Thanks be to God ! I can now say ' I have attained.' I have knelt down before him, with tlie last leaf in my hand ; and imploring His forgiveness for all my sins that have polluted my labours in this department, and His aid in future efforts to remove the errors and imperfections, which necessarily cleave to the work, I have commended it to His mercy and grace: I have dedicated it to His glory. May He make His own inspired word, now complete in the Burman tongue, the grand instrument of filling all Burmab with songs of praises to our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ." In 1837, a second and much improved edition of 10,000 copies of the New Testament was printed by the American Baptist mis- sionaries, established at Maulmein. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS VERSION. The fruits of the Eangoon translation were not first manifested in Burmah itself, nor even among the Burmans; the Gospel, it has been well remarked, is like a spring of water; if it cannot find a pas- sage in one direction, it forces its way in another. At the very time that no perceptible effect seemed to result from the reading of the Burmese Scriptures in the special country for which the translation was made, this version was especially blessed in a tract of country bordering upon Chittagong, in- liabited by the Mughs, a people of Aracan, who at the close of the last century had for political causes migrated from their own country, and placed themselves under British protection. Their language, which is sometimes called the Ruhheng, varies only from Burmese in pronunciation, and a few pro- vincial forms; and is in fact merely the oldest dialect of the Burmese language. In 1815, De Bruyn, a devoted missionary, commenced the distribution of portions of the sacred volume among them; and shortly after his death it was found that there were no less than ninety baptized Mughs united in church fellowship. For three years they had no minister or missionary resident among tliem ; yet during all this period, the perusal of the Scriptures being duly persevered in, they were enabled to maintain the worship of God, and to edify one another; and those brethren from distant stations who occasionally visited them, bore testimony of their faith and good works. The American Baptists have since written portions of the New Testament in the Arakanese, or proper dialect of this interesting people; but the Burmese Scriptures are likewise fully intelligible, and much prized among them. We have an account of the first convert in Burmah from the pen of I\Irs. Judson. She says, — " A few days ago I was reading with him (the first Burman convert) Christ's sermon on the ]\lount. He was deeply impressed. ' These words,' said he, ' take hold on my very heart, they make me tremble. Here God commands us to do every thing that is good in secret, not to be seen of men. How unlike our religion is this 1 When Burmans make offerings at the pagodas they make a great noise with drums and musical instruments, tliat others may see how good they arc ; but this religion makes the mind fear God; it makes it of its own accord fear sin.'" Although Burmah at one time Class I.] BURMESE. 11 presented to Dr. Judson and tlie first missionaries a continued scene of discouragement, yet it after- wards became an example of the ease with which God can arrest the attention of a whole people to the Scriptures. Writing in 1831, Dr. Judson said, that one of the most remarkable features of the mission was the surprising spirit of inquiry then spreading everywhere, through the whole length and breadth of the land : he stated that during a great national festival held that year, no less than six thousand applicants came to the mission-house. " Sir," said they, " we hear that there is an eternal hell. AVe are afraid of it. Give us a writing that will tell us how to escape it." Others came from the frontier of Cassay, a hundred miles north of Ava. — " Sir! we have seen a writing which tells about an eternal God. Are you the man who gives away such writings? If so, pray give us one, for we want to know the truth before we die." Others came from the interior of the country, where the name of Jesus is a little known. — " Are you Jesus Christ's man? Give us a writing that tells about Jesus Christ." Dr. Judson's subsequent account of the chai'acter of the Burnians is equally hopeful. They are, lie says, a careful, deliberative people, who turn a thing many times over before they take it. They are not disposed to give much credit to the words of a missionary, but when a tract is put into their hands, they wraji it up carefidly, deposit it in a fold of the waistcloth or turban, carry it home to their village, and, when a leisure evening occurs, the family lamp is produced, the man, his wife and rela- tions gather round, and the contents of the new writing receive a full discussion. Instances have not been wanting of the blessing of God having followed this careful study of His word. Jlr. Kincaid relates that during a journey through Burmah, a youth who had previously applied for books came to him, and besought him, before he quitted the city, to visit an old man who was anxious to see the teacher. Jlr. Kincaid followed tlie lad home, and was surprised to find in tlie object of his visit an old man full of faith and hope in Christ, though he had had no other teacher than St. John's Gospel and a tract, called The View, accompanied by the Holy Spirit. He said that he had loved Christ for about two years; and his language, llr. Kincaid relates, was that of a man acquainted with his own heart. Narrating a voyage up the Irawaddy, from Rangoon to Ava, this missionary describes the people as most eager to hear and to get books. One man said that he had got a book in Rangoon that told him about the Eternal God who made all things, and about Christ who died to open a way for the forgive- ness of sins. He said the more he thought of tliis, the more sure he felt that it was true. Many such instances convincingly show that a wide field is opened in Burmah for the diffusion of truth, and in a printed form. To account for such large issues of the Scriptures as have taken place in Burmah, it should be stated that the Burmans are generally able to read, and a smattering of education is more common among them, perhaps, than any other people of the East. A Burmese and English J)ic- tionary, in 8vo., by A. Judson, was issued at Maulmein, in 1826; and a second edition in 1852. PEGUESE, PEGUAN, MON, TALAIN, OR TALING. SEE SPECIMEN OF BUEMESE, Plate 1, page 7. The Peguese language is still spoken in Pegu, a country which formerly included all the sea-coast and the mouths of the rivers of the Burman empire, but the Burmese portion of which, comprising by far tlie greater part of its extent, has now (as mentioned in a preceding page) become a province of the British-Indian empire ; it comprises an area of 22,640 square miles, with a population of 70,000. Great numbers of the agriculturists in Siam are Peguans. Pegu was formerly a great and powerful state, and governed by its own monarchs, but in a contest with Burmah and Siam it fell, and the Peguans were for a time the slaves of both empires. The Peguese language is supposed to be more 12 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class I. ancient than the Burmese: it abounds in gutturals, and is simple in construction. The alphabet is the same as the Burmese, except two additional consonants. During tlicir possession of the country, the Burmans did their utmost to extirpate the language, and to render their own predominant, but without success. A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and of St. Jolm's Epistles has been made into Peguese from the Burmese by Ko-man-poke, a learned native, but no copy of this version appears to have reached Europe. A translation of the whole New Testament, by Jlr. Haswell, was printed at Maulmein in 18-47. The edition consisted of 3000 copies. SIAMESE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE SIAMESE VERSION, see Plate U, page 3.37. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The kingdom of Siam embraces a large portion of tlie peninsula of India beyond the Ganges. It lies between the empire of Anam to the eastward, and the British provinces of Pegu and Tenasserim, Avhich form its western border. On the south, it includes the shores of the Gulf of Siam ; to the north- ward, it is limited by the territory of the semi-independent Laos or Shan tribes, situated in tlie heart of the peninsula. The area of Siam proper is estimated by Crawfurd at 190,000 square miles. The estimates of the population have varied between three and seven mdlions. Sir John Bowring is disposed to consider the real population of Siam proper as amounting to from four and a half to five millions. The Siamese themselves are probably fewer than 2,000,000 of the number. A large pro- portion— probably not less than a third of the whole — are Chinese. Siam may, with its dependencies, be considered as occupied by a dominant race, or T'hai ; a vast but for the most part migratory Chinese population, the Laos people, the Cambodians in such parts of Cambodia as recognise the Siamese authority, the Peguans in a part of the Mon or Pegu territory, numerous Malayan tribes, with a variety of mountain races in a state of greater or less subjection to tlie government of Bang-kok. II. — CHAEACTEEISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The language of the Siamese was formerly called Sa-yama phasa, the " Sa-yam language." But since the reign of Ruang, who set his country free from the yoke of Cambodja, the Siamese call them- selvts T'hai, "free"; and their language phasa-Thay, or Tai, " the tongue of free-men." The native Siamese language possesses considerable affinity with some of the provincial dialects of China, more espe- cially the Mandarin or Court dialect, from which many of its radical words and numerals are obviously borrowed. But the language, as it is spoken by educated people, contains many words of Pali origin; and is divided into three principal styles of writing and speaking. Several fundamental terms, belong- ing to the Malay, are also found in Siamese, which has for this reason been regarded as the connecting link between the Chinese and Malay languages. The delicate intonations of tlie Chinese exist in Siamese, and it is more strongly accented than any other Indo-Chinese language. The political institutions of Siam, in point of despotism and tyranny, are akin to those of Burmah, and have had great efifect in moulding the language and the literature. The rank of the speaker may in Siamese, as in Burmese, be inferred from the pronouns he uses; and phrases expressive of adulation and flattery are very numerous and varied. The words wliich hold the office of pronouns are hence particularly numerous, and attention to the rules for their distinctive use is so rigidly exacted from all classes, that the misapplication of a single pronominal is considered indecorous and disrespectful. The alphabet, though formed on the model of tlie Pali and Devanagari characters, possesses several original elements, whence it has been conjectured that an ancient style of writing was known in Siam prior to the introduction of Buddhism and the Pali language in the fourth century. There are thirty-five consonants and the vocalic a ; this latter is often placed in a \\ ord as a sort of Class I.J SIAMESE. 13 pivot on which tlie vowel pointe arc arranged, forming, as it were, the body of each of the simple vowels. There are si.xtecn simple vowels or finals, besides twenty-nine distinct and complex final vowel combinations. The nasals are quite as diversified as the Chinese ; the letters b, d, r, which are rejected by the Chinese, are adopted in this language, but on the other hand, the letters ts, sh, tch, fh, hh, which belong to Chinese, do not exist in Siamese. Words are not generally divided in writing, and a small blank supplies the place of our colon and semicolon. Siamese differs from most of the Eastern languages, in admitting but little inversion of the natural order in the construction of sentences; the words follow each other much in the same way as in English; for instance, the nomina- tive almost invariably precedes the verb, and verbs and prepositions precede the cases which they govern. No orthographical changes whatever mark the variations of number, case, or person, but prefi.xes and affixes are in constant use. The language has been represented as copious; "yet," says Crawfurd, "it rather possesses that species of redundancy which belongs to the dialects of many semi- barbarous nations, and which shows a long but not a useful cultivation." III. — SIAMESE VERSIONS OF SCKIPTURE. In 1810, the design of providing Siam with a version of the four Gospels was entertained by the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, and Dr. Leyden undertook to superintend the translation ; but he died before this important project had been carried into execution. Perhaps the first attempt at trans- lating the Scriptures into Siamese was made by Mrs. Judson, of the American Baptist Mission, who with the aid of her Burman pundit produced a version of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Owing, however, to the death of that lamented lady, a stop was put to further translation till 1828, when Messrs. Gutzlaff and Tomlin visited Siam in the capacity of missionaries and physicians, and applied sedulously to the study of the language with a view to the translation of the Scriptures; after a residence of nine months, Mr. Tomlin was compelled by ill health to relinquish the undertaking, and Mr. Gutzlaff prosecuted his important labours alone. Part of the MS. translation of the New Testament was forwarded to Malacca as early as 1829; but the missionaries connected with the Malacca press proceeded with the utmost caution, and made a practice of printing no portion of the version until they had ascertained, by actual experiment, that it could be read and clearly understood by natives of every capacity, from those of the first literary rank to the commonest readers. Mr. Gutzlaff, being remarkably favoured with the best native assistance, subjected the translation to several revisions; and after labouring night and day for a long period, he in 1833 sent a revised copy of the New Testament to Singapore. The work of revision was continued by ]\Ir. Jones, one of the Baptist missionaries in Burmah, who from his having previously studied the cognate language of the Shans, was well qualified for the task; he was sent to Bankok (the capital of Siam) at the instance of Jlessrs. Gutzlaff and Tomlin in 1834. Mr. Robinson, anotlier missionary at Bankok, also engaged in the work, and in 1841 produced a translation of Genesis and Daniel, and a new or amended version of several books of the New Testament. The publication was aided by a grant in 1843 from the American Baptist Bible Society. In 1846, Mr. Jones completed the translation and publication of the entire New Testament in Siamese. 2nd edition 1000 copies, Bankok, 1850. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Siam affords comparatively few instances of conversion following the perusal of the Word, yet in no country perhaps has the intervention of Providence been more manifested in opening a wide door for the general distribution of the Scriptures. The American Board of Missions and the American Baptists have missionaries in Siam, by whom the Scriptures are circulated among the people without let or liinderance from king, nobiUty, or priesthood. The priests have even frequently sent to the missionaries requesting to be supplied with copies of the holy volume, and have on some occasions expressed a degree of dissatisfaction with their own religion, and an apparently sincere desire to examine the tenets of Christianity. In fact, one of the missionaries stated, in 1842, that no class of people arc 14 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L more importunate in begging for books tlian the priests, and this too in pubhc, and on all occasions. This dissemination of Scripture has had the effect in Siam of considerably narrowing the original ground of controversy. The Siamese now declare, that were they but fully satisfied as to tlie existence of a future state, they would gladly embrace Christianity as the only system which provides for the forgiveness of sins; for they have been brought to acknowledge the sinfulness of their own nature and practices, and they clearly perceive that Buddhism, which is in fact j^ractical atheism, offers no means or hope of pardon. The first appearance of the missionaries in Siam spread a general panic among the people, for it was well known by the predictions of the Pall books, that a certain religion of the ^Vest should vanquish Buddhism; but upon the breaking out of the war between Burmah and Siam, the English remaining neutral, the people were reassured, and many instances occurred in which deep Interest was expressed in the perusal of the Scriptures. There are, however, peculiar Impediments to missionary labours in Siam, arising partly from the character of the people, which is so fickle that an opinion they may embrace to-day they will be ready to reject to-morrow, and partly from the regularly organized S3'stem by which idolatry is supported: the pagodas are the schools of learning in which the youth of the empire are trained; every educated Siamese, from the emperor down to the lowest of his subjects, is compelled at some period or other of his life to enter the priesthood, and " he who refuses to become a priest, must remain ignorant." It has been ascertained that the great majority of Siamese, male and female, are able to read; and even in Siam instances have unexpectedly been brought to light of the Divine blessing having accompanied the private study of Scripture. On one occasion, for instance, a missionary was called to the bedside of a sick man, whom he had never before seen. After applying the remedies for the disease suggested by his medical skill, the missionary began to discourse on the glad tidings of the Gospel, The sick man Immediately interrupted him, and said with much earnestness and seriousness, that he himself knew Ayso (Jesus), and worshipped him every day. Surprised and delighted, the missionary asked for an explanation, and was informed that a brother of the sick man had read in his hearing portions of Scripture and tracts distributed by the missionaries, and that the precious seed thus sown by the way-side had been blessed by God. COGNATE DIALECTS. It is worthy of observation, that Siamese is properly speaking only one dialect of the ancient and widely extended language called T'hai; the other dialects are the Laos, Khamti (almost identical with the ancient Ahom), and Shyan. Little has been done In these three dialects towards the translation of Scrip- ture. The Laos people are described by Dr. Bradley as being in a peculiar sense ripe for the Gospel harvest. Several applied to him for books written with their own characters; they said they could read Siamese books stammeringly, but their own with ease. A Laos man pleaded with Dr. Bradley not to forget him and his people, but to furnish them speedily with a version of the holy books in their own di.ilect. Although the Laos has been described by most travellers as a totally distinct dialect from the Siamese, yet such is the similarity between the two dialects that Captain Low states from his own experience, that It is easy for a person who understands the Siamese tongue, to travel safely (in so far as language is concerned) throughout North Laos. The Laos dialect has, however, an alphabet exclusively appropriated to it, which Is more allied to the Peguese or ilon than to the Siamese alphabet. Class I.] KAREN. 15 C A M B 0 J A N. The Cambojan language is spoken in Cambodia, once an independent and powerful state, but now divided between Siam and tbe empire of Anam. The language differs materially from the Siamese, being more harsh, but at the same time more copious. Gutzlaff commenced a version of the New Testament in Cambojan, but it would appear that he afterwards discontinued it. Throughout the other provinces of the empire of Anam, a monosyllabic language denominated the Anamite or Anamitic is spoken, in which, however, no translation of the Scriptures exists, but only a Grammar and Dictionary, by the Bishop Taberd, printed at Serampore in 1838. KAREN, KARAYN OR KAEIENG. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE KAREN VERSIONS, see Plate 10, page 115. I. — -EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Karecns, Karcncs, or Careians, are a wild and simple people, scattered over all parts of the Bur- man territories, and of the British provinces of Tenasserim : they are also found in the Western portions of Siam, and northward among the Shyans. Their residences are in the jungles and among the moun- tains, and are most numerous on the mountains which separate Burmah from Siam. The number of these people, owing to their nomadic habits and wide dispersion, is difficult to be ascertained, but it has been estimated at about 33,000. II. — CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Karen language possesses several original elements, and in many respects varies in genius and structure from the Burmese, Siamese, and Peguese languages, though it freely borrows words from each. Its alphabet consists of twenty-four consonants, and eleven vowels. It has five tones, some of which appear different from those of any other monosyllabic tongue. The Karen language is remark- ably harmonious, and well adapted for poetry: a final consonant never occurs, but every word terminates with a vowel sound. Till a comparatively recent period, however, Karen was totally unknown to Europeans. About 1835, two missionaries of the American Baptist Missionary Society, Messrs. Wade and JIason, acquired the language, and for the first time reduced it to writing. For this purpose they employed the Burmese alphabet, with a few additional characters to express the peculiar sounds of the language. The system of teaching reading, adopted by Mr. Wade, is so admirably conceived, that a person ignorant of a single letter can be taught to read a Karen book with ease in a few weeks. Mr. Mason afiirms that the alphabetical powers of the Karen alphabet are of Arabic or Hebrew origin. This fact, together with the personal appearance and physical peculiarities of tliis singular people, and a scries of very remarkable traditions current from time immemorial among them, has led him to form the idea of their being descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. III. VERSIONS OF THE SOKIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The missionaries were induced to undertake a version of the New Testament in Jvaren by the earnest and repeated entreaties of the people themselves for books. As early as 1828, Mr. Boardman, of the American Baptist Society, was visited frequently at Tavoy, one of the missionary stations, by great numbers of the Karens, and had ample opportunities of preaching the Gospel to them. Among 16 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class I. the most Interesting of his visitors was a native chief, who appeared particularly anxious for instruction in the way of righteousness. " Give us books," he said, " give us books in our own native language! then all the Karens will learn to read. We want to know the true God. We have been lying in total darkness — the Karen's mind is like his native jungle." The translation of the entire New Testa- ment into Karen was accordingly accomplished by Messrs. Wade and Mason ; yet during several years, for want of adequate pecuniary means, no attempt was made at printing, but each book as soon as completed was copied and circulated in MS. In 1842, the American and Foreign Bible Society granted £625 towards the printing of the New Testament, and an edition soon after issued from the press at Tavoy, under the superintendance of Mr. Bennett. Mr. ]\Iason has since translated the Psalms into Karen, including both the Sgau and Sho dialects of that language. Of the New Testament in Sgau Karen the American Mission Press at Maulmein issued 4000 (2nd edition 8vo.) in 1850. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. This version of Scripture appears to have been attended in a remarkable degree with the Divine blessing from the very first period of its execution. The Karens were in a manner prepared to welcome Christianity, not only by their religious tenets, which formed a noble contrast to Buddhism, but by a singular prediction of their ancient seers, which caused them to look for relief from Burman oppression to " the white foreigners." In 1839, when the Karens had no books, few living teachers, and only a MS. copy of St. Matthew, they were gathered together in considerable numbers from all parts by the sound of the Gospel; and settling down in a district about two days' journey from Tavoy, they formed a Christian village, the heads of every family being members of the church. Civilization followed Christianity. Cleanliness (by no means a native Karen virtue) was substituted for their former depraved habits, and various industrial arts were learnt and steadily pursued. The power of the Scriptures upon these simple and unlettered people is shown by various anecdotes related by the missionaries. " Once Mrs. Wade had occasion to read the chapter in St. Matthew about visiting Christ (as represented in his disciples) when sick or in prison. They immediately perceived how regardless they had been of persons in sickness and sorrow, and began thenceforward to perform services for the sick, which they had never thought of before. A poor widow suffering under a leprous disease, who had a young child similarly afflicted, was visited by many the next day. They performed various repulsive offices for her and the child, brought water, cleaned the house, gave them rice and other articles; and so enriched and comforted the poor creature that she was bewildered with delight. These attentions they continued constantly. Another person, bedridden with loathsome sores, was attended to in the same way. Since that time no one has been suffered to want any thing which the rest enjoy; and their acts of kindness are done with studied concealment." MUNIPOORA. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. MuNlPOORA is the language of IMunipoor, a small independent kingdom, which lies south of Assam. Great confusion has arisen from the various names given to this country; the Burmans call it Kathe, and the Shyans Cassai/, and geographers have distinguished it sometimes by one and sometimes by another name. It is 125 miles in length by 90 in breadth, lying between the parallels of 23° and 26°, and between the meridians of 93° and 95° East. The central part of the country consists of a rich and fertile valley, including an area of 650 square miles ; the remainder of the territory is occupied by an encircling Class I.] M UNI P 0 O R A.— KH A S S EE. 17 zone of mountains and hills, inhabited by various tribes subject to Munipoor. The amount of population is probably about 70,000: Pcmberton, however, estimates it at only 20,000. Brahminism was imposed on the people little more than half a century ago, by command of the rajah; but it is by no means firmly rooted. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. It appears from their language and physical peculiarities, that the Muniporeans are the descendants of some ]\Iongol or Chinese colony. Like most monosyllabic languages, Munipoora is inartificial in structure, and uninflected. It has a close affinity with Khassee. III. — VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. Aversion of the New Testament was undertaken by Dr. Carey in 1814: he procured some learned natives from Jlunipoor, and superintended their labours. This translation was completed, and an edition of 1000 copies printed in the Bengalee character in 1824, at Serampore: it was aided indirectly by the British and Foreign Bible Society. , IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Little is known concerning the effect produced on the Muniporeans by the perusal of the Scrip- tures, for they have as yet no missionary among them. KHASSEE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VERSION IN THE BENGAXEE CHAEACTEE, see Plate 1, page 7. SPECIMEN IN EOMAN LETTEES, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. d. 1 to 12. ^ Haba 11 ioh ill ia ki paitbali, u la kiu sha u liina ; haba u la shong ruh, ki la wan ha u ki synran jong u : "^ u la ang ruh ia la ka shintur, u la hikai ruh ia ki, u da ong, ^ Suk ki ba duk ha ka mynsiim ; na ba jong ki long ka hima ka byneng. ^ Suk ki ba sngousi ; na ba yn pyntyngen ia ki. " Suk ki ba jemniit ; na ba kin ioh ia ka kyndeu. •^ Suk ki ba tyngan bad ba sliang ia ka hok ; naba yn pyndap ia ki. "^ Suk ki ba isnei ; na ba yn isnei ia ki. * Suk ki bakiiid ha ca donut ; na ba kin ioh ih ia U Blei. ^ Suk ki ba pyniasuk ; na ba yn khot ia ki, ki kun U Blei. ^^ Suk ki ba ioh pynshitom na ka bynta ka hok ; na ba jong ki long ki hima ka byneng. ^' Suk maphi, ha ba ki leh bein ia phi, ki pynshitom ruh, ki ong ki ktin bymman baroh ruh ia phi na ka bynta jong nga, ha ba ki shu lamllier : ^'- Pliin kymcn, phin sngoubha eh ruh ; naba kunita ki la pynshitom ia ki Prophet ki ba la mynshiwa jong phi. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. Khassee is the language of the Cossyahs, Cassias, or Khasias, a race of Tartar or Chinese origin, ruled by a number of petty rajahs, who form a sort of confederacy. To some degree they still preserve their 3 18 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L independence, but arc umlcr the supervision of a BritisK agent for Cossyah affairs. Tlie tract of country known as the Cossyali Hills adjoins the eastern extremity of the Bengal Presidency, lying between Assam and Sylhet on the north and south, and Jynteah and the Garrow country on the east and west, extending from latitude 25° to 26° 7', and from longitude 90° 52' to 92° 11'. Its area, according to Thornton, is estimated at 729 square miles, and the amount of its population is about 11,000. The people, though uncivilized, are manly, upright, and sincere; and regard with detestation the falsehood and deceitfulness of the neighbouring Hindoos. They are, however, remarkably indolent and filthy, avaricious, ignorant, and extremely superstitious. Their religion has been represented to be a species of Brahminism; but they seem to have only a vague notion of some Spirit or Spirits to which they offer sacrifice, aiid their altars may well bear the inscription, " To the unknown God." They have neither idols nor temples ; but many peculiarly-shaped stones and rocks, as well as streams and groves, are accoimted holy, and sacrifices are made to them. The country is the extreme limit of the predominance of the Brahminlcal sect to the eastward, for beyond these hills Buddhism is almost universal. II. — CHARACTEEISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. This language is uninflccted and simple in grammatical construction; and although strictly mono- syllabic, it possesses none of those varied tones which appertain to other languages of this class. Some words of Sanscrit origin are to be found in Khassee, but it is difficult to recognise them on account of the monosyllables prefixed or added. There is no alphabet; the few among the Cossyahs who can read or write use the Bengalee character. But their use of this alphabet is merely owing to their frequent intercourse with Sylhet; for their language bears internal marks of having been at some distant period allied with the Chinese. This is shown by the personal pronoun, and by the frequent recurrence of the sounds viinr/, eng, ung, etc. as in Chinese. III. — VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. A lady was honoured by God to be the main instrument in preparing the first version of Holy Scripture in this language. She was the widow of one of the rajahs or chieftains of the country; and Dr. Carey, pleased with her intelligence, availed himself of her aid in translating the New Testament. Dr. Carey had also recourse to the advice of his Assamese pundit, who, from the vicinity of the Cossyah hills to his own country, had had opportunities of acquiring a tolerable acquaintance with the language. The preparation of this version occupied ten years; it was printed in Bengalee characters, and an edition of 500 copies left the Serampore press in 1824. For about seven years it remained a scaled book, for no opportunity occurred of distributing it among tlie people for whom it had been prepared. In 1832 some of the missionaries at Serampore, being in ill health, visited Cherrapoonjee, a place in the Khassee country noted for its salubrity. Here their attention was drawn afresh to the spiritual destitution of the wild inhabitants of the hills, and great exertions were made for the establishment of a mission among them. Mr. Lish, the first missionary who entered upon the work, turned his attention to the revision of the Khassee version, and in 1834 he produced a new or amended translation of St. Matthew, which was printed at Serampore in Koman characters. In 1840 a Missionary Association was formed by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; and finding this station unoccupied by any other society, they sent the Rev. Thomas Jones as their missionary to these hills. He reached Cherrapoonjee in 1841, and after applying with diligence to the study of the language, he executed a new translation of St. Matthew's Gospel in Roman characters, which in 1845 he oiTered to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Committee ordered a small edition to be printed as an experiment, and its value and fidelity have been fully attested by competent persons, through the medium of the Auxiliary Society at Calcutta. Since then the translation of the entire New Testament lias been completed by the missionaries engaged on the above station. The system of substituting Roman letters for the native characters of Indian alphabets in printed CtAss I.] KHASSEE. 19 editions of tlic Scriptures and of other books, has of late years been extensively adopted in India ; and the advantages of tliis system, especially with reference to the Khassee (which in the former edition of the Kcw Testament had been printed in Bengalee characters, sec Specimen, Plate I), cannot be better stated than In the words of an eminent Missionary, Dr. DufF, of Calcutta. In a letter addressed to Mr. Jones, the Missionary of the Welsh Calvinistic IMethodist Society at Cherra, when the first books used in connection with the mission were about to be published, the doctor thus writes — " Tlioroughly and absolutely do I approve of your determination to print your translated works in the Roman characters. It is a strange delusion of Satan that men should strive to uphold varieties of alphabetic characters anywhere, provided they could without violence be superseded by one, at once uniform and effective, seeing that such variety is a prodigious bar and impediment to the diffusion of soimd knowledge, and especially Divine truth. But, in a case like yours, where the natives had really no written characters of their own at all, to dream of introducing a clumsy, awkward, expensive, and imperfect character like that of the Bengali, in preference to the clear, precise, and cheaper Eomanised alphabet, would seem to me to be voluntarily raising up new ramparts to guard against the invasion of Truth. No, our object ought ever to be to facilitate, and not to obstruct, the dissemination of true knowledge of every kind ; and one of the ways of doing so is everywhere to encourage the introduction and the use c)f the Roman alphabet in place of the native alphabets, which are linked, and associated, and saturated with all that is idolatrous." The Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles have been already carried tlirough the press by the Calcutta Bible Society, and other portions are in progress. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Some very interesting accounts have been received of the recent progress of Divine truth among these people. I\Ir. Lish, their first missionary, was welcomed joyfully; they laughed heartily when they heard him speak in their own language; but when he began to open to them tlie truths of Scripture, they were so forcibly impressed as to exclaim that " he was a God, and they but cows and goats." When the mission was re-established by Mr. Jones, a chief from a village wliich he had not yet visited thus addressed him: — " If you have any thing from God to say to us, come quickly; otherwise we may be dead, and what you have to say will be of no use to us. What will then become of us?" Mr. Jones and his coadjutors have prepared elementary and religious books in the language. Several schools have been estabhshed, and conducted by the missionaries, their wives, and a few native teachers. Many hundreds have already learnt to read, and are truly anxious for books. A desire to read and understand Enirlish is universal among them. Some of the natives have been led to abandon their superstitions, and to embrace Christianity. Since their baptism they have endured much per- secution from their relatives, and in the most trying circumstances they have shown strength of principle worthy of an apostolic age. One of the missionaries writes thus: — " I have received the Gospel of St. Jlatthew from Calcutta, and the Cassias in the Schools are diligently employed in committing it to memory. This task they will accomplish by the time this letter reaches you. I perceive already the great utility of supplying them with the Holy Scriptures; for it is evident they understand and remember much better when they read themselves than when they listen to another: I see this very clearly in the case of my young converts." The missionaries testify that the baptized natives " increase in knowledge, in tenderness of conscience, and in godly simplicity." One of these converts said to the missionary, " The Word of God is truly wonderful, for I have some new thoughts whenever I look into it. I do not find it so with any thing else; but the Word of God is like a fountain which sends forth fresh waters every day: they are not the same ; but although they differ, they arc all very good. Even the same verse says something new whenever I look into it." 20 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES. [Class L TIBETAN. FOB. SPECniEN OF THE TIBETAN CHAEACTER, seb Plate 2., page 20. I. — EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The vast and mountainous tract of country in wliicli the Tibetan language is spoten lies directly north of Hindoostan, from which it is separated by the Himalaya Mountains. Its eastern frontiers border on China; to the west, it extends as far as Cashmere, Afghanistan, and Turkestan, wliile on the north it is bounded by the countries of the Turks and the Mongols. It is for the most part comprised within the Chinese empire; the western parts, however, appear to be independent of China. On account of the extreme jealousy of the Chinese government, Tibet has hitherto been almost inaccessible to foreigners; our knowledge of the country is in consequence extremely limited, and no correct esti- mate appears to have been ever formed of its area or population.' II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Tibetan is the language of " Tibet," (in Chinese Tih-Bot, " The land of Bod" the native name for " Tibet.") It is sometimes called Bhotanta or Bootan, because spoken in the country of Bootan as well as In the adjacent regions of Tibet; it is supposed by some to be a link between the ISIono- syllabic, Indo-germanic and Shemitic classes. In the Mithridates, Adelung unhesitatingly ranks it among the monosyllabic languages, but Remusat does not altogether assent to this classification, for while he admits that there are many monosyllabic sounds in Tibetan, he contends that there are like- wise compound and polysyllabic words. Some of the very fundamental words of the language, as well as almost all the derivative terms, are of undoubted Chinese origin, and in many cases, the original Chinese vocables seem to have undergone but slight alteration. In the construction, too, of sentences, the Tibetans appear to follow the Chinese idiom. If compared widi English, the words of a Tibetan phrase will be found to stand exactly in a reverse order. The sentence, " 2w a book seen by me" would be rendered in Tibetan (if translated word for word) in the following manner: " me by seen book a in." The articles both definite and indefinite always follow the noun, the nouns in general precede their attributes, and the verb, for the most part, stands at the end of a sentence. The several cases of a declension are formed by suffixes, and the place of prepositions in English is supplied by postpositions. The language, which is as it were twofold, as spoken to superiors or to inferiors, is rendered difficult not only by prefixes to verbs, which change in the different tenses, in a manner analogous to the change in initials in the Celtic languages, but also by the numerous impersonal verbal expressions; for the general mode of conjugating verbs is by prefixing or afiixing certain letters to a kind of past participle of the verb, which are, however, most frequently silent: but the grammatical forms are in general few, vague, and seldom used. The alphabetical character is evidently borrowed from the Devanagari, and like it, is written from left to right. There are thirty consonants divided into eight classes, and four vowel signs. There are likewise compound consonants, representing sounds not strictly occurring in their alphabet. Although a single letter often constitutes an entire word, yet the orthographical system is, for the most part, clumsy and burdensome; for initial, quiescent, subscript, and final letters are introduced upon every possible occasion ; and though completely disregarded in the colloquial articu- 1 An elaborate account of the geography of \Vestern Tibet, by Captain Strachey, of the Bengal army, is found in the bventy-third Tolume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (London, 1853). The Eastern portion of Tibet was visited, in 1846-7, by Hue and Gabet, two enterprising French missionaries, the narrative of whose journey has been published. There exists also a description of Tibet in Russian, translated from the Chinese, and published at St. Petersburgh in 1828 : 8vo. — without name of Author. PIUS II'. P^20. •M f\ yf fi* ^ o o -V S - >- ^ ^ ^ c: ? K ^^- Class I.] T I B ET AN.— L E P CH A. 21 lution of words, tliey add materially to tlie labour of reading and writing the language, wliicli is harsh, and heavy when spoken. Ill, — VEKSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. An attempt was made by the Church Missionary Society, in 1816, to furnish the inliabitants of this vast region with a version of the Scriptures in their own language, but unhappily this important undertaking ultimately proved abortive. Mr. Schrceter, a missionary of that Society, after having devoted himself with much stedfiistness and success to the acquisition of the language, was cut off by death at tlie very moment tliat he was about to begin the translation of the Scriptures. Mr. Le Koche, another missionary of the same Society, was appointed to succeed him, but the climate of India proved fatal likewise to his constitution," and he died on his return homewards. Major Latter, who had been chiefly instrumental in originating the mission, died in 1822, and since that event no further attempts towards the preparation of a Tibetan version appear to have been made. A Dictionary, however, Tibetan and Italian, executed by some Roman missionary, and collected and arranged by SchroBter, has been printed at Serampore, with a fount of types cast for the purpose. It consists of nearly 500 quarto pages, and was completed in 1826. Since that time Tibetan has been more cultivated in Europe, through the excellent Grammar and Dictionary of Csoma de Koro, together with his other works, and those of Dr. Schmidt, Fouceaux, WuUner, etc. Dr. Hajberlin, an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, after journeying through Tibet in 1843, again enforced the necessity of a Tibetan version upon the attention of Christian societies; and his suggestions appear to have been met by the American missionaries, who, it is said, have now this work in contemplation. Dr. Hasberlin states as the result of his observations and inquiries in Tibet, that, " as far as the Tibetan language is spoken, and the Lamas have any sway, so far literature exercises an important influence on the people. If there were a version of the Scriptures," continues he, " in the Tibetan language, thousands of volumes might annually be sent into the interior of Asia from five different points, along the immense frontier of British India; and the millions of people speaking that language, and Inquisitive as the Chinese are, might thus have a profitable opportunity of being made acquainted with the things that belong to their salvation." L E P C H A. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE LEPCHA VEESION, see Plate 10, page 115. The Lepcha language is spoken by the Lepchas, the undoubted aborigines of the mountain forests near Darjeeling. The district they occupy is perhaps about 120 miles in length, from N.W. to S.E., extending along the south face of the Himalaya Mountains, imtil its limits become undefined in the mountains of Bootan. Little is known in Europe concerning the Lepcha dialect, but recent researches have shown it to be allied to, if not derived from, the Tibetan language. The Rev. W. Start, of Dar- jeeling, has commenced a translation of the New Testament in this language, and has recently caused 1000 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew to be printed at his own expense. CLASS IL-SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. H E B E E W. SPECIMEN, FEOM EXODUS, Chap. xx. v. 1 to 17. } ■)' "I JJV -: I Av v: iT : «.• IT I ■■ V v- t ^' t : - t i)- • v; J- - : - I '?D3 ;?|'p n^j;n-^"7 * j ^hr':'^ nnnsi D^nSx ^^ ^'J^T^ ' ' nnaj; n^aa o^-iVP f>'0 -n'^ = : r-ix'? nnn» i d^»3 njrxi nnria ^n^?^ nti'iS'i ':?yao i bm':i ^m Ki^an-'^^i I I ViT T -J>- • -J^-- JA- -:i- - AT • I -At t a- -;i- ^ - - -J- t - J^v -: t : t ; 3- T * IT ( <-: )■• t|- J" I V ■:: -Jt : -it j* A" : 't 't i : v-.- t ja* - i- : ■ nS' d i'mf2 nasrbi ^inis'^ d'-sSx'? non nb^yi'^ ♦.w'^bS D^arSyi D'B'W-'?y ' it : • ^" : I : *.- -: i : a* t -; i- v v.- :■ "^j; ait : i : >^. .. . ^ ; y. „ . ' < : NIB'S iaE^'-n^5 xb'^-iSJ'N ks nin* npy nS *3 n)^h ^'rihii nin^-ctj'-nx nkti Dvr" ; '?|r!px'?a-'73 n^b'^i nnyn bpi r\m' '''^p^.pb J^I^D ^ir^^ ^^^V ^ Tjrionii 'TJnaNi ^^33; ^ri3r^33i 1 nns* hSkSo-Sp nii'yn-is'p i^'fhi^ nin^'p 1 nsa* ^V'3t^•h -Sl-nNi b^n-DNi f'HN'n-nNi o^te^'n-nN n'in': nbv bt^^-w^ \3" :Y'^V^'? 1^*^? ^1?) ^^3N'-nN -133 >^ D nnjj'^pn nsB'n DV-riv^ nin» ^13 p-W T3irn dvs nj»i D3-^:^^s♦ ! ^^- t V /•• - I" :|- :i- vt - - J v ^t : | i-" I •■ " Ts' ' : " J " "^t- t v -: J^^."!.'? T»? '??! i"^fim S-f]^] 'inaxi n3J?l "^^l riK'N -lann-N^p d ^yn n'3 nbnn This Specimen portion exiiibits the twofold use of tlie Hebrew accents. Tile one series is cni]>Ioye(l when tlie DeCHlOfiue is read by itself, and the other series is used when these verses are read as a continuation of the preceding section of the Pentateuch. The accents uie also used in this twofold manner in Deuteronomy, where the Decalogue is repeated. The Hebrew language is one of the three principal brandies of the Shemitic languages, which have been divided thus: — 1. To the northward, the Aram(san, which comprehends the ?Fes<- Aramaean, or " Syriac," and the jE'a«<- Aramaean, or " Chaldee." 2. To the westward, the Canaanitish, or Hehrnv, in Palestine and Phoenicia; of which the Punic is an oftshoot. 3. To the southward, the Arabic ; to which also partly belongs the Ethiopic. The Samarita7i is a mixed dialect, it consists of Aramaean, Hebrew, and many foreign terms. As regards the name ^^ Hcbreio" some, like St. Augustine, etc., derive it from Abraham, but wrongly. Others, again, derive it from nay " beyond," i.e., the Euphrates; Abraham being a native of Class II.] HERKEW. 23 " Ur of tlic Cliasdim," in nortlicrn Meso^iotamia. But Hthrew conies probably from "iDV Hcber or 'JEber, mentioned in Gen. 10. 21; to whom Abulfeda (Hist. Anteisl. iii. iv.) says God granted to speak Hebrew, as a reward for his having reproved the builders of the Tower of Babel, for their impious attempt to scale Heaven. He is said, in the " Seder '01am," to have been a great prophet; and some Arabic writers maintain tliat he was the same as Hud, an abbreviation for Yehud. This induces some learned men to think that ^ay and 3"1J? are identical, and to consider the descendants of both as the same people. The Hebrew language, however, ilourished during a comparatively short period; while the Arabic has continued to the present day, the richest, and most cultivated of all the Shemitic dialects. , I. — PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. But the Hebrew language, honoured by God as the first medium of written revelation, had in ancient times predominance over a far greater extent of territory than is commonly supposed. It )nay be inferred from various passages of Sacred History, that the Canaanites, or aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan, conversed freely in Hebrew, or in tlieir own closely allied dialect the Phosnician, with Abraham, and, many years subsequently, with the tribes of Israel under Joshua. Thus, for instance, the spies sent by Joshua to survey the country, had not recourse to the aid of an interpreter in their intercourse with Ilahab and others. Moreover, the Canaanitish names of places and persons, both in the time of Abraham and in that of Joshua, are pure Hebrew terms; Mclchiscdec, Abimclech, Salem, Jericho, and, in fact, all names of persons, cities, and towns in Canaan recorded in Scripture, might be cited as examples. (Sec Joshua, chapters 15 to 22.) It has been clearly proved by the ethnographical researches of Gescnius, and other German scholars, that the Canaanites formed part and portion of the people known in profane history by the name of Phajnicians; and in the Scptuagint, the words Pha3nicians and Canaanites, Phoenicia and Canaan, are indiscriminately used: (compare Exod. 6. 15 with Gen. 46. 10, and Exod. 16. 35 with Jos. 5. 12.) Hence the obvious inference that Hebrew, being very nearly allied to the vernacular of the Phoenicians, was spoken, with provincialisms and with characteristic accent, at Tyre and Sidon, at Carthage, and in all the numerous colonics established by that enterprising people. We may thus trace the use of Hebrew as a vernacular tongue, or as a medium of communi- cation, all round the coast of the Mediterranean, with the exception of Italy and (in part) of Greece. When the Old Testament was written, probably no language was so widely diflused as the Hebrew : it occupied just such a place as Greek did in the days of the Apostles. With the sole exception of the Jews, however, the nations by whom Hebrew was spoken have either passed away from the face of the earth, or have become amalgamated with other races. The number of Jews now dispersed throughout the world is generally estimated at about 4,000,000; of these there are only 175,000 in Palestine and Syria. In England there are 30,000 Jews, of whom 20,000 reside in London; but they arc still more numerous in some parts of continental Europe: at Warsaw, for instance, they form one-fourth part of the population. In the following graphical description of the present state of the Jews, by Professor Gaussen, it will be perceived that the statistical calculations are founded upon different data from those above adduced. " The restless feet of God's ancient people arc pressing at this very hour the snows of Siberia, and the burning sands of the desert. Our friend Gobat found numbers of them in the elevated plains of Abyssinia, eighteen hundred miles to the south of Cairo; and when Denham and Clapperton, the first travellers that ventured across the great Sahara, arrived on the banks of the lake Tchad, they also found that the wandering Jew had preceded them there by many a long year. When the Portuguese settled in the Indian Peninsula, they found three distinct classes of Jews; and when the English lately took pos- session of Aden in the south of Arabia, the Jews were more in number there than the Gentiles. By a census taken within the last few months in Eussia, they amount to 2,200,000; so that their popu- lation in that immense empire exceeds that of our twenty-two cantons. Morocco contains 300,000, and Tunis 150,000. In the one small town of Sana, the capital of Arabia Felix, they assemble together 24 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. in eighteen synagogues. Yemen counts 200,000; the Turkish empire 200,000, of which Constan- tinople alone contains 80,000. At Brody, where the Christians, who are 10,000 in number, have only three churches, the Jews, 20,000 in number, have 150 synagogues. Hungary has 300,000. Cracow, 22,000. In a word, it is imagined that, were all the Jews assembled together, they would form a population of 7,000,000; so that, could you transport them into the land of their fathers this very year, they would form a nation more powerful and more numerous than our Switzerland." II. CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Wliether Hebrew was or was not the primeval tongue of the human race has been the suljject of much discussion, and is a question which, with our present means of knowledge, it is impossible to resolve satisfactorily. Certain it is, however, that the Hebrew language bears many internal marks of antiquity. The majority of Hebrew words, for instance, are descriptive; that is, they specify the prominent or distinguishing quality of the person, animal, place, or thing, which they designate: and the vocabulary, though comparatively poor in abstract and metaphysical terms, is rich in words having immediate reference to those objects of sense with which a nomadic people might be supposed to be most conversant. Thus, there are no less than 250 distinct botanical terms in the Old Testament; and synonymous forms of expression for the common actions and occurrences of life are numerous and varied. Among these synomymes have been counted no less than fourteen different words of which each signifies "to break;" there are ten words answering to the verb "to seek;" nine express "the act of dying," fourteen convey " the idea of trust in God," nine signify "remission of sins," and eight denote "darkness;" and to express "the observance of the laws of God " there are no less than twenty-five phrases. The language appears to have attained its utmost possible development at a very early period, and to have remained subsequently for ages in the same stage, without progression or retrogression. This is seen by comparing the books of the Pentateuch with those of the latter prophets: tlie latter differ from the former only by the disuse of a few words, which in the course of centuries had become obsolete, and by the introduction of sundry terms which had been engrafted on the language by inter- course with the Assyrians and Babylonians: there are, however, 268 verses of pure Chaldee in the Old Testament. A certain stiffness of construction, joined to great energy and simplicity, appears to be the most prominent feature of Hebrew, and of the cognate Sliemitic dialects in general. The fundamental structure of those dialects bears the impress, if we may so speak, of premeditation and design. Unlike all other idioms, the roots or elementary words arc in general dissyllabic and triliteral, while many of them appear in a more ancient monosyllabic form. They are for the most part the third person singular, preterite tense, active voice of the verb, and seem to have been originally framed for the express purpose of representing ideas in the simplest possible form; while the application of these ideas to denote the varied circumstances of life (such as time past, present, or future, personal agency, passion, or feeling), is effected generally by mere changes of the vowels placed above, within, or below, the letters of the root. For instance, tm expresses a simple fact — " he learned," but ns? denotes an additional circumstance, viz.: that he learned diligently: so 13"1 he spake, by the simple change of a vowel sign 13'^ comes to denote the tiling spoken, that is, a loord. Besides the vowels, a certain set of consonants, set aside for the office of sometimes modifying the meaning of the roots, are called Serviles ; and, in common with the Arabic only, of all the Shemitic dialects, the Hebrew has the definite article for the better determining of nouns. Witli respect to the alphabetical system of the Hebrews, it has generally been the custom to attribute the introduction of the square character to Ezra; and the vowel-points, which were added gradually, as tlie Hebrew language ceased to be generally spoken and well known, were finally determined towards the sixth century after Christ, by tlie school of Tiljcrias. Tliis was a timelv interposition of God's providence, to rescue the Hebrew text from much misinterpretation, — if it had been handed down without points, — when its language was dead and little known. It has lately, however, been shown that the square characters were not brought to perfection till probably two or three centuries after the Christian era. Kopp (in his Bilder Class II.] HEBREW. 25 und Schriften dir Vorzeit) traces the gradual formation of these characters from tlic inscriptions on the bricks at Babylon, down tlirough the Phoenician or Samaritan letters on the Maccabean coins, and thence to the Palmyrene inscriptions found among the ruins of Palmyra; and Gesenius, in the last edition of his Grammar, admits that the square, or modern Hebrew character, is descended from the Palmyrene. This opinion seems corroborated by the late discoveries of Mr. Layard in Babylonia; from whence he brought bowls of terra-cotta, probably dating from the captivity, and covered with Syriac and Chaldce inscriptions. Some of these characters are identical with the square ones now in use. The rabbinical style of writing now in use among the Jews is merely a cursive modification of the square character, adopted for ease and expedition. III. — HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TEXT OF SCRIPTURE. From the first promulgation of the written Word, special provision seems to have been made for its careful preservation. (See Exod. 25. 21; 40. 20). A distinct command had reference to the place in which the book of the law was to be deposited ; namely, in the side of the Ark of the Covenant. (Deut. 31. 26.) The multiplication of copies also was provided for by a Divine decree, (see Deut. 17. 18); and a copy of the law of Moses was made by Joshua. (See Jos. 8. 32.) On the erection of the Temple, Solomon caused the Ark to be brought " into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the Cherubim;" and from that period the books of Holy Writ were guarded within the walls of the sacred edifice, as is evident from such passages as 2 Kings 22. 8; 2 Chron. 34. 14, &c. That these divine records did not fall into the hands of the enemy when the Jews were led away captive to Babylon, may be inferred from the fact that in the list of the spoils carried away from the temple, detailed as that list is (see 2 Ki. 25, 2 Chron. 36, and Jer. 52), there is no mention whatever of the Sacred books. The captives, at the very moment that they were compelled to abandon the gold and silver of their temple, must have concealed and carried with them these most valued treasures; for Daniel, who wrote during the captivity, made distinct reference to two diflerent parts of Scripture as documents well known to his countrymen (see Dan. 9); Ezra, when he went up from Babylon to Jerusalem, was " a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given" (Ezra 7. 6); and immediately on the return from captivity, the people called for the book of the law of Moses, which was opened and read to them. (Neh. 8. 1.) The completion of the Canon of the Old Testament is referred to about the time of the finishing of the Second Temple; and there can be no doubt but that the inspired men who lived at that period, namely i\Ialachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, and Kchemiah, collected all the books that had been given by inspiration of God, and deposited them in the Temple. When the Temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans, the characteristic faithfulness of the Jews to the sacred charge originally committed to them, remained the same. Some of the learned Jews opened schools in various parts of the East for the cultivation of Sacred literature; one of these schools, established at Tiberias, at Sepphoris, and in other towns of Galilee, is mentioned by Jerome as existing in the early part of the fifth century; another school of almost equal note was established at Babylon, and at both frequent transcriptions of the Scriptures were made. And the hand of Providence is to be traced in this multiplication of copies at diftisrent places and by distinct institutions, for the comparison of copies afterwards formed a ready mode for the correction of such errors as had crept in through the negligence of copyists. The most stringent laws, however, were in force among the Jews to ensure accuracy in their copies of the Scriptures; the preparation of the parchment, of the ink, and even of the state of mind of the copyist, were all prescribed by rule ; and such has ever been their reverence for antiquity, tliat when in an ancient copy they have met with the accidental inversion or misplacing of a letter, or when one letter has been made larger than the rest or suspended above the line, they have scrupu- lously refrained from rectifying even what was so manifestly erroneous, under the superstitious notion that in the original formation and location of every letter some mystery is involved. Still further to ensure the perfect integrity of the text, the Jews at some period between the fourth and sixth century 26 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. carefully collected into one book all the grammatical and critical remarks on tKe letter of Scripture that had been current at different times and places since the time of Ezra. To the volume thus formed, which in process of time became larger than the Bible itself, they gave the name of Masora, that is, tradition, because the criticisms it contained had been handed down by tradition from father to son. But besides being a collection of grammatical annotations, the Masora really was, as the Jews empha- tically styled it, " the hedge of the law," for it contains a multitude of the most minute calculations concerning the number of verses, lines, words, and letters, in the Sacred volume; so that the number of letters in every verse, and even the middle letter of every verse having been ascertained with some exactness, it was anticipated that no interpolation or omission in the text could for the future pass undetected. The further influence of the Septuagint and other ancient versions in securing the early copies of the Hebrew Scriptures from the possibility of corruption will be subsequently noticed. Eight particular copies seem to have been especially honoured among the Jews on account of their strict fidelity and' accuracy, and to have been regularly used as standard texts from which all other copies were made. These eight copies were — 1. The Codex of Hillel, an ancient MS. no longer in existence, but which was seen at Toledo in the twelfth century by the llabbi Kimchi. Rabbi Zacuti, who lived about the end of the fifteenth century, declared that part of the ilS. had been sold and sent to Africa. 'J'his copy contained the vowel points invented by the Masorites. 2. The Babylonian Codex, supposed to contain the text as revised imder the care of Eabbi Ben Naphtali, President of the Academy at Babylon. 3. The Codex of Israel, supposed to exhibit the text as corrected by Rabbi Ben Asher, President of the above mentioned Academy at Tiberias; this MS. is imagined to have been the same as that of Jerusalem. Lastly, the remaining five Codices were, the Egyptian Codex, the MS. of Sinai containing only tlie Pentateuch, the Pentateuch of Jericho, the Codex of Sanbuki, and the book of Taygim. All the MSS. now in existence can be traced to one or other of these exemplars. The i\ISS. executed by the Jews in Spain follow the Codex of Hillel, and are more valued than those made in any other country, on account of their accuracy and the elegance with which they are written, the letters being perfectly square, and having tlie appearance of print. German MSS., on the contrary, are not elegantly written, and the characters are rudely formed, but they are valued on account of their containing readings coinciding with the Samaritan Pentateuch and the ancient versions. The Italian SISS. are neither so beautiful as the Spanish, nor so rude in appearance as the German, and they do not follow the Masora so closely as the former, nor deviate from it so frequently as the latter. Of the Hebrew MSS. now known to be in existence, the most ancieiit of which the date has been duly attested, is not much above seven hundred years old. It formerly belonged to Reuchlin, and is now preserved in the Library at Carlsruhe, whence it is fmiiliarly known as the Codex Carlsruhcnsis : it is in square folio, its date is A.D. 1106, and its country is Spain. It contains the Prophets, with the Targum. There are two or thi-ee MSS. to which an earlier origin is assigned, but the date of their execution is very doubtful. There are only five or six MSS. extant which were made so early as th.e twelfth century; we have about fifty MSS. written in the thirteenth century, eighty in the fourteenth, and 110 in tiie fifteenth. The Jews who have been located for several centuries in the interior of China do not possess any MSS. of earlier date than the fifteenth century. The black Jews on the coast of Malabar, who are supposed to have emigrated to India about tlic time of the Jewish captivity, possessed a Hebrew MS. which was brought to England by Buchanan in 1806, and is now carefully preserved at Cambridge. It is a roll of goats' skins dyed red, and measures forty-eight feet long by twenty-two inches wide. It only contains part of tlie Pentateuch; Leviticus and a portion of Deute- ronomy are wanting. The text, with a few slight variations, accords with the Masoretic. As is the case with all the more ancient MSS., there is no division of words; an old rabbinical tradition says that the law was formerly one verse and one word. The division into verses is generally attributed to Class II.] HEBREW. 27 the compilers of the Masora. The division into cliapters is more recent, and was first adopted in the Latin Testament. A more ancient division of the Pentateuch was into parashioth, or greater and less sections for the regular reading in tlie synagogue; a division still retained by the Jews in the rolls of the Pentateuch. IV. — FEINTED EDITIONS OF THE HEBREAV BIBLE. The first portion of the Hebrew Scriptures committed to the press was the Psalter, with the ComTnentary of Rabbi Kimchi; it appeared in 1477, but it is not certain at what place it was printed. In 1482 the Pentateuch was published at Bologna, and other parts of Scripture were subsequently printed at various places. But the first complete Bible that issued from the press was that printed in 1488 at Soncino, a small town of Lombardy, between Cremona and Brescia. Copies of this edition are now so scarce that only nine are known to exist, one of which is in the Library of Exeter College, Oxford. It has points and accents, but from what MSS. it was printed is unknown. It formed the text of another edition, printed, with a few corrections, at Brescia in 1494. The printers of both these editions were of a family of German Jews who had settled at Soncino; they are noted for having been, in point of time, the first Hebrew printers. The Brescia edition is famous for having been that from which Lutlicr made his translation of the Old Testament, and the identical volume used by him is still preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. This edition forms one of the tliree standard texts from which all subsequent editions have been executed; the other two being the Hebrew text of the Complutensian Polyglot (published 1514-17, and for which seven J\ISS. were consulted), and the second edition of Bomberg's Bible. Bomberg printed in all five editions, of which the first appeared at Venice in 1518; but the second edition, published at Venice 1525-26, is the most valued on account of its superior correctness, and its text still forms the basis of modern printed Bibles. It is pointed according to the Masoretic sj'stem, and was printed from the text of the Brescia edition, corrected by reference to some Spanish MSS., under the care of Rabbi Ben Chajim, a Jew of profound acquaintance with the Masora and rabbinical erudition. All the editions above mentioned were executed by Jews or Jewish converts. The first Hebrew Bible published by a Gentile, was that printed in 1534-35 at Basle, with a Latin translation in a parallel column, by Munstcr, a learned German; in a second edition, published 1536, he introduced critical annotations and portions of the Masora: he used the Brescia edition of 1494 as his text, but seems to have consulted Bomberg's Bible and several MSS. In 1569-72 the Hebrew text of the Antwerp Polyglot was published; it is compounded of the Complutensian text, and that of the second edition of Bomberg's Bible. The next most celebrated editions, in point of time, of the Hebrew Bible were tliose of Buxtorf: lie published an 8vo. edition at Basle in 1619, and his great Rabbinical Bible (so called because accompanied by the ilasora and the Commentaries of five Jewish rabbis) appeared in 1618-20. About this period the Samaritan Pentateuch was first introduced into Europe, and a new era commenced in the history of Hebrew criticism. Hitherto both Jews and Christians had rested secure in the supposed unil'ormity of Hebrew MSS. Origen, who, as will hereafter be shown, had certainly attempted to collate the Hebrew text with the Septuagint version, seems to have taken little or no pains in the comparison of Hebrew MSS.; and though in some of the editions of the Bible, as above mentioned, several ^ISS. had been consulted, a general and systematic collation of all the MSS. of the Old Testament had never been deemed requisite. Now, however, the attention of the learned was drawn to the variations between the Hebrew text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint version; the controversies thence arising happily led to the examination of the MSS. themselves, and the various readings there discovered were discussed by the same laws of criticism that had long bee7i in force with respect to profane writings. Two most important critical editions of the Bible, published in 1661 and 1667 at Amsterdam, by Athias, a learned rabbi, were among the first fruits of these researches: the text was founded on MSS. as well as on a collation of previous printed editions, 28 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. and one MS. was said to be 900 years old. So highly were the labours of Athias appreciated, tliat in testimony of public admiration, the States General of Holland presented him with a gold chain and medal appendant. Athias was the first editor who numbered the verses of the Hebrew Bible: every fifth verse had, in previous editions, been marked with a Hebrew numeral. His text, with some few alterations, was beautifully reprinted by Van der Plooght, in 1705, at Amsterdam; this edition is celebrated for its typographical elegance, and the clearness of the characters, especially of the vowel points. It has some few Masoretic notes in the margin, and a collation of various readings from printed editions at the end. It was reprinted in London 1811-12, under the editorship of Mr. Frey. Among other reprints of Van der Hooght's text, with corrections by various editors, the splendid edition of Houbigant appeared at Paris in 1753. In this edition the text is divested of vowel points, all Masoretic appendages are omitted, and several readings from the Samaritan are inserted in the margin of the Pentateuch. In the same year that Houbigant printed his edition, Kennicott published his first dissertation on the state of the Hebrew text, in which he clearly demonstrated the necessity of collating all the ilSS. of Scripture that were known to be yet extant. To defray the expense of so important an under- taking, a large subscription, headed by George III., was raised in England, and the work of collation, commenced by Kennicott and his coadjutors in 1760, continued till 1769. Kennicott collated 250 MSS. with his own hand, (most of which, however, were only examined in select places), and the total number collated by him and under his direction was about 600. In 1776-80 he published a splendid edition of Van der Hooght's text at O.xford, with various readings collected from Hebrew and Samaritan MSS., from printed editions, and from the quotations of the Bible occurring in the works of ancient rabbinical writings, and especially in the Talmud, the text of which belongs to the third century. An important supplement to this great work was published by M. de Rossi at Parn;a, 1784-87, consisting of additional readings from Hebrew MSS. and other sources. De Rossi added a volume of Scholia Critica in 1798. Up to the present moment about 1300 Hebrew MSS. have been collated in whole or in part; but each MS. very rarely contains the whole Bible, some being confined to tlie Pentateuch, others to the Projihets, while others comprise but a single book. It is a remarkable fact, and a proof of the con- tinued interposition of Divine Providence, that after all the laborious researches that have been made among MSS. belongmg to different centuries and to various countries, not a single reading has yet been detected which affects the power of any one doctrine, precept, or consolation, contained in that Holy Volume, which has been received during so many ages by Jews and Christians as tlie Word of God. Discrepancies to the amount of several thousands exist in different MSS. as to the insertion or omission of a letter, the use or rejection of a synonymous term, and similar minor details; nor are these without their use, for it is obvious that such errata, though they affect only the ortliography or mere diction of the text, subserve the double purpose of aiding in the grammatical elucidation of certain diflicult passages, and of proving the general integrity of the Sacred Canon. Van der Hooght's text, with which all Hebrew MSS. hitherto collated have been compared by Kennicott and others, is esteemed the most correct of the printed editions; the typographical and other errors which encum- bered the first editions have been removed by Hahn and later editors, and it now forms our Textas Receptus. It is not, however, appreciated by some of the Jews, merely on account of Roman figures and sundry marks in the margin which have appeared in the editions of this text. To meet their prejudices, the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews caused an edition to be printed imme- diately from the text of Athias as exhibited in his second edition of 1667, and which is the edition most prized by the Jews. The Society's Bible was edited by Judah D'Allemand, and published in London in 1828; and special evidences of the blessing of God upon the Old Testament Scriptures, in preparing the minds of his ancient people for the fuller revelation of the New Testament, are to be found in the Reports of the Society. Class IL] HEBREW, AS A TRANSLATION. 29 HEBREW, AS A TRANSLATION. SPECIJIEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14.» OEEENFIBLD 8 VERSION. SOCIETTS VERSION. TIN rr-n imni • inn n^n n't^*^*"l3 TT TT-: TT- TT ■ ": T T T T - T T • •• • V: T • n;n3 n;3 ^bn : □'nSvvn-nN* n^L^'x'-l3 nc'N' rrri n':' nnx na six vtySsfi!) V -; T T TV - I - T T : - • nix vn D'*nm • vn D**n i3 : n^ni T • - - : T * - T : • i^pnn) ' n\sn "^^n? nvsni t mxri nxa rih'j i^'ii ^n^i : Sap xS inx nyS N3 s*in : jjpiv i-!2C'i • ^'riS^C nT2 Vb lyttN*! |ya'? • nixn-Vy TynS -i^V^ |yaS CN '2 ' liiSn n;ri nV x^n "i\yan naxn nix n^n xin ; ■)iN*n-'?y • •• - V V; T T T T - TT TT TT TT *T: : n*3n xS D^ym • n^3 n^nj nSiym -• tt: t: t:- tt: phi;^ in3 nrh inSsp -iK'ni : '73|';3 '\m i )i2^2 n'vpiif^h n'rh^ ^J3 nvrh iih] ' ^b'sn nixna n'?) • D^ma n'S -linn"). 5 ^n'pi: Q^ri'^NO dx"'? b^\s* "^ikso •nb3-ay nxiii •iJ3in3 \2m n*n n^nS V- V : • - : I : • - t t t t : : naxi non n'^o • 3x'7 "i^n*n ni333 *7^{x n'n i3^ni i3nn n^n n"'C'xn3 V •• t T T T - : T T - t T • " : rrri x^n jD^n':'xn n*n ns'^ni D^n'pxn' T T • v; T T T T T - : • V. 'T n^n3 -13Tb tCD^ri'^xn bxx n^E^'^"^3 = T : * T T T • ■.-: T V " • •■ : in'r\i x'x 13-1 n^n3 iih vnj;S30^ i3 T : • V -: T T T ; • T^T . - ttznxn lis* vn o^-^nni CD»*n vn is^ TTT T •--: ■- T 3 nn^b ih "^mri] njj i^m^ nixrir jpnv )W) Q'rh^ nxo niW cj^^s 'r^y Ij;^)'? niNn-'?y n^yn'? ny'p k3 x^n' n^n x':' n? t in^-Sj? ob ir/!2iS"« T T V T '^- T \ ^t^n : niKn-Sy n^n^p-nx ^3 n\sn « \X3-S3S n\san ^naxn nixn n^n "X T : . .. _ . . -; X T T T : inx n'?3p iih in'?:Di in'?JD--Sx X : 1 - T ■•. : T X . nvnS n^tj^n jnp inx h^p ^m nksSi" n^xri)!? ^h] nb'sn nixna nSi^ op^,2? n^n n3im : n':'^3 o^nSxa-Qx ^3 -i3a » T T T T - : T ■ V. •• - '. ni33-nx nsn3i ^33in5 pm ♦-1^3'? :naxi non xSa 3^''? n^n* ni333 I. HEBREW VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. We have no certain information concerning the translation of any portion of the New Testament into the language of the Old Testament Scriptures prior to the year 1537, when the Gospel of St. Matthew was published in Hebrew by Sebastian Munster, at Basle. Great attention was excited by this book at the time of its appearance, on account of an ancient tradition which prevailed in the Church that St. Matthew originally wrote his Gospel in Hebrew. It was very evident, however, that Munster's publication had no pretensions to be regarded as the text of the sacred original, nor even as an ancient * By Mr. William Greenfield, and of the Version executed for the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jevrs. 30 SIIEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. version, for tlie language in wliieli it was written was not the Syro-Chaklaic current in Palestine at the time of our Lord, but the rabbinical Hebrew in use among the Jews of the twelfth century; it was, moreover, full of solecisms and barbarisms, and bore indubitable marks of having been translated cither directly from the Vulgate, or from an Italian version of the Vulgate. The translation was probably made by an unconverted Jew, at some period subsequent to the twelfth century. In an Apology for this work, dedicated to Henry VIII. of England, Munster states that the MS. from which he printed was defective in several passages, and that he was compelled to supply the omissions as he best could from his own resources. This circumstance may serve partly to account for the errors which abound in the work. It passed through several editions, and a Hebrew version of the Epistle to the Hebrews was appended to it. Another edition of the same translation of St. Matthew, but printed from a more complete and correct MS. brought for the purpose from Italy, was published by Tillet, Bishop of St. Brieux, at Paris, in 1555, with a Latin version by Mercerus. A translation of the four Gospels into biblical Plebrew was made by Joannes Baptista Jonas, a converted Jew, and Professor of Hebrew at the University of Rome: he dedicated it to Pope Clement IX., and it was published at Rome in 1668, at the expense of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. The first translation of the entire New Testament into Hebrew was made by Elias Hutter, a Protestant divine, born at Ulm in 1553. He was Professor of Hebrew at Leipsic, and first dis- tinguished himself by his ingenious plan of printing a Hebrew Bible, in which he had the radical letters struck off with solid and black, and the servile with hollow and white types, while the quiesccnts were executed in smaller characters, and placed above the line; thus exhibiting at a glance the root or elementary principle of each word. Hutter's success in this undertaking led him to project a Polyglot Bible: he commenced with the New Testament, but found himself utterly at a loss for want of a Hebrew version. He therefore determined upon supplying the deficiency himself, and in the course of one twelvemonth he produced a translation of the New Testament. He then proceeded with his original design, and completed his Polyglot Testament in twelve languages, at Nuremberg, in 1600. This Hebrew version was afterwards detached from the Polyglot, and repeatedly printed. In 1661, it was revised and published in London, in 8vo., under the superintendence of AVilliam Robertson; but the greater part of this edition was consumed in the fire of London, 1666, so that copies arc now rarely to be met with. Another edition, but in 12nio., was published in London in 1798, by the Rev. Richard Caddick, B.A., for the benefit of the Jews. It became, however, apparent that this version, although entitled to some measure of commendation in consideration of the short time in which it was executed, is unsuitable for general circulation. The Jews were prejudiced against it on account of its not being in pure biblical Hebrew : they objected to the frequent introduction of rabbinical words, and it was proved to be full of grammatical inaccuracies and solecisms. It had no sooner, therefore, been brought into use, than a new translation became a desideratum. In the meantime Dr. Buchanan brought from India a translation of the New Testament, executed in Travancore, among the Jews of that country, to whom allusion has been made above: the translator was a learned rabbi. The MS. was written in the small rabbinical or Jerusalem character; the style is elegant and flowing, and tolerably fliithful to the text. Dr. Buchanan deposited the MS. in the University Library at Cambridge; but it was previously transcribed by Mr. Yeates, of Cambridge, in the square Hebrew character. A copy was presented to the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, and it was at one time thought that it would greatly promote the object of the Society to print and circulate the production of a Jew so evidently master of his own ancient language. After much deliberation, however, a more strictly literal translation was still deemed desirable; and accordingly, in 1816, Mr. Frey and other learned Hebraists executed, under the patronage of the Jews' Society, a new version of the New Testament. In 1818, nearly 3500 copies left the Society's press, and this edition was speedily followed by another issue. The British and Foreign Bible Society assisted materially in this work, by purchasing at various times to a large amount. After this version had been in circulation some time, complaints from Hebrew readers in various parts of the world were \ "\ \ I ' ' ^/ / ; V /'.,/' y / / / « , n /ii F o/^^/ O J f t / I J "' I Class II.] EARLY DIFFUSION OF HEBREW. 81 laid before the Jews' Society Committee, concerning the rendering of certain passages. To ensure minute accuracy, the Committee determined on a thorough revision. They consulted some of the most eminent men in Europe, and Professor Gesenius was recommended to them as the first Hebrew- scholar of the age. To him, therefore, they confided their version, requesting from him a critique upon it, and suggestions as to alterations. Gesenius went carefully tlirough the work as fur as the Acts, and likewise througli the book of Revelation, when his niniicrous engagements compelled him to resign the task. Tlie work, with all Gesenius's notes, was then transferred by the Jews' Committee to Dr. Neumann, a converted Jew, lecturer on Hebrew at the University of Breslau. Dr. Neumann commenced the work anew, and his revision, when completed, was acknowledged to bear the stamp of " diligence, accuracy, zeal, and profound scholarship." The limited funds of the Society, however, prevented them from giving thi§ valuable revision to tlie public, and it therefore remained some time in MS. At this very period tlie publisher of the Modern Polyglot Bible (Mr. Bagstcr) requiring a Hebrew version of the New Testament for the Polyglot, applied to the Society for the Conversion of tlie Jews for the critical emendations they had been amassing: the important notes of Gesenius and Neumann were in consequence handed to him, and were incorporated in the new version executed for the Polyglot by Mr. Greenfield, and published in 1831. In 1839 the Society issued an edition of .'5000 copies of another version, executed by the Eev. Dr. IM'Caul, Rev. M. S. Alexander, Rev. J. C. lleichardt, and Mr. S. Hoga. This work, a specimen of which accompanies this memoir, was after- wards stereotyped, and is the version now circulated by the Society. II. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. In the Reports of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews, are many affecting and well- authenticated instances of the Divine blessing having attended the jjerusal of the Hebrew New Testa- ment. One fact in connection with this subject requires notice here, as showing the power of the New Testament over the heart of a Jew. The learned rabbi, mentioned above as the translator of the Tr.ivancore Testament, engaged in the work solely with the design of confuting Christianity. That his triumph might be more complete, he endeavoured in his translation to keep as near to the original as possible, for he never doubted but that with his scholarship and logical abilities he would find it easy to refute the statements of the text. By the time, however, that he had gone through the life of Jesus, his confidence was sh.iken, and .as if afraid, says Dr. Buchanan, of the converting power of his own. translation, he inserted a paragraph at the close of the Gospels, in which he took heaven and earth to witness that he had undertaken the work with the express design of opposing tlie Epicureans, as he termed the Christians. A cloud hangs over his subsequent history; but there are abundant reasons for believing that he fell a, martyr to the bigotry of his people, and that, after embracing the religion of Jesus, he scaled his testimony with his blood. THE EARLY DIFFUSION OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE, THROUGH THE PHCENICIAN COLONIES, etc. An opinion has very commonly prevailed, that the Hebrew Language, in which God was pleased to make known the revelation of His will in the Old Testament Scriptures, was at all times confined within very narrow limits; so that just as God did in ancient times choose one people as the depositary of His Scriptures, the language which they used, and in which those Scriptures were written, was confined almost en t rely to them. 32 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. Indeed so fully has this ojihiion prevailed, that a contrast has been frequently drawn between the New Testament written in Greek, then the most diffused language of the civilised earth, as intended for the instruction of men without restriction as to nation, and the Old Testament written in Hebrew for one people. The object of the accompanying Map is to show how considerably this opinion ought to be modified: the facts which must be considered are these — ■ I. That the Phoenician Language was essentially identical with the Hebrew. II. That the Phcenician Colonies had in early times diifused the knowledge of this language over a considerable portion of the earth. III. That even in countries in which the Phcenicio-Hebraic had not become vernacular, yet through commerce it had become more or less used as a medium of intercourse. I. The substantial identity of the language of the Phcenicians with the Hebrew is proved by the fact, that all the names of persons and places in the land of Canaan are pure Hebrew. Tlie Plioeni- cians were but a portion of the Canaanites, speaking of course the same language. This identity is manifest in the days of Abraham, for we then find the names of Abimelech, Melchisedek, etc, which are pure Hebrew compounds: nor can it be thought that the inspired historian has translated these names with the language used by Abraham, for, in the same narrative, the Egyptian Pharaoh is given without any such translation. At a later period the proof of this identity of language becomes more extensive, although not more certain: when the Israelites took possession of the land of Canaan, the names of the cities and districts were all of them terms purely and simply Hebrew. It is not to be overlooked that the names of the Phcsnician cities Tyre, Sulon, etc. are all Hebrew, the same as the rest; the names also of Phcenicians who are at all mentioned in the Old Testament are Hebrew. This fact is farther illustrated by the Coins of Tyre and Sidon, collected and pubHshed by Gesenius in his " Monumenta Phoenicia;" the inscriptions on these coins prove the language to have been essentially Hebrew. II. It is well known that in early times the Phoenician colonies were widely diffused; (the coun- tries in which they were found will be stated below). Did then these colonies use the Hebrew lan- guage, or did they adopt the languages of the countries in which they had settled? Happily, for a satisfactory reply to this question, we are not left to form our own conclusions irrespective of evidence : the antecedent probability may be very strong, but we possess the sure groimd of testimony. With regard to many or most of the countries colonized by the Phoenicians, we possess certain monuments in the coins and inscriptions which are still extant, which have been pub- lished by Gesenius in his important work to which reference has already been made. If, however, there be colonies from Phoenicia with regard to which we do not possess this certainttj of testimony, yet we may be pretty certain that the same language was retained by tliem, as by the colonies of which we are more accurately informed. III. How far the wide-spread commerce of the Phoenicians was a means of diffusing their lan- guage, we have no precise evidence. We do, however, know that in Greece and Egypt there have been inscriptions found in the Phoenician language and character, and we have other proofs that some use at least was made of this lansuaee. Prior to the time of Xerxes, almost all international com- munication by sea was in the hands of the Phoenicians; and as such intercourse did exist, it is manifest that the language of the Phoenicians was in a great measure brought into contact with all the people of the coasts of the Mediterranean, etc. Phcenicia. — The district occupied by the Phoenicians appears to have been a strip of land lying between the mountains of Syria and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. The southern part of the country which they at one time actually occupied was included in the land which had been pre- viously allotted to Israel, but into which the Phoenicians spread themselves. The Phoenician territory Coins with Phoenician legends. Class II.] EARLY DIFFUSION OF HEBREW. 33 must at times have extended as far south as Acre (Accho or Ptolemais), and as far north as Aradus, at least. There are yet existing coins of the following Phoenician cities, with inscriptions in their own languaffe and character: — Ttee — with Greek and Phoenician legends on the same coin. SiDON — with Phoenician only; also Greek and Phoenician. Accho (Ptolemais) — Greek and Phoenician. Laodicea (near Lebanon) — Greek and Phoenician. Marathus Aradus Berytus Carne The Greek inscriptions on so many of these coins prove that the Phoenician language was still retained and used while the people were under Greek dominion. Phcenician Colonies — Cilicia. — The Phoenician origin of the Cilicians was a fact known to the Greeks: the Cilician coins struck under the Persian dominion fully attest the same fact. The Phoenician coins of Cilicia have been transmitted in great numbers to modern times : they have been found in many and widely distant countries; some have been met with even in India. Many of these coins belong to Tarsus ; it is uncertain to what cities others of them belong. Cyprus. — The Phoenicians are well known to have planted colonies in the island of Cyprus. More than thirty inscriptions found at CiTiUM, in that island, are in existence; they prove the reten- tion of the Phoenician language by the colonists. There are proofs that from Cyprus and Cilicia the Phoenicians spread into different parts of Asia Jlinor; they probably occupied stations on the coast for the purpose of traffic. It appears that a colony was planted in BlTHTNlA, probably direct from Phoenicia. Tlie fact of a Phoenician colony having been located in Bceotia is well known : but the language does not appear to have been retained there or in the parts into which they are said to have spread themselves from Boeotia: the letters, however, were there introduced. Africa. — But the most important of tlie colonies of Phoenicia was that which occupied Carthage and the north of Africa, in many parts of Numidia and Mauritania, as far as the Straits of Gibraltar. The following are places in this region where Phoenician inscriptions have been found : — Carthage. TuGGA or TucCA — a remarkable bi-linguar inscription, Punic and Libyan. In NuMiDiA, several; also the coins of Numidian kings. Tripoli — two, one of them bi-linguar, Latin and Punic; also coins. The Island of Gerbe. There are Phoenician coins extant of the following places : — ACHULLA, VaCCA, SiGA. Sicily. — The knowledge which we possess of the Phoenicians in Sicily is familiar to all who have the slightest acquaintance with history. The coins of several Sicilian cities are proofs of the influence which the language gained in various parts of the island, and that, too, in places such as Syracuse, which were not actual colonies of Phoenicians, nor yet subject to Punic rule. There are extant many fine coins of — Panormus (Palermo), Heraclea, Syracuse, Motya, Cossara, bearing inscriptions in Ph'snician. Melita. — In the island of Malta several Phoenician inscriptions confirm what we know from history as to its having been occupied by that people. Gaulos (Gozzo, near Malta). — Many coins are in existence bearing Phcenician inscriptions, which some ascribe to this island, and some to Malta. 4 34 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. Sardinia received Phcsnician colonies ; traces of the Phoenician may be found in the Sard lan- guage still in use. A gem with a Phosnician inscription was found there, as well as an inscription. Spain. — The Punic colonies in Spain, and their occupation of the southern part of that country and the adjoining islands, are well known. Takshish, so often mentioned in Scripture, is considered on good grounds to have been Tartessus in Spain. There are Spanish coins extant with Phoenician legends of the following places: — Gades, Sexti, Abdera, Belus, Malaga.' Cassiterides. — We know that the Phoenicians were intimately connected with the Casslterides {Tin Islands); and as the only islands in the western ocean producing tin must point out the south- western coasts of Britain or adjacent islands, this name must have indicated either tlie Scilly Islands, or else the coast of Cornwall, or probably both. Here the Phosnicians had formed an emporium at a very early period. Tin was used in the formation of some of the furniture of the Tabernacle. Tin is mentioned by the earliest of classic writers; and as the ancients knew of no other tin but that of Cornwall, it is manifest how early must have been the Phoenician connection with this country. Indeed the ancients considered for ages that the Phoenicians were the only people who knew where these islands were situated. The countries with which the Phoenicians traded comprised most of the coasts of the then known world : that the Phoenician language was at least in some measure used as a medium of communication, is proved by the inscriptions which have been discovered at Athens and in Egtpt.^ The eastern trade by the Red Sea must have been originally in the hands of the Israelites and Egyptians; the Phoenicians, however, were connected with them in this line of commerce. How far the diffusion of the language might have been accompanied by a knowledge of the written revelation of God, we have no means of ascertaining : one thing is certain, that it thus became POSSIBLE; and this may be coupled with the facts that seeming traces were found among many nations, of Scripture truths, and the Jews and early Christians alike ascribed this to knowledge borrowed in some manner from the Old Testament Scriptures prior to the version of the LXX. It may be a subject of interesting inquiry, What results may be deduced from the ascertained fact of the early wide diffiision of Hebrew: it is also worthy of examination. How far cer'ain traces may be found of the use of the Scripture by the nations of antiquity? It must at least be borne in mind, that the wide diffusion of the Phoenicians was contemporaneous with the period when most of the Old Testament was written. ' The Phoenician colonies acknowledged a certain dependence upon Tyre ; this was recognised by the offerings sent from Carthage, etc. to the altar of the Tyrian Hercules. The possession of Tyre may have been considered as bestowing a kind of superiority over the colonies. How far this was connected with actual power may be uncertain : nothing short of this appears to be recognised in the statements of Megasthenes with regard to the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, whom he represents as having conquered and ruled not merely Tyre but also the whole hne of Phoenician colonies even as far as Spain. This has been treated as an exaggeration : but even if it be, there appears to he at least a fact on which it is based. ^ The Athenian inscriptions are accompanied also with Greek; the monument called (from the place in Provence where it is preserved) the Stone of Carpentras is manifestly Egyptian. It must not be overlooked that the ancients unhesitatingly referred alphabetic writing to the Phoenicians as the first who had employed it ; this, at least, shows that they acknowledged the Phoenicians to be those from whom they had received this art. *«* The sources from which this Memoir has been mostly compiled are the Bible, Gesenius's Monumenta Ph(enicia, and Bochart's Canaan. Bochart had a great apprehension of the early diffusion of the Phoenician lan- guage, although he scarcely draws any conclusion therefrom in connection with the subject now considered. Class II.] SAMARITAN. 85 SAMARITAN. SPECIMEN, FROM WALTON'S POLYGLOT. EXODUS, Chap. xx. v. 1 to 17. • afJTAvaA-'^ • a^fZA^ • %x^m • m^ls^H- * : 'samaZ • :^mZ/f • ^rrrZa • za • Aor • arrrstZ/f • ZZa^ * * • ma'^v' • Zv • saor^i^tv • ^msiZA- • aZ • ?(rTr?(nT • a^Z * • arrf^av • Aora^a • anr's-ma • v^/f • 5i!a • afirtaa'^? : v^Za • ?v°vyV9'^T • ZvZis • strrra'^r^'a"? • ^a*^ • Za-? • z-^3 • az • '^avA • ft-l * • Ifi • a=(Z/f • ^■t^crrr • nra'iA^ • /fZ5( : :^x;^"'a"^A • a-Zt • !iTZ • "^l^A • a^Z * : ^cv^a^Z • vsZia • 'javx • • fiTA-'i-^Z • afirvma^ • Zv^ • afrrA^ArrrZA • l\x • srrr^^a • Zv • t^^taA^ • a^v • '^n • a-I^v • a^l/f- : 3x^fTr • va*" • Afrr • Za,^A • a-Z * • rrr^fVTa • ^T^^:iZ■? • ma^'sZ • anraZA^Z • '^^'^ • arrrr • aot • 'w * • — : : t^iaZ • ^'H'^ ' Am • za.^nr'^ • Am : strstor • maMfn • a-Z • A^Z^t • 'xi^Z • sA-vora"" • ^tarrrr^ * • aA'^mav • Za • '^avA^ • "^a"^A • am^ator • aa"** • 3(>"^pz • ?tAa"^ • • • • aAiaA-^ • a'^av • aA'sa? • a^a? • ^aa- • ?(°?(Trav • za • 3ta • 'YavA • a^z • astZA^ • st^Btorz • 3(a"^ : ^v^A- • AHTt • ^m'ax'" • Afrr • ^x^m • '^av • arrratm • a"^"^ • a-Zsc * • airr^Tva'^ • a^^imt • Afir • ^T^rrr • a^a • 5*a • Zv • Btvora^ • ^tta^rrra • ■^'^a-'k • i^a°? • Za • A-mx • ?faar • aott • anr^Tfir • '^■^ii'\/t-nt • Zrrr^aZ • aaA^ • aott • a?aA- • Am • ^vta^ * * — : : s('"'^v^ • ^Aa*" • ^xm ■ aliiA • A^Z * : ^t^A -a-Z * • Zwa • az * : az • aBtm • astZA- : 5(t5cm'^ • bcvsa^ • Zv • AAyV. • '^aviA • A-Zt ' a'savi • Ama • '^a'^A • a^z * • 'W'""? • ?°f v^ • av^a • '^rrr^ a • a-Z * — : : a^a'^Z'^ • Zaf 3'\a'^t • 9[^t a • ^A^/t-t • ?t'^av • ?(Zvv : a^a^ I. PKEDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. The Hebrew Language (in which the Samaritan Pentateuch is written) was predominant, as we have shown, in many countries of antiquity. It has long ceased to be the vernacular of Samaria, the inhabitants of which region now speak Arabic; but the Sacred books and liturgy belonging to the few remaining descendants of the ancient Samaritans are written in a dialect called the Samaritan, which has never spread beyond the limits of Samaria itself. The Samaritans have lost all political importance; they have dwindled down to a few families, and merely constitute a small religious sect. They dwell on the site of Shechem, their ancient capital and chief residence, now called Nablous or Xabulus, a corruption of the Greek word Neapolis, the new city. Two centuries ago, there were small Samaritan communities in Cairo, Gaza, and Damascus, as well as at Nablous. But in 1808, there had been no Samaritans in Egypt for more than a century, and they appear now to be confined solely to Nablous itself. Nablous, though of small size, is one of the most considerable places in the Holy Land at the present day, and contains a population of about eight thousand; but not more than one hundred and fifty of the number are Samaritans; and in 1838, Dr. Kobinson found there were only thirty adult males who paid taxes. They still go up three times a year to Mount Gerizim to worship. On Friday evenings they pray in their houses; and on Saturday (their Sabbath, which they keep with great strictness) have public prayers in their synagogue. They meet also in the synagogue on the great festivals, and on the new moons. II. — LANGUAGES OF SAMAKIA. Up to the period when the ten tribes of Israel were carried away captive into Assyria, Hebrew was the language of Samaria. The characters employed by the ten tribes in writing Hebrew were, however, totally different from those now in use among the Jews. The Samaritan letters, as they are called, are closely allied to the Phosnician, and appear originally to have been employed by the whole Jewish nation; for the characters on the Maccabean coins are very similar to the Samaritan, and these 36 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. coins, of wliicli tlie series probably commences about 150 years before Christ, were struck by Simon, Jonathan, and other members of the Maccabean dynasty. But, unlike the other Shemitic dialects, the Samaritans adopt no vowel-points in writing ; some of the letters answer the purpose of vowels. The mixed nature of the dialect which became predominant in Samaria on the removal of the ten tribes, may be inferred from 2 Kings 17. 24, where we are told that " the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Scpharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel;" moreover, a Hebrew priest was appointed as the public teacher of religion to this mixed multitude, and hence, as might have been expected, a dialect partly Aramajan and partly Hebrew became, in process of time, the general medium of communication. Arabic being at present the language spoken in Samaria, this dialect has now no existence but in books; it is greatly venerated by the Samaritans, and they affirm that it is the true and original Hebrew in which the law was given, and that the language formerly spoken by the Jews was not Hebrew but Jewish. Implacable hatred has existed between the Jews and the Samaritans ever since the days of Darius Codomanus, when the Samaritans separated themselves from their Jewish brethren in faith and in ritual worship, under Manasseh, brother of the High Priest at Jerusalem. " Say we not well," said the Jews to Christ, " that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" This feeling shows itself on every opportunity; and never more so than on the subject of observances, the correct usage of which each party vindicates to themselves alone. III. HISTORY OF THK HEBK^O-SAMAPJTAN PENTATEUCH. The date, copyist, and origin of this transcript of the Hebrew Pentateuch are involved in inex- tricable mystery, yet after all the discussions that have taken place on the subject, the most probable conjecture seems to be, that when the ten tribes under Jeroboam seceded from their alliance with Judah, they possessed this copy of the Pentateuch, which they ever afterwards carefully preserved, and transmitted to posterity. It is written throughout in pure Hebrew, and corresponds nearly word for word with our Hebrew Text, so that the mere acquaintance with the Samaritan cliaracters is all that is requisite to enable a Hebrew scholar to read this ancient document. It is rather remarkable that in about two thousand places where tlie Samaritan differs from the Hebrew Text, it agrees with the Sep- tuagint, and among the various hypotheses that have been started to account for this circumstance, it seems most reasonable to suppose with Gesenius, that the Samaritan copy and the Septuagint version were both made from some ancient Hebrew codex which differed in a few minor particulars from the more modern Masoretic text. The variations of this Pentateuch do not, however, affect the force of any doctrine, the two chief discrepancies between the Samaritan and Hebrew texts being, the prolongation of the period between the deluge and the birth of Abraham in the Samaritan, and the substitution of the word Gerizim for Ebal in Deut. 27. In these cases it is impossible to say whether the Jews or the Samaritans were guilty of corrupting the original text. The Septuagint represents the contested period as even longer by some centuries than the Samaritan, and it is followed by the Eoman Catholic Martyrology; but in the Latin Vulgate, the computation of the Hebrew text has been adopted. For instance, the date of the Deluge is according to the Samaritan Pentateuch, B.C. . . . 3044 the Hebrew text ,,.... 2348 the Septuagint ,, . . . 3716 The Samaritan epoch agrees best with two other important eras of the heathen world, viz : — ■ the Indian Deluge, and era of Kali-yuga B. C. . 3101 and the Chinese Empire ,, . 3082 These two dates added to the Samaritan date, 3044, and divided by 3, give B.C. 3070 as the probable date of the universal deluge. The chronology of the Samaritan has been vindicated by Dr. Hales, but generally, where various readings exist, the authority of the Hebrew is considered paramount. These occasional readings do not however diminish the value of the Samaritan Pentateuch as a witness Class II.] SAMARITAN. 37 to the integrity of tlie Hebrew text. Tliat the same facts and the same doctrines shoukl be transmitted in ahnost precisely tlie same words from generation to generation by nations, between whom tlie most rooted antipathy and rivalry existed (as was notably the case between the Samaritans and the Jews), is a strong argument in proof of the authenticity of the books ascribed to Moses ; the purity of the text handed down to us tlirough these two separate and independent channels may likewise be argued from the fact, that no collusion to alter passages in favour of their own prejudices is ever likely to have taken place between two such hostile nations. The Samaritan Pentateuch was studied by Eusebius, Jerome, and other fathers of the Church, and in their works several citations of the various readings existing between it and the Hebrew occur. Yet singular enough, this valuable text for about a thousand years was quite lost sight of by the learned, and it was unknown, and its very existence almost forgotten in Europe, when Scaliger, in the year 1559, suddenly instituted inquiries respecting it, and at his suggestion a negociation was opened by the learned men of Europe with the remnant of the Samaritans, for the purchase of copies of this Pentateuch. In 1616 Pietro della Valle eflected the purchase of a complete copy, which was bought by De Sancy (afterwards Bishop of St. Malo), and sent by him in 162.3 to the Library of the Oratory at Paris. In the meantime efforts were being made in England for the possession of copies, and between the years 1620 and 1630, Archbishop Usher obtained six MSS. from the East, of which some were complete and others not. Five of these MSS. are still preserved in England, but one copy which the Archbishop presented to L. de Diou seems to have been lost. At various times other copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch have been since received in Europe, and there are in all about seventeen which have been critically examined; of these, six are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and one in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum. They are all written either on parchment or on silk paper; there are no vowel points or accents, and the whole Pentateuch, like the Hebrew text, is divided into sections for the service of the synagogue: but while the Samaritan has 966 of these divisions, the Hebrew has only about 52. Some of the MSS. have a date beneath the name of the copyist, deter- mining their age. The MS. belonging to the Oratory at Paris is supposed to have been written in the eleventh century; our other MSS. are more recent, except one attributed to the eighth century, but its date is very uncertain. The Samaritans themselves, however, ascribe extraordinary antiquity to their o^vn copies; and Fisk says that the Kohen or Priest showed him a IMS. which they pretended had been written by Abishua, great grandson of Aaron, thirteen years after the death of Moses: it was a roll, in some respects like the synagogue rolls of the Jews, and kept in a brass case. A copy in another brass case was affirmed to be 800 years old. Fisk observed a number of MSS. of the Pentateuch on a shelf in the Samaritan synagogue, and he says that besides the Pentateuch they have copies of the books of Joshua and Judges, but in separate volumes. They preserve under that name, not the same books of the Hebrew canon, but a compilation of their own, usually known as the " Chronicon Samaritanum," which contains documents collected from various sources, and brought down to the time of Hadrian. They hold no books for canonical, but the five books of Moses. The first printed edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch was made from the Codex Oratorii (i.e. the MS. belonging to the Oratory at Paris); it was printed by Father Morinus in the Paris Polyglot. This text was reprinted in the London Polyglot, with corrections from three of the MSS. which for- merly belonged to Usher; and so correct is this edition that a Samaritan priest whom Maundrell visited at Nablous, esteemed this Samaritan text equally with a MS. of his own, which he could not be prevailed on to part with at any price. Fisk when in Samaria saw a relict of the very copy of the Polyglot mentioned by Maundrell. Various readings collated from the Samaritan MSS. were given by Dr. Kennicott in his edition of the Hebrew Scriptures, as mentioned in page 28: and in 1790, Dr. Blayney published at Oxford the Samaritan Pentateuch from the text of the London Polyglot, in square Hebrew characters. The variations of the Samaritan text have likewise been published by Mr. Bagster. A Grammar of the Samaritan language, with Extracts and a Vocabulary, by Mr. G. F. Nicholls, was published by Messrs. Bagster, in 1858. 38 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. IV. — HISTORY OF THE SAMARITAN TERSION. Tliree versions have been made of the Samaritan Pentateuch, two of which only are now extant. The first version was made from the Hcbrseo-Samaritan text into the Samaritan dialect, but the date and author are unknown: by some writers it is ascribed to the period when a Hebrew priest was sent by Esarhaddon to instruct the mixed multitude of Samaria In the service of God; while others affirm that it was executed in the first or second century of the Christian era. This version is in the higliest degree exact and literal; it is, in fact, a complete counterpart of the parent text. In some instances, however, its resemblance to the Chaldee Paraphrase of Onkelos is very striking, and there are no means of accounting for this singular agreement, unless we adopt the supposition that it fell into the hands of Onkelos, and that it was interpolated by him. It has been printed in the Paris and London Poly- glots; and in 1682, Cellarius published extracts from it with Latin annotations and a translation. Copious extracts are also given in Uhlcmann's Institutiones Lingua Samaritanee. When the Samaritan dialect fell into disuse, and the language of the Arabian conquerors became the vernacular of the country, the Samaritans had at first recourse to the Arabic version of Saadias Gaon, at that period in general use among the Jews. A translation into the Arabic language as spoken in Samaria, and written in Samaritan characters, was afterwards prepared by Abu Said. It is not known with certainty in what year this translation was made; Saadias Gaon died A.D. 942, and it must have been made subsequently to that period, as Abu Said made great use of that Jewish rabbi's labours. This version is remarkably close and literal, and follows the Samaritan even in those readings in which it diflirs from the Hebrew text. Several MSS. of this version still exist in libraries, but the whole has never been printed. A third version of the Samaritan Pentateuch was made into Greek, but this work, though quoted by the fathers, is no longer extant. The Samaritan and Arabic versions, from their noted fidelity, are of much value in correcting the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and in fact form almost the only sources for its emendation. Class II.] CHALDEE. 39 CH ALDEE. SPECIMEN OF THE TAEGUM OF ONKELOS, FEOM WALTON'S POLYGLOT. EXODUS, Chap. sx. v. 1 to 17. Mn<-K^ ' : snnay n'so onvoi ^5y-tND ■nnpax n ■nn^x « t<3^? 2 : -to^rh r^xn N'oans-b n* ^' 77Jt3l /■•: t; V- -: -: ' A' »■ J" : ~ : v ■■ j" t ; ' 1 ; t ; - - t >■■ v. v ; yi- ; ' - ; - ; - *.- : t : *.- • : t - ; y- • : snac'T NDVT1' TST'in 8 : xiptrb nwa »o""n n* " 'si' x^ nx xjan"? •nn^x "Txocj'a «D'n x^ ? ; n-isa xni'3!;-^3 T3yn-x^ ^n^x ;;."D^ij. snat?' nxyuc' xdvi i« : ■qni^ay^s Tayni n^sn ppi' ^^^t^ ^ : n'n-itni?^ xorn: s^iSTiii N'nc'Ti: ;'. nay. ]'pi* xtib' nx " : T;npa n. \"ii»Ji. ^'i'yai ^npxi '^nay •Jinnai •^la-i 1 m 5n3 TONTi'i •niaxTi' np' « ;TO'ipi xnatJ'T xov-n» " •nna fa'^v n^yatj' xora mi fina n-^ja-iri •T 'at ■ -: ' V -: - 0"* !■•:'-: vx ; - ; jr ~ jt; ' !■• t '■• - AT T • ; jt : i.r : • : i- t -; ■snana Tnon-x^ is ; n^jn x^ 15 : wjn-x!' " : e'dj Viopn-xb " : Tib an* Tin^x "i xyix-^y Tibr iwnin kr: - ; /■■ : - t i ; • /t ' i : it it ; .* ': • t 'it r-T 'vi t v: /t - t ;- - ' t ' j : ; : ii-ian^j n ^31 nnoni nnini n^noxi nnayi •nian nnx Tonn xS ii-ian n*a Tonn x"? " : xipc'T xn-nno The Aramsean or Syrian language appears from the earliest times to have been divided into two grand branches, namely, the West Aramaean or Syriac, which was the dialect spoken towards the West, in Syria and Mesopotamia; and the East Aramaean, generally denominated the Chaldee, which was spoken towards the East, in Babylonia, Assyria, and Chaldaea. But this division of the Aramaean language into two branches is rather geograplilcal than philological, for with the exception perhaps of a few words and forms peculiar to each dialect and some variations in the vowels, no very great difference exists either in grammatical structure or lexicography, between Syriac and Chaldee. In general, how- ever, the vowels are pronounced broader in Syriac than in Chaldee; in Syriac the sound 0 taking the place of that of A in Chaldee. Michaelis, indeed, has remarked, that the Chaldee of Daniel becomes Syriac if read by a German or Polish Jew. The chief point of distinction between the two dialects is, that Syriac is written in characters peculiar to itself, whereas the square characters, which are also appropriated to Hebrew, are employed in writing Chaldee. Down to the time of Abraham, Chaldee is supposed to have been almost, if not quite identical with Hebrew, and to have acquired subsequently the peculiarities of a distinct dialect. The dialect spoken in Chaldea was the original language of the Abrahamidae, for Abraham was called from " Ur of the Chaldees." And since " Ur" is to the north of Mesopotamia, and the "Chaldees or Chasdim" came originally from that part of the country, we may infer that the vernacular language of Abraham, whatever that may have been, was the lan- guage originally spoken between the Euphrates and the Tigris (Gen. 11. 31). Isaac and his family spoke Hebrew, which was the language of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned, and Hebrew con- tinued to be the language of their descendants till the time of the Babylonish captivity. During the seventy years passed at Babylon the dialect of the captives seems to have merged into, or to have become greatly adulterated with, that of their conquerors, and the great similarity in genius and structure between the two dialects naturally accelerated the effects of political causes in producing this admixture. On the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, it was the custom of the priests to read the law of Moses publicly to the people, and afterwards to give an exposition (see Neh. 8. 8, etc.). It is the opinion of many eminent scholars that the law was read as it stood in the original Hebrew, but explained in Chaldee, the only dialect then generally Intelligible among the Jewish people. However 40 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. tills may have been, It is certain tliat at least as early as the Christian era, •written expositions of Scripture in the Chaldee dialect were in circulation among the Jews; and the name of Targums, from a quadriliteral root signifying an explanation or version, was given to these Chaldee compositions. The most ancient Targum now extant is that written by Onkelos, a disciple of Hillel, who died 60 B.C. This Hillel is by some supposed to have been the grand&ther of Gamaliel, Paul's instructor. In purity of style Onkelos equals the Chaldaic sections of Ezra and Daniel, and his fidelity to the Hebrew text, which he generally follows almost word for word, is so great, that he deserves to be looked upon as a translator, rather than as a paraphrast. No writings of his are extant except his Targum of the books of Moses, which has been printed with a Latin translation in the first volume of the London Polyglot; it is esteemed of much service in biblical criticism from the fact of its being supported, in passages where it diifers from the Masoretic text, by other ancient versions. Besides the Targum of Onkelos, seven other expositions of Scripture in the same dialect, though greatly Inferior in merit, are now known to be In existence. The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzzlel upon the greater and lesser Prophets Is believed by some authors to have been written about 30 B.C. : though others assign it a later date; it abounds in allegories, and the style is diSiise and less pure than that of Onkelos. It conforms generally to the Masoretic text, but differs from it In some important passages. A Targum written by another Jonathan (hence called the Pseudo Jonathan) made its appear- ance at some period subsequent to the seventh century: the style is barbarous, and intermixed with Persian, Greek, and Latin words; it Is confined to the Pentateuch, and generally follows the rabbinical interpretations, hence It Is of no use in criticism. The Jerusalem Targum is also upon the Pentateuch ; but it is in a very mutilated state, whole verses being wanting and others transposed : it repeats the fiibles contained in the Pseudo Jonathan, and is written in the same Impure style; by many, Indeed, It Is considered merely as the fragments of an ancient recension of the Pseudo Jonathan. Tlie Targum of Joseph the Blind on the Haglographa is also written in very corrupt Clialdee, and adulterated with words from other languages. The remaining Targums (on Esther and Canticles) are too puerile and too paraphrastic to be entitled to notice here. The first seven Targums are all printed in the London Polyglot; the eighth (on the Chronicles) was not known at the time of the publication of that work ; It was discovered In the Library at Cambridge, and published at Amsterdam in 1715. Beck had pre- viously published large fragments from an Erfurt MS., in 1680-81, at Augsburg. The great utility of the earlier Targums (for the later Targums are of little or no use), consists in their vindicating the genuineness of the Hebrew text, by proving that it was the same at the period the Targums were made, as it exists among us at the present day. The earlier Targums are also of Importance In showing that the prophecies relating to the Messiah were understood by Jews in ancient times to bear the same Interpretation that Is now put upon them by Christians. And it must be added, that, in developing the customs and habits of the Jews, in exhibiting the aspect in which they viewed contested passages of Sculpture, and in denoting the mode in which they made use of idioms, phrases, and peculiar forms of speech, considerable liglit Is derived from the Targums in the study both of the Old and of the New Testament. Class II.] SYRIAC. 41 SYR SPECIMEN, FEOM St. PESHTIO VERSION. wOTOiy) JcTL^Jo • Jctv!!& Lo^ JoOT uOToiy) k^.m ,>; "I )001 wOTOiyI ).J(T1 . JJ^^^i>^ OOT JOCTl wOTor >N'y) • jbcri cnt;)^ ''^ . Jot^ ta^ . Jbcn )JLC cn.^ . Jootj pf-i 'i.bcn Jj-w Jis) ocrio . ) • I i^-i-^* Jjcnoj ^ocnjJUj| )JLio •:• (TL3i>| U |oQ-<»-iio •. jchi.^ )Loq.ji.)js . *?) .i jctlecuj ]i\ . Jicnoj ■ .iVnS. )OT I vi> .• )jL«» )i«nbj i-v^ )bOT I AC. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. PHILOXENIAN VERSION. ^010^] |A_\ico . (A _\Vi jooi ^oioA*i j --;^ . iAJl^o jooi ^oioA_i jou^o . jai2^ Za\ jooi ^^ \ "> . joiJ^ ZaX 1*^^ iooi ^oioA*i jjoi .• Ihw [lai Zooi •. ^aio, \ \ 00 . ^001 ai^-}_o I ■ "'O . (001 ^oioA_.j ) « «, oi_o . Zooi; ^di jioiQjo •. I — a — 1 — • — ) Oj j)aia_j jooj wOioA_.| ■> yijj {J 01_li. l_3a_a_«..0 •. ;OLJ_to j "»n...^ ,1 vO. ^^io loiaui Ua*i j/f-<;oinA j/,j Jjq, -J — a. ^^iO lOUlU) jl"-)-! Pj . ]ioiQ_J 001 jooi ^O10A.j ooi . If— •J.' 001 jiaiaj (001 ^^oioA_.j .;. (ioioj 1 v^Vv^ . j v^\v\ jZj; ) ■ 1;^ VA (cutij i Vl \ 'l o •. jooi Olr^^ j ViNso •. jooi ^oioA»j oiX»> ^010 . jZJ ol!i*> _»^ov\ .:• "^^ |] olX .^OU ■. . .--no --> rr> I. ^| ^Ol ■. - ■''"" "^ t" ' j] ^olX .• ^oou jou^j jiio; Ji^-^QJ* ,ooi\ .■ j^> _J^ oX; ^01 . "1^ -; |v-.«^ . iv^.mv^. -. j;.Ci^. li.*o^ ^ jJo .• j;jao. JxaO^ ^ Po jooi j;nio JA\V) 0010 •:• o^Zj jovl^ ^ jjj 1^0 o . ^ ^ jjLc. .• j_oj ^; l-.;-.->^; 7-j I. — GEOGRAPHICAL PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. The Syriac, also called the Aramoean language, from Aram, the Hehrew name of Syria, was once predominant over a very extensive territory, and a Hebraic dialect of Syriac is supposed to have been the language chiefly spoken in Palestine during the time of our Lord; but Arabic has completely sup- planted it as the vernacular of Syria and Mesopotamia, and it is now only spoken by a iew obscure tribes in two of three confined districts. As an ecclesiastical language, however, it still retains its importance, and is used in the Jacobite and Nestorian Churches of Syria. It has likewise been for ages the liturgical language of a remarkable people in India, who, during a period of about fourteen hundred years, have preserved the name of Christians in the midst of idolatrous nations. Tliey dwell partly within the British territories, and partly in Cochin and Travancore, two states situated on the 42 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. Malabar coast, towards tlie southern extremity of Hindoostan, and in political depcndance upon Britain. In number tbey amount to 1 00,000 ; and although they have suffered severe persecutions from the Koman Catholics, especially from the Inquisition of Goa, they still possess a regular hierarchy, and retain fifty- five of their ancient churches. They were converted to Christianity about the middle of the fifth cen- tury by the Syrian Mar Thomas, who has been confounded by the Portuguese with the Apostle St. Thomas. But prior even to the time of Mar Thomas the Christian religion had been established in India, for a Bishop from that country was present at the Council of Nice in A.D. 325. Yet, although the Syriac language was introduced with Christianity among the Malabar churches, Malayalim has con- tinued the vernacular of the country. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Although inferior to most of the other branches of the Shemitic class in point of copiousness and variety, the Syriac is of particular importance and utility to biblical students, on account of Its close affinity with tlie Hebrew. Many words are common to both languages, and hence terms which occur but once, or of which the meaning may appear doubtful in the Hebrew Scriptures, often receive eluci- dation by reference to the mode in which they are used in the Syriac language. The roots of words in Syriac, as in the other Shemitic languages, are generally to be traced to tlie third person singular preterite of the first conjugation of verbs. But Syriac roots, while they resemble those of cognate dialects in consisting almost always of three, seldom of four letters, are perhaps oftener monosyllabic than in the cognate dialect; in triliteral roots the vowel being placed under the second letter, so as to form but one syllable. In grammatical structure Syriac Is closely akin to Hebrew. The adjectives, as In Hebrew, are remarkably few in number, but their deficiency is supplied by other parts of speech, which take their place, and perform their office. The superlative degree Is often formed by the dupli- cation of the positive. Pronouns are generally expressed by certain particles called affixes, placed at the end of nouns, verbs, or other particles, and wltli which they are so Incorporated as to form but one word, as in other Shemitic languages. But there is in Syriac a double use of the pronoun ; somewhat like the same peculiarity in the Coptic, Ethlopic, and Georgian languages. The system of conjugation is conducted upon the same plan as the Hebrew. Verbs expressing modification of a primary idea are connected la conjugation, and are considered to form collectively one entire and perfect verb. In Syriac there are eight forms of conjugations of verbs, of which four have an active, and four a passive, and sometimes a reciprocal signification. The alphabetical characters in Syriac are the same in number as the Hebrew, but differ considerably In form. The Estrangelo Syriac characters are evidently of the same origin as those on the Inscriptions found at Tadmor or Palmyra. There are several MSS. extant written In this character, some of which are as ancient as the sixth century. The rectilinear character, that Is, a character written with a continuous straight connecting line. Is now commonly used In our printed Syriac books, and Is a modification of the Estrangelo, bearing the same relation to it as the modern Greek and Latin characters do to the imcial. Another mode of writing Syriac, peculiar to a sect in Syria called Christians of St. John the Baptist, Is the Zabian, Sabaean, or Mendasan; the conso- nants are formed In the usual way, but the vowels instead of being represented by points above and below the line, are denoted by strokes fastened to the letters, as In Ethlopic. III. — STRIAC VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. Several very ancient Syriac versions are still extant, and are of considerable service In the eluci- dation of difficult passages of Scripture, because in time, place, and modes of thinking, the translators were closely approximated to the inspired writers. Of these versions the most ancient and the most Important is called the Peshito (signifying clear, literal, exact), on account of its strict fidelity to the text. The period at which this version was made has been much disputed : by some the translation of the Old Testament of this version has been referred to the age of Solomon, while various other traditions have ascribed the translation to Asa, priest of the Samaritans, and to the Apostle Thaddeus. Class II.] SYRIAC. 43 Eplirem, the Syrian, who wrote in tlie middle of the fourth century of the Cliristian era, speaks of it as a work in general use, and there are reasons for believing that the whole version was completed by the close of the first or commencement of the second century ; at any rate we have proof that it was in common use in the year 350 A.D. The disparity of style apparent in different parts of the version has led to the belief that several persons were engaged in its execution. The translation of the Old Testa- ment seems to have been made immediately from the Hebrew, but with occasional reference to the Septuagint and to the Chaldee Paraphrases. This version is more particularly valuable on account of its being more ancient than any Hebrew MS. now in existence. It contains all the canonical books of the Old Testament, but not the Apocrypha. The Peshito version of the New Testament was made from the original text, as appears from the frequent occurrence of Greek words; the Greek codex used for the translation belonged to no known family of MSS., but many of the readings agree with the quota- tions from the Testament in the writings of the earlier fathers of the Church. It is rather singular that in all ancient MSS. of this version, four epistles, namely, the second epistle of Peter, the second and third of John, and that of Jude, and likewise the book of Eevelation, are wanting; they also want the story of the woman taken in adultery, John 8, and 1 John 5. 7. Pococke found the four missing epistles in a MS. belonging to the Bodleian Library, and the younger Scaliger obtained possession of a MS. of the Revelation; the Epistles were published by Pococke in 1630, and the Apocalypse by De Dieu in 1627: these have been ever since appended to the Peshito in printed editions, but evidently do not belong to that ancient version, being vastly inferior to it in point of purity, style, and fidelity. The Peshito version was not known in Europe till A.D. 1552, when Moses of Mardin was sent in the name of the Syrian Church to Rome, to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope, and to request that an edition might be printed of their ancient Scriptures. The late Mr. Rich travelled in central Asia in search of ancient ilSS. : he discovered in Assyria in all fifty-nine Syriac MSS., now deposited in the British Museum; they afford abundant evidence of the general integrity of our received text of the Peshito. Next in antiquity to the Peshito, but considerably inferior to it In elegance and accuracy of diction, if superior to it in servile llterality, is the Phlloxenian version, so called from having been executed under the auspices of Philoxenus, Bishop of HierapoHs in Syria, by Polycarp, A.D. 488 — 518. The Phlloxenian version was revised and collated with Alexandrine MSS. by Thomas of Harclea, a.d. 616; and this revision was published by Professor White, at Oxford, in 1778. There are also three other ancient Syriac versions; namely, 1. The Karhipkensian, which is little more than a recension of the Peshito made towards the end of the tenth century by David, a Jacobite monk of Mesopotamia, for the especial use of the ]\IonophysIte, or Jacobite Christians. It derives its name either from a Syriac word signifying the head, and also the summit of a mountain (Karkupho), or from a town in Mesopotamia. 2. The Palestine- Syriac, or Syrian translation of Jerusalem, of unknown date, of which the portions still extant, consisting of a greater part of the Gospels, are preserved in MS. in the Vatican Library. It was discovered, and a portion of the text edited, as a specimen, by Professor Adler, about the latter part of the eighteenth century. In language and written characters it differs from common Syriac, and approaches the dialect formerly spoken at Jerusalem. It is supposed to belong to the fifth century, and to have been made from the Greek text; its readings generally coincide with those of the Western recension. It is valued on account of its correctness, and Professor Scholz in his last edition of the New Testament has given readings from it. The story of the woman taken in adultery, which is wanting; in the Peshito and the Phlloxenian or Harclean, is found amonir the frarrments of this version. 3. The Syro-Estrangelo, or Syriac- Hexaplar version, which is a translation of Origen's Hexaplar edition of the Septuagint; it was executed by an unknown author in the beginning of the seventh century, and closely adheres to the Septuagint throughout. The first portion of the Syriac Scriptures committed to the press was the Peshito New Testament, printed in quarto, at Vienna, 1555: copies of this edition are now of considerable rarity. The entire Syriac Scriptures were inserted in Le Jay's Polyglot Bible in 1645. and in Walton's Polyglot. 1657- In 1667, iEgidlus Gutbirius 44 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. published at Hamburgh an edition of the Syriac Testament, with a Lexicon, in one volume, 12 mo. When Dr. Buchanan, in 1806, visited the Syrian Christians in India, he found several important MSS. of great antiquity, which he brought with hira to England. The last years of his useful and laborious life were devoted to the preparation of a printed edition from these MSS., and he died, so to speak, with tlie sheets of the Syriac Testament in his hands. A short time prior to his decease, he was walking with a friend in the churchyard at Clapham, and he entered into a minute account of the plan he had pursued in preparing the Syriac text. Suddenly he stopped and burst into tears: as soon as he had recovered his self-possession, he said to his friend — " Do not be alarmed, I am not ill, but I was completely overcome with the recollection of the delight with which I had engaged in the exercise. At first I was disposed to shrink from the task as irksome, and apprehended that I should find even the Scriptures pall by the frequency of this critical examination. But so far from it, every fresh perusal seemed to throw fresh light on the Word of God, and to convey additional joy and consolation to my mind." The four Gospels and Acts were printed, in 1815, at Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, under the eye of Dr. Buchanan. At his death, the British and Foreign Bible Society, for whom the work had been originally undertaken, appointed Dr. Lee, of Queen's College, Cambridge, to complete the New Testament. This was the first introduction of this great orientalist to the Committee. Dr. Lee objected to Dr. Buchanan's omission of the vowel points, and to his use of the European, instead of the Syriac system of grammatical pronunciation; and upon these and other representations, the Bible Committee agreed that the whole work should be commenced anew imder Dr. Lee's super- intendence, and that the Gospels and Acts edited by Dr. Buchanan should be cancelled. Dr. Lee adopted the very accurate text published by Leusden and Schaaf in 1717, as the standard text, and introduced emendations from various MSS. The New Testament left the press in 1816. In 1823, Dr. Lee edited the Syriac Old Testament, under the patronage of the Church Missionary, and at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In preparing this work, he took the version of the Polyglots as his text, and collated the MS. brought by Dr. Buchanan from India, a MS. belonging to Dr. A. Clarke, and a MS. of the Pentateuch in the Library of New College, Oxford. In 1826 the Bible Society published an entire edition of the Syriac Scriptures, the Old Testament being from the text of 1823. In 1829, a Peshito New Testament, in 12mo., was edited by the late Mr. William Greenfield for the Publishers of this work, from the text of Widmansted, 1555, with the book of Kevelation and the Epistles, described above as being wanting in the Peshito version, supplied, as in previous editions, from the publications of Pococke and De Dieu. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Two great results have followed from the early, though limited, circulation of this version in India. First, the integrity of our Western copies of Scripture has been firmly established by the fact of their having been ascertained, on critical examination, to correspond in all important points with the ancient and independent MSS. that had for ages been buried, so to speak, in the East. Secondly, the assumptions of the Church of Rome as to the antiquity of her usages are clearly disproved, by the rejection of Romish dogmas and observances by a Church that was among the first to receive, and among the most zealous to preserve, the oracles of God. Here, indeed, as Bishop Wilson justly remarked, " is an ancient Church, knowing nothing of the pretended supremacy of Rome, nor of her peculiar dogmas, but standing a witness, in addition to the primitive Churches in Haut-Dauphine and the valleys of Piedmont, to the pur€ Gospel of Christ; and thus demonstrating the comparative novelty of the superstitious doctrines and usages, and, indeed, of all the assumptions of the Church and Court of Rome — a testimony in a day like tlie present of no little value." The boon conferred upon the Syrian Churches in the multiplication of copies of Scripture by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the editions of 1815, 1816, and of subsequent years, has been duly appreciated by them; and the Missionaries relate, that in several instances, the never failing result of the conscientious study of the Class II.] S YRI AC — S YRO-CH ALD AI C. 45 Scriptures has been manifested, by the subs"titution of vital godliness for a merely outward orthodox profession. SYRIAC IN HEBREW CHARACTERS. The Syriac New Testament in Hebrew characters was printed for the benefit of the Chasidim and Gibalistic Jews of Poland, Constantinople, and the East. It was published in 1837, by the London Society for the Conversion of tlie Jews. The Syriac Pcshito had previously appeared in Hebrew characters in the fifth part of the Antwerp Polyglot. Before, however, tlie printing of the Antwerp Polyglot, Immanuel Tremcllins had used Hebrew characters in his edition of the Syriac New Testament. He did this in consequence of there not being, at that time, any place where Syriac types were obtain- able excepting Vienna. De la Boderie and others have used Hebrew letters in their editions. S YHO-CH ALD AIC AND MODERN SYRIAC. FOR SPECIMEN OF TKE SYEO-CHALDAIC VERSION IN THE ESTEANGELO CHARACTER, SEE Plate 3, page 20. I. PEOPLE FOB WHOM THIS EDITION IS DESIGNED. The Syriac language is written in Nestorian characters, by a professedly Christian people, of whom some are entrenched among tlie mountains of Assyria, and others settled in the adjacent plain of Ooroomiah, in West Persia, between 36° and 39° north latitude, and 43° and 46° east longitude: they are supposed to amount, in point of number, to about 200,000 souls. They are sometimes called Chalda:ans, or East Syrians, from the country they inhabit; but they are more commonly known by the name of Nestorians, which latter appellation, they contend, is not derived from the celebrated Nestorius, who was condemned at the third Council of Ephesus, but from Nazareth, the city of Mary. It is said that they originally fled from the Roman empire, during persecution in the reign of Justinian, and that they placed themselves under the protection of the king of Persia, who assigned them an abode in his dominions. They then consisted of 50,000 families, headed by fifty bishops, and the family of the bishop who then held precedence over the rest, still retains the principal civil and ecclesiastical power. During the severe persecutions wliich they subsequently suffered from the ]\Iohammedans, they were driven to their present impregnable abodes. Their religious tenets are less corrupted than those of most oriental churches.* They seem never to have practised image worship nor auricular confession; and so great is their antipathy to popery, that they have a singular and most • A modem visitor of these interesting people observes, " tlie happy moral influence of Christianity could not be more plainly manifested than in the change of manners immediately observable in the country we had now entered, and which presented itself with the more force from its contrast with the suUen ferocity of the Mohammedans. The kind, cordial manners of the peojile, and the great respect paid to their clergy, were among the first-fruits of that influence which showed themselves." Again : " the Chalda;an church neither inculcates seclusion nor celibacy among its clergy ; its only purification is fasting, so strongly enjoined to aU Christians," etc. — Ainsworth, ' Visit to the Chal- da!ans, in the summer of 1841,' Journal of Royal Geographical Society, vol. xi. Several American missionaries are stationed in the town of Ooroomiah, or Urumiyah, near the western shore of the lake of that name. 46 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. anti-cliristian custom of cursing the Pope regularly evdty day, his grandfather, grandmother, and grandchildren. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The language generally denominated the Syro-Chaldaic, or Nestorian, differs in no respect from the Syriac, unless it be, indeed, in the occasional variation of one or two grammatical forms, and a difference in the pronunciation of the vowels. Thus a Syro-Chaldaic book, if transcribed in Syriac characters, would be pure Syriac. The Chaldean priest at Khosrova had a copy of the Pentateuch which he had caused to be transcribed, word for word, from the Syriac of Walton's Polyglot, only substituting the Nestorian for the Syriac characters; and it was ascertained beyond doubt by the missionaries, that the language of this Pentateuch was perfectly identical with that of the Church books in common use among the Nestorians. The Nestorian characters may be said to be almost the same as the ancient Estrangclo, only slightly modified in form; they are very clear and agreeable to the eye, and missionaries stationed in the country, who have been afflicted with ophthalmia, and thereby deprived of the power of reading English type without pain, have found themselves able to read with ease and pleasure books written or printed in the Nestorian character. The dialect at present commonly spoken among the Nestorians is a very corrupted form of their ancient Syriac: it aboimds in con- tractions, abbreviations, and inversions, and is adulterated by Persian, Turkish, and Kurdish words. In sound it is even harsher than the Armenian. It still, however, retains its character as a Shemitic dialect; many Arabic and Hebrew words are discoverable in it; and it is rather remarkable, that the Nestorians and the Jews settled in adjacent villages are able to converse together, although the dialect spoken by the Jews is a barbarised form of Hebrew, altogether distinct from the vernacular of the Nestorians. III. — EDITIONS OF SCRIPTURE IN THIS LANGUAGE. Several ancient MSS. of Scripture have been found in the possession of the Nestorians, which from time to time have been brought to Europe. Dr. Wolff, during his travels in 1826, purchased of the Nestorians several MSS. of various portions of their Bible; these he brought safely to England, although on two several occasions he very narrowly escaped shipwreck. The MSS. became the property of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, and the Committee lent them to the British and Foreign Bible Society for publication. An edition of 2000 copies of the Syro-Chaldaic Gospels was accordingly printed by the latter Society, under the editorship of T. P. Piatt, Esq., and those passages in which the MSS. were deficient were supplied from the Syriac version; for Mr. Piatt had ascertained, on critical examination, that the Syro-Chaldaic text was identical, or nearly so, with the Society's Syriac version, the character only being different. The types were cast for the purpose by Mr. Watts, and the edition left the press in 1829. This, however, was not the first time that Syriac had been printed in Nestorian characters, for a Syriac liturgical work, called Missale Chaldaicum, con- taining the selections from the Gospels and Epistles read on Sundays and Festivals, was published in these characters in 1767 at Kome, accompanied by an interpretation in Carshun. The missionaries now among the Nestorians are said to be engaged in the elaborate preparation of a Syro-Chaldaic Old Testament, in which they take the ancient and valuable Syriac version, the Peshito, as their text. An edition of the Scriptures has been projected by the Christian Knowledge Society, from valuable MSS. collected at the cost of the Society in Mesopotamia: but little, if any, progress seems as yet to have been made in the publication of this important work. Mr. Perkins, of the American Board of Missions, commenced, in 1836, a translation from the ancient or ecclesiastical language, into the modernised corrupt dialect now vernacular among these people. The Gospels, and several tracts and books, together with a monthly paper, have issued from the press at Ooroomiah ; and more recently an edition of 1500 copies of the entire Bible, translated from the Hebrew, in modern Nestorian, with the Syriac in parallel columns, has been completed. Class II.] S YRO-CH ALD AIC. 47 IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Dr. "Wolff, of the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews, travelled, in 1826, among tlie Nestorian churches, and had frequent interviews with the priests and people. He found them, as they themselves admitted, in a wild and imcivilised state; but when questioned on the cause of their want of civilisation, they acknowledged it to be the result of their lamentable destitution of copies of the Scriptures. They had no printed copies whatever, and the MSS. were extremely scarce, and never found in the hands of the common people. " But," said they, " we have heard that the English are able to write a thousand copies in one day: would they not write for us several thousand copies, and send them to us? we become wild like Kurds, for we have so few copies of the Bible. The English have written those of the Jacobites (in Syriac characters) which we cannot read generally, why should they not write these of ours?" The expectations and desires of these simple people were realized; and soon after they had been put in possession of the Gospels by the British and Foreign Bible Society, tlie divine seed sprang up and bore fruit to the glory of God. The missionaries of the American Board of Missions who have for some years been labouring among them, give the following account of them: " The light of lieavenly truth is rapidly pervading the mass of tlie people, many of whom appear like a person awakened from a deep sleep, unconscious of the darkness in which he has been enveloped, and are inquiring how it is that they have been kept so long in ignorance and self-delusion. To this their priests reply, 'We ourselves, till now, have been dead in trespasses and sins; and our criminality is even greater than yours for having liidden the light so long." The following and later testimony is to the same purport. " The other day (writes Mr. Barker, in 1853), an American missionary, who had been residing sixteen years at Ooroomiah, communicated to me most interesting accounts of the state of things in that part of the world. In the whole of that district tlie American missionaries have full liberty to preach in all the Nestorian churches; the Patriarch, who lives in the mountains, no longer opposing the reformation which is taking place among his people, and his brother is a member of the American Mission. All the churches have been divested of all their pictures, crosses, etc., leaving their walls completely bare, as in Protestant places of worship. The pious Nestorians have marked out all the objectionable portions of their Liturgy, such as prayers of intercession to the Virgin, Saints, etc., and omit them in their devotions. In the Ooroomiah district, there are 80 schools entirely under the control of the missionaries, amongst which are some for male and female adults." 48 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. AE AB I C. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14.* 4 ^'U jy]lj * u-^\ jy ^ ^Mj i'M u^ ^ *J^^J^J^.(^ 'j^.i u^ ^ J^\ J$3 ^. ^^^1 Jcsll jyll t^l^ *jy^ ^^ Jj jyJ^ >^ c;^. |J * ^^ J^^ u^^ -_^ i4j«j Uiv '-r'^^ ij^ L/>i^l '^>:^=*-J^^ J-*^ ^->^?5^ ^'^^ ^\}i ^ I. — PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. It is almost impossible to calculate with any degree of accuracy the amount of population by whom this language is spoken. The population of Arabia itself has been variously estimated from 10,000,000 to 14,000,000 Inhabitants; but Arabic is also vernacular in Syria, in Mesopotamia, in part of Persia, in some parts of the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, in Egypt, in Nubia, and in Barbary. Arabic is also extensively used as the language of religion and commerce in Western, Eastern, and Central Africa, and before the missionaries had reduced some of the African dialects to writing, Arabic was the only written language known to the natives of that vast continent. As the language of the Koran, Arabic is venerated and studied from " the western confines of Spain and Africa to the Philippine Islands, over 130 degrees of longitude ; and from the tropic of Capricorn to Tartary, over 70 degrees of latitude." Its importance as a medium of communication between distant nations may be inferred from the reason assigned by the Rev. Henry Martyn for undertaking a new version of tlie Arabic Testament. " We will begin to preach," said that devoted missionary, " to Arabia, Syria, Persia, Tartary, part of India and of China, half of Africa, all the sea-coast of the Mediterranean, and Turkey, and one tongue shall suffice for them all." II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Arabic language, in its earliest and rudest state, was the vernacular of a few nomadic tribes who derived their descent from Kahtan, the son of Heber, a great grandson of Shem, and from Ishmael (tlie son of Abraham, by Hagar), who, by his marriage with a daughter of Morad, of the race of Kahtan, engrafted his posterity on the Arabic stock. It was spoken among these tribes in a variety of dialects, concerning which we now know little more than that the Koreish and the Hamiar were the distinctive appellations of the two predominant dialects. Mohammed spoke the Koreish dialect, and under his influence and that of his successors the other dialects insensibly merged into it. Hence the extraordinary copiousness of the Arabic language; the result, not of foreign admixture (for Arabia was never conquered), but of the gradual amalgamation of numerous dialects into one. Tlie language is rich both in lexicography and in grammatical forms. It has a complete, though simple, system of * Prom the Arabic Version published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1825. Quarto. Class II.] ARABIC. 49 declension; a stock of augmentatives and diminutives; thirteen conjugations of verbs, both in the active and passive voice; two genders, masculine and feminine; three numbers, singular, dual, and plural; and also a peculiar collective form of the plural which seems to belong almost exclusively to the Arabic, Ethiopic, and Aniharic languages, and is called the plural of paucity. There is, as in Hebrew, one article (al or el) answering in many respects to our English the ; it appears in many words which we have borrowed from the Arabic, as in Alcoran (literally the Koran), alcohol, algebra, etc. The particles are, as in most languages, indeclinable ; and are divided into two classes, the separable and the inseparable: the former are always used as prefixes, and the latter, though forming separate words, always precede the word they govern. The process of simplification which has ever been at work in the modification of all vernacular languages, has not spared the antique forms of Arabic grammar. There are as many distinct Arabic dialects as there are countries in which Arabic is spoken; and in these dialects the inflexions of case, the passive form of the verb, and the dual, have more or less dis- appeared. Words and phrases from other languages have also in many cases been introduced. The Moorish and Syrian Arabs, like the Maltese, have adopted a negative form peculiar to French and its dialects ; the phrase il ne vient pas is, in their Arabic, 77ia yegychi {ma answering to ne^ and clii to ipas). Yet, amidst all these local changes, the modern Arabic still preserves a close resemblance to the Arabic of the Koran, which is everywhere religiously upheld as the model of classic beauty and elegance. It is uncertain what alphabetical system was originally in use among the tribes of Arabia. About the time of Mohammed, a style of writing was adopted by the tribe of Koreish, called the Cufic, from the town of Cufa in Irak, in which it originated. It is evidently derived from the Estrangelo Syriac alphabet. In this character, which is clumsy and inelegant, consisting mostly of straight strokes, Mohammed wrote the Koran ; it was superseded in the tenth century by a character called the Nishki, which has ever since continued in use, not only among the nations who write the Arabic language, but also among the Turks and Persians. De Sacy has proved that this character is at least as ancient as the time of Mohammed. It appears that, about the period of the adoption of the Nishki character, three vowel signs were introduced, placed, as in Hebrew, above or below the line, according to the nature of the vowels. There are twenty-eight consonants, and to many of them a different form is appropriated, according to their position in words, as initial, medial, or final. III. — VERSIONS AND PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. It was in Arabia (as the district east of Damascus was then called) that the great Apostle of the Gentiles commenced his ministrations (Gal. i. 17); but Christianity did not, as in Syria and Egypt, become the established religion of the country ; and there are few, if any, very ancient versions of Scripture in Arabic. A version, of which no part is now extant, is said to have been made by Warka, the son of Naufel, during the lifetime of Mohammed ; and this fact serves to account for the deep know- ledge of Scripture displayed by the false prophet. The most ancient of the MSB. that are known in Europe seem to have been executed soon after the conquests of the Saracens, in the seventh century. Towards the middle of the eighth century, John, Bishop of Seville, finding that the Latin language •was falling more and more into disuse, executed a translation from Jerome's Vulgate into Arabic. The churches under the Patriarchates of Antioch and of Alexandria also produced translations in Arabic, at different periods, from their ancient Church versions. Printed editions of some of these MSS. have been published at intervals since the year 1546. The four Gospels were published at Kome in 1591, the translation being directly from the Greek. In 1616, an entire New Testament was printed by Erpenius, at Leyden, from an exemplar said to have been executed in Upper Egypt by a Coptic Bishop in the fourteenth century. The Gospels of this edition are substantially the same as the Roman text of 1591, but the Epistles bear internal evidence of having been derived from the Peshito, while the book of Revelation is a translation from the Coptic. The first Arabic version printed in England was that in Walton's Polyglot, published 1657. This version is merely a reprint of an Arabic translation of noted inaccuracy, published in 1645, in 5 50 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. the Paris Polyglot, but with the omissions supplied from one of the Selden MSS. The Pentateuch inserted in these Polyglots is said to have been first published in 1546, at Constantinople, by Saadias Gaon, a Jewish teacher of Babylon, and is an unfaithful and inelegant production. It is extremely paraphrastic, and though in general it conforms to the Masoretic text, it sometimes follows the Chaldee Targum of Onkclos, and sometimes the Septuagint. The other books of the Polyglot editions are, for the most part, by unknown writers; in some books the Syriac version is followed so closely, that, in the London Polyglot, the same Latin translation, with a few marginal alterations, answers both to the Syriac and to the Arabic texts. The Gospels of the Polyglots are nearly the same as the Roman and Erpenian texts, but the other books of the New Testament are apparently a translation from the Greek: they were printed from an Egyptian MS., and are supposed by some to have originally agreed generally with the Erpenian version, but to have been altered by the editors. Erpenius also published the Pentateuch in Arabic at Leyden, in 1662, in Hebrew characters, from a JIS. in the possession of Scaliger, and supposed to have been made by an African Jew of the thirteenth century. It is a direct translation from the Hebrew, to which it adheres so closely as to be almost unintelligible to persons unacquainted with that language. The version of Abu Said, from the Samaritan Pentateuch, has been noticed in page 38. An edition of the entire Bible, in three volumes folio, was published by the Propaganda at Eome in 1671. Forty-six years were consumed in transcribing and revising the text. It was undertaken by order of Pope Urban VIIL, at the earnest request of several oriental prelates. Sergius Eisius, the ]\Iaronite Bishop of Damascus, was appointed, in conjunction with other learned men, to collate tlie various printed copies with the original oriental versions of the Vulgate. The work was completed in 1650, but was subjected to a fresh revisal prior to publication, on account of its not being sidhciently con- formable to the Vulgate. An important edition of the Psalms in Arabic was published in London, 1725, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The text of this edition is attributed to Athanasius, the Melchite Patriarch of Antioch, and is valued on account of its fidelity. In 1727, an Arabic New Testament was published by the same Society from the text of the Polyglot, corrected by the editor, Solomon Negri. Although 10,000 copies of this work were printed, the edition is now extremely rare, for none of the copies were sold in Europe, and but few given to the learned. Two copies are preserved at Cambridge. A great part of the edition was sent to Russia, for distribution in the surrounding Mohammedan countries. An Arabic Bible is reported to have been printed at Bucharest in 1700, and the Gospels at Aleppo in 1706, but little is known of these editions in Europe. About the year 1811, an edition of the Scriptures in Arabic, from the text of the Polyglot, was printed at Newcastle. This work, projected by Professor Carlyle, was under the patronage of tlie Bishop of Durham, and the Bible Society lent assistance to its publication and circulation. It was afterwards discovered that the churches of the East, for whom this edition was cliiefiy intended, are scrupulously averse to the reception of any version except that which they have been accustomed to recognise. To meet their case, the Society, in 1820, issued 5000 copies of the New Testament from the only text which these churches regard as genuine, namely, that published in 1671 by tlie Propa- ganda: this was followed, in 1822, by an edition of the Old Testament from the same text, published under the eare of Professors Lee and Macbride. In 1819 the Society had printed an edition of 3000 copies in 12mo. of the Psalter, from the text employed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which text was likewise adopted at the celebrated press of the Convent of St. John the Baptist, on Mount Libanus. An attempt to produce a version of the New Testament in modern Arabic was likewise made by the Rev. William Jowett during his travels in Syria: he employed a learned priest of Jerusalem to commence a translation from the original Greek, (m tlie basis of that of the Propaganda: the MS. was completed as far as the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and sent to Malta, but never printed. The need of an improved translation of the Scriptures in Arabic, so long and so deeply felt by the Class II.] ARABIC. 51 Eastern Churches, has at length been met by the Christian Knowledge Society. Their agent, the Rev. C. Schlienz, relates, as the result of his personal observations in the East, " that the only two printed versions of the Arabic Bible (the edition of the Polyglot and that of the Propaganda) known in Egypt and Syria, were both regarded with rooted antipathy by the Llohammedans; the Polyglot chiefly for its presumptuous impiety in adopting the phraseology of the Koran, and for its inequality of style, and that of the Propaganda for its vulgarity and inelegancy of language." In 1839 the prepara- tion of a new Arabic version was commenced, by the direction of the Society, under the superintendence of tlie Rev. C. Schlienz. The first draft of the whole translation was originally made by Mr. Fares (admitted to be one of the best native Arabic scholars of the day), from the authorised English Bible, under the directions of the late Professor Lee, by whom it was afterwards, to a very considerable extent, cor- rected by the original Hebrew. The printing was commenced in London imder the superintendence of Professor Lee, assisted by Mr. Fares, the proof-sheets passing also in succession through the hands of a sub-committee of revision, consisting of able Biblical and Oriental scholars. Upon the death of Dr. Lee, in 1852, his place as principal editor was filled by Professor Jarrett, who, with the continued aid, throughout, of Mr. Fares, carried the work through the press to its completion in 1856. Thus an uniform version of the Holy Scriptures, in pure Arabic, according to the Hebrew and Greek originals, has at length been completed by God's blessing. Dr. Eli Smith, the well-known American missionary, stationed at Beyrout, had during several years prior to his lamented decease (in 1856) been laboriously engaged in preparing a new translation of the entire Bible into Arabic. A version of the New Testament in modern Arabic was printed at Calcutta in 1816, designed principally for the learned and fastidious Moliarainedans in all parts of the world, who, it was thought, might have been repelled from the study of Scripture by the antiquated style of former versions. This translation was made by a learned Arabian scholar, the unhappy Sabat, under the supervision of the Rev. S. M. Thomason. The lamented Henry ilartyn was deejjly interested in Sabat, and the production of his version; but he did not live to see it finished. A second edition was printed in London in 1825, under the care of Professor Lee; and a third in Calcutta, by the Rev. S. M. Thomason, in the following year: but the version has not been found generally acceptable in countries where the language is vernacular, and it has not since been reprinted. IV. RESULTS OF THE PROPAGATION OF THE ARABIC VERSION. Wherever the Arabic language prevails, there Mohammedanism is predominant; but among the followers of the false prophet, the Arabic version is gradually and silently effecting the purposes of God. Perhaps no one version of the Scriptures has been received in so many countries, and blessed to so many different nations, as the Arabic. In Western Africa, the natives, on first receiving the copies sent to them by the British and Foreign Bible Society, " were astonished that a white man should have written this book in their favourite language." The Rev. T. Dove, missionary at Macarthy's Island, writing in 1835, expresses his belief that many of the Arabic Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters, had been conveyed hundreds of miles into the interior of Africa. " I have seen (said the Rev. Jlr. Richardson in 1838) Moors reading our Bible in their shops in broad day, in the midst of business; . . . I have fallen upon these Moors by pure accident, and I have distributed many an Arabic Testament with my own hands among these devotees of Mohammed." " Even the sons of Kedar (says the Rev. Mr. Ewald) have heard the Gospel sound beneath their tents, and have often and-willingly bought the word of the living God." In Egypt also the Arabic Scriptures sent by the British and Foreign Bible Society were received with equal readiness, as is attested liy the Rev. W. Jowett, in his account of his mission thither, dated 1819. In illustration of the results of the dissemination of the Scriptures in that country, the Rev. Mr. Kruse, of the Church Missionary Society, writes from Cairo: — " Some few Mohammedans arc coming to mc, and in one or two I begin to hope the Scriptures are unfolding the true light. You will easily conceive how thankful I feel when I hear a Mohammedan relating the 62 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. history and doctrine of our Saviour. One, in particular, evidences that he has a clear knowledge of the Scriptures, and I really believe that he has received the truth as it is in Jesus." Abdallah, an Arabian of noble birth, was converted from Islamism by the simple perusal of the Bible. Wlien his conversion became known, Abdallah, to escape the vengeance of his countrymen, fled from Cabul in disguise, but was met and recognised at Bokhara by Sabat: Abdallah, perceiving his danger, threw himself at the feet of his friend, and besought him, by all the ties of their former intimacy, to save his life. " But," said Sabat, " I had no pity ; I delivered him up to Morad Shah, kintr of Bokhara." Abdallah was offered his life if he woukl abjure Christ, but he refused. Then one of his hands was cut oif, and a physician, by command of the king, offered to heal the wound if he would recant. " He made no answer," said Sabat, " but looked up stedfastly towards heaven, like Stephen, the first martyr, his eyes streaming with tears. He did not look with anger towards me ; he looked at me, but it was benignly, and with the countenance of forgiveness. His other hand was then cut off But," continued Sabat, " he never changed, he never changed. And when he bowed his head to receive the blow of death, all Bokhara seemed to say. What new thing is this?" JUD^O-AEABIC; OR, ARABIC IN HEBREW CHARACTERS. The Arabic Pentateuch, published by Erpenius at Leyden in 1622 was, as we have seen, printed in Hebrew characters. The necessity of printing an edition of the Arabic New Testament in Hebrew characters was suggested to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society as early as 1820, by a clergyman then travelling in the East. Nothing, however, appears to have been effected for the many thousand Jews in Egypt, Tunis, and the whole north of Africa, Yemen, Syria, and Mesopotamia (to whom the Arabic is vernacular, but who seldom read or write except in their own characters), until 1846, when the Bombay Auxiliary Bible Society commenced for their use an edition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, with the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Wilson of Bombay. As it was found impossible to carry on this work in India, the parent Society undertook an edition of 2000 copies, which they completed and published in 1847. Class II.] MALTESE. 53 MALTESE. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. [London, 1S29.] Fyl bydu kj-^net yl kelma, u yl kelma kynet nand Alia, u Alia kyn yl kelma. ^ Hydina kynet fyl bydu nand Alia. ^ Kolloiq biha sar: u myn ri,ajrha n{ejn ma sar, mylli sar, * Filia yl fiajja kynet, u yl liajja kynet yd-daul tal bnydmin : ^ U yd-daul jylma fyd-dlamijyt, u yd-dlamijyt ma fehmCdiu\. ® Kyn hemmae bnydem mybniU mn' Alia, li kyn ysmu Guan. '' Dana gy b' uiyhed bytq jyujlied myddaul, bya^ yl koll jeramnubih. * Hua ma kynu( yd-daul, yzdoe viybatit byiq jyiqhed myd-daul. ^ Kyn daul ta fiaqq claka, li qyaed juri lyl koll bnydem li gej f din yd-dynja. ^^ Hua kyn fyd-dynja, u yd-dynja nalili saret, u yd-dynja ma narfytuuq. ^^ Gy fy fiuejjgu, u nysu ma laqnuhiq. ^^ Yzdse lyl dauk kollliii, li laqnidi, taliora yl jedd ylli jsTru ulj^d Alia, lyl dauka, li jemmnu b' ysmu : " Li ma tuylduiq myd-demm, u la myr-ryda tal gysem, u la myr-ryda tar- ragel, yzdae mn' Alia. " U yl kelma saret bnydem, mymlia byl finynte, u byl Laqq, u naramar fostna : u rajna kburitu, kburia bfial tal mnysselua&du myl myssyr. Malta, the ancient Melita, is an island of the Jlediterranean, situated at a distance of sixty-two miles from Cape Passaro in Sicily, and one hundred and ninety-seven miles north of Tripoli in Africa. It comprises an area of only ninety-eight square miles, its greatest length being seventeen miles, and its extreme breadth nine miles: its population amounted, at the latest census, to 142,500. But, altliough so small an island, Malta has been the theatre of some of the most remarkable events recorded in liistory. Originally in the hands of the Phosniclans and Carthaginians, it passed, during the first Punic war, under the dominion of Rome. While subject to that empire, it was visited by the Apostle Paul, on his passage from Cassarea to Rome; and the creek on which he was stranded is called to this day " St. Paul's Bay." On the decline of tlie Roman empire, Malta was transferred to the Goths, then to the Saracens, and afterwards to the crown of Sicily. In the sixteentli century it again became renowned as the scene of the valiant exploits of the Knights of St. John. The island was presented to this order by the Emperor Charles V., and continued under their sway till 1798, when it capitulated to the French, but was taken by the English in the following year. By the treaty cf 1814, Malta was ceded to England. The religion of the Maltese is Roman Catholicism ; and it is supposed that there are scarcely 4600 Protestants in the island, including the British residents, who number about 4000. There are (or were but recently) 16,000 priests and friars, and it is believed that not a single member of the ancient order of knights so long the masters of the island Is now to be found there. The Maltese lan- g\iage is spoken not only in Malta, but also in Gozzo, a small island lying at a distance of about four miles off its coast, containing a population of 16,500 individuals. I. CHARACTKRISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Maltese would be a pure Shemltlc dialect, were it not alloyed with Italian and Latin words. It was thought by some, as for instance by the learned Agius, that the Maltese language was identical 54 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. with the ancient Punic or Phoenician. But Gesenius has demonstrated that it is a dialect of the modern Arabic, in which there may be a few words derived from the ancient language of Tyre or of Cartilage. It approximates closely to the Mogrebin, or l\Ioorish-Arabic, particularly in the conjugation of verbs; and most of its words are either Arabic or of Arabic origin. It resembles modern Arabic, in having no variations of termination to denote the distinctions of case, particles being prefixed to the noun instead of the ancient case-endings. In the Maltese alphabet the twenty-eight sounds of the Arabic alphabet are recognised; but with these are conjoined three other letters which never occur in Arabic, and which are principally met with in words derived from the Italian. The Roman letters are used in writing, Arabic characters being unknown to the Maltese. [Malta, 1847.] Fil bidu kienet il Kelma, u il Kelraa kienet aand Alia, u Alia kien il Kelma. ^ Dina kienet fil bidu aand Alia. ^ Kollosh biha sar ; u miiiii aayrha slieyn ma sar, niilli sar. * Fiha il haya kienet, u il liaya kienet id dawl tal bniedmin. ^ U id dawl yilma fid dlami- yiet, u id dlamiyiet ma fehmuhsh. " Kien hemma bniedem mibaut mn' Alia, li ismu Jwan. ' Dana jie b' shielied biesh yished mid Dawl, biesh il koU yemmnu bih. * Hua ma kiensh id Dawl, izda kien biesh yishhed mid Dawl. ^ Kien dawl tas sewa, li yuri lil koll bniedem li yiji fid dinya. ^° Hii kien fid dinya, u id dinya bih saret, u id dinya ma aarfetush. " Jie fi liweyju, u niesu ma laqauhsh. '^ Izda lil dawk kollha li laqauh, tahom il yedd illi isiru ulied Alia, lil dawka li yemmnu b'Ismu : " Li le twieldu mid demm, u la mir rieda tal jisem, lanqas mir rieda tar rajel, izda mn' Alia. " U il Kelma saret jisem, u aammret fostna (u rayna sebhu, bliala sebh li mnissel-wahdu mil Missier,) mimlia bil grazya u bis sewa. II. — VEKSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first attempt to translate the Scriptures into Maltese was made in the early part of the present century, by the Rev. W. Jowett, of the Church Missionary Society. He was assisted by Giuseppe Canndlo, a native of Malta; and in 1822 a small edition of the Gospel of St. John, with the Maltese and Italian in parallel columns, was published in London as a specimen of the work. The translation was so much approved by competent judges, that a version of the Four Gospels and Acts was printed in 1829, at the expense of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge: the Latin Vulgate, from which the translation had been made, was appended in parallel columns. Tiie Liturgy of the Church of England has since been translated under the auspices of the same Society, and they likewise printed, in 1847, the entire New Testament in Maltese. Class II.] MOGIIEBIN. 65 MOGREBIN, AFRICAN-MOORISH, OR WESTERN ARABIC. SPECBIEN OF THE MOGREBIN VERSION AND OF THE ORDINARY ARABIC SCRIPTURES. GENESIS, Chap. i. v. 1 to 8. MOOKISH ARABIC. pj) -.j^^ ^i J^ (J^^ ^^-j 1^ luJJill l::-JI^_j : ^U- i;jU- i^J\ # <> " # ^l^j : " * * bub t«)j -U.tf ijl^ fL^ ti^i^j An attempt has very recently been made to produce a translation of tlie Scriptures in the Arabic dialect spoken in all the states of Barbary. We have no exact statistical account of the amount of population to whom this idiom is vernacular. According to tlie latest authorities, the empire of Morocco (the largest and most populous of the Barbary States) contains about eight millions of inhabitants. Algeria, which is now a French colony, has a native population of two millions. Adding to these the estimated population of Tunis and Tripoli, and also vast regions to the south of Morocco, tlie whole amount of population to be reached by this dialect may perhaps be estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions. These millions of inhabitants are principally Moors, and followers of the Mohammedan religion ; but recent experience has shown that they are not inaccessible to the teachers of the Christian faith. After some difficulty, arising from the religious scruples of the people. Dr. Thomson (the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society) has succeeded in obtaining a translation of a portion of the Koran into the vernacular dialect of Barbary; tlie work was executed with much reluctance and hesita- tion by a Moor, and under the express condition that the fact of his having rendered this assistance should be kept secret from his countrymen. The object of this translation was, to enable the learned to form an accurate judgment concerning the idiomatic difference between this modern Arabic dialect, and the Arabic of the Koran. Dr. Thomson subsequently met with a Jew who, like all the other members of his race born in Barbary, spoke the vernacular of tlie country, and who also possessed the ability, seldom attained by the Jews, of writing in the Arabic character. Dr. Thomson employed him in translating the first three chapters of Genesis, and afterwards engaged him to produce a version of tlie entire Book from 56 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Ciasb II. the Hebrew, into African Arabic' In a letter dated Tetuan, December 1847, Dr. Thomson applied to the Bible Society for assistance in this undertaking, but it does not appear that his appeal has been successful. A portion of St. Luke was printed by the Bible Society in Berber. C A E S H IT N SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 ^ . en vi\n^ ocn ctl^^Sso . ctl::^ yjui^ ^ ot viNotSso . cn_iQXa25s ^ - ■, •^'^ u°> . cri-DJjl. ;a2ii, en V)\^J^o en viN^|.^ u^ J.^) JojiJ^o . uaaJLuI^ joj ujot cti)li^.*a^o . cn)jwu.^ ^Qj>iS • JQ-jf.!^ jCTUk^ cn»jCTT_<»l.ii >cn_aj.^ ^^o^ . »q.jJ^ ocn ^ x^o . otj^ o,X.n "^^^^ poi^pj cnQX:ii3 ^..3s \^\2i . ctiXtxoL ;q^ aiL't^ao ^^ctiL")^ oJSs . cn2;_x. /ii>. ,-_JO )Jo J_io» ^ pen d^iA^o . CTT^Qj25)-:3 ^^dxioa^ r'.*-^ • ^'^-^^^ <- ■ '■^ Jo;^-. ^ ]li\.^^£a '^o Ji:_QQ^»)^ cnviNnSso . cn^SJv ^ JOjJSo ^^oN ^^s^ cfuLi^o ^ (Jo ;a.^wJ^ wocn . CcLo cnviNi o^iooiaSs >^\i] ^ i_.j-^ »jwwa^ v_,j ^ioo JA^ • cnj.^>£) )_i_.|>o IoaSs The Carsliun, or Arabic in Syriac characters, is used (chiefly by members of the Syrian churches) in Mesopotamia as far as Bagdad, in ]\Iount Lebanon, at Aleppo, and in many other parts of Syria. It has been calculated that the number of individuals who speak Arabic, but use the Syriac character, ia about one million. A diglot edition of the New Testament, in which the Syriac Pesliito and the Carshun from the Arabic text of Erpenius, were ranged in parallel columns, was published in 1703 at Home, at tlie press of the College de Propaganda Fide, for the iise of the ]\Iaronite Christians. Dr. Pinkerton forwarded a copy of this edition from Malta to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1819. About eight years later, the Society undertook a new edition, and there being no suitable type in England, it was printed at Paris. M. de Quatreraere and the Baron de Sacy were the editors. An edition of the Carshun alone, and another edition of the Syriac and Carshun, in parallel columns, left the press in 1828. 1 A portion of this fragment is given above as a specimen, with the corresponding passage from the Arabic Scriptures, published by the Bible Society. Class II.] ETHIOPIC. 67 E T H I 0 P I C. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN. Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 q>^aHlh : 3»A : (D^f^l' : (DOh'i^f : ^A : tn :">»"? H.?»'n»-t= : ©"^ilKJ^-n f : Y^i : a)H>»TnA.lMl : J^AP : HY^I : a)?v'?"^'"ll, :>i90Hlr»i : : P1^ : rh^ffiT : (D' >»15 : (D/h^CD^rt : -flC^i' ■- A^kl^A : "hoo/hyO^ : (D'>»1' :: (D-nC.^'ifl : HCD-flT : X-A cra-?t- : JpnC»1' : o"X-J\ : f\tlVo() -. i^aqOT : ^ Tn-T : n>»Tr : -nCWT •• Yioo : YTA- : ^>kiro'5 : pf : -. a)AA.lMl : J^M : flC*» = ^^^ ow: rtoTjO-r i.eYvT : n>»Tr •.-nC'^Tr :: Ha>''Af i-nC^ii: »^*: H^nCtJ :AYrA-: ii-n^t ■■ H^o«R.>i : (D-flT : ^/W* :: (Dd^flT : t%A9" : U^°°Q '■'■ (D-flT : RMh : owR•^i : (D'J^A.MMI : ?i,T (DYI C?) == : flDUPOw- : M^A^Ii : (D'A-K = >»"lH./\'n(h.C = ^TTHV : A>iA : ftV" \. : nfion- :: ?\A : ?\,M. : ^xT"! : HS.'P* : a)?».>.9"«5.lI'K ■ ^^(D^ : HA";) : a)?».>»9D Awyn^-r : 'fl>»lX : ^kA : >k9n>»"lH.?i'n(h.C ■ TtDA^ "- a)(»'>»lJ : 3»A : M^P : t»l : (D 'i^^.- AOA.I : (DCM : fl'P'htlh : Yl"a -. fin/hT : t\(hR, : TthK" : AhH-lh : H^OA* >» : X:J : (Dqnill! : (DX-^'P :: I. — GEOGRAPHICAL PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. Ethiopic is called by the Abyssinians Lisana Gheaz or language of the free-born, because it was anciently the only vernacular dialect of all Abyssinia. About A.D. 1300, a family from the province of Amhara obtained possession of the government, and since that period Amharic has been the lan- guage of the capital and the court, while Ethiopic has become exclusively the ecclesiastical and written language of the country. As no measurements or surveys have been taken of Abyssinia, it is difficult to estimate its precise extent. It formed part of the ancient Ethiopia, and the Arabian geographers first distinguished it by the name of Abyssinia (from Habesch, mixture or confusion), to indicate the supposed Arabic origin of the inhabitants, and their subsequent mixture with African tribes. Abyssinia probably includes about 200,000 English square miles; it stretches from 9° to 15° 40' north latitude, and from 36° east longitude to the Ked Sea. Its probable amount of population has been estimated, though with little certainty, at 4,500,000. ir. — characteristics of the language. The dialect of the Himyarite Arabs, the ' O nrfpiTai of Ptolemy, still spoken under the name of EkhliUi on the southern coast of Arabia, is the parent dialect of the Ethiopic. Inscriptions in this ancient dialect, of which the characters bear a striking resemblance to the Ethiopic, have been dis- covered in South Arabia, by Lieutenant Wellstcd and others, and seem to show, by the coincidence of some letters in them with the system of writing in Sanscrit inscriptions of the time of Asochus, that the Ethiopic system of writing and of syllabification came originally from India. The Ethiopic possesses many of the characteristics of a genuine Shemitic tongue. It has ten conjugations of verbs, formed upon the same system as those of Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. In each conjugation there are two tenses, the preterite and the future; there are two genders, masculine and feminine, but no dual number. As might be expected from its origin, Ethiopic bears a close affinity to Arabic. According to Gesenius, about one third of its roots and primitive words exist in Arabic, and a large proportion 58 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. of the remainder in tlie Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. The Eunucli of Canduce reading the propliet Isaiah seems to establish this aflinity of the Ethiopic with tlic Hebrew. Ludolf, who first made the Ethiopic language accurately known in Europe, says, that "it approaches nearest the Arabic, of which it seems a kind of production, as being comprehended almost within the same grammatical rules, the same forms of conjugations, the same forms of plurals, both entire and anomalous;" and he adds, that " whoever understands Arabic, may with little labour acquire the Ethiopic." Unlike all other Shemitic languages, Ethiopic and its cognate dialects are written after the European manner, from left to riglit. There are twenty-sLx consonants and seven vowel sounds; but the vowels, instead of being marked, as in Hebrew and Arabic, by points above and below the lines, are indicated by changes in the form of consonants; so that a single letter in Ethiopic is equivalent to an entire syllable. III. — ETHIOPIC VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. A very ancient Ethiopic version of the entire Scriptures, mentioned by Chrysostom in his second homily on St. John, is still extant, but when or by whom executed is unknown. It certainly was not produced later than the fourth century. By some it is attributed to Frumentius, who, about the year 330, preached Christianity in Abyssinia, and was ordained Bishop of the country by Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, whence perhaps the dependence, still subsisting, of the Church of Abyssinia on that of Etrypt. In this version the books of the Old Testament appear to have been mainly translated from the Septuaglnt; in the Gospels, the translator seems to have availed himself of various i\ISS., and some peculiar readings occur: considered as a whole, however, this version may be said to correspond pretty closely with the Alexandrine family of MSS., as might, indeed, have been expected from the proximity of the countries and the connection between the two churches; for the Coptic Patriarch of Egypt is the head of the Abyssinian Church, and the Abuna or resident Bishop of Abyssinia is always appointed by him. The Epistles and Book of Eevelation belonging to this version are imhap- pily very paraphrastic; in other respects the Ethiopic New Testament is of considerable use in biblical criticism, as it shows the state of the text at a very early period. The entire Ethiopic Bible has never yet been printed. The Psalter, through some mistake erroneously entitled a Chaldee Psalter, was published by John Potken at Kome in 1513; and again, in 1657, it appeared in the London Polyglot •with various readings and notes by Dr. Edmund Castell. In 1701 another edition of the Psalter was edited by Ludolf, the celebrated Ethiopic scholar. In 1548 the New Testament in Etliiopic was printed for the first time at Eome, by some Abyssinian priests. This edition, afterwards reprinted in the London Polyglot, is very inaccurate; tlie MSS. used on the occasion were old and mutilated, and the editors filled up the chasms that occurred in the text by translating from the Vulgate. The subject of printing this ancient version was first brought before the Bible Society by a communication transmitted through the Edinburgh Bible Society, from the Rev. George Paxton of Edinburgh, con- cerning the spiritual state of the Abyssinians, and the scarcity of copies of Scripture among them. The British and Foreign Bible Society accordingly, in 1815, gave an edition of the Psalter, accurately printed from Ludolf 's edition, to Abyssinia; and as no correct printed edition had been ever issued of the New Testament, strenuous efforts were made to obtain authentic MSS. The only Ethiopic MS. of importance at that period, easily accessible in England, was a MS. of the Gospel of St. John, brought from India by Dr. Buchanan, and deposited at Cambridge. This was found on collation to differ from the printed copy in almost every verse, and its readings were evidently more accurate than those of the printed edition. With the view of inspecting other ]\ISS., Mr. Thomas Pell Piatt visited Paris in 1822, and collated the valuable MSS. belonging to the Eoyal Library; and in 1826, the Four Gospels were completed, under his editorial care. They were printed from a fount of tvpes cast at the expense of the Bible Society, from the matrices which had been presented by Ludolf, in 1700, to the Frankfort Library. The entire New Testament was published in 1830. In this edition, no one MS, was exclusively followed. The plan adopted by the editor, Mr. Piatt, was, as he himself informs us, first to prepare a correct copy from a MS. of undoubted value, leaving considerable space Class II.] ETHIOPIC. 59 between the lines; other JISS. were then carefully collated with the copy, and every variety of reading that occurred was inserted, in the space left for the purpose, beneath the corresponding words of the copy. Afterwards, these readings were subjected to a rigid examination; the reading which afforded the strongest marks of being genuine was retained, and the others were expunged. We are indebted to the Abyssinian Church, not only for the ancient and valuable version of Scripture just described, but also for curious apocryphal writings, such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Adam, the Ascension of Isaiah, etc., which have been found in no other Church; their date and origin are unknown. The Book of Enoch is by some supposed to be the book quoted in Jude 14 ; and although it has no claim whatever to be placed among the books of Scripture, it has excited much interest on account of its great antiquity, for it is supposed by Dr. Laurence, who has published both the original and a translation of it, to have been written about the close of the first century. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. From the peculiar character of the Abyssinians, and the strange mixture of Christianity, popery, and heathenism that prevails among them, few visible effects have as yet resulted from the publication of the Ethiopio Scriptures. The Scriptures have indeed been received with joy, yet little can be said as to any permanent change resulting from their perusal. " One day," said the devoted missionary, Mr. Gobat (now Bishop of Jerusalem), " I am all joy with the hope that in a short time the Abyssinian mission will be crowned with glorious success; the following day I am cast down to the very dust by the idea that all attempts will be useless: for the Abyssinians very generally yield to the truth, but it is only for a while; they cannot make up their minds to quit so much as one of their customs." Thus faith is tried for a time; yet the promise is sure, that God's word shall not return to Him void, and the day perhaps is near when " Ethiopia will stretch out her hands unto God." The Mission maintained for several years in Abyssinia was relinquished in 1842, but it is gratifying to learn that subsequent open- ings have occurred for the introduction of the Christian Scriptures into that benighted land. In 1856, a supply of Ethiopic Scriptures (together with Amharic) was forwarded for distribution in Abyssinia, at the instance of Bishop Gobat. 60 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. T I G E E. SPECIMEN, FROM St. MARK, Chap. ix. v. 9 to 15.* ^ Wer enter worred hom ker el ambar, hu mucker hom inder hi negger er sevvi zer reiyer hom negger, sliar el Wod der sevvi tennessar ker cl mote. ^" Wer liaz hom zer negger ov wost hom enter tiock hadda mis hadda munte marlet el tennessar ker el mote. "Wer tiock hu hom, Ber negger munte zer bel el sarfe tar Elias mussea fellermer. ^- Wer hu mellash wer negger hom, Elias be ack zer mussea fellermer wer hu melless coulu negger Uccar, wor coinha zer ter sarf ov el Wod der sevvi ender hu carl buze er negger wer sedded hu be yelhem ^yeavila. ^^Mai ane zer bel kar, Elias be Ack artou '^artehu, wer gevver hom zer delleyea ov hum com zu ter sarf ov hum. ^^ Wer shar enter mussea ov ariot hum, hu reiyer avviea mergavier cubhe hom, wer el sarfetart enter tiock mis hom. ^^ Wer shar shar coulu souart, shar enter reiyer hom ler hum ter gurrem hom, wer weiyer ov hum ignersar ^idnersar hum. t A term synonymous, or differing in orttography. ON THE TIGKE VERSION. In connection with the Ethiopic version of Scripture, tliat in Tigre requires consideration, for Tigre is little else than vulgar Ethloplc. The province of Tigre is the most important of the three divisions (Tigre, Amhara, and Shoa) of Abyssinia. It Hes directly north of Amhara, from which it is separated by the Tacazze, the largest ti'ibntary of the Nile. It has the form of an irregular trapezium, and com- prises about four degrees of latitude, and as many of longitude. During Mr. Jowett's residence in Egypt, in 1819, he superintended a translation of part of the New Testament into the vernacular of this extensive province. The person whom he employed to effect this translation was an Englishman, named Nathanael Pearce, a man of very eccentric character, but of extraordinary attainments in the dialects of the country. He had acquired varied and extensive information by constant wanderings through various countries; he had roamed through Russia and China; he had lived as a Mussulman in Arabia, and afterwards, for fourteen years, had resided as a Christian and a warrior in Abyssinia. He translated St. Mark and St. John; but as, owing to his restless habits, he had never acquired skill in writing the Ethiopic character, he was obliged to write his translation in Roman characters. He regulated the orthography by his ear, spelling every word according to the sound. His MS. is in the possession of the British and Foreign Bible Society; it has never been published, and its comparative value is still unascertained. In 1831, part of St. Luke was translated by i\Ir. Kugler, a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, and on his death the work was continued by Mr. Isenberg of the same Society. Competent native assistance was obtained, but it does not appear that any part of this version has been committed to the press. The natives employed in this work translated from the Ethiopia Scriptures, and their translation was afterwards revised and corrected by the missionaries from the Greek original. * From tlie Tigre Version by Mr. Pearce, copied from the Appendix to a Catalogue of Etliiopic Biblical MSS., by Thomas PeU Piatt, Esq. Class I[.] AMHARIC. 61 A M H A R I C. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 11 JsiU'E-'I" : 3»A: \m,-- 3»A9n : Yl /^TK^i-nih^C ■ H^^ : in^. - >»"IH.?k'flih.C9" : 3>A : in*:: :: ^tl : ?\ni1'^q" : Yl>»^H.^■n = \m^ :: /h^CD'T 7" : Pl'lCD' : •flC^'i : \l\d^ :: -nCWTT" : nCtlAOl :^n«5.A " Q0.A"99« : ^iTTFOh 9" :: rtO^ : in<: : Yl>»"lK?vn(h.C = PTAYI : fliro-"?" : P-fhTfl :: ^tl : A^nflVlC • "" '^ ■ A-rJC*i'J : A.anriVlC ••• U-A- : nC.ft- : ^l^-^ : H^^ :: >.C«'l' = -flC^IT : ?»^^A9n : : nC = '^'* : f^'h = A-nCWI: A."nrtVlC::>»a>'lt'V' -nCHI : iHii : Arid)- : U-A- : P •"lyn^. : (D£ it^AT" : AOnio^nKD- :: nt^AT" : iH^" t^AO^T" : HClV : Ifl :: «^ A9"9" •- ?\Aa)1'(D'9n :: (Dg = (Dlf'V : """1 :: (D'lf ^FT" : KAT'tnA'^T" :: AT1» nA-'l- : IhA- : "IT : flA^n : ll^l^O^ : P'^IK^'Ufti.C = A^^ : ^IfV : H^^ " Hfl aw: pany7ni,::Yi^7ii : (DIT : ^^It^A- : YlM*;! : <5.3'^U« ■-YlrtCD''?" : trofD^fi^:: nC : TJ : Yl>»TH.?i'nfh.C = TflDAJ^ :: 3'A9" : A";) : U"i : n?"*?" : fiR^.-- ^-n^.'* I. — GEOGRAPHICAL PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. Amharic is properly only tlie vernacular dialect of Amhara, a division or kingdom of Abyssinia lying west and soutli of tlie Tacazzc, and measuring about 112 miles from east to west, by forty in breadth. From the circumstance, however, of its being the language of Gondar, the capital, and the native dialect of the reigning family, Amharic predominates far beyond the limits of Amhara, and by its aid a traveller can make himself understood throughout Abyssinia. Amharic is also extensively used as a medium of intercourse with Negro and other tribes from the interior of Africa, who frequent the north of that continent. II. — CHAEACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Amharic is a degenerated Shemitic language, having to all appearance lost many of its original characteristics by admixture with African dialects. In grammatical structure it varies considerably from the Ethiopic, but above half the words are still the same in both languages. The Ethiopic alpha- bet is used in writing Amharic, but seven additional consonants have been adopted to represent the compound Amharic sounds. III. — AMHARIC VERSION OF SCRIPTURE. The earliest attempts to translate portions of Scripture into Amharic were made by the Eomish missionaries, but the date and comparative value of their productions are unknown, for the MSS. have never been seen in Europe, neither is it now known what has become of them. The Gospel of St. Mark was translated by Mr. Pearce, under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Jowett, and this MS., written in Roman characters, is now in the possession of the British and Foreign Bible Society. An Amharic version of the entire Scriptures, which has superseded all others, was commenced about 1810 by M. Asselin de Cherville, French consul at Cairo. After many fruitless inquiries for a person competent 62 SHEMITIC LANGUAGES. [Class II. to aid liim in tlie acquisition of the language, he was providentially directed to an old man named Abu Eumi, whom he eventually engaged to translate the Scriptures. " Imagine," said M. Asselin, " my surprise in finding in this poor old man a person master of the literature of his country ; a traveller wlio had penetrated the most remote regions of Asia; the instructor of Bruce and of Sir William Jones." Abu Rumi was well qualified for the work of translation by his acquaintance with Arabic, Greek, Persian, and several other languages besides his own. He executed his version under the immediate direction of M. Asselin; twice a week, during a period of ten years, they secluded themselves from all other occupations, and read together the Arabic version from which the translation was to be made. M. Asselin explained such terms as were abstruse, diflacult, or foreign to the Arabic, by reference to the original text, the Syriac version, the Septuagint, and various glossaries, but Abu Rumi also often found the key to them in the Ethiopic itself. In the early portions of the work, M. Assehn declared that he had often occasion to admire the patience of his aged companion ; but when they came to the Epistles of St. Paul, Abu Rumi's zeal began to cool, the difficulty of the task frightened him, he wanted to set oif for Jerusalem, and it was only by dint of time, care and sacrifices, that M. Asselin convinced him of the necessity of not leaving the work imperfect. It may not be uninteresting to mention that this poor old man, immediately on the completion of his work, executed his favourite project of visiting Jerusalem, and was cut off by the plague soon after his arrival. The version was sold by ]\I. Asselin to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Rev. Mr. Jowett was employed by the Society in carrying on the negotiation, and in 1820 he undertook a journey from Malta to Cairo to effect the purchase. The purchase money was £1250. The MS. was brought to England in 1821, and was read with much approbation by those acquainted with the language. Dr. Lee, in a letter addressed to the Bible Committee, dated 1822, says, " the work appears to have been executed with uncommon ability and accuracy. There is no attempt whatever to display the learning of the translator by any of that verbiage so common to all the languages of the East, but all is precise, easy, and natural." In 1824 the Gospels were carried through the press by Dr. Lee, Mr. Jowett, and Mr. Piatt, and in 1829 the entire Aniharic Testament was completed. In 1840 the Old Testament was published, and in 1842 an edition of the whole Scriptures. In superintending the printing of these editions, Mr. Piatt carefully compared Abu Rumi's edition with the original Greek and Hebrew, and inserted such correc- tions as seemed indispensably requisite, leaving a more complete revision for a future opportunity. A second edition of the Pentateuch was afterwards printed, in which, with the assistance of the Rev. C. Isenberg, formerly a missionary in Abyssinia, such a revision was to a great extent accomplished. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OP THIS VERSION. There are more impediments to the saving influence of the Scriptures in this nominally Christian land, than in many idolatrous countries. The moral and mental condition of the people is deplorable. Polygamy prevails to a considerable extent, and they are the victims of many degrading superstitions. All afflictions they attribute to the immediate influence of devils and of witchci-aft. The life of Mr. (now Bishop) Gobat was once nearly sacrificed by the prevalence of these superstitious notions; he was ill, and those among whom he laboured, and who were sincerely attached to him, instead of giving him assistance, crowded round him, some holding his hands, others his feet, while one amongst them was engaged in thrusting into his ears, mouth, and nostrils, nauseous substances which they called medicines. Yet the Abyssinians have not been found imwilling to confess the absurdity of their opinions when confronted with the light of Scriptural truth. They invariably bow to the authority of Scripture. On one occa- sion, a monk went to the missionaries with a very self-righteous air, but apparently very ill. The account he gave of himself was as follows: — " Being the son of a Governor," he said, "and somewhat at ease, I lived many years in sin. At length, my conscience was awakened, and I began to fear the wrath of God. My agony and terror increased continually; and I did not know what to do;" (for he dared not to call upon the name of the Lord, having never heard of the way of salvation by the merits of Christ,) " at last I determined to leave secretly my wife and my children, and all that I had, and to Class II.] AMHARIC. 63 retire into a wilderness wliieli was inhabited only by wild beasts. There 1 lived many months upon roots, taking only just as much as was necessary to keep me alive. As I could find no peace for my heart, I determined to stand in a river of cold water from sunset to sunrise; which I did for a long time. I next bound my ankles so fast with a chain that I have ever since been unable to walk without very great pain. Finally, 1 inflicted a number of stripes every day on my body, the source of my sins, till it was covered all over with putrifying wounds. This," he added, "has ruined my health, but I console myself witli the idea that I have done all this for God's sake." "When Mr. Gobat told him that all those self-inilicted sufferings were the result of ignorance and pride, and therefore sinfid, and that it was altogether impossible to find true relief by means of any expedient of that kind, he trembled for fear; but when some passages from the Epistles of St. Paul and other pai'ts of Scripture were repeated to him, which testify that by grace we are saved through faith, not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God, the poor man wns quite astonished, and cried out, " Is it possible? and can I yet be saved?" " I had des- paired," he afterwards said, "of finding peace with God: I determined therefore, if possible, to secure a good name among my fellow-men; and for that purpose I have been going about for some time, exhorting people to live better. But now I will read the gospel, and seek for the way of salvation in the Word of God." There are many other instances of the readiness with which the Abyssinians receive the testimony of Scripture. The learned Bishop of Jerusalem, by whom the foregoing narrative is recorded, says that when he first began to distribute copies of the vernacular Scriptures among the people, they evinced little desire to receive them, being afraid of being deceived. By placing some copies for distribution in the hands of the priests, these suspicions were removed, and people immediately came, earnestly requesting to be furnished with the Word of God. " If," continues he, " I had had some thousands of New Testaments, I could have distributed them to eager readers. I know some instances where persons have given all their property in order to purchase a copy of the New Testament: one man who had two oxen gave them for a copy of the Four Gospels ; and another man gave four oxen in exchange for the Four Gospels." In a letter addressed to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1849, the Bishop of Jerusalem instances a highly interesting result in connection with the Amharic version of the Scriptures. Writing from Jerusalem, his lordship says, " You will remember that, about two years ago, I asked for some Amharic Bibles, which your committee had the kindness to grant. But when the Bibles arrived, the Abyssinian individuals for whom I chiefly cared had left Jerusalem, and as, for a long time, I did not observe an earnest desire for the word of God among the Abyssinians here, I gave only now and then a New Testament, but no Bible; until, a few months ago, the very same individuals fiw whom I had desired Amharic Bibles, but who had since left for their own country, returned, with letters to me from the King of Abyssinia and a good number of the most influential men in that country, begging me to take the Abyssinian convent here and its inmates under my special superintendence. This, to a certain degree, as far as my power goes, I have accepted; and now I have the pleasure of informing you that, for several weeks past, all the Abyssinians here, to the number of above seventy, meet three times every day together, to have the Bible read to them by three of their priests in their own vernacular language. I cannot yet speak of fruits, but I have reason to hope for some." Later testimony from the same source encourages the hope that further openings will be speedily aflbrded for a fuller introduction of the Scriptures into that country. It appears that there is a dis- position on the part of the people to accept and peruse the Sacred Volume; and it is stnted that the present King of Abyssinia adopts the admirable practice of daily reading the Scriptures in the ver- nacular Amharic. We learn from the Keport of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the present year (ISGO) that an edition of 2000 copies of the Amharic version of the Psalms has just been com- menced, under the editorial care of Dr. Krapf, at tlie instance of the Bishop of Jerusalem. CLASS IIL-INDO-EUEOPEAN LAI^GTJAGES. A. MEDO-PERSIAN FAMILY. PERSIAN. SPECIMElSr, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14.* j ^-^ '^'■^ J * i/'-^^^j:'.'^ u^^.^ J '^^ (.Aij^ ij^^ ^y^ i (jijbljri- jl J LLS-l jl ^^l^J .^y J * AJJ^jT ijUjI ^/i..4w:lj ^liS" AJOj; ^LIjJ j AJyi^ Ijo- ^^''AJJy I. — EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The kingdom of Iran or Persia Proper (in Persian, Fars and Iran), lies between 26° and 39° north latitude, and 44° and 62° east longitude. Its inhabitants are divided into two distinct classes, the Taujiks or aboriginal inhabitants of the country (whose number has been estimated by Fraser at about 7,000,000), and the Ilyats or Eilauts, a collective name given to the nomadic tribes by whom a considerable part of Persia is occupied. The latter comprise perhaps a fourth part of the entire population of the king- dom, and have been estimated at about two and a half millions. Of these tribes, some are of Persian, and others of Turkish, Mongolian, AfFghan, and Arabic origin; the languages spoken in Persia are * From the Persian Version, by Henry Martyn, 8vo., published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1846. Class III.] PERSIAN. 65 therefore as numerous as the races by whom It is peopled. Turkish is predominant in the northern and western provinces, although the natives are likewise acquainted with Persian. The Rev. H. Southgate, an American missionary, remarked that in his travels through these provinces he never once found it necessary to resort to Persian in his conversations with the people. The Taujiks, whose vernacular is invariably Persian, form the main population of Fars, and of almost all the towns of Persia. But the Persian language is predominant far beyond the regions of Persia Proper. In India it is spoken at all the Jlohammedan courts; and it is, or was till very recently, the language adopted by the British Government in all judicial proceedings throughout Hindoostan. It is the vernacular language of the ancient Transoxiana, and indeed of the whole of Turkestan, now subject to the Usbec Tartars; in tliis country the Taujiks possess four independent governments in which pure Persian is spoken. Generally speaking, however, the Taujiks do not dwell together in corporate societies like other nations, but dis- perse themselves over the regions adjacent to their native land, and adopt the dress and customs of the dominant race in the co\mtries in which they sojourn. They are said to be scattered as far as Tibet, and to have been met with in Chinese Turkestan. In AiFghanistan they have been calculated by Elphinstone to number 1,500,000, and the Kohistan of Cabul is occupied almost solely by them. The religion of the Taujiks is Mohammedanism; but Soofeeism, or free-thinking, a species of infidelity akin to the rationalism of Germany, is extremely prevalent among them. The entire Moham- medan population of Persia, however, belongs to the Sheeite sect of the Mohammedan faith, which regards Ali as the legitimate successor of the Arabian prophet, and refuses to recognise the three caliphs who immediately followed Mohammed. There are also about 2,300 families of Guebres or fire-worshippers in Persia, and on the western coast of India there are about 200,000 individuals belonging to this ancient sect. Tliese Guebres or Parsces of India now form one of the most valuable classes of the subjects of Britain; their ancestors are believed to have fled thither when Persia fell under the Mohammedan yoke, and the books and sacred fire which they brought with them are still religiously preserved. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The origin of the Persian language dates from the invasion of the Arabs in the seventh century. Prior to that period, various idioms prevailed throughout the Persian empire, of which the principal were the Pehlvi, the Farsi or Parsi, and the Deri. The Pehlvi, rude and masculine in structure, was closely allied to Chaldee, and was the dialect of Media properly so called, while the Farsi or Parsi was the language of Persia Proper, and its sub-dialect the Deri was the polished idiom of the court. Modern Persian was gradually formed during the long dominion of the Saracens in Persia, by admixture of the Parsi and Deri elements with the language of the conquerors. But the primitive type of the whole Persian family is undoubtedly the Zend, a language belonging to the same stem as tlie Sanscrit. Con- cerning the period during which this ancient tongue was vernacular, history is silent; but it appears to have been the language of Zoroaster and of the Magi, and to have been once predominant in the west of India among the worshippers of the sun. Modern Persian, although greatly adulterated with other languages, still retains abundant evidences of its descent from the Zend. The numerous and iTnportant points of adinity wliich united the Zend with the Sanscrit, are not all obliterated in Persian. All the Indian words which occur in Persian are, however, characterised by their abbreviated form, and it is rare in this language to meet with an unmutilated Sanscrit term, for the final letters are generally cut off, and words of two syllables reduced to one. The Persian, like its parent the Zend, is more allied than any of the other Asiatic languages to the Germanic family; in fact, the entire fabric of the etymology of German and its cognate dialects is based upon the Persian. Of the 12,000 radical words composing the Persian language, 4,000 arc found with more or less change in the Germanic dialects, and a striking conformity prevails even in the inflections of these languages. The termination of the infinitive of verbs in the Persian is ten and den, the en of the German, and the et,v of the Greek. The termination of the plural in Persian for men and animated beings is the syllable an, corresponding with the plural C 06 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. termination n of the German. Comparatives are formed in Persian, as in German, by the addition of the syllable ter or er ; for instance, the Persian adjective signifying ^oorf, in the comparative forms behter, in German besser, and in English better. The pronouns and numerals in German and in Persian are also etymologically connected. With respect to the personal terminations of the verbs, the Persian sometimes follows the German, sometimes the Sanscrit, and sometimes the Greek or Latin forms. The future tense is formed as in English by the aid of an auxiliary, and the passive is formed according to the same analogy, by placing the past participle of the active verb before the different tenses and modes of an auxiliary. The affinity of the Persian with the other members of the great Indo-European class of languages is to be traced even in the particles of composition. The Persian a represents the Greek- privative a; and Von Hammer has not hesitated to say that this same particle also occasionally cor- responds in meaning with the Greek d-TTo and eVt, and the German an, ab and auf. The Persian la, he says is the German bey, and English bi/. The particle pes in Persian he considers equivalent to post in Latin, and the Persian negative particles ne and me, equivalent to the Latin ne and the Greek /xj;. Persian also resembles Greek, German, and English, in its power of compounding words; and in the variety and elegance of its compound adjectives it is said even to surpass these languages. The Persian adjectives are compounded in three ways; by placing a substantive before a contracted particle, by prefixing an adjective to a substantive, and, lastly, by adding one substantive to another. The com- binations produced according to these three forms are exceedingly numerous, and sometimes highly poetical : they are often used, especially in the plural number, as substantives without any noun being employed, and so melodious are they accounted by the Persian poets, that an entire distich is frequently filled with them. The great beauty of the Persian language consists in its softness and extreme simplicity; its style of phraseology is natural and easy, and capable of being reduced to few rules. In this simplicity of construction, in harmony of sound, in facility of versification, and in consequent adaptation for poetry, the Persian resembles the Italian; indeed it has been justly styled the " Italian of the East." It has been said that the crown of Persian literature is its poetry : the same perhaps is true of the Italian ; and in connection with the several points of resemblance between these two languages, both with regard to their present development and to their origin and early history, it is rather a striking fact, and a subject for inquiry to a psychologist, that a remarkable similarity of sentiment and imagery pervades the works of Persian and Italian poets. This similarity has been repeatedly pointed out, and the sonnets of Petrarch have been compared to those of Sadi. Another prominent feature of the Persian language is its intimate admixture with Arabic words and idioms. Turkish words also occur in Persian, but scarcely a line or sentence is to be met with free from some words either purely Arabic, or of Arabic origin. This, however, varies in different authors; and pure Persian is not overloaded with Arabic; in like manner as pure English is more " Saxon" tlian eitlier " Latin" or " Greek"-Enghsh. The peculiar forms of the plural called broken, imperfect, or irregular plurals, which characterise the Arabic and Ethiopic languages, are borrowed by the Persian; and Arabic syntax is sedulously studied by all who desire to write the Persian language with correctness. III. ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. The primitive alphabetical system of the Persian empire seems to have consisted of a peculiar set of characters called from their form arrow-headed, and cuneiform or wedge-shaped. Specimens of these characters have been found in ancient inscriptions on monuments of stone, and sometimes on bricks at Persepolis, and in the west of Persia. The efforts that have been made of late years in the study of the Zend, have tended to facilitate the decyphering of these inscriptions, the language in which they are written being an ancient and long extinct idiom closely connected with the Zend. The Persians since the time of the Saracen conquest have used the Arabic letters, which they write, like the Arabs, from right to left. Their alphabet consists of thirty-two characters, of which four are peculiar to their language: on the other hand, eight of the Arabic characters have no corresponding sound in Persian; CiAss III.] PERSIAN. 67 for instance the th of tlie Arabs is pronounced like « in Persia, just as the Polish Jews pronounce n : these eight letters are nevertheless retained in Persian writings, and are useful in showing the derivation of words, for they are seldom or never found in any word not purely Arabic. IV. — VERSIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. An ancient version of the Scriptures existed in the language formerly spoken in the Persian empire; but of this version, and even of the particular dialect in which it was written, we have little or no information beyond the casual allusions of Chrysostom and Theodoret. Christianity was early established in Persia, for Constantine the Great wrote to Sapor, king of that country, in behalf of the Christian churclies in his dominions. The Elamites present on the day of Pentecost doubtless carried back the Christian doctrine with them, and we are assured of a Bishop of Persia being at the Council of Nice. The oldest version existing in the modern Persian language is probably that of the Pentateuch contained in the London Polyglot. This Pentateuch is believed to have been translated by Rabbi Jacob, a Jew, who, on account of his having come from a city called Tus, was surnamed Tusius or Tawosus. The period of its execution is unknown, but it certainly was translated subsequently to the eighth century, for Babel in Gen. 10. 10, is rendered Bagdad. The translation is supposed to have been made from the Syrlac, but it follows the Hebrew pretty closely. It was first printed at Constan- tinople in 1546, accompanied with the Hebrew text, the Chaldce Targum of Onkelos, and the Arabic version of Saadias Gaon. The only other portion of Persian Scriptures contained in the London Polyglot consists of the four Gospels, supposed to have been written at KafFa, a town of the Crimea, about A.D. 1341, by a Koman Catholic. This translation is evidently from the Peshito, as is proved by many internal evidences, but it is interpolated with readings from the Vulgate, and even from Eomish rituals and legends. If it had been free from these glosses and additions, it ■would have furnished valuable aid in the criticism of the Peshito. Another edition of the Persian Gospels was commenced under the care of Wheeloc, Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, and at his death superintended by Pierson. This edition left the press in 1657. The editors used the very MS. from -which the Gospels in the London Polyglot were printed; and although they possessed two other MSS., of which one is supposed to have contained a version from the Greek, yet they confounded them all together, and appealed to the Syro- Persian text in the formation of their own. Le Long speaks of another version of the Persian Gospels, which he says was transcribed in 1388, from an original of much older date, and sent by Jerome Xavier, a Jesuit, from Agra to the Collegium Romanum. Yet it is recorded of this same Xavier, that at the request of Akbar, emperor of the Moguls, to be furnished with the Scriptures in Persian, he merely feigned compliance, and with the aid of a Persian compiled a life of Christ, partly from the Gospels, and partly from Romish legends, which, when presented to the emperor, only served to excite derision. This production was printed by De Dieu, at Leyden, in 1639. The next attempt to procure a version of the Scriptures in Persian was made by Nadir Shah. This emperor was desirous of procurin"- a translation of the Gospels, the Psalms, and the prophecies of Jeremiah, on account of the references made in the Koran to the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and with this view he summoned several Armenian bishops and priests, Romish missionaries, and Persian moollahs, to Ispahan. The Armenians, from their imperfect acquaintance with the Persian language, were unable to take any efficient part in the translation, the whole of which, in consequence, devolved upon the Romish and Mohammedan priests : between them they effected their work by the aid of an ancient Arabic and other versions, but it was dressed up with all the glosses which the Koran could warrant, and the Romish priests made such use as they could of the Vulgate. When the work was presented to Nadir Shah, he turned it into ridicule, and declared that he could himself make a better religion than any that had yet been pro- duced. If this story be tnie, the version sometimes found in the hands of the Armenian priests in India, may be safely conjectured to be the same as that of Nadir: a copy of this version was shown to the Eev. Henry Martyn, who remarked that he did not wonder at the emperor's contempt of it. 68 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. As the style in whicli the Gospels of the Polyglot are written has long been antiquated at Ispahan, several efforts have been made during the present century to produce a version in the polished dialect now spoken by the Persians. A translation of the four Gospels was made under the superintendence of Colonel Colebrooke, and printed at Calcutta in 1804. Our accounts of this work are very meagre, and it never seems to have obtained much circulation. In 1812 the Kev. L. Sebastiani had advanced nearly to the end of the Epistles, in a translation of the Xew Testament I'rom tlie Greek, and during the same year 1000 copies of tlio Gospels of this version were printed at Serampore by order of the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society. Sebastiani had been many years resident at the court of Persia, and his version was chiefly designed for the use of the Christians dispersed in Persia. In the meantime another translation of the whole of the New Testament had been progressing at Dinapore, under the superintendence of Henry Maityn. The translators were Sabat and Mirza Fitrut: the former had previously been employed in tliis translation at Serampore, and the latter by Colonel Colebrooke. This version was completed in 1808, but it was found to be so replete with Arabic and abstruse terms intelligible only to the learned, that the Rev. Henry Martyn determined upon visiting Persia in person, tliat he might tliere obtain the means of producing a clear and idiomatic version. In 1811 he reached Shiraz, the seat of Persian literature, and remained there nearly a year. He was received with much friendship by some of the principal men of the city, who expressed the warmest sympathy for the man of God, as they habitually designated our missionary. When the weather became too intense for his enfeebled frame to bear the extreme heat of the city, Jaliier All Khan, a Persian noble, pitched a tent for liim in a delightful garden beyond the wall, and here he executed from the original Greek a translation of the New Testament, remarkable not only for its strict fidelity to the text, but for its astonishing conformity to the niceties of the Persian idiom. By the Persians themselves this work has been designated "a masterpiece of perfection;" and while other Oriental versions have been superseded by more accurate translations, the Persian and Hindustani Testaments of this accom- plished scholar are at this day in higher repute than ever. On the accomplishment of his object, he found that his constitution had been completely shattered by the effects of the climate and extreme exertion, and he attempted to return to England, but expired during his journey homewards, atTokat, a commercial city of Asia Minor, in 1812. Copies of the work whicli had caused the sacrifice of his valuable life were deposited witli Sir Gore Ouseley, the English ambassador in Persia. One copy was presented to the King of Persia, who in a letter written on the occasion, expressed his approbation of the work. On returning to England by way of St. Petersburg, Sir Gore Ouseley met with P ince Galitzin, and it was suggested that the Prince, who was at the head of the Russian Bible Society, should cause an edition of Martyn's Testament to be printed at St. Petersburg, for circulation in the provinces of Western Persia. The impression was completed in less tlian six months, and consisted of 5000 copies. In 1813 a communication was received by the Corresponding Committee at Calcutta from Mcer Seld All, the learned native employed by the Rev. Henry Martyn at Shiraz, in wlilch, with many expressions of regret for the loss of his excellent master, he informed the Committee that the MS. of the Persian New Testament and of the Psalms (which had likewise been translated at Shiraz) was in his possession, and that he waited their orders as to its disposal. He was directed by the Committee first to take four correct copies of tlie MS., that no risk might be incurred in the transmission of so great a treasure, and then to forward the MS. to Calcutta, whither he was invited himself for the purpose of superintending the publication. The Psalter and New Testament passed tlirough tlie press at Calcutta in 1816. The Psalter was reprinted in London, under the editorship of Dr. Lee, in 1824; and the New Testament, edited by the same distinguished scholar, was publislied in London in 1827. This Testament was reprinted in London in 18.37; and an edition of 3000 copies was printed at Edinburgh in 1847, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in order to accompany an edition of the Old Testament, wliich, as we shall presently liave occasion to mention, was then passing through the press in tliat ciiy. Class TIL] PERSIAN. 69 Of all these editions of Martyn's Testament, tlae most incorrect seems to liave been that printed at St. Petersburg in 1815. This impression was so defaced with errors that the missionaries deemed it useless, and at their request the issue was stopped by the Russian Bible Society. The Rev. William Glen, of the Scottish Mission at Astrakhan, was in consequence led to undertake a version of the Psalms in Persian, for the benefit of the numerous individuals speaking that language who resort for purposes of trade to Astrakhan and the south of Russia. In preparing his version, Mr. Glen first made a literal translation of the Hebrew text, which he submitted, with due explanations, to liig teacher; it was then the office of the latter to give as exact a representation of the sense as possible in classical Persian: his production was then revised and compared with the original by Mr. Glen. In 1826, the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society made arrangements wth the Scottish Missionary Society for the services of Mr. Glen at Astrakhan, in making a translation of the poetical and prophetical books of the Old Testament. In the meanwhile, Mirza Jaflier had been engaged by the same Society to produce a version of the historical books of the Old Testament at St. Petersburg, under the eye of Dr. Pinkerton, and according to specific directions sent out for the purpose by Dr. Lee. The only portion of Mirza Jafiier's version which appears to have been published is the book of Genesis, printed in London in 1827, under the care of Dr. Lee. Mr. Glen's version of the Psalms and Proverbs was revised by Mr. Greenfield, assisted by Mr. Seddon, and published in London in 1830-31 ; the edition consisted of 1000 copies, and another edition appeared in 1836. The entire Old Testament, translated by Mr. Glen, was eventually printed at Edinburgh, under the auspices of the Committee of Foreign Missions connected with the United Associate Synod of Scotland, and the British and Foreign Bible Society contributed £500 towards its publication ; the edition left the press in 1847. In consequence of a grant by the British and Foreign Bible Society in aid of the translation department of Bishop's College, Calcutta, the Rev. T. Robinson (then chaplain at Poonah, but after- wards archdeacon) applied for the sanction of the Bishop of Calcutta to a projected version of the Old Testament in Persian ; and on Its being ascertained that the design fell within the terms of the grant, the translation was commenced In 1824. The Pentateuch was completed and printed at Calcutta In 1830, and In 1838 the entire Old Testament was finished; the translation Is from the original text, and is accounted faithful and accurate. A Persian version of the prophecy of Isaiah was purchased by the British and Foreign Bible Society, for the sum of £100, In 1833. This version had been executed by the Mirza Ibraham, of the East India College at Haileybury, and revised by Mr. Johnson, one of the professors of that College. The translator took the English Authorised Version fi)r a basis, and adhered to it as far as it expresses faithfully the sense of the original. Being well acquainted with both Hebrew and Arabic, he made It a rule to use in his translation an Arabic word of the same root with the original, where such a word had been adopted Into Persian; and In rendering the sense of diflicult passages, he first consulted our English version, then turned to the original Hebrew and compared it with the Arabic, and finally discussed the question with some of the members of the College, besides referring to several commentators. In 1834 an edition of this book was pubHshed by the Society, under the care of ilr. Johnson. In 1841 the attention of the Calcutta Committee was occupied In lithographing an edition of the Scriptures In the Persian character, a method deemed preferable to tlie former system of Arabic type printing. In 1842, 5000 lithographed New Testaments of Martyn's version left the Calcutta press; and In 1844, 5000 copies of Genesis and part of Exodus, of Archdeacon Robinson's translation, were also lithographed. V. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The work of distributing the Scriptures has been very extensively prosecuted in Persia: the portion which has there gone into widest circulation Is Martyn's Testament; and a recent traveller declares that this inestimable work has made its way by single copies into many houses in Persia, and that he found persons acquainted with it In every city through which he passed. The Scriptures 70 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. have not yet effected any general change in Persia, but individual instances are not wanting of their blessed influence. A writer in the Asiatic Journal states, that once, at a convivial meeting in Persia where religious questions were being discussed, he chanced to express his opinions with a considerable degree of levity. He was immediately afterwards startled by perceiving the eyes of one of the guests fixed upon him with a peculiar and piercing expression of surprise, regret, and reproof On inquiry, he found this person to be by name Mohammed Rameh, a man of great learning and high moral endow- ments; he had, it was said, been educated as a moollah, but had never officiated, and led a life of retirement. The writer obtained an interview with him, in which Mohammed avowed himself a Chris- tian, and related the history of his conversion in nearly the following terms: — "In the year 1223 of the Hejira, there came to this city an Englishman who taught the religion of Christ with a boldness hitherto unparalleled in Persia, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from our moollahs as well as the rabble. He was a beardless youth, and evidently enfeebled with disease. I was then a decided enemy to infidels, and I visited the teacher of the despised sect with the declared object of treating him with scorn, and exposing his doctrines to contempt. These evil feelings gradually subsided beneath the influence of his gentleness, and just before he quitted Shiraz I paid him a parting visit. Our con- V-ersation — the memory of it will never fade from the tablets of my memory — sealed my conversion. He gave me a book : it has ever been my constant companion ; the study of it has formed my most delightful occupation." Upon this Moliammed brought out a copy of the New Testament in Persian; on one of the blank leaves was written — " There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth. — ■ Henry Martyn." The Persian Scriptures have been likewise distributed in the countries adjacent to Persia, where, as has been above stated, vast numbers of people speaking tlie Persian language are dispersed. The following instance of the blessing of God on this version occurred in Hindoostan in 1844. " I am thankful to tell you," (writes the Rev. A. Sternberg), " of a Hindoo, who two months ago was baptized by me, having been brought to a thorough conviction of the truth of our religion onltf hy reading^ by himself, a Persian New Testament which he had got at Cuttack some months previous. He was a Kaith, and was well acquainted with the common creed of Mohammedans and its errors before he became acquainted with Christianity. In the commencement of the year 1844, he undertook a pilgrimage to Jagganath ; on his return he received a Persian New Testament from a missionary preaching in a Bazaar Chapel at Cuttack; but he did not touch it for fear. On his arrival at Arrah, he was obliged to stop on account of his wife's and child's illness. Now the time was come: he had leisure, and began to read his Persian Testament, and instantly he was struck with the truth of the word. Only one passage made him stop a little, the term ' Son of God : ' when liis Mohammedan prejudices on this subject had been removed, he applied for baptism; since that period," continues Mr. Sternberg, " he has shown such deep knowledge of all the principal doctrines of faith, as well as a thorough change of sentiment, that he was and is to me, who was very far froTn expecting to see a Hindoo truly converted, a most seasonable evidence of the mighty power of the written word of God. He has had no teacher; the reading of the Word alone has converted him. It is encouraging to find again the saying true, ' one soweth and another reapeth.' " Class III.] J U D .E 0-P ERSI AN. 71 JUDiEO-PERSIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. *^» n3 nxt mnp xn jxa'\x K'tjnsnna na njJi '^ t tj'njnsinfij |X5i''xi nax c^ij Tx ix^\x n'^im" :ij-nix |xa\s tJ'aDxa n^ ij-iin jxb'WI niic'n xn5 |xijn3 :m2 xij TX -nja n^'^n ninj ^:xds3 tynxiii ^jxaoj etixid txt tox'?5x {XT nnn xd x-nx ''^Jni nsij nxnp xa |x'a -n mc DDja na'?3 jxi" : nia tidxi") ^jxnnna tx isi iin ms 'njxo'' 'nno'XB' n^ mn *':)jn Kearlt all the Jews who are settled in Persia and in Bokhara speak the Persian language, which they are able to read and write only in the Hebrew character. The Eev. Mr. Pfander, when in con- nection with the Basle Missionary Society, made application for means to print the Persian Scriptures in ll'jbrew characters for the benefit of these Jews; but he was soon afterwards removed from Slnishi, in Southern Russia, where he was stationed at the period of his making that request, and, for a time at least, the project was in consequence dropped. In 1841, Dr. Hreberlin applied to some Christian friends for aid in imparting the Scriptures to the Persian Jews; and in reply he received from Herat a copy of ]\Iartyn's Persian New Testament, written in Hebrew characters, under the care of Dr. Login, who stated that the Jews had frequently asked him for the Scriptures in this form. Dr. Hasberlin laid the version before the Calcutta Committee, and they agreed to refer the means of printing it to the consideration of the Parent Society. Their application was promptly met by a request, on the part of the latter Society, to print an edition of 2000 New Testaments in this form ; and it was arranged that the edition should be carried through the press at Calcutta, under the eye of the Rev. Dr. Yates. The death, however, of tliat lamented missionary rendered this plan abortive; and in 1845 the Bombay Auxiliary Society transmitted to London IMS. copies of the Juda20- Persian Gospels, of which an edition of 1000 copies was completed in London in 1847, under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Bombay. 72 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. PUSHTOO. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. ^\ Hj i^jJJjJ j_^M^ Aif^ * j,j - jjU iJ ^AsLi y^])'^ j^, ^'^ ^J ^ j^ ij^ '^ y^ 1^/^ * Xi Jjj^" i^»'.> yil^ Ai^ j^ i^b j^j^y jAi^aJ Ij ai^ >V.j''^ "^ * i^^ .J^-VjI' c)^.^ tJ;J^ ^ ^^Ijo-j • iJoJj "tiiteJ jtfj! *JJj^ JjIkJ i_c_jj t^j.i. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Affglians, a warlike and semibavbarous nation, inhabit Affglianistan, a mountainous territory lying south and south-west of Hindoo Koosh. They are probably the Uuktoi mentioned by Herodotus. They call themselves Pushtaneh, the plur. o{ Pashtan, whence, by a corruption of the word, they are styled by the Indians Patans. Their language is termed Pushtoo or Pukhtoo. They received the designation of AfFghans from the Persians, by which name alone they are known in Europe. According to Elphin- stone, the number of AfFghans residing in Affghanistan, and within the limits of the ancient kingdom of Cabul, amounts to 4,300,000. In AlFghanistan itself, he remarks, there is scarcely any part in which the whole population is Affghan, the mixture being composed of Taujiks in tlie west, and of Hindkees in the east. Sir William Jones, and others, have assumed that the AfFghans are of Hebrew origin; but though this idea may at first sight appear to be countenanced by some of the AfFghan traditions, which represent them as lineally descended from ancient Israel, yet abundant proofs might be adduced from historical and philological sources in confirmation of the now generally received opinion, that this people are the aborigines of the region in or near which tlicy now dwell. Their religion is the Mohammedan, but they belong to the sect of Soonnee, who recognise the first three caliphs as the lawful successors of Mohammed. II. CIIAKACTERISTICS op the LANGUAGE. The structure of the Pushtoo or AfFghan language refutes the hypothesis of the Hebrew origin of the AfFghan people. It exhibits none of the peculiarities of the Shemitic dialects, but, on the con- trary, forms an important link in the great Indo-European chain of languages, ilany of the words are Persian, and some of the roots can be traced distinctly from the Zend and Pehlvi dialects, wJiile Class III] PUSHTOO. 73 others again are from some imknown source. Mr. Elpliinstone compared an Affghan vocabulary, consisting of 218 words, with the correlative terms in Persian, Zend, Pehlvi, Sanscrit, Hindustani, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, and Chaldaic; and he ascertained that in this collection of Affghan words, there were no less than 110 which could not be referred to any of the above languages, but appear to be distinct and original. Of the remaining words, by far the greater number were modern Persian, but some of these could be traced to the Zend, and many more to the Pehlvi; other ■words were proved to belong exclusively to these latter languages, not being employed in modern Persian. The instances in which a similarity was traced between the Affghan and the Sanscrit and Hindustani words, are to be accounted for by the connection which, as we have elsewhere noticed, originally subsisted between the Zend and Sanscrit languages. Most of the terms relative to science, government, and religion, have been engrafted on the Pushtoo language from the Arabic, through tlie Persian. In its grammatical forms, Pushtoo is more closely allied to Zend than to Persian, and in its inflections it retains some of the features of that ancient language which are lost in Persian. In its conjugation it leans to the Persian; but in the declension of nouns, the influence of Hindustani is at once perceptible. Although Pushtoo is said not to be unpleasing to those who are accustomed to the rough sounds of some Oriental tongues, it is decidedly harsh and vmpolished, and contrasts strongly in this respect with the soft and musical language of Persia. The AfFghans use the Persian alphabet, but they have altered the sound of several of the letters, which changes they indicate by means of diacritical marks appended to the letters which in Persian approach the nearest in sound to their own peculiar enunciation: these distinctive sounds are the hard d, t, r, and csh, III. — VERSIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. The first attempt to produce a Pushtoo version of Scripture seems to have been made by Dr. Leyden, who in 1811 furnished the Corresponding Committee of Calcutta with a translation of the Gospels of St. JIatthew and St. Mark. At his death the translation was continued by the Serampore Missionaries, with the aid of some learned natives previously in the employ of Dr. Leyden. An edition of the New Testament, consisting of 1000 copies, was printed at Serampore in 1819. The missionaries then proceeded with the translation of the Old Testament into Pushtoo; and in 1832 an edition, con- sisting of 1000 copies of the Pentateuch and the historical books of the Old Testament, was committed to the press. Although no general distribution of any portion of Scripture among the Affghans has yet been accomplished, the fierce and warlike character of the people having hitherto formed a bar to mis- sionary labours among them, yet the editions of the Pushtoo Scriptures here referred to have since been nearly. If not quite, exhausted. This circumstance, however (writes the Secretary to the North India Bible Society, from Agra), is perhaps the less to be regretted from the fact that by far the greater part of the reading population of Affghanlstan read Persian, and prefer tliat to their native dialect. The versions In the latter tongue arc likely to be much more extensively in demand should the warlike and disturbed population of this country hereafter become more open to missionary exer- tions. From the most recent sources of information, there appears, however, to be urgent need for a new translation of the Scriptures into Pushtoo, with a view to meet demands that have been made for copies on the part of those to whom that language is vernacular. Eiforts to supply this want are now in progress. Previous to the Indian mutiny of 1857, the Gospel of St. Luke, translated by Captain James, and the Gospel of St. John, by the Rev. Mr. Clark, had been placed In the hands of the North India Auxiliary Bible Society. But both were destroyed, with the press, at Agra, in that disastrous year. Copies are now, however, again ready for the printer, and only await the necessary types. The Gospel of St. Matthew has also been rendered into Pushtoo by M. Lowenthal, who is now engaged upon the remaining Gospel — that of St. Mark. 74 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. BELOOCHEE. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Beloochistan, the country of the Beloochees, lies between Affglianistan and the Indian Ocean, and extends along the shores of that ocean from the Indus to Persia. But it is only the western portion of this country that is inhabited exclusively by the Beloochees, the eastern provinces being cliiefly peofilcd by the Brahooees, a people who speak a dialect of Sanscrit origin, resembling that of the Punjab. In religion the Beloochees are Mohammedans, of the sect of Omar, or Soonnites. In number they are conjectured to amount to about a million, but Mr. Elphinstonc considers this too low an estimate; and it is supposed that the entire population of Beloochistan, including the Juts, Taujiks, Dehwars, and other tribes who dwell among tlie Beloochees, would together amount to nearly two millions. II. — characteristics of the language. The structure and idioms of the Beloochee language, and above half of its words, are Persian ; and notwithstanding the corrupt and unaccountable pronunciation of the Beloochees, Lieutenant Pottinger was at length enabled, by his knowledge of Persian, to understand every sentence in Beloocliee. The language possesses no literature, and, if we except a translation of part of the Scriptures, it may be said to be unwritten. III. — VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES. The history of the Beloochee is in some respects similar to that of the Pushtoo version. Both versions were commenced by Dr. Leyden, and at his death transferred to the care of the Serampore missionaries, who availed themselves of the aid of the learned natives previously employed by Dr. Leyden. As it is stated that these natives were thoroughly acquainted with the Persian and Hindu- stani languages, we may infer that they made the translation direct from the Persian Gospels and Hindustani Testament (which had been printed at Serampore in 1811), and that their work was afterwards compared with, and corrected by, the Greek original. It is not certain whether the trans- lation has ever been advanced beyond the book of tlie Acts of the Apostles, but the first three Gospels were printed as early as 1815; the number of copies of which this edition consisted is not specified. The character is Persian, with no variation. It does not appear that the Beloochee version has ever obtained circulation among the people for whom it was intended. Class III.] ARMENIAN. 75 ARMENIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. ANCIENT ARMENIAN. MODERN ARMENIAN. p.uMuh • u- p.ushli J^n usn^ u#a- * L- in cr J^n p.u/lMh x uihr t IJ^iJL-liUfjli fi^i unJusi^ hnic * u- uin^ujha Isnnus hniM- II. nip%i nn i^huAMp l^n f iL. Llriulsph i'p l"J" tfuMfir^ intuit* p'- Mnjuh p fuust^uspp u/urt. tnt-uuti^nn ^p f u- fuust^utn istfus ni irnii- \ujunL. x {^nu- usjp ^ tun^uiphusM ^uij f usunt^u ui/tu ^"Vw ^uA/h^u X ^ (J"* hl^ [t dj^usjni^p-fit-ls aft 'lji**il<^ utuLruhppu ^tUL^tuutusuairls lini^ufU X i\/_ ir ^"' ituiuh ini^unjh x fLiUUp ♦ /7l_ p.uAip USJ JJnifh qrp ♦ nt- ("*"/ p.usun uih- krp « ' h^.^£L cykt'"P-k'^ iJif ^nifb /^p t ^ [j^i/l/^lt Ppfi luhnij kniuL. , nt. utn_u/ltg u/hnp p.ut% Jp fbnuML. [ihi np hntuL. %l^ t X^htuupp^ usunil i^p , /?t_ i^husUpp ifiupr^nq gnt^uls l^p t ||f_ fnuup tuh liiutuutpfth J^9p inuuuti^np 4~/T f nu fuuti^tupp iuufiLuj ^ ^uiu!ip_^u£L. t U ^"^ t/Lupr^t/p irnujL- tuuuini-h-^ J^ fup^pllQiluiir f lultnp uAinuip ^n'yutVhi^u x IfUiL. I np inL.uni-lt ^utJiup JLuMjl^ ♦ np ijui/tl^%pp^ "'w land ^ujuusuituli x r*"w \b-i£tui^) np £ni^unL.u Nu*^ I. V. 1 to 8. ARARAT ARMENIAN. II. p.ujVh \j^uutni.h-nj t/omli t^p ♦ "- p-uAth \\uuinL.ut\r hrp X yf" ulipap.nt^ulM ^^uutnijirrtj liouth ^p x \j^ul^% [i%f Ttnpmltnif ^/luu f lu usn^uiua lanpujlt fiuLfi nc \jnput%nJ l^kiuhpL J^p , U- ^irujupiM i/utpn.LuAin anjuli ^p X u ^ UU" [UlUl^iU^ pnuuii IPJ" h'P musapu Lu [uu£t-ujpu sfti/uaquaL- unpuj% x JJ p% Jiuprf. ^/lUL. (Jt"— utm-UMO'UMhpq ni^niupLJiua- np unpuM tul*nL.%li io^tuu^^u (4"/») « {]"' tljiutjni^p-htuh ^tui/utp hutuL. f np ani-unj ^usjiup tjLuMji^ ♦ np ustlhru^ .pZr unpuMianil ^usi^uautuau x ° *b«' ikv up""^^ P-"U3 "P /nuun/h ^lui/tup JLumj^ x I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Armenia, so called either from " Aram" son of Harma or Hale, or frota 'Ar-meni, as Bryant thinks, •' the mountain of the Moon" or " Ark," was, according to Herodotus, peopled by a colony from Phrygia. (Moses Chor. ed. Whiston, p. 35.) It is now the region in which the three great powers of the East, — the Russian, the Turkish, and the Persian, are brought into direct approximation, and it is politically divided between them. Having been the theatre of many contests, its boundaries have varied at different epochs; but it may be said generally to extend from the river Kour on the north to the mountains of Kurdistan on the south, and from the banks of the upper Euphrates on the west to the Caspian Sea on the east. An extensive tract situated to the westward of the Euphrates bore, in ancient geography, the name of Armenia Minor, or the Lesser Armenia. The total numbei- of the Armenian nation is variously estimated at from 2,000,000, to 3,000,000: in their own country however, the Armenians form but one seventh part of the population, while in scattered colonies they are to be met with from Venice and Constantinople to Canton, and from St. Petersburg to 76 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. almost every part of Africa. In Constantinople and its adjacent villages tliorc are computed to be 200,000 Armenians, and an equal number in the Russian and Persian provinces. Tliey are emphati- cally the merchants of the East, and a large proportion of the trade, foreign and internal, of Tlirkey, Southern Russia, Persia, India, and of other countries, is carried on by them. The Armenians constitute a section of the ancient Monophysite Church, and believe that " the two natures (Divine and Human) of Christ are united in one nature;" they have four Patriarchs, the principal of whom bears the title of Catholicos of all the Armenians, and resides in Armenia ; their ecclesiastical establishment in Ilindoostan vies with that of the English. About one hundred thousand Armenians have joined the Romish Church, and are ruled by their own archbishops. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The ancient Armenian language, though no longer vernacular, is very generally studied by Armenian Christians as their national language of religion and literature. The roots of the Armenian are closely connected with those of the Persian dialects, and many Median words preserved by Herodotus can be explained by means of the Armenian. Its elemental words, such as numerals, pronouns, particles, nouns indicative of objects of sense, and verbs indicative of the common actions of life, have their analogues in the Greek, Latin, and German languages, and even in the Finnisli dialects of Siberia, and In other idioms of Northern Asia. Several striking coincidences in structure have likewise been traced between the Armenian and the other branches of the Indo-European class; the future tense of Arme- nian verbs Is, for instance, formed by nieans of the syllables tzitz, — stzyes, — size, where the character- istic sound of the Greek and Sanscrit future is distinctly recognised. On the other hand, some Arme- nian participles in al resemble the participles of the Sclavonic languages; and Schlegel has pointed out other analogies in inflection between this family and the Armenian. In point of sound, the Armenian is extremely harsh, and overloaded with consonants. Its grammatical forms are complicated ; It has ten declensions of nouns singular and plural, and a corresponding copiousness of inflection in the conjugation of verbs, although in certain tenses the aid of an auxihary is required. In Its system of grammatical inflections, this language presents several phenomena almost peculiar to Itself, and which are thought by Professor Neumann to be attributable in some Instances to the remarkable nature of Its alphabet; the A, for Instance, the Professor remarks, which Is habitually used in Armenian as a termination of the plural in substantives and numerals. Is probably a transition of the s of cognate languages into k, an occurrence exactly the reverse of the change often observable in the Sclavonic languages of k Into s. A further peculiarity in the Armenian idiom which distinguishes it from all other Indo-European languages Is, that It takes no cognizance whatever of gender; that is to say, the gender of the noun has no influence whatever upon the form of the adjective by which it is qualified, and the grammatical distinction of gender even In the pronouns is unknown In Armenian. But it is a simple, grave, energetic, and in the reading the New Testament especially, a beautiful language. In the opinion of Armenians, It Is the language spoken by Noah In the Ark. HI. ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. Prior to the fifth century, the Armenians seem to have had no alphabet of their own, but to have used the Persian, Greek, or Syriac characters in writing their language. About the beginning of that century, Miesrob, a learned Armenian, invented a set of characters adapted to the language of his nation. Tradition relates that the forms of these characters were revealed to him from heaven in a vision. This style of writing was adopted in Armenia by a royal edict In A.D. 406, and has ever since continued In use among the Armenians. Its elements consist of many signs belonging to the alphabets previously used In writing Armenian, combined with other signs of more recent Invention. This alphabet had originally only thirty-six characters, but / and o being subsequently added, increased the number to thirty-eight, of which thirty are consonants, and eight are vowels. Armenian, like the languages of Europe, is written from left to right. Class III.J ARMENIAN. 77 IV. — VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. The ancient Armenian language possesses the treasure of an old and faithful version of Scripture, ■which; on account of its exactness and its eloquent simplicity, has been called by La Croze the " Queen of Versions." Our information concerning the early history of this invaluable translation is derived from two sources, an Armenian Biography of the Saints, including the life of I\Iiesrob, preserved in the Royal Library of Paris, and tlie history of Armenia by Moses Choronensis, printed with a Latin translation at Cambridge in 1736. From the combined testimony of these two sources, it would appear that the origin of the Armenian version is nearly contemporaneous with the invention of the Armenian alphabet. Miesrob (who was, as above stated, the inventor of this alphabet), after communicating his discovery to the king Uram Scavu, and to Isaac the patriarch of Armenia, travelled throughout the country in order to establish schools for disseminating instruction in reading and writing, and on his return he found the patriarch engaged in the application of the newly invented characters to a transla- tion of the Scriptures from the Syriac into Armenian. By the joint efforts of Miesrob and Isaac, a version of the entire Scriptures was effected, but it was executed exclusively from the Syriac, because no Greek MSS. were then attainable in Armenia; Meruzan, a Persian general, had caused all Greek books to be burnt, and the Persians had prohibited the use of any language for religious purposes among the Armenians except the Syriac. At the meeting of the Council of Ephesus in 431, Miesrob and Isaac sent two of their pupils to that assembly, to recount the progress that had been made in the translation of the Scriptures. The members of the Council sent back the youths with a complete copy of the Scptuagint Bible and the Greek New Testament, for the use of the translators. On receiving this •welcome gift, Isaac and Miesrob, who had already produced two different translations from the Syriac, now addressed themselves for the third time to the formation of an Armenian version. They found themselves, however, impeded by their imperfect acquaintance with the Greek language, and accordingly sent some of their disciples to Alexandria, which was then the school of Greek learning and literature, to study the language. On the return of these young men, one of whom was Moses Choronensis the historian, the work of translation was recommenced from the Greek; and when the version was com- pleted, if we may take the word of Bar Hebrsus, Miesrob and Isaac modified it according to the Syriac: on this subject, however, there are differences of opinion. That it often agrees remarkably yrith the Syriac is certain; it appears as if the previous labours of the translators had some effect on the existing version. A recension of this version is said by some authors to have been made by Haitho, who reigned in Lesser Armenia from a.d. 1224 to 1270; he belonged to the Eoman Catholic Church, and is charged with having introduced corrupt readings from the Latin Vulgate. But this statement is now very generally regarded as incorrect. V. PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE ANCIENT ARMENIAN SCRIPTURES. In the seventeenth century MS. copies of the Armenian Scriptures had become so scarce and so expensive, that a council of Armenian bishops assembled in 1662 to consult on the best means of calling in the aid of printing, of which art they had heard in Kurope; and indeed it would appear, that as early as 1565 an Armenian Psalter had been printed at Rome. The Armenian bishops, it is supposed, applied in the first place to France for assistance in their design of procuring a printed edition of their Scriptures, but meeting with a refusal from that quarter, Uscan, bishop of Erivan, proceeded to Amsterdam, where in 1666 he published an edition of the entire Armenian Scriptures, followed in 1668 by a separate edition of the New Testament, which was reprinted in 16!)8. In these editions the bishop is accused, and apparently with justice, of liaving permitted alterations to be made from the Vulgate: the editions published at Constantinople in 1705, and at Venice in 1733, are in consequence more highly esteemed than those of Uscan In 1775 a new and corrected edition of the Armenian Scriptures, to be accompanied with a Latin translation, was commenced at Paris by a body of learned men, one of whom was the Abbe Villefroy, who had resided many years among the Armenians; but of this edition the book of the prophet Plabakkuk alone appears to have been pubHshed. In 1789 78 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. the New Testament was printed at Venice, under tlie editorship of Zohrab, a learned Armenian divine, from MS. authorities; and this edition, which was much esteemed for its correctness, was reprinted in 1816. A critical edition of the Old and New Testament was published under the care of the same editor at Venice in 1805, at the expense of the monks of the Armenian convent of the Island of St. Lazarus, in the lagunes of Venice. This edition was printed from a MS. written in Cilicia in the four- teenth century, and with the aid of eight MSS. of the Old Testament, and twenty-five of the New. The various readings elucidated by Armenian scholia were placed in the margin, and the contested passage in 1 John 5. 7, was e.xpunged, because unsupported by the authority of ancient Armenian MSS. In 1814 a representation was made to the Calcutta Bible Committee, by Johannes Sarkies, on the necessity of supplying the numerous families of Armenians in Calcutta and other parts of Hindoo- stan with copies of the Scriptures, and in 1817 an edition was printed for the Society at Serampore, consisting of the entire Scriptures. During the same year 5000 copies of the New Testament, and a separate edition of the Bible, were printed by tiie St. Petersburg Bible Society for the use of the Armenians, who, to the number of 50,000, were settled in the south of Russia; every slieet of this edition was examined by Johannes, the Armenian archbishop at Astrakhan. A previous edition of the Scriptures had been pubhshed by the same Society in 1814. In 1818 the British and Foreign Bible Society purchased 1500 copies of the New Testament of the monks of St. Lazarus for distribution chiefly in Armenia, and in the following year they purchased 1000 Bibles. Further purchases were made by the Society at Venice until 1823, when they ordered an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament, and .3000 copies of the Gospels alone, to be printed at Constantinople. This edition was carried through the press by the Rev. Henry Leeves, with the concurrence of the Armenian patriarcli. The copies were sent to Tokat in Asia Minor, to Julfa near Ispahan, and into Armenia, for distribution. About the year 1838 another edition of the ancient Armenian New Testament was printed at Smyrna, at the expense of the American Bible Society. More recently, it has been determined by the Com- mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to print a further edition of the New Testament in ancient Armenian, in addition to one also in the modern language. Both works are in process of execution in London. Editions of tiie ancient Armenian, printed in parallel columns with the modern Armenian versions, will be mentioned hereafter. The Old Testament in ancient Armenian, having been executed not from the Hebrew text, but from the Greek version of the LXX., has never been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. VI.— RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Although the ancient Armenian Scriptures are now only intelligible to those who have had the benefits of education and opportunities for the study of this ancient tongue, yet as this class of persons is rapidly increasing, there is a prospect tliat this version will soon become more generally understood, and more highly appreciated, than heretofore. Dr. Dwight bears a fitting testimony to its value in a letter addressed in 1836 to the Board of the American Bible Society. " It is astonishing," he says, " to see the power of Scripture truth on the conscience when it comes to men from the pure fountain itself, without note or comment, and without the aid of a living teacher. I could point to two young men of the Armenian nation, of whom we have the hope that they have become true disciples of Christ, whose minds were first opened by the simple reading of Scripture, before they even knew there was a missionary in the whole world." And equally gratifying is the statement of the American mission- aries in 1847, when, after giving an account of the recent remarkable awakening among the Armenian people, they ascribe the change, in part at least, to the influence of the ancient version. " Some facts," they write, " have come to our knowledge, showing that the ancient Armenian Scriptures, printed many years since at Venice, and perhaps at other places by your Society during the first years of its operations, have had no small share, by the blessing of God, in awakening the Armenian mind every- where, and in preparing the people to receive and maintain the doctrine of the suUiciency of the Scriptures as the rule of faith and practice. This is the testimony of Armenians themselves." Cj,ass III.] ARMENIAN. 79 ARMENIAN. AKARAT DIALECT.* I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND CHAEACTEIUSTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Ararat- Armenian is the idiom now spoken in the whole of Armenia except the pashalik of Erze- room, and derives its name from the venerable mountain which occupies the centre of the country, forming, as it were, the nucleus of tlie adjacent tableland. In tlic Hebrew Scriptures the whole kingdom of Armenia is called Ararat: the word is however rendered Armenia in our version, in 2 Kings 19. 37, and Isaiah 37. 38, while the original name (Ararat) is retained in Jeremiah 51. 27. The dialect of Ararat is spoken not only in Armenia, but in the Georgian provinces, and by the thou- sands of Armenians who arc dispersed between the Black Sea and the sources of the Euphrates, and thence through Persia and part of Mesopotamia, down as far as the Persian Gulf. This dialect approaches much nearer tlie purity of the ancient Armenian tongue than the dialect of Constantinople, but it is adulterated with Persian words. II. — VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE IN THIS DIALECT. No books appear to have been printed in this dialect prior to the efforts made by the German missionaries at Shushi to supply the Armenians with the Scriptures in an intelligible form. In 1829 the Rev. Mr. Dittrich was authorised by the British and Foreign Bible Society to prepare a version of the Gospel of St. ilatthew in this dialect. He was aided by some learned Armenian priests, and succeeded so well with the undertaking, that, in accordance with the advice of Dr. Pinkerton, their agent in Russia, the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society requested him to proceed with the translation of the whole Testament. An edition of 1000 copies of tliis version was ordered to be printed at Shushi, but owing to some difficulties which arose in carrying the work through the press, tlie printing was transferred to Moscow. In 1835 the proposed edition was completed, and the copies forwarded to Shushi for distribution. A second edition, to consist of 3000 copies, was soon found necessary, and was ordered by the British and Foreign Bible Society. In the meantime the mission- aries had been proceeding (with the encouragement of the Basle Missionary Society) in the translation of the Psalter from the Hebrew; but this work was not published till the year 1844, when it was printed in parallel columns with the ancient Armenian. This edition was so much sought after and valued by the Armenians, that the Rev. Messrs. Dwight and Homes, American missionaries, apphed to the British and Foreign Bible Committee for authority to print an edition of the New Testament with the Ararat and ancient Armenian in parallel columns, it being intended to execute the work at Constantinople. More recently, Mr. Barker, tlie British and Foreign Bible Society's agent, has been authorised to take measures for printing, at Constantinople, 1500 Ararat-Armenian New Testa- ments, and 1500 ditto with the ancient Armenian in parallel columns. This work is now in progress. III. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OP THIS VERSION. For an account of the remarkable manner in which the Scriptures in both dialects of modern Armenian have been used as the means of producing the late revival of religion among the Armenians, the reader is referred to pages 78, 81. • For Specimen of the Ararat Dialect, see page 75. 80 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. ARMENIAN. MODEEN DIALECT, OR DIALECT OF CONSTANTIKOPLE* I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The present vcraacular of tlio Annenlaiis is Jistingiiished from their ancient language by numerous local peculiarities and corruptions, varying more or less in every country in wViicli the members of this scattered race are congregated. These local varieties are, however, all resolvable into one or other of the two predominant dialects of the modern Armenian language, called, from the regions in which tliey are respectively spoken, the dialect of Constantinople and the dialect of Ararat. The former has Constantinople for its centre, and is spoken in the neighbouring territories, through Asia Minor and in the pashalik of Erzeroom. Its distinctive features consist in the frequent adoption of Turkish words, in certain prefixes to verbs, and in general conformity to tlie rules of Turkish syntax. The words of the ancient language are retained in both dialects of modern Armenian in almost an unaltered form, so far at least as respects orthography; but the signification now given to these words is so different from their original meaning, that an uneducated Armenian of the present day is unable to comprehend even the general purport of a work written in the ancient Armenian language. Many changes also have been introduced in grammar and in the most common forms of expression, and the dialect of Constantinople is especially remarkable for its rejection of the concise, energetic style of the ancient Armenian, and its constant use of long, monotonous periods, all constructed upon one and the same model, according to the Turkish mode of writing. It is much softer than the Ararat dialect. II. — VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. Tlie first attempt on record to produce a version of Scripture in modern Armenian was made by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The subject was brought before the Committee by Professor Kieffer, who mentioned that Dr. Zohrab, an Armenian from Constantinople, the learned editor of the ancient Armenian Scriptures, was at Paris, and well qualified to undertake the translation. During the same year (1821), Dr. Pinkerton passed through Paris on his way to St. Petersburg, and obtained from Dr. Zohrab, £S a specimen, a translation of the Sermon on the Mount. This specimen was printed at St. Petersburg, and sent for inspection to various parts of Turkey. Several Armenians who examined it approved of it highly, but the priests, who were probably prejudiced against a modern version of the Scriptures, found fault with the style, which they said was low, vulgar, and degrading to the subject, as compared with the ancient Armenian. Dr. Zohrab, however, continued to prosecute his labours at Paris; he translated from the ancient Armenian version, and in 1824 completed a version of the New Testament in the modern Armenian dialect of Constantinople. It was revised by M. St. JMartin, an Armenian scholar, and an edition of 1000 copies, printed in parallel columns with the ancient Armenian, was published at Paris in 1825, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was after- wards objected to this version that, having been made directly from the ancient Armenian, it was not perfectly conformable to the Greek, and that, owing probably to Dr. Zohrab's prolonged absence from his native city, the style was not exactly in accordance with the idiomatic peculiarities of the modern tongue. In 1837 a fount of Armenian type was forwarded to the American missionaries at Smyrna, and a revised edition of this version of the New Testament was commenced at the expense of tlie British and Foreign Bible Society. This edition, revised by Mr. Adger, was carried carefully and slowly through the press, and it was not till 1842 that an impression of 5000 copies of the New Testa- ment was issued. These copies were in great demand, and were put into circulation as soon as they left the binder's hands. Mr. Adger then proposed to publish an edition of this New Testament in parallel columns with the ancient version, in order that the suspicions of the Armenians might be * For Specimen of the Modern Armeuian Versiou, see page 75. Class III.] ARMENIAN. 81 removed as to the possibility of the Scriptures having been adulterated in the modern translation : the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have resolved to carry this proposal into execution, and an edition of 1500 Testaments, arranged on this plan, is stated, in the Society's report for 1 856, to be in progress. In the meantime, by the aid of the American Bible Society, the missionaries in Smyrna proceeded with the translation of the Old Testament into modern Armenian. In 1844 they were deprived by death of one of their assistants in this work, a pious Armenian, who had laboured with them during five years, and who was employed in the translation of the Turkish Old Testament of Jlr. Goodell into modern Armenian. The work has, however, been subsequently completed. In 1857, an edition of 3000 Bibles in modern Armenian, with 2000 New Testaments in the same, issued from the press of the American Alission at Constantinople, on account of the British and Foreign Bible Society. A further edition of 2000 Testaments in modern Armenian was in 1858 completed at the same press; in addition to which, the Society are also printing an edition of 5000 New Testaments in London. The American Bible Society (as appears from their latest report) have recently, under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Riggs, completed an edition of the Modern Armenian Bible, and the plates of another and larger edition, with references, are already in progress. III. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The versions of Scripture in both the dialects of modern Armenian have received the manifest blessing of God, in a degree almost unprecedented in the history of other versions. The following are some of the accounts given by missionaries on the spot, concerning the remarkable effects wrought among the Armenians by the circulation of the modern version. " We might mention," they say, (writing in 1845,) " twenty towns in Turkey where Armenians are found who daily search the Scrip- tures for the purpose of guiding their lives according to its supreme teachings." In some of these places, this holy volume, owing to the fact of its being in modern language, is received as a fresh message from heaven ; and in these towns especial assemblies are held on the Sabbath for studying the Scriptures ; and this occurs also in towns where no foreign missionary has ever been. The reading of the Scriptures in an intelligible language has been the means, by God's blessing, of curing many of their scepticism. They have become convinced that whatever occasion they had had to doubt about the truth of Christianity, from what they were seeing around them, yet that here, in this book, they could see that there is a pure living Christianity. One individual, a banker among the Armenians, said, " Our nation owes, to those who have been the means of making us acquainted with the word of God in an intelligible lan- guage, a great debt of gratitude. They have saved not only me, but many others, from infidelity ; for we have found that Christianity has deeper foundations than what we had supposed; and that there is in the word of God something upon which to anchor our faith." The numerous cases of conversion to God which followed the diligent perusal of the Holy Scriptures in the modern tongue, did not escape the notice of the worldly and unbelieving clergy at the head of the Armenian Church, and a cruel series of persecutions was commenced against the " Bible," " Evangelical," or " Protestant" Armenians, as all were styled who read and obeyed the word of God. Many of these Protestants (by this name they are now commonly designated) were solemnly excommunicated by the Armenian patriarch, but to no purpose, as many more were daily added to their numbers. In a village near the town of Nicomedia, a congregation of Protestant Armenians had sprung up, having the Scriptures for their rule of faith; no missionary had ever been among them excepting the missionary of missionaries, the Bible: like their brethren elsewhere, they were called to endure persecution, and were at last driven to the necessity of meeting for worship in the fields. On one of these occasions they were attacked with stones, but instead of resorting to violent means of defence against their enemies, they calmly took up the stones and deposited them at the governor's feet, demanding his protection, which was accorded. After enduring many similar outrages in the same Christian spirit, the Protestant Armenians resolved to free themselves from the tyranny of their church, by forming themselves into a separate church, founded on Scriptural principles. To effect this separation they were compelled to 7 82 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. appeal to the Turkish Governmeut. Their application met with success, and their freedom from the oppressive jurisdiction of their patriarch is now fully recognised. " An ofBcer of the government, a Turk (it is stated by Mr. Barker in 1847), is appointed to look after all their civil relations, and they are to choose their own representative to confer with him. Their ecclesiastical aSairs are entirely free, and all patriarchs and other ecclesiastics are forbidden to interfere in any way with them ; and all officers of government are called upon to see that their rights are respected. Truly the king's heart is in the liand of the Lord, and He turneth it whithersoever He will." Subsequent accounts received from the same field of labour continue to confirm, in the most grati- fying manner, the intelligence above instanced in reference to the results of Protestant missionary labour amongst the Armenian population of the Turkish empire. The converts are now uniformly recognised by the term Protestants, and in 1850 a firman was issued by his Imperial ilajesty the Sultan, confirming and enlarging the protection given to all his Protestant subjects throughout the empire, and securing to them the full and free exercise of their religion. " There are at present in Asia (writes the llev. J. Lowndes, in 1851), Armenian Protestant churches established at twenty-one different places. These are superintended by sixteen American missionaries, six ordained native pastors, and one licensed preacher. . . . There are also many other places where native Christians are scattered. At Aintab, the greatest work appears to have been effected, for there the congregation is estimated at about 600." The account given by Mr. Barker, on the occasion of his visit to England in 1852, of the origin of this movement, is deeply interesting. "In 1821, the Society's Armenian Kew Testament was placed by me in the hands of Armenian door-keepers, cooks, scullions, and grooms, who, strange to say, knew how to read. They were natives of the villages of the district called Arabkir, who, returning home at intervals, carried with them to their country the Gospel of truth, in which they took great delight. I sent the Armenian Scriptures to Aintab, where now the largest congregation of Protestant Armenians exists; and at Smyrna, where I subsequently went, I sold entire boxes of Armenian and Turco- Armenian New Testaments and Psalms, which were carried to those very places where the Gospel truth has, and is fast taking such a strong hold on the hearts of men. This good seed was lost sight of for many years, but with the blessing of God it took root, and is now bearing seed an hundred fold." KURDISH. SPECIMEN OF AEMENO-KUEDISH, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. vi. v. 10 to 15. r^tu jj) R g 8 _, § 8 O P vp o Q- i s- H -^ ^ c^ « § R P °fi °fi8g§ Sc^ 8 8 § 83 § ^§0^8^ cRcg R 8 ^g-^ 0 8 R 8 H P o o C P^ /-)£) *^ OR 8^1 $^°8^R 3 9 Class III.] PALI. 9l Old Testament, containing the historical books from Judges to Esther inclusive, had been completed in 1852, and a third volume, bringing the translation up to the Song of Solomon, was finished in 1858. The completion of this important work is still engaging attention, and will probably not be long delayed. A revised edition of Genesis, with the first twenty chapters of Exodus, has also been pub- lished. The books of Psalms and Proverbs have been reprinted from the Sanscrit in Bengalee charac- ters; the book of Genesis and the Gospel of St. Luke have also been issued in the same form. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OP THIS VERSION. It is written that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and that " not many wise men after the flesh" are called. The Sanscrit Scriptures are designed for a learned class who are entrenched behind the subtleties of a specious metaphysical system, and few indeed are those who have been willing to lay aside their boasted wisdom, falsely so called, that as little children they might learn of God. Yet undeniable evidences of interest in the Sanscrit version have from time to time been afforded. Or the publication of the Psalms, for instance, in 1840, it is related that the pundits of Agra received copies of the work with intense avidity, and that each man walked away with his book as joyfully as if he had obtained a diamond. Wlien it is considered that the influence of the Brahminical priesthood in India is at least equal to that of the Romish in Europe, and moreover that the Brahmins in general are too proud to read the Scriptures in any of the vernacular dialects of the country, it becomes evident that the dissemination of the Sanscrit version is the channel at present indicated by the providence of God for conveying the light of truth to the minds of the priests, and through them to their deluded followers. The beneficial results of the publication of the Sanscrit version are likewise to be traced in its influence on other versions. Most of, if not all, the current dialects of India are founded upon the Sanscrit, and are dependent upon that language for words to express metaphysical ideas. The Sanscrit is, therefore, a standard version, whence the translators of the Scriptures into the petty dialects of the country can draw their abstract and doctrinal terms, and by means of which uniformity in the numerous vernacular versions is secured. PALI. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE PALI VERSION, see Plate 3, paoe 91. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. Pali, though no longer a vernacular language in any country, has for ages been establislied as the religious and learned language of the Buddhists in the island of Ceylon, in the Burman Empire, in Siam, Laos, Pegu, Ava, and throughout almost the whole of the Eastern Peninsula of India. It cannot, however, be said that the influence of the Pali language is co-extensive with the predominance of Buddhism, for the sacred books of the Buddhists of Japan, Tibet, and the Chinese Empire are written in a language which is called Fan by the Chinese, rgyagarskat by the Tibetans, enedkek and endhek by the Mongols. By the examination of some of these writings which have fallen into the hands of Europeans, it has been ascertained that the language passing under these several denominations is no other than pure Sanscrit: and the fiict of the sacred books of the same religion being written partly in Sanscrit and partly in Pali, is to be accounted for by supposing that, at the very remote period of history when the language and religion of Buddhism were conveyed into the countries north 92 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. of India, Pali which is a derivative and comparatively a modem dialect, had not been formed. The first Buddhists were scceders from Brahminism, of which ancient creed Sanscrit seems ever to have been the depositary; and having thus been habituated to the use of a language admirably adapted for the embodiment of the highest metaphysical abstractions, they naturally employed it as the fittest exponent of the philosophical system which they originated. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Pali or Bali is a language immediately derived from Sanscrit, and its whole history is intimately connected with that of Buddhism. It was probably the native language of Magadha, the birth-place of Buddha. On the rise of Buddhism in India, the rigid enactments of the Brahminical law concerning the distinction of castes or classes of society ceased to be respected among the votaries of the new religion. Men of the lowest and most despised caste were admitted by them into the priesthood ; and it is conjectured that the arcana of religion, hitherto confined to the sacerdotal class, being thus thrown open to the people, the abstruse technicalities of the language became popularised, so to speak, in the mouth of the multitude. Among other changes thus adduced, difficult grammatical inflections dis- appeared, or were greatly simplified, and such combinations of letters in words as were not easy of articulation, were softened down in pronunciation. These peculiarities form, to this day, the distinctive characteristics of the Pali language. In its declensions it has preserved all the cases of the Sanscrit; but the original inflections, both of nouns and verbs, have undergone more or less alteration according to the special rules of Pali enunciation. The middle voice of verbs is not found in Pali, and the passive form is comparatively of rare occurrence. Among the three numbers of Sanscrit verbs and nouns (singular, dual, and plural), the dual has disappeared in Pali, in the same way that it has disappeared in the modern Germanic languages and in modern Greek, although it existed in Gothic and in ancient Greek. And in the laws regulating the assimilation of consonants in Pali may be clearly traced the operation of the same principles which have been instrumental in the transmutation of Latin into Italian, and of ancient into modern Greek. The euphonic law, for instance, which requires the change of the Latin word lectus into letto, of scriptus into scritto, has equal weight in the formation of Pali words from Sanscrit, as of Italian from Latin. The Pali is less exact, but on the other hand it is easier to articulate, and softer than Sanscrit. It is probable that Pali, like other derivative languages, would ultimately have deviated widely from the type of the mother tongue, had not its further elaboration been repressed, by its becoming suddenly fixed as a dead language. The Buddhists appear from the first to have been always persecuted by the Brahmins; but about the beginning of the fifth century the persecution burst forth with renewed violence, and the Buddhists were forcibly ejected from the continent of India. They sought refuge in Ceylon, where Buddhism had been promulgated as early as the fourth century before the Christian era. From Ceylon many of the Buddhists passed over into the eastern peninsula, and adopting as their vernacular the languages of the various nations among whom they settled, Pali, the native dialect in which the books of their religion were written, was set apart as a sacred and classic tongue. In this state it has subsisted from generation to generation, unmodified in any degree by the various languages and dialects of the people by whom it is venerated. In comparing Pali with the other languages of the Sanscrit family, it will be found that it approaches nearer than any other dialect to the purity of the parent stock. Leyden imagined that Pali is identical with the modern Magadha, chiefly because the latter dialect is vernacular in a part of Bahar, supposed to have been the birthplace of Buddhism. It has since been proved by an analytical comparison of Pali and Magadha that, though similar in origin, they are essentially different in structure. A close resemblance has been, however, traced between the Pali and the Pracrit dialect spoken by the Jains, a peculiar religious sect of Hindustan ; and the evident connection between the two dialects has led to the supposition, that the Jains are the descendants of a few Buddhists who contrived to secrete themselves in their own country during tiie persecutions which caused the banishment of their brethren. Class III.] PALI. 93 III. — ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. There are several different Pali alphabets; but it is believed that they are all derived from an ancient Buddhistic alpliabct formed on the model of the Devanagari. The classification of the lettera is the same as that of the Sanscrit, yet they vary greatly in form, and the shape of the characters is considerably modified in each country where Pali is adopted as the language of books. Thus the Pali character used by the Burmans is square, that employed by the Siamese is a more rounded or circular form, in other places the Pali affects a more angular character, and the Pali character used in Ceylon is identical with the Burmese alphabet. IV. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. A version of the Scriptures into Pali was commenced in 1813, under the auspices of the Colombo Bible Society, by Mr. Tolfrey, assisted by two learned Buddhist priests, and by Don Abraham de Tliomas, mohandiram of tlie governor's gate. The plan upon which this translation was conducted was the following: — Mr. Tolfrey, in the first place, read a certain number of verses from Dr. Carey's Sanscrit Xew Testament to Don Abraham de Thomas, and the latter rendered the passage into Pali as closely as the idiom of the language would admit. This translation was then compared verse by verse with the Sanscrit, and such alterations were introduced as were deemed requisite. Where any difficulty occurred in rendering the Sanscrit expressions into Pali, the Bengalee version was consulted. The time devoted to this translation was three hours of the day, regularly six times in tlie course of the month. The progress of the work was interrupted in 1817 by the death of Mr. Tolfrey, wlio was suddenly cut off in the prime of life. The version, which he had carried as far as the end of the Epistle to Philemon, seems to have been laid aside till 1825, when the Rev. Benjamin Clough submitted it to the examination of the most learned Pali scholars in Ceylon; and the opinion which they passed upon it was, that it had been executed " with a high degree of beauty and perfection." Efforts were, there- fore, made for its publication; and in 1826, a fount of Burman types cast for the purpose was sent to Ceylon at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In the course of the following year, the Gospel of ilatthew was struck off, and copies were sent to the Burman empire for examination by competent judges. It was not, however, till 1835 that the whole Testament was printed in Pali. One of the Buddhist priests who assisted Mr. Tolfrey in the translation of tliis Testament, became a sincere convert to Christianity, and subsequently devoted his whole attention to the completion and revision of this important work. 94 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. TClass III. HINDUSTANI. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. «£. \d^ ^^ IjJjI ^^ * \^ 1j^ iuK jj\ \^ A^'L ^ Ijci. W^ ''^ i ? ?^^ ^ Ts tjt fjirr ^ %■ * ^ ^ ift ^ i %iT ^ ftnm ^ I^Tfir^ i #r; ^ -n\iH\ 96 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Arabic by four) tlie Mussulmans in writing their language add three other letters, to represent the harsh cerebral sounds t, d, and r of the Hinduwee. The Scriptures and several works in Hindustani have been printed in the Devanagari, or regular Sanscrit characters, for the use of the natives of the upper provinces, especially of Delhi. It was, however, afterward ascertained that the natives who employ these characters are, in general, more habituated to the use of the Flinduwee than of the Hindustani dialect. Eoman letters have, likewise, been used of late years in printing Hindustani, of which a specimen is subjoined. THE HINDUSTANI VEESION IN EOMAN LETTERS. St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. ' SHURU men kalam tha, aur wuh kalam Khuda ke pas tha, aur wuh kalam Khuda tha. ^ Wuhi shuru men Khuda ke pas tha. ^ Sab kuchh us se paida hua, aur ba^chair us ke ek chiz paida na hui, jo paida hiii. * Us men zindagi thi, aur wuh zindagi adraion ki roshni thi. ' Aur wuh roshni tariki men chamakti hai, par tariki ne use daryaft na kiya. * Yuhanna nam ek admi Khuda ki taraf se blieja gaya. ' Wuh gawahi ke waste ay a, ki roshni par gawahi de, taki us ke wasile se sab iman lawen. * Wuh ap wuh roshni na thd, balki us roshni par gawahi dene ko aya. ' Wuh sachi roshni, jo liar admi ko roshan karti hai, dunya men anewali thi. '" Wuh dunya men thi, aur dunya us se paida hiii, par dunya ne use nahin pahchana. " Wuh apnon ke pas aya, par apnon ne use qabul na kiya ; '^ lekin jitne use qabul karke us ke nam par iman lae, us ne unhen Khuda ke farzand hone ka martaba diya ; '^ we lahii se nahin na insan ki khwahish, na mard ki khwahish se, balki Khuda se paida hue hain. " Aur wuh kalam mujassam hua, aur fazl aur sachai se bharpilr hoke hamare darmiyan sakunat kar raha ; aur ham ne us ka jalal aisa, jaisa bap ke iklaute ka jalal dekha. IV. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first translation of any portion of Scripture into Hindustani seems to have been made by Schultze, a Danish missionary. Although fully occupied in the cultivation of Tamil and Telinga, dialects of Southern India, the scene of his labours, this indefatigable man undertook the translation of the New Testament into Hindustani in 1739, and completed it in 1741. He likewise entered upon the translation of the Old Testament, but only lived to finish the first four chapters of Genesis, the book of Psalms, the propliecies of Daniel, and some parts of tlie Apocryphal writings. These various translations were published at the Oriental Institution of the University at Halle, in separate portions: the chapters of Genesis, the book of Daniel, and portions of the Apocrypha, in 1745; the Psalter in 1747, and the New Testament in 1748 to 1758. Copies were at various times transmitted to India, but the hopes and expectations of the zealous translator were never realised, for the translation proved to be by no means a happy one ; and the Psalms, in particular, were found so defective in idiom and orthography as to be nearly unintelligible. No other version of the Scriptures, however, was prepared for the benefit of the Mussulmans of India till the year 1804, when the Gospels, which had been trans- lated by natives, and revised and collated with the Greek by William Hunter, Esq., were published at the College of Fort William in Calcutta. But the most important translation that has been ever made into this language is the version of the New Testament by the Rev. Henry Martyn, for which, as his biographer remarks, " myriads in the ages to come will gratefully remember and revere his name." Mr. Martyn entered upon the work of translation shortly after his arrival in India, and commenced with the Acts. In 1807 he was joined by Mirza Fitrut, a learned Hindustani scholar, whose services were found invaluable on account of his Class III.] HINDUSTANI. 97 surprising acquaintance with the English language. Sabat was also consulted respecting the use of Persian and Arabic words, but his evil temper greatly detracted from his usefulness. By means of the most indefatigable exertions, the translation of the entire Testament was completed in 1808. Mr. Martyn remarked, that it often co.^t him and his coadjutors whole days to make one chapter intelligible in Hindustani. Of the feelings and personal experience of the translator during the progress of this work, we have happily tlie means of judging. In a letter addressed to the Associated Clergy, and dated January 1808, iMr. JIartyn expresses himself in the following terms: — " If the work should fail, which however I am far from expecting, my labour will have been richly repaid by the profit and pleasure derived from considering the word of God in the original with more attention than I had ever done. Often have I been filled with admiration, after some hours' detention about one or two verses, at the beauty and wisdom of God's words and works; and often rejoiced at meeting a difficult passage, in order to have the pleasure of seeing some new truth emerge. It has been frequently a matter ol' delight to me that we shall never be separated from the contemplation of these divine oracles, or the wondrous things about which they are written. Knowledge shall vanish away, but it shall be only because the perfection of it sliall come." The philological difficulties, which Mr. Martyn had to encounter in the prosecution of his work, were by no means few or inconsiderable. No prose com- positions of acknowledged purity at that period existed in Hindustani, so that he had no model upon which to form his style, and no recognised standard of appeal. The higher Mohammedans and men of learning were then, as they still are, disdainful of all works in which tlie Persian had not lent its aid to adorn the style; while to the illiterate classes a large proportion of Hindustani has always been more acceptable. To meet the conflicting views of these two parties has ever been found a task of no ordinary difficulty; and hence, notwithstanding the labour expended on his version of the New Testament, Mr. Martyn addressed himself, immediately on its completion, to a diligent and careful revision. The publication of the work was farther delayed by the fire which occurred at Serampore at the time that it was passing through the press. The printing had advanced to the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, of which the first thirteen chapters were preserved ; and as there was then a general demand for the Hindustani Scriptures, the Calcutta Committee ordered the completion of St. Matthew at one of the presses in Calcutta. The fount of Persian types which had been used in printing was completely destroyed; but new and handsomer types were prepared in the course of a few months, and the work was a second time put to press at Serampore. At length, in the year 1814, this invaluable version appeared, in an edition of 2000 copies of the Testament on English paper; beside 3000 copies of the Gospels and Acts on Patna paper, which were printed off for immediate use. The whole was printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by their Corresponding Committee in Calcutta. The high reputation which this version speedily obtained, and the success with which it was used in native schools at Agra and other places, led to a demand for an edition in the Devanagari character, for the benefit of the Hindoos in the upper provinces, who universally read and write in this char- acter. The Calcutta Committee yielded to the wishes of these people by furnishing them, in 1817, with an edition of 2000 copies of Martyu's Testament, printed in the Devanagari character. No sub- sequent editions of the Hindustani Scriptures were, however, issued in this dress, for it was found by experience that the Scriptures in the Ilinduwee dialect are far more acceptable than in the Hindustani to the numerous class of natives who employ the Devanagari characters. For their use, as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention, Martyn's New Testament was eventually divested of its Persian and Arabic terms, and transferred into the Hinduwee idiom by Mr. Bowley. An edition of the Gospel of St. Matthew in Hindustani and English was published by the Calcutta Committee in 1820, and was found to be very acceptable to natives who were desirous of acquiring the knowledge of the English language. While these editions were being issued by the Calcutta Auxiliary, the publication of an edition in London had been contemplated by the Parent Society since the year 1815: the design was not 8 98 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. carried into exccLition till 1819, when an impression of 5000 copies was struck off with some Persian types, lent for the purpose by the Church Missionary Society. This edition was published under the able superintendence of the Eev. Professor Lee. Four thousand of the copies were forwarded to Calcutta, where they arrived most opportunely, and just at the period when tlie Calcutta Committee were projecting the publication of another edition, on account of the almost entire exhaustion of the copies of previous editions. The urgent necessity for fresh supplies of the New Testament having been thus met, the Calcutta Committee turned their attention to the publication of a Hindustani version of the Old Testament, which had been for some time contemplated. The preparation of this version had been almost completed prior to the decease of Mr. Martyn, by Mlrza Fitrut, who had, on his first engagement as an assistant to ]\Ir. Martyn, promised to learn the Hebrew language in order to qualify himself for translating the Old Testament from the original text. A copy of the book of Genesis belonging to this version had passed into the hands of the Church Missionary Society; they lent it in I8I7 for publication to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and it was printed in London imder the care of Dr. Lee. The Calcutta Society had, since the year 1816, been in possession of a rough draft of the entire version, and in 1819 their committee resolved to have it revised and com- pleted; the Rev. Messrs. Thomason and Corrie, with the aid of suitable native assistants, charged themselves with the execution. The first portion of the work published was an edition of 2000 copies of the Pentateuch, which appeared in 1823, and was in great request among the Mohammedans. The peculiar difficulties which impeded the progress of the learned men engaged in the preparation and revision of this version are thus described by the committee: — " It will be readily perceived by those who understand the language, that it is far from being easy to invest the Scriptures with an Urdu dress. Such an attempt is, perhaps, more difficult in this than in any other language, because of its being so generally and familiarly spoken. The habit of using certain words and phrases in the inter- course of common life, with the lowest domestics, on the most trivial occasions, attaches to them a sort of grovelling character, which in many instances does not really belong to them. It is not easy in such circumstances to separate the base from the pure metal, to distinguish what is precious in the currency from what is vile. It should also be considered, that where there is a great paucity of standard works on subjects peculiarly sacred, or rather no such work at all, many terms must be borrowed from sister dialects, many new words introduced, and phrases invented in describing thinn-s unknown, wliich must of necessity give an air of uncouthness to the style, with whatever care the labour be conducted." On the completion of the Pentateuch, the editors found it desirable to delay the publication of the succeeding books, in order that the JIS. might first be subjected to a more thorough revision and collation with the original Hebrew. In tlie meantime, however, that the press might not remain unemployed, they passed on to the printing of another edition of the New Testa- ment. The proofs of the Gospels were revised by the Eev. Principal Mill; but in 1824, when the ^vork had advanced as far as the Acts of the Apostles, its superintendence appears to have devolved on other gentlemen, probably from the pressing nature of his college duties and avocations. The revision was carried on to the 2nd Corinthians by the lamented Mr. Thomason, and afterwards by ]\lr. Da Costa to the close, under the superintendence of the venerable Archdeacon Corrie. The edition, consisting of 2000 copies, left the press In 1830. The following year another edition of the New Testament, consisting of 2000 copies, was commenced at Serampore, under the superintendence of Archdeacon Corrie: it was completed in 1834. During the publication of these two editions of the New Testament, the revision of the Old Testament version was gradually proceeding. It continued to advance in regular order from the Pentateuch to the end of the 2n(l book of Kings, when it was brought to a stand, on account of the ill health of Mr. Thomason, and his consequent removal to Europe. His anxiety to complete a version which he considered of the first importance, and which he was most peculiarly qualified to execute, induced him to return to India, but his valuable life was shortly afterwards terminated. After the decease of Mr. Thomason, this version was carried forward by the missionaries at Benares; and the Class III.] HINDUSTANI. 99 Committee of tlie British and Foreign Bible Society made a grant of £1000 to the London Jlissionary Society, for time and services rendered by their missionaries in prosecuting the work. In 1844 tlie committee announced that the Old Testament was at length completed; and that editions, both in Arabic and Roman characters, were in course of distribution. It was brought to its conclusion and revised by i\Iessrs. Shurman and Kennedy of Benares, assisted by the Eev. J. Wilson of Allahabad, and J. A. F. Hawkins, Esq. In 1839 the Calcutta Committee pubhshed 2000 copies of the New Testament in Roman characters, and 1000 copies of Anglo-Hindustani, in the same characters; the English and Hindustani texts arranged in opposite columns on the same page. Several missionaries had expressed a desire for siicli a version, as one adapted to the wants of native Christians, drummers, etc. acquainted with the English letters. In addition to their labours in the revision of the Old Testament, the missionaries at Benares were, in 1838, preparing for the Calcutta Committee a new or revised version of the Gospels and Acts, to be printed in Persian characters. In 1842 the Calcutta Committee announced the completion of a thorough revision of the entire New Testament, for which they acknowledged their obhgation to the joint labours of the missionaries of the London and Church Missionary Societies, who had for five years devoted all tlielr spare time to this important work. During the same year, the Com- mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, on the application of the Directors of the London Missionary Society, paid the expenses of printing, in London, 5000 copies of the Hindustani New Testament, prepared by Mr. Buyers and other missionaries at Benares. This edition was printed in Roman characters. When the edition of the Old Testament in Roman characters was passing through the press, this version was selected by the Calcutta Committee to accompany it, as it was deemed desirable to have the Old and New Testaments in a uniform translation. An edition of 1500 copies of the New Testament was therefore determined upon ; but the work was previously revised by the Rev. Mr. Shurman in communication with Mr. Hawkins; and in the course of the revision, Mr. Shur- man saw reason to revert, in a great measure, to the translation of Henry Martyn, especially in the latter half of the version. The edition had left the press in 1844. Mr. Shurman was subsequently engaged, at Benares, in the revision of the Old Testament translation, when (in 1852) death interrupted his valuable labours. It appears, therefore, that besides the version by the Rev. Henry Martyn, there are now three different versions of the Hindustani New Testament in existence ; namely, the version of a committee at Benares, the version of Mr. Buyers above noticed, and a version prepared by the Baptist missionaries of Calcutta in 1841. Some little progress has recently been made in printing the latter in Roman characters; and it appears to have advanced as far as the Gospel of St. Luke. Among these new trans- lations, the idiomatic and faithful version of Henry Martyn still maintains its ground, although from the lofty elegance of its style it is better understood by educated than by illiterate Mohammedans. The Hindustani version of the Scriptures has undergone subsequent revision at the hands of a committee appointed for the purpose, and later editions, both of the Old and New Testament, have appeared. Some of these have been printed in the Arabic, and others in the Roman character. An edition of the New Testament in Urdu (Arabic character), after several years of anxious labour on the part of the reviser, Mr. Hoernle, was approaching towards completion, when the mutiny of 1857 inter- rupted the operations of the Bible Society, and involved in destruction the whole of their premises, with the stock of books, paper, presses, etc., at Secundra, near Agra, where the work was in progress. It was determined, in the place of that which had been thus destroyed, to print immediately a Irage edition in London, and this has happily been accomplished. From the British and Foreign Bible Society's Report for the present year (I860), we learn that 20,000 New Testaments, and 30,000 single Gospels and Acts, in Lh-du, Arabic character, have just left the press. The greater portion have already been forwarded to Allahabad. Ten thousand copies of the Urdu New Testament, in Roman characters, and the same number with English in parallel columns, have also been carried through the press. 100 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III, IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. One of tlie earliest evidences that occurred in testimony tliat the blessing of God rested upon this version, is afforded in the case of Abdool Messee. This devoted native missionary was originally a bigoted Mohammedan. When Mr. Martyn's version of the New Testament was completed, some copies were given to Abdool to bind. He was led to look into the books, and found there, to his astonishment, a dcjcription of his own heart, and of his state as a sinner. Conviction was followed by conversion, he devoted liimself to the service of God, and was made eminently useful as a preaclier of the Gospel among his countrymen. The general effect produced on the Mussulmans of India by the distribution of their vernacular Scriptures is more favourable than could have been expected from the known bigotry of tlie sect. In 1844 the Rev. W. Robinson of Dacca thus describes their condition: — " It is a pleasing feature," says he, " in the present state of things, that the followers of Mohammed, so long remarkable for their determined opposition to the Gospel, do now, in great numbers, read the "Word of God. Their prejudices are much diminished; they hear us almost in silence; and some are, we hope, searching the Scriptures in order to discover the truth. There is a very marked change in the Hindoos and the Mohammedans; the result, we believe, of a very liberal dispersion of the sacred Scriptures. We cannot speak of conversion ; but we do hope that the public mind is preparing for a great revolution in favour of the Gospel." H I N D U W E E. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. 1 3 ^T5r"*i ^^ ■sn , ^i'^ ^^t^ THT ■qr , ^f^ ^^ ^4 ^i^ i -^ ^m^a "h %^^^ wn ^ i ^h^^ hi^ i, s %^T. sKi mn^ ^^^^ qiHcF 5cF »i^ Hin n^\ i #i^ ^^ ^iili cjrr f^^rw cBtr^ ^ %q ^ j^ifs ^ t ft'W w[ rtvm ^^ oirr ^i^ ^t ?> 'simi i ^ ^t^i?'^ ^^ ^^ifir t ¥t •jt?^' ; ^j ^^"t i^if w ^ o <^:i ^fq'SRKJj "stTm, fiw ifjTH 's^ «ift ^r?J!i ^" f «FiT I #i h\ firir'^T ^■^s xitm fw^\, ^am ■jh ^ ■SlfiT^llir qi V^ Wt ^-STH ■q?T I^T, qtH I'Sfft ^'t ^ 1^1 I <\i Tr?f Ti^ JTHTiT^RT ^qiiiT; f> ^^Tff %T TTminH q^ ?^ f»nT: ^n t^i, ^t %« fqm^ ?:^#i^ j^^jn I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. HiNDUWEE, with its various dialects, is spoken in all the upper provinces of India. The population of these provinces is little short of 25,000,000. In these provinces the Mohammedans, as before stated, speak Hindustani; but the Hindoos, properly so called, who profess Brahmlnism, speak Hinduwee, or Class III.] HINDUWEE. 101 one of its numerous dialects. The knowledge of Hinduwee seems to extend beyond tlie provinces to which it is vernacular, and the Rev. Mr. Buyers of Benares mentions, as the result of his own experience and observation, that the Ilinduwcc, such as is used at Benares, is understood by the Eajpoots of Central India, and even by the Sikhs, the Nepalese, the Guzerattees, and the Malirattas, who have distinct dialects of their own. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Hinduwee was the language of the ancient and extensive empire of the Canyacubjas in Upper India, of which Canyacubja, or Canoj, was the capital. Its afSnity to the Sanscrit is very remarkable, and about nine-tentlis of its words may be traced to that language; but that Sanscrit is the root, says Col. Colebrooke, " from which the Hinduwee has sprung, not Hinduwee the dialect upon which Sans- crit has refined, may be proved from etymology, the analogy of which has been lost in Hinduwee but preserved in the Sanscrit." Many Hinduwee words are pure and unaltered Sanscrit, and others differ only from Sanscrit vocables by the regular permutation of certain letters. There is a small proportion of words in this language, however, of which the origin is not Sanscrit, and all attempts to trace these words to some other language have hitherto proved unsatisfactory. In idiom and construction Hinduwee resembles Hindustani, of which, as before mentioned, it in fact forms the groundwork; the chief difference between the two dialects consisting in the predominance of Persian and Arabic words and phrases in Hindustani, and the almost total exclusion of foreign admixture in Hinduwee. There is a difference, likewise, between the written characters belonging to these dialects; the Persian or Arabic characters appertain properly to the Hindustani, while the Devanagari are the proper characters of the Hinduwee. The Kyt'hee or writers' character, which is an imperfect imitation, and in some respects an alteration, of the Devanagari, is also used in writing and printing Hinduwee, particularly by the trading community; and it is said, that of the lower class of natives there are ten who read and write in the Kyt'hee for one who transacts business in the Devanagari. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. At the period when a translation of the Scriptures into this language was first attempted, some little confusion existed in respect to the right application of the terms Hinduwee and Hindustani. The Serampore missionaries, in their First Memoir, speak of a Hindustani which draws principally on the Persian and Arabic for its supplies; and of another which has recourse in the same manner to the Sanscrit: of the one, as quite unintelligible to Sanscrit pundits born and brought up in Hindustan; and of the otlier, as equally unintelligible to their Mussulman moonshees. By the latter of these dialects they evidently meant the Hinduwee: and to their translation of the Scriptures into this dialect they afterwards correctly applied the name Hindee. This version was commenced in 1802 ; and in 1807 the whole of the New, and portions of the Old, Testaments were completed and ready for revision. It is one of the versions which the Rev. Dr. Carey translated with his own hand, and of which the New Testament was rendered immediately from the Greek. The Gospels were printed in 1809, and in 1811 an edition of 1000 copies of the entire New Testament was published at Serampore. This edition was received with so much avidity by the people, that in 1812, almost every copy had been distributed, and it was found requisite to issue another edition, consisting of 4000 copies, which was completed at press in 1813. These copies were speedily exhausted, and on a third edition being urgently demanded, the Serampore missionaries determined to publish a version executed by the Rev. John Chamberlain, in preference to their own; assigning as a reason for this measure that a comparison of independent versions, made by persons long and intimately acquainted with the language, is the means most likely to tend to the ultimate formation of an idiomatic and standard version. The publication of Mr. Chamberlain's version was commenced with an edition of 4000 copies of the Gospels in 1819. This edition was printed in the Devanagari character; and in the following year another edition of the Gospels, consisting of 3000 copies, appeared in the Kyt'hee character. The further publication of this 102 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. version was interrupted by the lamented decease of Mr. Chamberlain. Tlie Rev. J. T. Thompson, a Baptist missionary long resident at Deliii, then undertook the revision of the entire version of the New Testament and of the Psalms, and an edition of 3000 copies of the Gospels was printed in 1824 under his superintendence. Of the Old Testament, the only version printed at Serampore appears to have been that of Dr. Carey. It was published in successive portions; the Pentateuch appeared in 1813, and 1000 copies of the entire Old Testament were completed in 1818. More recently, another edition of the Hindee gospels in the Kyt'hee character has been carried through the press, by the joint labours of Mr. Leslie and Mr. Parsons of Monghir. A revision of the Gospels in the Devanagari character, by Mr. Parsons, has also been for some time past in progress, and editions of St. Matthew and St. Mark have issued from the press: the Gospel of St. Luke was reported, in 1858, as being completed in MS., and ready for the press. Another version of the Hinduwee New Testament was published by the Calcutta Bible Society; the Gospel of St. Matthew in 1819, and the other books at successive intervals, until the completion of the entire Testament in 1826. This version is not a new or independent translation, but is through- out substantially the same as Martyn's Hindustani version, from which it differs chiefly in the sub- stitution of Sanscrit for Persian and Arabic terms. I\Iartyn's Testament was thus adapted to the use of persons speaking the Hinduwee dialect by the Rev. W. Bowley, agent of the Church Missionary Society at Cliunar. Being unacquainted with the original languages of Scripture, he consulted the English authorised version in all passages where the Hinduwee idiom required him to alter Martyn's admirable renderings, referring at the same time to the best commentators on Scripture. Mr. Corrie revised the first edition of the work. New editions of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. ]\lark were published in 1827; and in 1833 a third edition of these Gospels, to the extent of 4000 copies, was issued. Mr. Bowley also undertook the transference of the Hindustani version of the Old Testament into the Hinduwee dialect, and in 1827 the books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah had been published, and the whole work was announced as ready for the press as far as the 2nd Book of Kings, at which point the labours of Jlr. Thomason in the parent version had been arrested. In 1828 or 29, 4000 copies of Genesis were printed, followed in 1831 by similar editions of Exodus and Leviticus, and a second edition of 2000 copies of Isaiah. In 1835 a revision of the New Testament was undertaken by Dr. Mill of Bishop's College; and in 1838 an edition of 1000 New Testaments, besides about 4000 extra copies of the Gospels and Acts, was published at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in Devanagari characters. Another edition of the Gospels and Acts, of similar extent, and printed in the Kyt'hee character, was published during the same year by the same society. In 1847 an edition consisting of 2500 copies of the New Testament, and of 1000 extra copies of the Gospels and Acts, was published in the Kyt'hee character at the American Mission press at Allahabad; and about the same period 2500 copies of the Psalms, printed in the Devanagari character, were issued from the Bible Society's press at Agra. According to late accounts received from India, two separate revisions of the Hinduwee versions were then in progress: the one conducted by a sub-committee appointed for the purpose by the Auxiliary Bible Society at Agra; and the other by Mr. Leslie, a Baptist missionary at Calcutta. Subsequent editions of the Hindee New Testament — both in the Hindee-Kyt'hee, and Devanagari (or Deva-Nagri) characters — have since issued; the former from the press of the Bible Society's Auxiliary at Calcutta, and the latter from the Agra press. The destruction of the Depository at Agra, during the mutiny of 1857, involved the loss of the entire stock of Hindee and other Scriptures then on hand, as well as the demolition of the press actively at work there. It was felt necessary to make immediate provision for replacing the loss by a fresh edition of the New Testament in Hindee, which the Committee of the Parent Society accordingly undertook to print in London. Editions of 20,000 Hindee New Testaments, with 30,000 single Gospels and Acts, have been completed during the present year (1860), having been printed under the editorial care of the Rev. Mr. UUmann. An edition of Genesis, with twenty chapters of Exodus, in Hindee-Kyt'hee, issued from the press in 1855. Class III.] HINDUWEE DIALECTS. 103 IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The following instance, related by Mr. Thompson of Delhi, proves tliat Dr. Carey's Hindee version was really understood, studied, and valued by those among whom it was distributed. In 1816, Mr. Thompson visited an aged Gosaee, residing at Patna, and found him well acquainted with tlie words of Christ and the great truths of revelation, which knowledge he had obtained by a simple perusal of the Hindee New Testament, without consulting a single Christian on the subject. As he was very grave and reserved, it was not, says Mr. Thompson, till the third or fourth visit that I obtained a sight of the book to which he owed all his light, and the separation from idolatry he was proud to confess: he related that, about four years previously, one of his disciples, having obtained a New Testament from the missionaries, brought it to him for approval. The old man had for thirty years entertained doubts relative to the Hindoo system; and this book came to his lielp, and he received it even as the gift of God, and read it through. Then, wishing to teach his disciples a more perfect way, he regularly read it to from ten to seventy of them. Some of them said after a time, " Babajee (father), you wish to wean our minds from our shasters: we cannot regard what you say, or we shall be turned out of our caste." Unhappily this hint had some effect on the old man's mind, for he was loath to forego the world's applause. We are not told any thing farther respecting him ; but his case, while it illustrates the force of the divine word, "how can ye believe which receive honour one of another," proves likewise that this version of Scriptures is adapted to the comprehension and to the intellectual wants of the Hindoo. 'J'he following instance shows that Mr. Bowley's adaptation of Martyn's admirable version has been equally acceptable to the natives. About the year 1833 he left a case of books for distribution at Lucknow, and shortly afterwards received letters from several different individuals who had obtained copies, soliciting baptism. But the best testimony to the power of the Word of God was, that in these communications they distinctly acknowledged their hope of salvation in " the crucified Lord." HINDUWEE DIALECTS. The Hinduwee comprehends many dialects, strictly local and provincial, which diflFer from each other chiefly in the different proportions of Sanscrit, Arabic, or Persian terms (either pure or slightly cor- rupted) which enter into their composition. In point of grammatical inflections, these dialects in some instances vary considerably from the Hinduwee; the Serampore missionaries, in their Sixth Memoir, remark, " we have ascertained that there are more than twenty languages composed of nearly the same words, and all equally related to the common parent tlie Sanscrit, but each possessing a distinct set of terminations." Translations of the Scriptures into several of these dialects have been executed at Serampore; and though it has of late years been found that the Hinduwee version is intelligible in districts where local or vulgar dialects are commonly spoken, and is therefore likely to supersede the Serampore versions, yet the zeal of the admirable men who devoted themselves to the multiplication of so many different versions of the Word of God is not the less to be commended. BRUJ, OR BRIJ-BHASA. The Bruj, or Brij-bhasa, is entitled to the first place in the enumeration of Hinduwee dialects, on account of its very close affinity to the Hinduwee. It has been called the purest of the Hinduwee dialects, because it contains the greatest number of Sanscrit words. It is spoken throughout a con- siderable portion of the province of Agra. In the year 1811 the Rev. John Chamberlain, then 104 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. stationed at Agra, commenced a version of the New Testament in this dialect, and in 1813 he had completed the translation of the Gospels. The prosecution of this work was suspended during some years, while Mr. Chamberlain was engaged in the preparation of the Ilinduwee version. At length, however, in 1822, an edition of 3000 copies of the Gospels was published; and the whole of the New Testament had been completed at press prior to 1832, the date of the Tenth Memoir respecting their translations issued by the Serampore brethren. The character used in printing this and all the other Hinduwee dialects is the Devanagari, with a few diacritical points, to express the peculiar articulations of each dialect. An instance of the usefulness of this version occurred even before its publication. Anand Masih, a native employed in translating the New Testament into this dialect from the Urdu, was a Brahmin, and gained much money by oflBciating as priest. He had inquired into the nature of Mohammedanism, but had felt dissatisfied with it. He had then undertaken several long pilgrimages, and had submitted to much bodily suffering, in the vain hope of finding rest to his soul. Sub- sequently, while engaged in this translation of the Bible, light flashed on his mind; he became a teacher of Christianity at Meerut, under the Eev. Mr. Fisher, and was baptised in 1816. He was ordained by the Bishop of Calcutta in 1836, and was, in fact, the first Brahmin who received ordination. CANOJ, OR CANYACUBYA. The Canoj dialect is spoken in the Doab of the Ganges and Jumna, which latter river forms a line of demarcation between it and the Bruj dialect. Some accounts represent the Canoj as pre- dominant throughout the Delhi districts of Cawnpore, Etawah, Furruckabad, Allyghur, Bareilly, and Moradabad. It is closely connected with the Bruj, or Brij-bhasa, and both dialects are thought to have been originally one and the same : the local causes which gave rise to the slight differences in structure now existing between them are not known. The notices of a version of the Scriptures in the Canoj dialect are few and brief We are only informed that the Serampore translators commenced a version of the New Testament in 1815; that it was printed as far as the Gospel of St. John in 1820; and completed in 1822 in an edition of 1000 copies. In the impossibility of obtaining any better testimony, we are assured by four Canoj pundits, that " the language of this Testament is such as is spoken by the people of Canoj, and that such as have read the book, have identified the language to be that of their country." KOUSULU OR KOSHALA. This dialect is spoken in the west of Oude, or rather in what constituted, prior to the annexation of the entire province in 1856, the reserved territory of the King of Oude. In the specimen of the Lord's Prayer in this dialect, given by the Serampore missionaries, twenty-seven of the words belong to the Bengalee and Hinduwee languages, and nearly all the rest are pure Sanscrit. In the year 1820, the Gospel of St. Matthew had been translated into Kousulu, and was in the press. But at this point the translation seems to have been dropped, and we are told no more respecting it. The want of funds, the pressure of other engagements, or the discovery that the Hinduwee version is intelligible to those who speak this dialect, may have occasioned the discontinuance of the work. BHOJEPOORA. Bhojepoora is the dialect in use throughout the districts of Benares, Juanpore, Ghazipore, Azimghur, and Gorruckpore, which together comprise an area of 16,780 square miles. No translation of the Scriptures has been attempted into this dialect, nor is one requisite, for Mr. Bowley's Hinduwee version has been freely circulated among the natives of these districts. Class III.] HINDUWEE DIALECTS. 105 HUKRIANA. HuRUlANA, in wliicli this dialect is spoken, is a large division of tlic Delhi province, situated between 28° 35' and 29' 49' north latitude, and comprising, according to the latest parliamentary returns, an area of 3,300 square miles, with a population of 225,000. Its name is derived from "Hurya," signifying green ; for although situated on the verge of the Great Desert, it is celebrated for its verdure, yet probably only as compared with the neighbouring region. From the country having been so long the seat of the Mogul empire, this dialect is much corrupted with Persic and Arabic words; it neither possesses nor requires a distinct translation of the Scriptures, the Hindu wee version being in use, as before stated, throughout Delhi. BUNDELCUNDEE. BuNDELCUND forms a large division of the Allahabad province, south-east of Agra, and is included between 23° 52' and 26° 26' north latitude; and between 77° 53' and 81° 33' east longitude, It contains 23,817 square miles, and a population of 2,400,000. From the specimen of the Lord's Prayer in Bundelcundee, given by the Serampore missionaries, we may judge that this dialect approaches as near as possible to the Brij-bhasa. It possesses no translation of the Scriptures; and from the labours of Mr. Bowley at Chunar, and other coadjutors in the neighbourhood, we have no reason to suppose that any other version will be required in this country beyond the general Hinduwee translation. BUGHELCUNDEE, OR BAGHELCUNDEE. BoGHELA, or Baghelcund, in which this dialect is vernacular, lies east, or rather south-east, of Bundelcund, and extends as far southward as the sources of the Kerbudda. No calculation has been furnished of its exact extent, but it is supposed to contain about 25,000 square miles: it is, however, very thinly populated. Bughelcundee is probably a corrupt dialect of the Hinduwee, but very little is known concerning it. A translation of the New Testament exists in this dialect, which was com- menced in 1814, and of which an edition of 1000 copies was struck off by the Serampore missionaries in 1821. But it appears probable that this version will eventually be superseded by the Hinduwee, as has already been the case with other translations in the Hinduwee dialects. The devoted zeal and untiring industry exhibited by the Serampore missionaries, in striving to bestow on every tribe and province of India a version of the Word of God, must ever be regarded with admiration by all Christians; yet it is now but too evident that their talents and energies were most lamentably mis- applied, for a more extended acquaintance with the country and its inhabitants has led to the conviction that fewer distinct versions of the Scriptures are required by the millions of India than were at first deemed necessary by the pioneers of Christianity in that extensive region. 106 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. DIALECTS OF CENTEAL INDIA. SPECIMEN OF THE HAEROTEE VERSION, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to U. 't p, mT-^ ^ifst\ ma 'q=hT %-mfm mi -eft %^ ^rt^ %t^-^[ tt ^%%T?t"^f^ m^ -^ i ^pisct 1:? ^ I ^TRfiTT ■5?Tt# ^^ '^ ^n ^fw T^ ^y3[TW! HM^iMi li^cif jrt f?[ftT 5?rT 'srm^ itt»w Jnmr: 18 ■5CT I 'Sk^ "^fa rf^h ^fm^x ^r ^Rfn '^ ^Mgii^H nm jstIk »^Tcir^=t^T%»? in ^ w t Knqr 1 In addition to the Hinduwee dialects, strictly so called, there are several other Indian dialects supposed to be corruptions of the general Hinduwee stock. These dialects may be classed together under the appellation of " Dialects of Central India," in allusion to the region where they are spoken, which comprises Malwah and the Rajpoot states, and embraces an area of about 193,000 square miles, with a population of about 12,601 ,000. Comparatively little attention has hitherto been paid to these dialects by philologists, but it is evident, from such observations as have been made from time to time on tlieir structure, that they are closely allied to tlie Hinduwee; and it is probable that with the multiplication of missionary schools, and the increase of education among the natives, the Hinduwee version of the Scriptures will eventuidly supersede all versions that have been made in these petty local dialects. It is, therefore, deeply to be regretted that the Serampore missionaries did not con- centrate their attention on the improvement of those versions that are really essential to India, instead of fruitlessly expending their time and labour on the production of translations in mere provincial dialects. Still it may not be uninteresting to trace their general mode of procedure in forming these versions, an account of which we have, as follows, in their own words: — " On engaging a pundit in one of these cognate languages, after having examined and ascertained his qualifications, we gave him an approved version of the Scriptures in a language with which he is well acquainted; for most of the pundits we employ, while good Sungskrit scholars, are also acquainted with at least one or two of the cognate languages of India, besides their own vernacular tongue, and some of them witli three or four. Then placing him among two or three other pundits wlio have been for years employed with us, we direct him to express the ideas he finds there in his own vernacular idiom, with the utmost care and exactness, and to ask questions wherever he finds it necessary, ileantime the grammatical terminations, and the peculiarities of the language, are acquired possibly by the time he has finished the first Gospel. The work of revision is then begun with the pundit. This, at first, proceeds very slowly, as nothing is suffered to go to press till fully understood and approved; and in some instances the Class III.] INDIAN DIALECTS. 107 alterations made are so numerous, as to leave little of the first copy standing. Tliis revision is, how- ever, of the highest value, as the discussions which it originates both lay open the language to us, and the sense of the original to the pundit. As we advance, we proceed with increased ease and pleasure, and seldom go through the fourth Gospel without feeling ourselves on firm ground, relative to the faithfulness and accuracy of the version. Thus a first version of the New Testament is produced, not inferior in accuracy, and far superior in point of style and idiom, to the first version of the Bengalee New Testament, the product of seven years' severe labour and study." OOJEIN, OE OUJJUYUNEE. OOJEIN is vernacular in Malwah, an extensive province of Central India, lying chiefly between 22 and 26 degrees north latitude, and 74 and 80 degrees of cast longitude, and including an area of about 67,360 square miles. The Oojein, although the vernacular of more than six millions of people, has never been subjected to philological analysis; yet all the accounts we possess respecting it concur in representing it as a corrupt and mixed dialect of the Hindnwee. A version of the New Testament in Oojein had been half carried through the press at Serampore in 1820; and the edition, which consisted of 1000 copies, was completed in 1824. HARROTEE. The province of Harrotee lies on the north-east extremity of Malwah ; it is generally reckoned among the Rajpoot states, and is governed by Rajpoot chiefs. Its area has been estimated at 9000 square miles, and its population at one million. The Harrotee is evidently a corrupt dialect of the Hinduwee, but possesses many Persic words. In the Lord's Prayer in Harrotee, twenty-two of the words arc found radically the same as those of the Serampore specimens in Bengalee and Hinduwee, with others of direct Persic origin. The Serampore translators commenced a version of the New Testament in this dialect in 1815, and an edition of 1000 copies was printed in 1822. With respect to the purity of the translation, we are left to the single testimony of Bhowanee Ram, overseer to Rajah Goverdhun, of Harrotee, the best that could possibly be obtained at the tune, who says, " The book shown to me in the Harrotee is correct Harrotee, and will be understood by all the people of that country." OODEYPOORA. OODETPOOR, or Mewar, a Rajpoot state of the first rank, is bounded on the north by the British district of Ajmere; on the east by the native states of Boondee, Gwalior, and Pertabghur; on the south by Banswarra and Dongurpoor; on the north-west by Sirhohi and the district of Ajmere. It includes an area of 11,614 square miles, with a population estimated at 1,161,400. The specimen of the Lord's Prayer in the dialect of Oodeypoor, furnished by the Serampore missionaries, contains twenty- eight of the roots found in Hinduwee, with some others apparently of Persic origin. A version of the Gospel of St. Matthew in Oodeypoora was printed at Serampore in 1815, but we are not told of how many copies the edition consisted, nor from what cause the further prosecution of the translatioii was relinquished. MARWAR. JOUDPOOR, or Marwar, the region in which this dialect is spoken, is the most extensive of the Rajpoot states. It hes between 24° and 28° north latitude, and extends from Oodeypoor in the east to the province of Sinde in the west; including an area of 35,672 square miles, with a population estimated at 1,783,600. That the Marwar dialect contains many words of Hinduwee origin is well known, but we possess few details concerning its idioms or structure. The New Testament has been translated into Marwar by the Serampore missionaries; they commenced the version in 1814, and pub- lished an edition of 1000 copies in 1821. The testimony of a native as to its correctness, procured 108 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. about the period of its publication, was to the following effect: — "The book shown me, translated into the Marwar dialect, is in very good ]\Iarwar, with here and there a plirase of the Doond'haree ( Jeypoor) dialect; but this is the case with the language now spoken in Marwar, and the book will be understood by all." JUYAPOOKA. JuTAPOORA is spoken in Joypoor or Jeypoor, a Rajpoot territory which lies east of Marwar and west of Agra, principally between 26 and 28 degrees of north latitude. It extends from north to south about 150 miles in its greatest length, and 140 miles from east to west, covering a surface of 15,251 square miles. The population is estimated to amount to about a million and a half. In the Lord's Prayer, as given by the Scrampore translators in this dialect, twenty-nine words may be traced to their Hinduwee and Bengalee specimens. A version of St. Matthew in Juyapoora was printed at Serampore in 1815; but no information has been preserved relative to the number of copies, and the translation appears subsequently to have been dropped. SHEKAWUTTY. The little province of Shekawutty lies south of Delhi, about the 28th degree of north latitude, and extends about 80 miles from north to south, and rather less from east to west. The Serampore translators have furnished neither specimen nor description of this dialect, and no attempt to translate any portion of the Scriptures appears to have been made. BIKANEERA. The Rajpoot state of Bikaneer lies north of Marwar, and is situated chiefly between the 27th and 30th degrees of north latitude; its area is stated at 17,676 square miles, and its population at 539,250. The Lord's Prayer, as given in the dialect of Bikaneer, contains twenty-nine words which may be identified with those in the Hinduwee and Bengalee specimens, with some others more directly from the Sanscrit. A Bikaneera version of the New Testament was commenced in 1813, and an edition of 1000 copies was printed at Serampore in 1823. Concerning the purity of this version, several satisfactory testimonies have been afforded by natives. Like other versions in Hinduwee dialects, it had been printed in Devanagari characters, and it was not discovered till too late that these char- acters are used only by the Jains in Bikaneer: the majority of the people employ, it is supposed, some corrupted or cursive form of Devanagari. BUTTANEER, OR VIRAT. BuTTANEER, the country of the Bhatties, is situated in the north-eastern quarter of the Raj- pootana or Ajmere territory, about the 30th degree of north latitude; and between the meridians of 73° and 76° east. Its outline, which is very irregular, encloses an area of 3,017 square miles. If Buttaneer is to be classed among the number of Hinduwee dialects, it is probably extremely corrupted with words from the Persic and Arabic, for Mohammedanism is the religion of the Bhatties. In 1821 a Buttaneer New Testament was commenced at Serampore, and an edition of 1000 copies was printed in 1824. We have the testimony of a native as to the intelligibihty of this version, but no details relative to its circulation have been furnished. Class III.1 BENGALEE. 109 BENGALEE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VERSIOISr, see Plate 5, page Ml. 1. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Bengal, or Bangala, tlie richest and most important province of India, lies between 21 and 27 degrees north latitude, and is bounded north by Nepaul and Bootan, south by tlie Bay of Bengal, east by Assam and the Burmese territories, and west by Bahar and Orissa. It extends 350 miles in length, and its average breadth is 300 miles, enclosing an area of nearly 100,000 square miles; while the population in round numbers, may be conjectured to amount to nearly 30,000,000. The Persian and Hindustani are spoken to some extent in Bengal, but the predominant dialect is unquestionably the Bengalee. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Among the Indian daughters of the Sanscrit, none, except the Pali, approach so nearly the parent stock as the Bengalee. Yet it is rather a singular circumstance that the derivative languages, which have arisen in India itself from the very tomb of the Sanscrit, exhibit in many respects less analogy to that ancient language than its sister languages in Europe. The Bengalee, for instance, in several of its grammatical inflections, has departed further from the original Sanscrit type than the Greek and some of the Germanic languages ; and even in its lexicon we meet with the mutilated and corrupted fragments of Sanscrit words, of which the correlatives have been preserved in a far purer state in the languages of Europe. In attempting to account for this phenomenon, Bopp remarks that, in warm regions, when languages have once burst the old grammatical chain, they in general hasten to their downfall with a more rapid step than under our milder European clime. It must, however, be observed, that although Bengalee, in its simple and colloquial form, displays many deviations from the Sanscrit, yet that in proportion to the abstruseness of the subjects which it may be employed in dis- cussing, it rises in approximation to its parent; and that in all dignified compositions it borrows freely from it grammatical forms, words, and idioms. The system of inflection In Bengalee Is inartificial, and easily acquired. Nouns have in this dialect seven cases, discriminated by difl^erences of termination. The intricacies of gender which encumber the Hindustani are unknown in Bengalee ; for in this latter dialect the threefold distinction of gender into masculine, feminine, and neuter, is used with respect to animate and Inanimate objects in the same way as In our own language. The two numbers (singular and plural) apply in Bengalee only to masculine and feminine nouns. Neuter nouns cannot receive a plural termination; but a numeral, or some word expressive of quantity. Is added to indicate plurality. Adjectives have no distinction of number or case, and the gender of feminine adjectives only can be denoted by the ter- mination, masculine and neuter adjectives being entirely uninflected, as in English. Pronouns do not admit of the distinction of gender; and in translating from Bengalee into other languages, the context alone can determine whether the pronoun ought to be rendered he, she, it, or that. In Bengalee, as in other Indian dialects, there arc two kinds of personal pronouns, the honorific and the familiar. The habit, says Mr. Haughton, of self-abasement before a superica-, and the assumption of sell-impor- tance In speaking to an inferior, have established this use of two personal pronouns; and In accordance with this custom, there are likewise two sorts of terminations appended to verbs, the one conveying a respectful, and the other a contemptuous meaning. There is but one conjugation of verbs In Bengalee, and it Is remarkably simple and regular. Many of the tenses are formed by the aid of auxiliaries, and there are in all but three irregular verbs. The Bengalee style of writing is merely a cursive method no INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Cj.ass III. of forming the Devanagari characters, adopted for the sake of ease and expedition. In style and grammar, the Bengalee may be said to bear to the Sanscrit the same relation as the Italian does to the Latin. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. The commencement of the first Bengalee version of Scripture may be dated from the year 1793, when Dr. Carey and his coadjutors quitted England to enter upon their labours in India. During the voyage, Mr. Thomas, a surgeon of Bengal, who was returning thither in company with the missionaries, employed himself in translating part of the book of Genesis into Bengalee. The other portions of Scripture translated by Mr. Thomas were the Gospels of St. iMatthew and St. Mark, part of St. Luke, and the Epistle of St. James; but these versions were executed very incorrectly; and when Dr. Carey, a twelvemonth after his arrival in India, had mastered the language, and addressed himself to the work of translation, he found the MSS. prepared by Mr. Thomas of little or no assistance. Dr. Carey e.xecuted his version of the New Testament immediately from the Greek text; he made great use of Doddridge's Family Expositor hi the translation. After seven years' severe labour and study, he completed and published the New Testament at Serampore in 1801. The edition consisted of 2000 copies of the Testament, besides 500 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which had been struck oIF the preceding year for immediate distribution. A testimony as to the estimation in which this version was held was speedily afforded by the appointment of Dr. Carey to the Professorship of the Bengalee, Sanscrit, and Mahratta languages in the College of Fort William, then recently established. This truly providential circumstance greatly augmented his means of usefulness as a translator of the Scrip- tures ; for learned natives crowded from all parts of India to the College for literary employment, and tlirough their instrumentality. Dr. Carey saw all the learning and almost all the languages of India placed within his reach. An edition of the Bengalee Old Testament, consisting of 1000 copies, was carried through the press in successive portions, between the years 1802 and 1809. Mr. Fountain, one of the Serampore missionaries, assisted in the preparation of the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd of Kings, and the 2nd of Chronicles; the remaining books were translated by Dr. Carey, but whether he had recourse to the English version, or executed the work direct from the original, we are not informed. In 1806 a second edition of the New Testament, consisting of 1500 copies, was printed. The sheets were previously subjected to the most careful revision ; every proof was critically examined and compared with the Greek by Dr. Carey and Dr. Marshman; and their increased familiarity with the language enabled them to make several important alterations in the idioms and phraseology. This edition was followed by large issues of various portions of the Scriptures, printed for separate distribution; and in 1811 a third edition of the New Testament was published in folio, which being designed for the purposes of public worship in native congregations, consisted only of 100 copies. The progress of the next edition was interrupted by the fire which occurred in the printing office at Serampore in 1812 ; but by the zeal of friends and the energy of the missionaries, new types and printing materials were quickly procured, and in the following year the second edition of the Pentateuch, to the extent of 1000 copies, was published. A fourth and revised edition of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, appeared in 1816: the increased desire manifested by the natives for copies of the Scriptures in Bengalee, led to the publication of several large editions of the New Testament and of various portions of Scripture which appeared in successive years; and in 1832, the eighth edition of the New Testament, carefully revised and corrected, was committed to the press. It is rather remarkable that the labours of Dr. Carey as a translator commenced with the Bengalee New Testament, and closed, after the long interval of forty years, with its revision. He completed his last edition of this Testament but a very short period before his death; and in allusion to its completion, he remarked at tlie time to his friends, that "his work was done, and that he had nothing more to do than to wait the will of his Lord." Class III.] BENGALEE. Ill Auotlier version of the Bengalee New Testament was undertaken by Mr. Ellerton of the Cluircli Missionary Society, wlio liad long been stationed at Malda, near tlie ruins of the ancient Gaur. His first production was a version of tlie Gospel of St. John, which was printed at the expense of the Countess of Loudon, principally for the use of a school which she had established at Barrackpore. This version obtained so many strong testimonials in its favour, that the Calcutta Bible Society caused an edition of 2000 copies of the Gospels to be printed in 1817; and in the following year, an edition of the entire Testament, translated by i\Ir. Ellerton, and consisting of 2000 copies, was issued by the same society, togetlier with a large impression of the Gospels, which were distributed singly to the amount of seven or eight thousand copies. In 1818 the Baptist missionaries settled at Calcutta pub- lished for the same society an edition of 5000 copies of Mr. EUerton's version of the Gospel of St. John, witli the English on the opposite pages. In 1823 the Calcutta Committee printed another large edition of Mr. EUerton's version of the Gospels and Acts, chiefly for the use of the schools established by the missionary societies throughout Bengal; and as this edition was speedily exhausted, another edition of the same extent of 4000 copies was put to press in 1829. While this edition was in the course of publication, the attention of the Calcutta Couimittee was drawn to the great improvements which had been made in the Serampore version of the Bengalee New Testament by the critical revisions to which each successive edition had been subjected; and on a careful examination of Jlr. EUerton's version, it was determined by the committee either to subject it to a very minute and accurate revision, or to substitute some other version in its place. This led to the important measure of endeavouring to obtain what might be accounted a standard version of the Scriptures in Bengalee. With this view, a sub-committee was formed in 1830, composed of the best scholars of the diflerent denominations of Christians friendly to the Bible Society in Bengal. They were appointed to execute a version of the entire Scriptui-es, and agreed to submit their labours to the suggestions of other dis- tinguished scholars. They began with the book of Genesis, and published it in 1833; the account which they gave as to their mode of procedure was as follows: — "We have," they said, "paid par- ticular regard to the connective links of the history, and we have throughout consulted the Hebrew original, and the best authorities on Scripture criticism: as to the language employed, we have been careful in selecting pure Bengalee words only, such as derive their origin from the Sanscrit, avoiding all Hindustani vocables, and all low expressions." As farther supplies of the New Testament were imperatively requisite to meet the immediate wants of the people, another edition of 4000 copies of the Gospels and Acts of Mr. EUerton's version was printed in 1831; and in 1835, as the revision of the New Testament by the sub-committee had not been accomplished, the Calcutta Society was autho- rised by the Parent Society to print an edition of 5000 copies of Mr. EUerton's version as a temporary supply. Some amendments had been made in the version by the Rev. Mr. Eeichardt, which were in part adopted by a sub-committeo appointed to conduct this edition through the press. A third version of the Bengalee Scriptures has been executed by Dr. Yates, a Baptist missionary, whom we have before mentioned as a translator of the Scriptures into Sanscrit. The first portion of Dr. Yates's Bengalee version that was committed to the press appears to have been the Psalter, pub- lished by the Calcutta Society in 1827. The part of the Bengalee Bible containing the Psalms had been out of print for more than eight years, although repeated applications had been made for it. On publishing this new translation of the Psalms, the Calcutta Committee presented every native Christian, in full communion with a church of any denomination, with a copy, not only because most of them were too poor to purchase, but principally as a token of brotherly affection, and of concern for their spiritual prosperity. It was hoped by the committee that this proceeding would " contribute in some measure to the promotion of that love and union between Christians of dilFerent nations and com- munions, which our common Lord and Saviour so earnestly implored in his mediatorial prayer (John xvii.); and which wiU, doubtless, be one of the principal means of convincing the world that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of men." The first edition of Dr. Yates's New Testament appears to have been published in 1833. In the 112 INDO-EUKOPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. preparation of tills version he derived much assistance from his friend and colleague, Mr. Pearce, who had a very accurate acquaintance with the Bengalee language, and also with the Greek original, from which the translation was made. Dr. Yates remarks concerning him, that " he had the eye of a Christian, a critic, and a printer." This version was pronounced by competent judges " an able and excellent translation;" and as the Baptist missionaries liberally permitted the Bible Society to use their versions with alterations for the word baptism (they being considered In no way parties to such alterations), the Calcutta Committee undertook in 1836 to pubUsh an edition of 5000 copies of the entire Testament. This edition of Dr. Yates's version was completed at the expense of the Parent Society in 1837. Other editions of the same version appear to have been printed, from time to time, by the Baptist missionaries. In 1840 a fourth, and very beautiful, edition was issued by them, and in 1844 it underwent an entire and very severe revision; and references and marginal readings were added. An edition of the Bengalee New Testament in Koman letters was published in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1839: the text adopted was that of Dr. Yates. In the translation of the Old Testament, Dr. Yates was aided by the British and Foreign Bible Society : the sum of £400 was voted in 1836 in aid of the version, and fiirther assistance was promised. The version was completed in 1844: the translation of the entire Bible had occupied Dr. Yates during the space of five years, and five more were employed in printing it. With the exception of a version of the book of Proverbs by the Rev. W. Morton, of which an edition of 5000 copies was printed by the Calcutta Society in 1842, no other translation of any portion of the Scriptures into Bengalee seems to have been made in addition to the above mentioned versions until 1845, when a new version of the entire Bengalee New Testament, prepared by Dr. Ha;bcrlin, was offered to the Calcutta Society: 250 copies of the Gospel according to St. Alark, and the same number of the Epistle to the Ephesians, have since been printed as specimens of Dr. Haaberlin's version, in order that its value may be tested. In 1845 an inquiry was instituted by the Calcutta Society respecting the state of the Bengalee versions, and the practicability of obtaining a version which they might consider their own. A circular letter was addressed to the various missionaries in Bengal for their advice and help. From the answers received, it appeared that " none of the existing versions, In their present state, fully answered the actual wants of the country; and that either an entirely new version, or a revised and improved edition of some one or other of the existing versions, was absolutely required." As It had, however, been long acknowledged that the version by Dr. Yates possessed the principal characteristics deemed requisite in a standard version, the Calcutta Society determined to reprint his New Testament, and an edition of 2500 copies was published In 1847, under the care of the Rev. J. Paterson, of the London Missionary Society. During the same year the Society likewise printed 5000 copies of Genesis, with the first twenty chapters of Exodus, from Dr. Yates's version. About the same time 1000 copies of the Prophecies of Isaiah were printed by Mr. L. Mendes at his own expense, the Society supplying the paper: this work was carried through the press by the Rev. Dr. Duff, and the Rev. A. F. Laeroix. Another edition of 4000 copies of Dr. Yates's version of the New Testament was published by the Baptist missionaries in 1846: there were also printed for separate distribution, 15,000 copies of each of the Four Gospels, besides other separate portions of Scripture. A revision of Dr. Yates's version of the New Testament has since been accomplished, for the Baptist ]\Iissionary Society, by the Rev. J. Wenger, assisted by Mr. Lewis; and editions of this revised version, In 8vo. and other forms, have been published. Several editions of the same revised version have also been printed, with the permission of the Baptist missionaries, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. A new edition of Dr. Yates's translation of the Old Testament, similarly revised by Mr. Wenger, has made considerable progress towards completion. Meanwhile, a further edition of 2500 New Testaments was completed in 1859, together with 10,000 copies of Genesis, and twenty chapters of Exodus. As it was deemed desirable to prepare a special edition of portions of Scripture for the use of that large section of the Mussulman population of Bengal who, while they read the Bengalee Class III.] BENGALEE. 113 character, speak a dialect of tlie Bengalee language wliicli is largely mingled with Persian and other foreign terms, the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John in Mussulman-Bengalee, together with Genesis, twenty chapters of Exodus, and Isaiah, have been issued from the Calcutta press at the expense of tlie British and Foreign Bible Society. The Gospel of St. Luke, the first issued of the Mussulman-Bengalee versions, was prepared under the care of the Rev. J. Paterson; the others have issued under the revision of the Rev. S. J. Hill, on the lamented decease of the former. MUSSULMAN-BENGALEE.— St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 7. *N?1 5^ ^-T '=1>^?i 5t^ c^ "^ 1p^ ^51 'icipr ^nrfsniti:^ ^"^ fp^ fe \ \ \ N ^ ^t^T ©f^^l (?R>^T M'^^ 511 ^tt I " c^=TUff5t ^5t?T Tnrf^ntc^ ff ^, ^t c!{% (rsi^ai-fft >i)7r-;rfc^T ^^ fi^ i 5 ^ ^?r ^c^iTfc^ ^c5iT 5t^, c^f^^ ^SrtC^I fttfCl? TffWf^ ^f^n ^1 I « 'ilf^^l ^t:Tl3¥t^1 'il^ ■^'t C?tt?f5T ;jM^(.-vo ^^ c^^ ^srt^ ^c^ '^t "^^n:^ "^ cirt^f^n^r Tf^n^r cf yttsutf^ f?c3. \ \ N The propriety of rendering the Scriptures into a mixed dialect such as the Mussulman-Bengalee undoubtedly is, has been called in question, and it has been determined not to proceed with the work beyond the two remaining Gospels. IV. RESULTS OF THK DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION OF THE SCEIPTDRES. Examples might easily be multiplied of the blessed effects which at various periods have resulted from the study of the Bengalee Scriptures; but let the following facts, related by Dr. Marsh man in illustration of the subject, suffice. About the year 1818, a number of persons were found inhabiting certain villages near Dacca, who had forsaken idolatry, and who constantly refused to Brahmins the usual honours paid to them beyond the other classes of the community. They were also said to be remarkable for the correctness of their conduct, and particularly for their adherence to truth. They were occasionally visited by several Christian brethren, both native and European, and were said to be scattered through ten or twelve villages. They were, however, the followers of no particular leader, as is the case with many sects among the Hindoos; but from their professing to be in search of a true gooroo, or teacher, they were termed sutya-gooroos. Some native Christians being exceedingly desirous of knowing whence they have derived all their ideas, were at length told that they had imbibed them from a book which was carefully preserved in one of their villages. On arriving at this village, they were shown a book much worn, kept in a case; the book was stated to have been there many years, although none of those present could say from whence it came. On examination this book was found to be a copy of the first edition of the Bengalee New Testament, printed at Serampore in 1800. After this, numbers of these sutija-gooroos went to Dacca, and conversed with the native brethren there concerning many subjects mentioned in the New Testament. This ended in three of them being baptised on a profession of faith in Christ, and they afterwards returned to their own villages. Krishnoo, a native Christian (who had also been converted by means of the perusal of the Benn-alee version, and who had been baptized in 1800) went among them shortly afterwards, and 114 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. found In tlieir possession a copy of the second edition of the Bengalee New Testament, which they prized very highly, although they had not, as a hody, made an open profession of Christianity. Other similar instances of the effects resulting under the blessing of God from the distribution of this version will be seen by reference to the Reports of the Church and London Missionary Societies ; but the best evidence of the satisfactory result of this dissemination of the Bengalee Scriptures is exhibited In the numerous congregations and schools that have risen in every part of the Bengal presidency, and to the beneficial effects of which even so stupendous an event as the mutiny of 1857-8, has only constituted a temporary interruption. BENGALEE DIALECTS. MAGADHA, OR MAGUDHA. Magadha Is spoken In the province of South Bahar, which comprises an area of 32,982 square miles, and a population of 4,758,150. South Bahar is now included in the presidency of Bengal, but it was anciently the seat of an Independent sovereignty. Gaya, a town in this province, is said to have been the birthplace of Buddha, the great prophet and legislator of Eastern Asia. From this and other circumstances It was once currently believed, though without suflBcient data, that the dialect now spoken In South Bahar Is Identical with Pali, the sacred language of Buddhism. But, whatever may be the diversity of opinion concerning the origin of the Magadha dialect. It Is now generally admitted that, In Its present state, It can only be regarded as a gross corruption of the Bengalee. According to Mr. Colebrooke's representation, It appears to be more corrupt than any of the other Indian dialects; but, perhaps, this may partly arise from the large proportion of Llohammedans found In this province, speaking another language, and using a different character, and who are said to form at least one third of the entire population. A version of the New Testament In Magadha was commenced at Serampore In 1814, and In 1824 an edition of 1000 copies left the press. More recently, some portions of the Gospels have been translated by the Rev. E. Start of Patna; but It appears that his version Is still unfinished and In manuscript: he is of opinion that It Is through the Magadha alone that " access can be had to one million of Hindoos who now live in the birthjslace of Buddhism." Other missionaries, however, have stated that it is questionable whether any version of the Scriptures except the Bengalee Is strictly requisite In South Bahar. TIRHITIYA, OR MITHILI. The Sircar of TIrhut, or TIrhoot, sometimes called Mithili, and sometimes North Bahar, Is separated from South Bahar by the River Ganges, and lies between the 25th and 27th degrees of north latitude, and the meridians of 84° and 88° east. It Includes an area of 7,402 square miles, and a population of 2,400,000. The TIrhltiya dialect never appears to have been at any period In extensive use, or to have been much employed in literary compositions. In Its present form It greatly resembles the Bengalee, and its written characters differ but little from those used in writing Bengalee. In the Lord's Prayer, as given In this dialect by the Serampore missionaries, may be traced twenty words radically the same as those In the Bengalee and Hindu wee specimens; but some of the words are more purely Sanscrit. A version of the Scriptures In this dialect was projected at Serampore, but apparently never carried Into execution. It Is now conjectured that the Bengalee version Is likely to answer all the purposes of a separate translation In TIrhltiya. gfi^g §? gi) go go ^■D P « ^ m-s) i ^^ = \ 3 |j) * 5^gj5 =) 2 2 ^ 5_5 ^ ^ IN I' s rf 9^ "t is /J ? If, 3 ^ z > o SPECIMEN OF THE ASSAMESE VERSION. p ,1^ Conaistjng of PSALM LXVII, v I to 3 >0 C^ ^^, C.oi|^neil(: C«|ij| ^\3n <>C^I<>; sr^Tcifffl c^rtr^ cvsNi^ .sf^^sri ^trt^ i o2 o 03 c Q_ (3 C Oo O s, C aj3 cq e) C C o c " i_ c — OOo-3 oo oc_ •^ a C 0 Oo qj^ 0C_ o -^ oC_ 03 OC_ 03 IS S, D ^O^ O OS ^n OS Q_ r- rJ -Jo _3o OO d( o _J0 C3 O 3 U5 C ^ 3 -a C So P° oo Oooc_ OS r^ O CD r> >- 3 ou. -ecu (f> oo oo ^ O ^ ±, ^ O o£°^ 5 ■ oJ oo °- -« -"" O C O gorLS c_ OO — >o o(— _J ^ — o oo CD il ^ "^ - -e e' - c oo -e o C_D C 3 G OrJ u o 05 c Q _3o O c o _5o OJ CJO Q COS «; CO ° ° boo c8 S »o o 3 ^ < 8 _i OO 3 £o & a U3 onOO-oH -^^00-^7;f Jv^pOO 4i ^^ ,-^ o goJ^rC -:^ ^ 5 3 " 3 ^c^S .^^^coK 3 ^j^ c °°^ &-e^ p 9:^ °2 H ^ ^ 8 ^^ j^ 8 ^ ^^ -^^ 8 So §©]i^,:H^§(B]f-&8 § I 8 '? S.C8oo3 8 ^^ ■ ^-^ °8 8 8 .3 -10 •4 o Class III.] ASSAMESE. 115 ASSAMESE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE ASSAMESE VERSION, see Plate 10, page 115. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Assam was one of the provinces ceded to the British in 1826 by the Burmese, and now forms part of the eastern frontier of our Indian possessions. It is inchided in the valley of the Brahmaputra, and extends from the north-east corner of the province of Bengal, about longitude 91 degrees east, in an easterly direction, to an extent not yet very clearly defined; but it is probable that from about the 96th degree of east longitude, the territory is inhabited by several independent tribes, who occupy the intervening space from thence to the province of Yun-nan in China, and wlio speak dialects belonging to the monosyllabic stock. According to the parliamentary returns of 1851, the population of Assam numbers 710,000. They are chiefly Hindoos, and Brahminism has been the general religion of the people since the seventeenth century, yet many among them profess Mohammedanism. II. — chakacteristics of the language. The original language of the Assamese nation was the Ahom, a branch of the Siamese family of languages. The Ahom appears to have been formerly vernacular on the borders of Cliina, whence these people are said to have emigrated prior to their settlement in Assam. On their adoption of the religion of Bengal, in the middle of the seventeenth century, they also gradually habituated them- selves to the use of its language, till at length the ancient Ahom tongue became extinct. The language now spoken in Assam has, during the lapse of years, contracted several peculiarities of its own, distinguishing it from the Bengalee. The Serampore missionaries diligently compared it with the Bengalee, and found that though the two dialects still correspond with each other exactly, so far as words are concerned, yet that the inflections of nouns and verbs differ so greatly, that the natives of the two countries are unintelligible to each other. The letters of the Assamese dialect have in general the same name and power as the Bengalee, but several of the characters vary a little in form ; and though these variations are but trifling, yet in printing the Scriptures it was found impracticable to use the Bengalee types, and the missionaries were obliged to cast a new fount of types for the purpose. III. — versions of the scriptures in this dialect. A translation of the Scriptures into Assamese was commenced at Serampore in 1811, and com- pleted in 1815, when the first two Gospels were printed. The whole New Testament was finished at press in 1819, the edition consisting of a thousand copies: the British and Foreign Bible Society aided the publication by the grant of £500. In 1822, one thousand copies of the Pentateuch left the press; and the printing of the entire Old Testament was subsequently completed. The American Baptist Missionary Society has three stations in this province, and Mr. Nathan Brown, one of their agents, has been for some years occupied in the task of preparing another translation of the New Testament into Assamese. We are not in possession of any recent information respecting the progress of this version. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Comparatively few details have been received in Europe concerning the progress of the Gospel in this province, or the results that may have followed the Christian eiforts of the American Baptist Missionaries, the only labourers employed on this field. These missionaries, however, have stated " that the truth appears to be slowly and surely working its way in Assam; that the people are eager to receive books; and that a number of interesting young men do not hesitate to denounce Hindooisra as false, and to acknowledge the Scriptures as true." 116 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. TJEIYA, on ORISSA. FOE, SPECIMEN OF THE URIYA, OR ORISSA VERSION, see Plate 3. page 01 I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTEN I' AND STATISTICS. Ukiya is the vernacular dialect of Orissa, a narrow strip of country stretching along the shores of the Bay of Bengal, from the provinces of Bengal and Bahar on the north to tlie Carnatic on the south; it has an average breadth of about seventy miles inland, where it borders upon Gund\van;i, and comprises (according to the parliamentary returns) an area of 52,995 square miles. The population (which comprehends, besides Uriyas, people of three other races, the supposed aborigines of the province) is estimated at 4,534,800. It is stated that from three to four millions of people are conversant with the Uriya dialect. Orissa has been under foreign sway since the year 1558, when it was conquered by tlie Affghans. In 1578 it was annexed to tlie Mogul empire; in 1756 it was transferred to the Mahrattas; and since 1803-4 it has formed a part of the Bengal presidency. The national religion of Orissa is Brahminism, and the celebrated temple and town of Juggernaut are situ;i,ted in this province. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS DIALECT. Uriya is a tolerably pure dialect of tlie Sanscrit, but possesses some Persian and Arabic terras, bor- rowed through the medium of the Hindustani, with others of doubtful origin. It is closely connected with Bengalee, nine tenths of the same words being in use in both dialects: the pronunciation, however, differs greatly; for an effeminate style of articulation is prevalent in Bengal, while the inhabitants of Orissa have a broad and almost a rustic accent. The Uriya has a written character peculiar to itself, but evidently derived from tlie Devanagari; and the Brahmins of this province use the Uriya character in writing Sanscrit. The deviations of this character from the Devanagari have been ascribed to the practice of writing on palm leaves with an iron style, or on paper with a pen cut from a porcupine's quill. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. The first version of the Scriptures in this dialect was commenced by the Serampore missionaries in 1803. The native pundit employed in preparing the rough draft of the translation was almost as well acquainted with the Bengalee as with his own dialect, and therefore translated from the Bengalee version; his work, according to the method pursued in other versions, was afterwards compared verse by verse with the original text, and corrected by the missionaries. An edition consisting of 1000 copies of the New Testament was printed in 1811. The first edition of the Old Testament, which also consisted of 1000 copies, was finished at press in 1819. So great was the demand for this version that, in 1820, the first edition of the New Testament was exhausted, and an edition consisting of 4000 copies, was put to press, and completed in 1822. The pubHcation of this large edition was simultaneous with the establishment of a mission by the General Baptist Society at Cuttack, the capital of Orissa. In 1832 a second edition of the Old Testament was passing through the press; and likewise a large separate edition of tlie Psalms. In 1838, in consequence of inquiries that had been instituted relative to the particular versions of Scripture chieBy required in India, the Rev. Messrs. Sutton and Xoyes were requested by the sub-committee of translations at Calcutta to prepare a new version of the Scriptures in Uriya. Dr. Sutton commenced with the Book of Genesis, and when the translation was completed, he carried on both the printing and binding at Cuttack, where he was stationed. An edition of the Old Testament was accomplished by him for tlie Bible Society in 1844; the edition consisted of 2000 copies of the New Testament, and 3000 separate copies of the books of Genesis, Psalms, and Proverbs. An edition of 2000 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke, from Dr. Sutton's version, has subsequently (in 1854) issued from the Cuttack press, at the instance of the Bible Society. CiAss III.] SINDHEE. 117 CUTCHEE, OR CATCHEE. FOR SPECIMEN OF THE CUTCHEE, OR CATCHEE, see Plate 4, page 133. CuTCn, a small state of North-western Hindoostan, lies between latitude 22° 45' and 23° 45' north. The Runn, a salt morass of immense extent, divides it from Siude, Rajpootana, and Gujerat. The greatest extent of Cutch from east to west is 165 miles, and its average breadth is 45 miles. The land is in general poor and indifferently cultivated, and the number of inhabitants scarcely exceeds half a million. Brahniinism and i\lohammedanism prevail in about equal proportions. , Cutch is subsidiary to the British; the government is in the hands of the Jarejahs, a race of Sindian origin. Very little is known respecting the Cutchee dialect, but it is supposed to be intimately connected with the Sindhee. A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Cutchee was executed by the late Rev. James Gray, one of the chaplains at Bombay; and in 1835 a small edition, consisting of 500 copies, was printed. This edition was, however, found to be of little or no service, from the circumstance of its being issued in the Balboreh character, with which the people of Cutch are unacquainted. In 1843, the attention of tlie Bombay Auxiliary Bible Society was directed to the duty of disseminating the Scriptures in the countries on each side of the Indus, which had, through recent jaohtical events, become accessible to missionary efforts. It was determined by the Society to print an edition of Mr. Gray's version of St. Jlatthcw in Giijerattee characters, which are commonly employed in Cutch. It was anticipated that this edition would be useful in Sinde, particularly in the parts of Sinde bordering upon Cutch, as well as in Cutch itself Arrangements have subsequently been made for executing a version of the entire New Testament : this work is in progress, and some portions of it have been already printed. SINDHEE. Sinde is an extensive country of Western India, and apparently derives its name from the river Sindu, or Indus, by which it is traversed. It lies betveeen 23 and 29 degrees of north latitude, and 67 and 71 degrees of east longitude. It was governed by military chieftains called Ameers ; but since the year 1839, has been classed among the states subject to Britain, and is now attached to the Bombay presidency. The inhabitants are a mixed race, chiefly Hindoos, Juts, and Beloochecs, and numbered 1.087,700 at the date of the last census. Mohammedanism is perhaps the predominant religion, though many of the people are foUoweis of Brahminism. The Sindhee dialect has a written character peculiar to itself; otherwise it merely differs in spell- ing and inflection from the pure Illnduwee of Upper India; and indeed it is by some regarded as the elder dialect of the two, because it is more elaborate and regular in the inflection of nouns and verbs. The Serampore missionaries had commenced a translation of the Scriptures into this dialect as early as 1815; but various circumstances impeded the progress of the work, and it was not till 1825 that the first part of the version, consisting of the Gospel of St. Matthew, was committed to the pre-s. We are not informed of how many copies this edition consisted, and it does not appear that any other portion of this version was afterwards published. A translation of the same Gospel into Sindhee has ijcen recently made by Captain G. Stack, and an edition of 500 copies printed by the Bombay Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. An edition of 580 copies of St. John's Gospel, issued from the same source in 1859, having been executed under the care of the Rev. A. Burn, of Kurrachee: 280 copies of this edition were printed in the Arabic character, and 300 copies in the Gurmukhi. 118 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. MOULTAN, OH WUCH. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE MOULTAN OE WUCH VEESION, see Plate 11, page 337. The district of Moultan, in which this dialect is vernacular, is enclosed by the rivers Indus, Chenab, and Gharra; it has tlio Punjab on the north, Sinde on the west and south, and the Sandy Desert on the east. Although Moultan was formerly an e.xtensive territory, yet owing to political changes it does not now exceed 110 miles in length, by 70 in breadth. The amount of population is uncertain, but does not probably exceed three or four hundred thousand. Brahminism and Mohammedanism are the two predominant religions. The dialect is called Wuch, or Oocli, from a town of that name in the southern extremity of Moultan. It differs little from the Sindhee, and the character in which it is written is nearly the same as that used in writing Sindhee, A translation of the Scriptures into this dialect was commenced at Serampore in 1812, and 1000 copies of the New Testament were printed in 1819. But as no mis- sionary station had been established at Sloultan before the year 1856, it is not probable that this edition has obtained much circulation. The Serampore missionaries afterwards saw their error in providing translations of the Scriptures for countries where there were no missionaries to undertake the distribution, and they accordingly gave up their former intention of procuring a version of the Old Testament for Moultan, and dismissed the pundit whom they had employed in the translation of the New Testament. PUNJABEE, OR SIKH. The Punjab is an extensive country of North-west Hindoostan, situated chiefly between the 29th and 34th degrees of north latitude, and the 70th and 77th degrees of east longitude. Before 1849, it constituted an independent state, but was in that year brought under British rule. The Punjab derives its name from two Persian words signifying Jive icaters, in allusion to the five great streams, arms of the Indus, by which it is intersected. It was the scene of the last campaign of Alexander the Great. According to Thornton, the total area of the Punjab is 78,447 square English miles, and its population scarcely falls short of 7,000,000. Jats, Kajpoots, Hindoos of low caste, various hill tribes, and Mussulmans, constitute part of this population ; but the Sikhs, or disciples (as the name signifies in Sanscrit), are the dominant race. Burnes conjectured the Sikhs to number but 500,000 individuals: this, however, is a subject involved in much uncertainty. The Sikhs were originally Hindoos, and their incorporation as a sect, with the assumption of a distinctive appellation, dates from the close of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth, century. Their founder, Nanac, a native of the Punjab, was born in 1469: he professed a desire to reform, not to destroy, the Hindoo religion, and sought to reconcile the jarring faiths of Brahma and Mohammed, so as to unite the followers of each system into one body. The creed which he inculcated was one of pure deism, founded on the most sublime general truths, and breathing a spirit of peace and toleration ; yet his followers speedily lost sight of the purity of his doctrines, retaining only the remembrance of the Hindoo and Mohammedan fables which had found a place in his system. Guru Govind, the tenth guru or teacher in succession from Nanac, impressed a new character on the religion of his followers, by recognising the equality of all men. Class III.] PUNJABEE. 119 thus finally abolishing the distinction of caste, and enforcing the bearing of arms as a religious duty incumbent on all. He was the founder of the temporal power of the Sikhs: he was killed A.D. 1708. I. CIIARACTEEISTICS OF THE DIALECT. The Sareswati, one of the dialects altered from the Sanscrit for colloquial purposes, and hence called Pracrit, or derived, appears to have been anciently the vernacular of the Punjab; but it under- went many alterations, owing to the invasions of the Mohammedans, and numerous foreign words were by degrees engrafted on it. The Punjabee or modern dialect of the Sikhs possesses many Persian and Arabic terms, yet it still retains clear traces of its Sanscrit origin, and exhibits a close resemblance to the Hinduwee. In the specimen of the Lord's Prayer in Punjabee, given by the Serampore missionaries, no less than thirty words were found nearly identical with the corresponding terms in the Hinduwee and Bengalee specimens. The Punjabee characters, though peculiar to that dialect, present comparatively few points of difference from the Devanagari, being the same in number, order, and power, though slightly varying in form. II. — VERSIONS OF THE SOKIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. A version of the New Testament in Punjabee was commenced at Serampore in 1807, but the fount of types which had been prepared for printing it was one of those which were so unfortunately destroyed by fire. The loss, however, was speedily replaced, and in 1813 the Gospels and Acts were announced as finished. The entire New Testament, in an edition of 1000 copies, was completed in 1815. In 1832 a second edition was undertaken. The translation of the Old Testament into Pun- jabee has only been partially accomplished. In 1820 an edition of the Pentateuch and Historical Books was issued, followed during the ensuing year by an edition of the Hagiographa; and a small portion of the Prophetical Books was afterwards printed. But tlie pundit who assisted Dr. Carey in the preparation of this version was seized with a complaint which terminated in death ; and as no pundit could be met with capable of supplying his place, the work was entirely suspended. The translation had been conducted as far as the close of Ezekiel's Prophecy, at which point it still remains. Efforts are now being made to furnish the Sikhs with a new version of tlie Scriptures. The missionaries in the neighbourhood of the Punjab are at present employed in translating the New Testament, and it is the intention of the Agra Bible Society to appoint a regular sub-committee to superintend this important undertaking. Arrangements have lately been made by that society with the missionaries at Loodiana for the printing of 5000 copies of the Gospel of St. John in Punjabee. An edition of 5000 copies of Genesis, and 20 chapters of Exodus, has also been completed, and is ready for circulation; and an edition of the Psalms in this language was (according to recent intelligence) about to be immediately put to press. But the progress of the Punjabee versions has been slow, owing to the difficulty of obtaining men qualified to conduct the work, and at the same time able to devote sufficient time to its accomplishment. An edition of 5000 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke has sub- sequently been completed (1857); and it is stated that the Gospel of St. Matthew was then about to be commenced. We are unaware to what extent the farther progress of this work may have suffered from the disasters which attended the mutiny of 1857. III. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. In the year 1820, five years after the completion of the Punjabee New Testament, the following accoimt was given of the Sikhs and of the readiness they had manifested to receive the Scriptures : — " So strong has been the desire of this nation for the New Testament, that the whole edition is nearly distributed, and a second edition will probably be called for before the Old Testament is wholly pub- lished. Besides the Mughs, on the borders of Arracan, no one of the nations of India has discoveied a stronger desire for the Scriptures than this hardy race; and the distribution of almost every copy has been accompanied with the pleasing hope of its being read and valued." About two years sub- 120 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. sequently, the following statement was made by one of the missionaries to the translators: — "Of the faithfulness and utility of the Punjabee Scriptures, you have had abundant proof in the warm reception given to them, and in the spirit of inquiry raised in the minds of multitudes of the free and inde- pendent people using the Punjabee language. At Umritsar, at Lahore, at the fountain-head of the Sikh religion, the book of Jesus is spoken of, is -read, and has caused a considerable stir in the minds of the people." DOGUEA, on JUMBOO. (MOUNTAIN PUNJABEE.) The Dogura, or Jumboo, dialect is spoken in the hilly country on the north of the Punjab, and east of the river Chenab and of Cashmere. Much confusion prevails in the accounts of the Seram- pore missionaries respecting the extent of territory in which this dialect is predominant; and the number of inhabitants to whom it is vernacular has never yet been ascertained. The Dogura dialect deviates in many respects from the Punjabee, and approximates pretty closely to the Cashmerian dialect. It has several permutations of letters and inflections peculiar to itself, but preserves indubitable indications of its Sanscrit origin. In the specimen of the Lord's Prayer in Dogura, given by the Serampore missionaries, twenty-five words were similar to those in the Hindu- wee and Bengalee specimens, while the remaining words were found to be more immediately connected with the Sanscrit. A version of the New Testament in Dogura was undertaken at Serampore in I8I4; in 1820 the first three Gospels left the press, and in 1826 an edition of the entire New Testament, consisting of 1000 copies, was completed. Opportunities for the circulation of the version seem to have been wholly wanting. In 1832 it was stated that a few copies had been given to some natives who had visited Calcutta, but no farther accounts have since been furnished relative to the distribution of this edition. CASHMERIAN. FOE SPECIMEN OE THE CASHMEEIAN VEESION, see Plate 4, page 133. Cashmere Proper is an elevated and fertile tract, consisting of an extensive valley enclosed between very lofty mountains, situated in the extreme north-west of India. It is about 120 miles long by 70 broad. In superficial extent It comprises 4500 square miles, being little less than four-fifths of the size of Yorkshire. The total amount of population does not now (1859) exceed 200,000, to wliich number it has, within a period of thirty years, been reduced from four times that amount, by the combined effects of earthquake, pestilence, and famine: the majority of the Inhabitants are JMohammedans. After having been successively subject to the Mogul empire and to the Affghans, Cashinere fell in 1819 under the dominion of the Sikhs, by whom it continued to be governed until the year 1846, when the successful campaigns of the British In the neighbouring province of the Punjab brought CiAss III.] NEPALESE. 121 it under Britisli control. It was erected, with some adjacent territory, into a separate state, nominally independent, but subject to the supervision of the Anglo-Indian government. The whole area of the state thus formed is estimated at 25,000 square miles, and the population at 750,000. The Cashmerian dialect is derived from the Sanscrit, and the written character resembles the Devanagarl. The business of the government is transacted in Persian, and a number of Persian words have hence become engrafted on the Cashmerian dialect. The pronunciation of the Cashmerians is said to be remarkably broad, coarse, and uncouth. An edition of 1000 copies of the New Testament was printed at Serampore in 1820, after having been ten years in course of preparation. An edition of the Pentateuch was commenced in 1822; but as the types used in printing it were afterwards exchanged for smaller ones, the completion of the edition was retarded, and in 1832 the Old Testament had only been printed as far as the Second Book of Kings. It does not appear that any fartlier efforts have since been made to continue the work. Probably the version was eventually discovered to be -comparatively useless, on account of there being no missionaries in Cashmere to undertake the distribution. NEPALESE, OR KHASPOORA. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to U. s ^ TTTO ^ "sfhn 7 fTT ^«g«:f«cT ^ifhn -a- f^ ^^er ^ztNt ^ w> ^m^'^r ^ ■«ft ?iw tb^j^ ^^ 5 « vm\ w^x ^R ^^ >niT -g^iw ^r^^hr^rt ■^^^t %r yf^ -^ \ ^mi -^^s lifter ^^t^rt «i ^rt^ v\ ^r^ jf^ ■TO^f^ ^T win •? -rfsfj?!^ TH c5T^ in^ ^^ i m 'sir^ ^fvcfrrccsr to ^t^ "? «.^ ^TT^ cft^i^ d+jcii^ Ti^ iTt TpT I Hi; ^rn% d«c*i^ Tx^ t\^\ ■y^foyr^ ^% ^vjv°hi ^sttt s^ 1^ ^T "^TC^ f^^ i^T^ -JlUfi-il frPTOT fV'STO ^n'mI^I ^T^ f^ ^ <.=liri*X. ^"lu^iMr iirftram; ft;^ n s^ ^ ti^Imujh i fss^ »miraTT ?^^mi«^ i f^r^ *inu^i'jt^ tii^ '^nftr <*icb'*n <»? im ^rtki^ ^^kji^j >nti h^^ ^ «»d •sTT^ftjT^iT^^TfinTft^^rinfgTEniiri 'stTftT% -g^ yrk ^t| t)^ s-aftr ^ ^nf^ cj^miiivji^w >TiT ^TTT^ 'STJPt^ filrdT JTTR^ wfJT mUX^ ^ -5^31% TrH# t^gw 'W^ "OTft TTPt^ '^Tff^ KuNKUNA is the proper language of the Concan, a long narrow tract of land, the continuation of Malabar and Canara, extending north and south of Bombay. The area of this maritime district has been estimated at 12,270 square miles, and Its population at 1,044,129. 10 130 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class II [. Kunkuna is intimately connected with the otlier Sanscrit dialects. In the Lord's Prayer, which, when translated into Kunkuna, consists of thirty-two words, twenty-five words have been proved to bo radically the same as the corresponding words in the Bengalee and Hindu wee versions of the Prayer; and, of the remaining six words, several have been found to be almost pure Sanscrit. A version of the New Testament exists in Kunkuna, which was executed at Serampore between the years 1808 and 1819: the edition consisted of 1000 copies, and was printed in the Devanagari character. An edition of the Pentateuch, consisting of an equal number of copies, left the press in 1821. The translation was afterwards relinquished to the Bombay Bible Society, but no fartlier steps have since been taken towards its completion, probably because the rapidly increasing use of the Mahratta dialect among the natives of the Concan appears to render a Kunkuna version unnecessary. HOMMANY, OR SPANISH-GIPSY. SPECIMEN, FROM St. LUEE, Chap. vi. v. 27 to 38. ^'' Tami penelo a sangue sos lo junelais : Caraelad a jires daschmanuces, querelad mistos a junos sos camelan sangue choro. 2**;Majarad a junos sos zermanelan a sangue, y manguelad a Debel por junos sos araquerelan sangue choro ! ^^ Y a 6 sos curare tucue andre yeque mejilla, dinle tambien a aver. Y a 6 sos nicobelare tucue o uchardo, na 6 impidas lliguerar tambien a furi. ^^ Din a os sares ma tucue manguelaren : y a d sos ustilare ma sinela de tucue, na se lo pida. ^^ Y ma camelais que querelen a sangue os manuces, ocolo matejo querelad sangue a junos. ^-Y si camelais a junos sos camelan a sangue, i que merito terelareis ? Presas os chores tambien camelan a junos ' sos os camelan. ^^ Y si querelais mistos a junos sos querelan mistos a sangue, i que merito terelareis? Presas os chores tambien querelan ocono. ^^Y si prestisareis a ocolas, de coines ujarais ustilar, i que merito terelareis ? Presas tambien os chores prestisaran yeques a averes, somia ustilar aver tanto. ^^ Camelad pues a jires daschmanuces ; quere- lad mistos, y diilad prestado, bi ujarar por ocono chichi ; y jire manchin sinara baro, y sinareis chabores e Udscho, presas 6 sinela gacho aun para os sungales y chores. ^•^ Sinelad pues canreosos, sasta tambien jire Dada sinela canreoso. ^'' Na juzgueis, y na sinareis juzgados ; na sapleis, y na sinareis saplados. Ertinad y sinareis ertinados. ^* Dihad, y a sangue se dihara : melalo lacho, perelalo, y baro, y costunado dinaren andre jire chepo : presas sat o matejo melalo con que melalareis, a sangue se volvera a melalar. I. — DIFFUSION AND STATISTICS. The vagrant tribes known in England by the name of Gipsies wander in hordes or companies about the plains of Asia, and in certain parts of Africa, as well as in most of the countries of Europe. Without historical records, without traditions, without even a religion of their own, they are bound together by national habits and customs, by the love of an unsettled life, and by a peculiar language ; and, like the Jews, they exist from generation to generation as a separate people in the midst of many nations. In Germany they are called Zigeuner, as if from the Si(/)/itni mentioned by Herodotus as living on the banks of the Danube; in Russia, Zigdni; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri, probably a Class III.] KOMMANY. 131 corruption of Tchingani or Zhn/ani, tlie name of a predatory race inliabiting the tract of land near the mouth of tlic Indus; and these various appellations, all apparently springing from the same etymon, may, it has been conjectured, be radically the same as the term Zincali, by wliicli they sometimes designate themselves; a term compounded of two words, and supposed to signify the black men of Zend, or Ind. The English name Gipxy (from E-gypt-ian) and the Spanish Gitano, arose from a notion once currently entertained respecting the Egyptian origin of this singular people, from whence perhaps they derive their name Roma, from Romi, in Coptic " a man." In France they are still called ]3()hanicns (Bohemians), either because they first entered that country from Bohemia, or olse from the old French word boem, a sorcerer, in allusion to the arts they have so long exercised in practising upon the credulity of the vulgar. They have been known in Eurojic only since the beginning of the fifteenth century. The most severe legislative enactments have at various times been framed against tliem, on account of their inveterate habits of petty depredation; yet no degree of persecution has ever succeeded in effectually diminishing their numbers, or in driving them from countries into which they have once introduced themselves. Grellman computed that in his time the number of Gipsies through- out Europe amounted to between 700,000 and 800,000, of whom, he said, 40,000 were located in Spain, chiefly in the southern provinces. ]\Ir. Borrow likewise is of opinion that there are at the present moment about 40,000 Gipsies in Spain, but he considers that they were formerly considerably more numerous in that country. There are also great numbers of Gipsies in Himgary and Tran- sylvania, where they are extensively employed in washing gold from the sands of the rivers, and occasionally in other avocations. The Gipsies at present dispersed through England are supposed to number about 20,000. II. — CnARACTEKISTICS OF THE DIALECT. In default of all historical evidence concerning the proper country of the Gipsies, their dialect indicates with tolerable distinctness that their origin is to be traced to India. Their physical conformation, their complexion, and their peculiar mode of life, furnish additional proofs of their Indian descent; for Captain Richardson has shown that in these points they bear a very strong resem- blance to a sort of people in India called Bazeegurs ; and many writers have attested that in these and other respects they may well be compared to the lowest caste of Hindoos, particularly to certain thievish castes, who to this day are to be found in various parts of India. To account for their sudden appear- ance in Europe, Adelung conjectured that they fled thither to escape the cruel war of devastation carried on by Tamerlane, in 1408-9; but this hypothesis rests on very insufEcient data; and it is equally reasonable to suppose that they may have left their country either to evade the laws they had outraged, or in pursuit of farther plunder. The language still spoken by the Gipsies in all the countries through which they are dispersed is a dialect of the Sanscrit: it is called Rommany. from rom, a husband, or a man; and so close is its affinity with other Indian dialects, that it is by many considered as little else than a corrupt form of Hinduwee. It is related of Lord Tcignmouth, the first president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, that one day chancing to meet with a Gipsy woman, he was struck with her resemblance in form and feature to the natives he had been accustomed to see in India. He addressed her in Hindustani, with which langu.age he was familiarly acquainted, and found to his surprise that she could perfectly understand him. He then invited her and several of the members of her tribe to his house, and induced them to pronounce a number of words in Rommany, which he carefully noted down : many of these words he discovered to be purely Hindustani, while others were obviously derived from Sanscrit roots. But although the idioms, and almost all the words of the Rommany, are unquestionably of Indian extraction, it has also adopted terms belonging to other families of languages. Several Sclavonic words, for instance, are to be detected in Rommany; and this circumstance seems to have arisen from the Gipsies, in their migration from the East, having passed through the steppes of Russia, where many of the tribe arc still to be met with. Modern Greek words, probably learnt during their 132 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. passage tlirougli Bulgaria, are also occasionally to be heard in tbeir language; and still more abundant is the intermixture of Persian words. The languages of the other countries in which the Gipsies have established themselves have had more or less iufluenee in the modification of Kommany. In Spain, its grammatical peculiarities have entirely disappeared; its syntax, its declension of nouns, its conju- gation of verbs, being all subjected to the rules of Spanish grammar. In Hungary and Transylvania it is spoken with tolerable purity; and in England the idiom has suffered far less modification than in Spain, for the English dialect of Rommany still retains its original syntax to a certain extent, and its peculiar methods of conjugation and of declension. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. The whole of the New Testament has been translated into the Spanish dialect of Rommany by Mr. Borrow, who during a long course of years had opportunities of familiar intercourse with the Gipsies, never obtained before or since by any individual unconnected with the race. Determined that this neglected people should understand the Gospel, Mr. Borrow proposed that they should them- selves translate it. With this view he assembled some of the Spanish Gipsies together, and commenced with the Gospel of St. Luke, they rendering into Rommany the sentences which he delivered to them in Spanish. They proceeded in this way as far as the middle of the eighth chapter, when Mr. Borrow found it necessary to complete the translation himself, supplying deficiencies from a version which he had commenced at Badajoz in 1836. He printed 500 copies of this Gospel at Madrid in 1838; it was the first book that had ever appeared in Rommany. Copies of the work were so eagerly sought by the Gitanos of Madrid, that Mr. Borrow remarks he could readily have disposed of the whole edition in a fortnight, had it not been for the opposition to its circulation excited by the clergy immediately on its publication. " Sorcery !" exclaimed one bishop. "There is more in this than we can dive into," said a second. " He will convert all Spain by means of the Gipsy language," said a third. In compliance with their entreaties, the Corregidor, or Gefe politico, of j\Iadrid gave orders for the seizure of all copies of the Gipsy Gospel exposed for sale, and the soldiers obtained about thirty copies, which they sold at a high price for their own benefit. The translator was shortly afterwards consigned for three weeks to imprisonment, under the suspicion that he was attempting to revolutionise the country, and annihilate the power of Rome by means of his Rommany version of the Gospel. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The Rommany Gospel of St. Luke, the only portion of Jlr. Borrow's version that has yet been printed, was found to be perfectly intelligible to the Spanish Gipsies: many of the men were able to read it, and appeared to set a high value on it; yet it soon became evident that it was the language, and not the heavenly doctrine, which they prized. Even the women, who in general are unable to read, were anxious to possess themselves of copies to use as charms or amulets in preserving them from danger, especially in their thieving expeditions. The result of Mr. Borrow's zealous endeavours to disseminate a knowledge of the Scriptures among this singular people, may be briefly summed up in his own words: — " They listened," he tells us, "with admiration, but alas! not of the truth, the eternal truths I was proclaiming, but to find that their broken jargon could be written and read. The only words of assent which I ever obtained, and that rather of a negative kind, were the following from the mouth of a woman : — ' Brother, you tell us strange things, though perhaps you do not lie ; a month since I would sooner have believed these tales, than that this day I should see one who could write Rommany.' " Of late years efforts have been made in England by Mr. Crabb and others in behalf of English Gipsies; and a school, in which Gipsy children are instructed in the knowledge of Scripture, where they are at the same time trained for service, and taught various trades, has been establisheil at Farnham, near Blandford, Dorset. P«E. 1'^ fir W ;g 37 to- 'X for 37 ** rr 'X X "^ X y ^ r»7 J8 R7 IF 3- Of rr rr X K: RJ ,f* f7 '^ to- X s^ »• rr ^ Ft ^ '0 ^ X rr la* & X iX ^ , f^ rr I-. [^ b^ rr s; (FJ a « Z- X I Sr to dS rr n l-» fy le- ^ P5* UJ I ra £" fc y vr £ E •1^ ,E IT ^' ty r V r ^^ •tr (IE ^ IE K' <«" inr It is» ^- ^ in 1+ I -I ^ ^^ tF tr r If •IF IF h5 (IE ,g If V r tr ■f^ ,1 — tr ^ or j" 117 3^ I I ^^ (' > ? 'S . J ^ - i ^f ir ,- /TT s? 0^ r 3* g) ^J'' w' ^ '5 1 '^ ^r (t 7^ "2^ ^ *2^ v5 ar 5> X ^! I ^ (H o' "9 Is g) ? X5 >> r G^ S IS. 5 % .18 3 t '6'- 3 a 5 fe 9 •3 J a ^ .? =5 .^ ■>61 £ 9 =?.. "I a ?!N 3 3 sv " q 3 = ^Q 3 ^ g 'St cs'a ^ g •a ^ ■fc Z3 3 ^ ' ^ § I 3 'a a la ^ 'ft 3® J >€ go t t 3 « ^ ^ 3 ^i G 3 05 fe 5 1 "Sl ? % a s o '^ a © i® Ik J 9°J Class III.} TAMUL. 133 T A M U L, OR T A M I L. FOR SPECIMEN OF THIS AVERSION IN THE NATIVE CHARACTER, see Plate 4, page 133. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12. ^ Athiyile varttei 3arvmdathu. Avvfirttei Parabaranidattil irundathu. Allamaluin avvartteiye Pariibaran. - Athu athiyile Parabaranidattil irundathu. ^ Sagalaraum athinale yundayittu. Athu villamal oru siruttium undagavillei. Athile sivan undayirundathu. * Anda chivan manithanudeiya oliyayirundathu. ^ Anda oli yirulile pirugasamayittu. Irulanathu athei pattikkollavillei. *' Yovan ennum oru manithan Parabaranfil anuppappattu. '' Tannale yellarum visuvasikkum padikku anda oliyeik-kurittu chatchi kodukka vandan. * Avan anda oli yalla anda oliyeik-kurittu chatchik-kodukkave vandan. ^ Meyyana oliyanavar ulagattile varugira manithar yavareiyum piragasippikkirar. '" Avar ulagattil irundar Allamalum ulagam avarale yundayittu. ulagam avarei ariavillei. "Avar taniathu sondattit cherndar. Avarukku chondamanavargal avarei yettukko]lavillei. '^ Avarudeiya namattin mcl visuvasamay avarei yettukkondavergal ettanei pergalo attanei pergalukku Parabaranudeiya pilleigal ayirukkum padi athigaran koduttirukkirar. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Tamul, tlie language of the ancient kingdom of Dravira, is spoken in the extensive country now called the Carnatlc, and is the vernacular language from the town of Pulicat in the north to Cape Coniorin in the south, and from the shores of the Indian Ocean on the east to the Ghauts on the west. This Important territory, which since 1801 has been entirely under British government, includes Madras, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura, Tinnevelly, and Coimbatore. The inhabitants have been estimated at upwards of six miUions and a half; they are chiefly Plindoos of the Brahminical sect, and there arc comparatively few ilohammedans among them. The Tamul language also obtains along the whole northern coast of Ceylon, including the populous district of JaflPna, where it is spoken by a race of people sometimes called the Malabars. Tamul is likewise the vernacular language of the Moormen of Ceylon; they are dispersed in great numbers through every part of the island, especially at Colombo, and are supposed to be the descendants of Arabs, who, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, conquered several of the seaport towns of India and Ceylon. ii.^characteristics of the language. It is a question of the highest historical interest whether Tamul and the other languages of the Dcccan are to be considered as the daughters of the Sanscrit, or whether their origin is to be traced to some other source. Drs. Carey and Wilkins considered them to be undoubtedly derived from the Sanscrit, and Colebrooke was inclined to adopt the same opinion. Mr. Ellis, in the Preface to Campbell's Tcloogoo Grammar, was the first to doubt their supposed relationship to Sanscrit: and Babington, in his Introductory Kemarks to the Gooroo Paramartan, has maintained the same view of the case. The various researches which have been made into the subject have at length led to the conclusion that these southern languages are the remnants of some ancient tongue, which at a very remote period of antiquity probably pervaded the whole of India, as some slight traces of it arc yet to be met with even in the Sanscrit dialects of the north. But whether this hypothesis be correct or not, it has boon satisfactorily proved that Tamul and its cognate languages derive their source from no language at present in existence; and if in most systems of classification they have obtained a place 134 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. among tlie Sanscrit family of languages, they owe their position not to their origin, but to the modifi- cation of their elementary structure induced by the superposition of Sanscrit forms; a process which has been carried on for centuries, dating from the period when the natives of the south received the religion of the north, and bowed to the domination of the Brahminical sect. Tarn ul, however, possesses fewer Sanscrit terms than the other languages of the Deccan. They exist in Tamul, in the same manner and proportion as Greek and Latin terms are mixed up with the Anglo-Saxon element in English. It has two distinct dialects, the Kodun, or common dialect, which contains the greatest admixture of Sanscrit words; and the Shen, or polished dialect, which, from its long disuse as a collo- quial medium, has been preserved in a state of greater purity. A knowledge of the former alone is quite sufficient for all ordinary intercourse with the natives, but acquaintance with the high, or Shen, dialect is necessary for those who wish to study Tamul literature and science. The chief peculiarities of the Tamul language as briefly summed up by Anderson, consist in the absence of a relative pronoun, in the small proportion of adjectives and particles properly so called, in the power of employing adjectives in an adverbial capacity, in the exact correspondence in termination between the demonstrative pronouns and the third person of verbs, in the existence of a negative verb, and, above all, in the conjugation of derivative nouns. Some of those characteristics are to be met with in the Telinga, Canarese, and Malayalim languages ; but in the possession of a conjugate derivative, Tamul appears to stand quite alone. This singular grammatical form seems to have arisen from a remarkable interchange of the properties peculiar to different parts of speech, for as in other languages, as well as in Tamul, verbal nouns are liable to be inflected as substantives, so the derivatives of nouns are liable in Tamul to be conjugated as verbs. Tamul noiuis have eight cases, three of which are ablative, and are distinguished as local, causal, and social ablatives. Words performing the office of prepositions in this language always stand after the nouns or pronouns which they govern. The verbs possess properly but three moods, the indicative, imperative, and infinitive; and the third person of each tense denotes the changes of gender by corresjjonding changes of termination. The negative verb, which in Tamul and its cognate languages conveys a negative signification without the aid of particles, is formed by the mere removal (except in the third person neuter and its derivatives) of the usual characteristic aug- ments of the affirmative. A Tamul alphabet, which, like the Greek, consisted of sixteen letters, is said to have been in use among the natives of the country before the introduction of the Sanscrit language. The characters now employed in writing Tamul are thirty in number, and are evidently, so far at least as form is con- cerned, for the most part derived from the Devanagari. The order in which they are arranged is similar to that of the Sanscrit alphabet, and even letters representing sounds which do not occur in Sanscrit, are formed by the combination of Devanagari characters. All aspirates are rejected from the Tamul alphabet, and the language is, for that reason, soft and well sounding; though not so much so as the Teloogoo. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS L.VNGUAGE. The honour of executing the first Tamul version of the Scriptures belongs to the Danish mis- sionaries. Ziegenbalg, the first missionary sent by the Danish Government to their settlement at Tranquebar, commenced the translation of the New Testament in 1708, and completed it in 1711. The printing of this version was delayed in order that it might receive the benefit of a thorough revisal, and this important task was committed to the missionary John Ernest Grundler, who had arrived in India soon after the commencement of the translation. Under his care the work was printed at Tranquebar in 1714, at the press and on paper provided by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His Majesty George I. of England took an especial interest in the progress of this version, and addressed a letter to Ziegenbalg. The translation of the Old Testament was commenced by this devoted missionary in 1717, and in 1719, he had carried it as far as the Book of Ruth, when he sank beneath the weight of his manifold labours, at the age of thirty-six. It is not certain whether his Class III.] TAMUL. 135 translations were executed immediately from the sacred originals, or from tlie German version of Luther. After his decease, and that of his fellow-labourer Grundler, which occurred during the following year, the revision of his manuscripts and the prosecution of the version of the Old Testament devolved on Benjamin Schultze, a missionary who had arrived from Halle a short time previously, under the patronage of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Schultze published the portion of the Old Testament translated by Ziegenbalg in 1723, and completed the version in 1727. He was well acquainted with Hebrew, and is said to have consulted most of the European versions in the course of his translation. Such was his indefatigable zeal, that in the midst of important missionary duties, and in tlie relaxing climate of Southern India, he regularly devoted six hours daily to the prosecution of his work. He likewise addressed himself to a diligent revision of the New Testament, a second edition of which he put to press in 1722, and completed in 1724, at Tranquebar. In 1758 a third edition of the New Testament was printed at the same place ; it had previously been subjected to another revision, in which several missionaries took a part. The second Tranquebar edition was reprinted at Colombo in 1741-3, after liaving undergone some alterations adapting it to the Tamul spoken in Ceylon : this edition was designed for the native Tamulian Christians in that island, and was published under the auspices of Von Imhoif, the governor. In 1777 an important version of the New Testament was published by the Kev. J. P. Fabricius, one of Schultze's successors in the Danish mission at Madras. This version is far more elegant and classical in diction than that of the Tranquebar translators. Fabricius likewise undertook the revision of Schultze's version of the Old Testament, preparatory to a second edition ; but the work as revised by him has every claim to be considered a new and independent version. He sent the translation, sheet by sheet, for examination and correction to the missionaries at Cuddalore ; from them it passed to the Danish missionaries, and from them to the native translator to the Danish Government. The notes and corrections thus obtained were carefully collated by Fabricius, and the whole translation was again subjected by him to a searching revision. It was printed at the mission press at Tranquebar between the years 1777 and 1782, under the especial care of two missionaries, one of whom was Dr. Rottler. Fabricius was esteemed an " unparalleled Tamul scholar," and his translation long held the rank of the standard Tamul version of the Scriptures. The editions of the two versions of the New Testament above mentioned, printed by the Danish missionaries prior to the commencement of the present century, amount in all to fourteen, besides two versions of the Old Testament. They were assisted by grants of paper and other supplies from the Royal College of Copenhagen, tlie Orphan House at Halle, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Still the number of copies issued was very far from being adequate to the wants of the native Christians; and the deplorable scarcity of the Scriptures in the Tamul country was first pressed upon the notice of the British and Foreign Bible Society in a letter from the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, dated iladura, 1806. Dr. Buchanan stated that of the ten or twelve thousand Protestant Christians then belonging to the Tanjore and Tinnevelly districts, not one perhaps in a hundred had a New Testament; and he described the people in general as " clamorous for Bibles, supplicating for teachers, and saying, ' we do not want bread or money from you, but we want the word of God.' " In con- sequence of these and other similar representations, the Corresponding Committee at Calcutta raised a subscription for the purchase of all the copies of the Tamul Scriptures which could be then obtained, and which bore a price placing them beyond the reach of the poorer Christians. These copies reached Tanjore in 1810, where they were received with the most lively gratitude; and the supply was acknowledged "not only as a seasonable and acceptable present, but as the cause of abundant tlianks- giving to God througli Jesus Christ our Saviour, from many who were desirous to know the saving truths which the Bible contains, and to use it for the benefit of their souls." Arrangements were then made by tlie British and Foreign Bible Society for tlie publication of another edition, and after due inquiries had been instituted, it was deemed advisable to print it at the Serampore press, from the admired text of Fabricius. Notwithstanding tlie disastrous fire in which the Tamul fount of types 136 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. and a large supply of paper were destroyed, the edition, consisting of 5000 copies, was completed by the Serampore missionaries in 1813. As a great demand for the Scriptures still continued throughout the Tamul country even after tlie circulation of this large edition, it seemed necessary to take immediate measures for issuing farther supplies. The want of copies of the Scriptures appeared to be particularly felt at Ceylon, where the number of native Christians speaking the Tamul language was estimated at 45,000. Besides the edition of the New Testament published at Colombo in 1743, as above mentioned, a version of the Pentateuch, translated by Mr. de Milho, had also been printed in Ceylon, under the patronage of the Dutch Government, in 1790. These editions, however, had been long exliausted, and the people in general were almost destitute of the Scriptures. It was, therefore, deemed advisable not only to issue another edition, but also to obtain such a revision of the existing version as might render it intelligible to the Tamul population of Ceylon and of the adjacent continent. This important revision was committed to the Eev. C. T. E. Rhenius of the Church Mission, subject to the superinten- dence of the Rev. Dr. Rottler (who had formerly assisted in carrying the version of Fabricius through the press), and the inspection of the missionaries at Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and Tranquebar. To secure the greater accuracy of the work, a committee of translation was appointed at Madras in 1821, and great hopes were entertained of the success of a version carried forward under such efficient management, and in the midst of the Tamul country. In order, however, to meet the actual demand for the Scriptures, it was found requisite, while the revision was in progress, to issue another edition from the text of Fabricius. This edition appears to have consisted of 1000 copies of the Old Testament, 2500 of the New Testament, and 2500 extra copies of the Gospels and Acts: the Old Testament was printed at the Vepery press of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the New Testa- ment at the Church Missionary Society's press at Madras; the edition was completed about the year 1824. In 1825 the revision of the Gospel of St. Matthew was finished, and an edition of 10,000 copies was published by the Madras Committee. The following year another edition of the Old Testament from the text of the Tranquebar translators was commenced : it consisted of 5000 copies of the Penta- teuch, and 2500 of the other books of the Old Testament, and appears to have been completed about the year 1832. In the meantime the revision of the old version under the care of Mr. Rhenius was rapidly proceeding, and in 1827 an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament was put to press. In 1828 the Four Gospels were completed, and so rapid was the circulation, that another edition of 5000 copies was immediately ordered, and the part of the New Testament containing the Epistles was extended to 7500 copies. Yet, notwithstanding these Large issues, the desire of the native population to receive the Tamul Scriptures more than kept pace with the ability of the committee to supply them ; and it was found that before the last books of an edition could be got from the press, nearly all the first books had been distributed, so that it appeared almost impossible to issue one complete and uniform copy of the Tamul Old and New Testaments. The Madras Committee, therefore, determined in 1831 to print 12,000 copies of the Tamvd New Testament in small type. This edition was afterwards extended to 15,000, and the revised version was selected as the text on account of the numerous testimonies that had been laid before the committee in proof of its superiority over the version of Fabricius. To expedite the revision and publication of the entire Tamul Scriptures, two additional sub-committees of revision were formed about this period, (the one at Tanjore, and the other at Nagracoil and Palam- cottah,) consisting of Churchmen, Wesleyans, Lutherans, and Dissenters of various denominations, who all agreed to set aside party distinctions, in order to promote the publication of the word of truth. In 1844 an edition of 6000 copies of the entire Tamul Bible was completed. The Old Testament was the version of Fabricius, corrected as to grammar and orthography; and the New, that of Rhenius: it contained the lieadings of chapters and the chronology from the English. In printing this edition the Madras Society was assisted by funds from the American Bible Society, and by supplies of paper from the British and Foreign Bible Society. During the same year (1844) 10000 copies of each of Class III.] TAMUL. 137 the Four Gospels in 18mo., Fabricius's version, were ordered to be printed at the press of the Christian Knowledge Society, Vepery ; and the same number and size of the revised version at the American Mission press, for the use of schools. Other portions of Scripture were printed at about the same period at the Neypoor press, for the use of schools in Tinnevelly and Travancore, and for the purposes of public worship. A second edition of the uniform Tamul Bible, with headings and chronology from the English, and references from the German version, was completed in 1848. The edition consisted of 6000 copies, and the demand for it was at once considerable. Among other portions of Scripture recently printed under the auspices of the British and Foreign Bible Society, it may be noticed that an edition of 3000 copies of the New Testament in 12mo. has been published, according to rules proposed by a Tamul sub-committee of revision, for separating the words in printing, and in many cases omitting the usual changes, reduplication, and elision of letters required by the law of Sandhi in the high dialect. Another edition of the New Testament, printed from the version of Rhenius at Neypoor, has since been issued, for the use of the large and increasing native church in that section of the Tamul country ; together with several large editions of portions of the New Testament, from the same version. It remains to notice another version of the Tamul Scriptures which has more recently been completed in Ceylon, and which is known as the " Union Version." The chief agent in its pro- duction was the Rev. P. Percival, who was engaged for a period of fourteen years in that arduous task, devoting six hours daily to it: valuable help was furnished by the Reverends i\Iessrs. Spalding, Winslow, and Brotherton. Great, however, as had been the care bestowed upon its execution, it was determined that the first edition of the "Union Version" should be regarded only as a trial, with a view to obtain the opinions of Tamul scholars as to its merits, and the number of copies was accordingly limited to 3500. High praise has been bestowed upon this version with regard to its idiom, correctness, neatness of style, and its general fidelity, to the original; it has, nevertheless, been generally regarded as deficient (in common with prior versions) in some of the qualities necessary to a standard version of the Tamul Scriptures. The complete revision of the Tamul Bible, with a view to the preparation (from the two translations of the Old Testament, and the three versions of the New, that are already in existence) of an edition which may be finally regarded as a standard authority, has occupied during several years the anxious care of the Madras Auxiliary Society; and a recent engage- ment has been made between the Parent Committee of the Bible Society, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, by which this desirable object seems likely to be accom- plished. The Rev. H. Bower has undertaken to conduct the task of revision; the work being in the first instance limited to the New Testament only, with a view to obtain a general opinion of the merits of the revised version thus formed, before incurring the large outlay which the like revision of the Old Testament will involve. The work, on this plan, is now (1860) in progress. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. As the Tamul was the first language of India in which the Gospel was proclaimed by Protestant missionaries to the natives, and the first into which the Scriptures were translated for their benefit, so it has been observed that, "for spiritual privileges, for missionary zeal and enterprise, for the hght and liberty which prevail, the Tamul country may well be called the Goslien of India." The rapid circulation of so many large editions of the Scriptures, as above described, is in itself a proof of the alacrity with which the natives have received the word of God; and individual instances, in proof that the precious seed thus gladly welcomed was owned and blessed of God, are to be found in great numbers in missionary records, and in the reports of the Bible Society. Let one example here suffice. Shun- kuru-Lingum was bom at Quilon, about 1787, of heathen parents, of the Vellaula or Cultivator caste. After several changes in his temporal circumstances and position, he entered the seiwicc of a gentle- man holding a civil appointment under the Ceylon government. An apparently trivial circumstance was the turning-point of his life. Under a tree of the forest he found a copy of the Gospels in Tamul, 138 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. probably left there by a fcjllowcr of the British Ccamp, for it was the time of the Kandyan war, and strangers from Tranqiiebar had come over to Ceylon with the army. He read the book with eager delight; it opened up to him a new region of tliought and inquiry, and ultimately was blessed to his conversion. Deeply affected by a sense of the spiritual degradation of his countrymen, and impelled by love to his Saviour, he sought to make known the truth to others, and became a minister of the Gospel; and he afterwards underwent much persecution as a settor-lbrth of strange gods, because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. The general aspect of the present state of affairs in the Tamul country, brought about by the ex- tensive distribution of the Scriptures, may be gathered from the following passage in a recent letter of the Kev. J. H. Gray, one of the secretaries of the Madras Bible Society: — " I think I can say, ' that the Avord of the Lord is running,' and our Lord Jesus Christ is being glorified in Southern India. If it be a proof of this, that we find ' the strong man armed' no longer enjoying a peaceful possession of his goods, or that we see bitterness and persecution rife among tlie heathen towards Christians, we are beginning to have these things abound at our doors; and the so called gentle and passive Hindoo is now seen in the streets of Madras, armed with a hatchet to cut down the gate of a missionary's house, and rescue his relative, who had fled thither as to a city of refuge from heathen superstition and uncleanness; or he is seen casting his son's or his brother's Bible into the fire, lest it should convert him; and thousands upon thousands can meet together, to cry for their gods, as lustily as ever they did at Ephesus in behalf of Diana." TELINGA, OH TELOOGOO. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE TELINGA, OE TELOOGOO VEESION, see Plate 3, page 91. I. GEOGKAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Telinga language Is spoken within 23 miles of Madras, and prevails for about 500 miles along the coast, from the vicinity of Pulicat to the borders of Orissa. In the interior it extends as far west as Beedr, through nearly the whole of Hydrabad, a part of Berar, and the eastern provinces of Mysore. The portion of the Telinga country subject to tlie Madras presidency includes the five Cirears — Vizagapatam, Kajahmundry, Masulipatam, Guntoor, and the Cuddapah and Nellore districts of the Carnatic. The superficial extent of the entire region in which this language is predominant has been estimated at 118,610 square miles. The natives are Hindoos, and number about 10,000,000. The Telinga language is also diffused to a greater or less extent through various countries of Southern India, in which the Tamul and Canarese are the proper vernacular languages. This diffusion in part arises from the early conquests, dating from the fourteenth century, achieved by the people of Telinga in the south. Like the Romans, they endeavoured to secure their conquests, and to keep the natives in subjection by the establishment of mihtary colonies; and the Telinga language is still spoken by the descendants of the Telinga families, who were deputed by the kmgs of Vidianagara to found these colonies. The roaming tendencies of the Telinga people also serve to account in part for the diffusion of the language. On this subject the missionaries have remarked that " in intelligence, migratory habits, secular prosperity, and unfrequency of return to their native land, this people are, in relation to other parts of India, what the Scotch are in relation to England and the world." II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Telinga is the softest and the most polished of the languages of Southern India, and contains the Class III.] TELINGA. 139 greatest proportion of Sanscrit words. In point of fulness, it may be styled tlie " Spanish'' of the Indian peninsula. Yet the Sanscrit terms with which it unquestionably abounds form no part whatever of the basis of the language, but appear to have been engrafted on the elements of the original Telini-a at some period far too remote for inquiry. The grammatical construction of Telinga is alone sufficient to prove that it has no claims to be regarded as a mere Sanscrit dialect. In the declension of its nouns effected by means of subjoined particles, in the mode of conjtigating the affirmative, and in the posses- sion of a negative verb, in the use of a plural pronoun applicable to the first and second persons con- jointly, and in the peculiarities of its syntax, it offers obvious points of deviation from the forms of Sanscrit grammar, while at the same time it exhibits decided affinity in these respects with its cognate languages of the Deccan. The Telinga language possesses no word exactly corresponding with our article; the indefinite article is sometimes expressed by means of the numeral one, but in general the article is considered as inherent in the noun. Like the Tamul and Canarese, the Telinga possesses that singular part of speech called the relative participle, which displays the combined force of the definite article, the relative pronoun, and the verb. It also resembles these languages in the possession of two dialects, the common or popular medium, used for all purposes of business and conversation, and the high or refined dialect, in which the literature of the nation, consisting chiefly of poetry, is written. The dissimilarity between these dialects is so great, that commentaries are requisite in the perusal of native works, even in the case of individuals who have acquired the most complete familiarity with the colloquial dialect. The Telinga possesses great facility in the naturalization of foreign terms; yet, with the exception of a few words obtained from the neighbouring provinces of Orissa, Mahratta, and Gujerat, it does not appear to borrow many words from foreign sources. Several technical revenue and official terms derived from the Hindustani were at one time in common use, but they now begin to be superseded by the corresponding English words. The Telinga, like other Indian alphabets, is distinguished by the perplexing multiplicity of its symbols, of which there are no less than eighty-one: some of these, however, are merely abbreviated forms of the regular initial letters ; others are only used as marks for certain consonants when doubled; and some are peculiar to words of Sanscrit origin. " Hence," says Mr. Campbell, " all native grammarians concur in reducing the characters to thirty-seven, by excluding forty-four, which they acknowledge belong to the language, but which they will not admit into the alphabet." In point of form these letters are round and flowing, and form a striking contrast to the square characters of the Dcvanagari, although arranged upon the same principle of classification. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTUKES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Schultze, the laborious Danish missionary, was the first who engaged in a Telinga version of the Scriptures. He commenced his translation in 1726, immediately after his completion of the Tamul version above mentioned. He translated immediately from the Greek and Hebrew texts, and finished the Telinga version of the New Testament in 1727, and of the Old Testament in 1732. From some cause or other hitherto unexplained, this work was never printed, although Schultze seems to have taken some steps towards obtaining the assistance of a learned Brahmin, and a fount of types for the purpose. He died in 1760 at Halle, and it has been thought that his Telinga MSS. may still be pre- served in that city. The Serampore missionaries commenced another version of the Scriptures in this language in 1805, and in 1809 they had translated the whole of the New and part of the Old Testa- ment. Soon afterwards they succeeded in casting a fount of Telinga types, but owing to various causes of delay, the New Testament was not printed till 1818, when an edition of 1000 copies was issued, aided by a grant from the British and Foreign Bible Society; and in 1820, the same number of copies of the Pentateuch were published. But while this Serampore version was in progress, another Telinga version of the New Testa- ment was commenced and carried on to the close of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by the Rev. Augustus Desgranges, of the London Missionary Society. He had been stationed at Vizagapatam since 140 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. 1805, and therefore enjoyed great local facilities for the prosecution of his undertaking: he found, indeed, but few difficulties in the Telinga language to impede his edbrts, and he remarked that " this language richly furnishes the translator with words, phrases, and sentences for his purpose;" and that in addition to its acknowledged softness, elegance and refinement, it is " regular in construction, replete with sentences clear and strong, and abounding with the most beautiful figures of speech." ilr. Desgranges was assisted by the Rev. George Cran, who was also stationed at Vizagapatam, and by Anunderayer, a Telinga Brahmin of high caste, who had sincerely embraced the Christian religion. What our Lord Jesus requires from liis followers, Anunderayer had really done, for he had left his wife, mother, brother, sister, his estate and property, and had suffered reproach and persecution patiently for the sake of the Gospel. Having acquired an intimate knowledge of the Tamul language, he translated the Scriptures direct from the Tamul version into his own language, and his work was submitted, verse by verse, to Mr. Desgranges, who made such alterations as his critical knowledge of the original text suggested. Mr. Cran died in 1808, and Mr. Desgranges two years subsequently; and it was found on examination that the first three Gospels were the only portions of the translation that were in a state of readiness for the press. Of these three Gospels, 1000 copies were printed at Serampore in 1812, under the care of Anunderayer. Xo alterations whatever were admitted, for it was considered that to give the Gospels as the able translator had left them would be a tribute of respect to his memory. In the meantime another version of the Telinga New Testament had been commenced. The Eev. Messrs. Pritchett and Lee, agents of the London ]\lissionary Society, arrived at Vizagapatam a short time prior to the decease of the lamented Mr. Desgranges. ilr. Lee undertook ' soon afterwards a translation of the Book of Genesis, but the preparation of the version afterwards devolved almost exclusively on Mr. Pritchett, who addressed himself in the first place to the translation of the New Testament. In the first three Gospels he is said to have availed himself of the labours of Mr. Desgranges, introducing such alterations as his own judgment suggested. When the version of the New Testament was completed, he sent it to Madras for examination, and it was so highly approved by the distinguished Telinga scholars to whom it was submitted, that the iladras Bible Society readily closed with ]\Ir. Pritchett's proposal to print it for the benefit of the Telinga nation. An edition of 2000 copies was tlierefore issued in 1819, the expenses of which were defrayed by the Calcutta Bible Society. Mr. Pritchett was proceeding with the translation of the Old Testament, when, in 1820, he was stopped in the midst of his work by death. In 1823 another version of the Scriptures was offered to the Calcutta Bible Society by the Eev. J. Gordon, also of the London Missionary Society, who had during many years been stationed at Vizagapatam. Great difficulty was experienced in deciding upon the relative merits of Mr. Pritchett's and Mr. Gordon's translations, and all printing operations were suspended until it could be ascertained which was best calculated for general usefulness. At length their respective translations of Genesis and of the history of Joseph were circulated for comparison, and when the opinions of competent judges had been col- lected, it was found that the result of the investigation was in favour of Mr. Gordon's production, which was unanimously declared to be " clear, intelligible, and the more literal translation of the two." At the same time Mr. Pritchett's was pronounced a good translation, and more grammatical than Mr. Gordon's, but deficient in idiom. The Committee of the Madras Society, therefore, resolved upon adopting Mr. Gordon's version, but they requested him before he sent it to the press, to compare it carefully with Mr. Pritchett's translation, and "to select therefrom whatever he might think a desirable acquisition to his own." Mr. Gordon's important labours were closed by death in 1827. After his decease it was found that ilr. Pritchett's version was, after all, more correct than had been expected; certain corrections were accordingly introduced, and an edition of 3000 copies of the New Testament was printed in 1828, accompanied by 2000 copies of Mr. Gordon's version of St. Luke. Vigorous efforts were subsequently made to revise the vereions prepared by Messrs. Pritchett and Gordon, and further portions were printed, which, notwithstanding their admitted defects, obtained such extensive Plate V Rape 141 Z o ^ S ^ y-j *J Q^ X3Q b» ^ =0 vro » f3 ya =1? >? o o ^ X3G v30'-<3 »C J) ^ (GO yj ^ ^ o b ^ J ^'2 s -ta « ? *1 bd 13 -^ < < < 1l ri X pa «t> I < >X 1.1 J = •S « X < X < < V u> < < < - J ■= -3 ^ '3 "o .'5 X p u !£ u '.« *o M N :^ u u X ^ s 13 X f- o .X s ^ r*-^ =■ 'X < •o X < X X o X IS 4) h" •i> E- •o no E- .«j 5 2 = < « ID W < E- ;< '3 X -o < •o rl ^ s- 3-0 X •» i: '« X E- I -I < £ ■X = ? "" X «»- 'X E---D S « .s < — ' ty V ? E- X ^:i ^ IS C*5 <5 PS ■e X S.x ^ 3 ll 1? jto \ Class III.] KARNATA. 141 circulation as to warrant the hope that they were perused with profit. An edition of 3000 copies of the Old Testament, based upon the version of Pritchctt and Gordon, issued from the Madras press in 1855, together with large editions of particular portions of the Teloogoo Scriptures, both of the Old and of the New Testaments. Up to the present time the Madras Committee have been still persevering in their endeavours to procure an acceptable and faithful version of the Teloogoo Scriptures. The work, however, has advanced but slowly. Portions of the New Testament had been completed under the joint care of the Eeverends Messrs. Wardlaw and Hay, but the printing of them was deferred, owing to a difference of opinion that rose among the members of the committee respecting some of the rules laid down for the guidance of the translators. P^rom recent Reports of the Bible Society, we learn that the Teloogoo Revision Committee appointed in 1856 have completed a new translation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans, Colossians, and Philemon, and of the general Epistles of St. James, St. John, and St. Jude; together with the Four Gospels and Acts; all of which are ready for the press. Among other revised editions of portions of the New Testament issued by the Madras Committee from time to time, may be men- tioned an edition of 1000 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke, translated by one of the first of Teloogoo scholars, C. P. Brown, Esq., son of the late Rev. David Brown, and printed about the year 1839. Mr. Brown has subsequently completed a translation of the entire Bible into Teloogoo, and has de- posited this version with the Madras Auxiliary; extracts from different portions of the work are being printed, with a view to their circulation for the opinions and criticisms of Teloogoo scholars. KAENATA, OE CANARESE. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE KAENATA, OE CANAEESE VEESION, see Plate 5, page 141. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The names by which this language is distinguished are by no means calculated to convey a just notion of its geographical extension. The term Karnata would naturally lead to the inference that this lan- guage is predominant in the Carnatic, which is by no means the case, Tamul, as we have already shown, being the vernacular language of that country. The other appellation, Canarese, as applied to this language, is almost equally erroneous, for Tuluvu is the proper and original dialect of Canara, although it has of late years become restricted to the lower classes of that province. This confusion of terms seems to have arisen from the fact of the Mussulman conquerors of the country having erroneously extended the distinctive appelktion of the ancient province of Carnatica to the adjacent districts, namely, to the Carnatic on the one side, and to Canara on the other. The name thus ignorantly extended to these countries has been retained ; while Carnatica itself, which had alone been previously distinguished by this appellation, no longer exists as a separate province, the territories which it com- prised being now chiefly known as the Mysore and the Balaghaut, or province of the Upper Ghauts. The limits of the Karnata (formerly the vernacular language of Carnatica), may be described as co- extensive with those of that ancient province: it may be said to extend from between the 12th to above the 18th degree of north latitude, with an average breadth of 180 miles; and it may also be considered to include Canara, where it is rapidly superseding the Tuluvu. The amount of population to whom the Karnata language is vernacular has been estimated at upwards of 7,000,000. These people are Hindoos, and are subject to the Madras presidency. 142 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The idioms of tlic Karnata or Canarese are very similar to tliose of the Tamul and Teloogoo, with which languages it is radically connected. Its alphabet, consisting of fifty-six letters, is evidently borrowed from tlie Teloogoo, with the alteration of a few letters; and so far at least as classification and order are concerned, like the Teloogoo, it is derived from the Devanagari. A valuable Canarese Grammar by M'Kerrell, and a Canarese and English Lexicon in two large quarto volumes, compiled by Mr. Reeve, one of the translators of the Bible, have been published by the Madras Government. And since that time a number of Canarese publications, with Grammars and Dictionaries, have been issued from the Wesleyan missionary station on the Neilgherries. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first attempt to produce a Karnata translation of the Scriptures was commenced at Serampore in 1808: the work, however, from various causes, appears to have been laid aside from time to time; and it was not till 1822 that an edition of 1000 copies of the New Testament was completed at press. A version of the Old Testament was also undertaken, and partly executed, by the Serampore mission- aries ; but they afterwards relinquished the work on finding that similar efforts were being made by other labourers, who, from being stationed in the country where the language is vernacular, enjoyed greater facilities for the successful prosecution of the translation. The Karnata or Canarese version, was, in fact, one of the first contemplated by the Calcutta Bible Society. In 1813 they made an application to the Archbishop of Goa concerning the necessity of supplying the native Christians of Goa and its neighbourhood with the Canarese Scriptures. These Christians were Roman Catholics, and numbered about 200,000. The archbishop, in the true spirit of his church, discouraged the under- taking. One of the objections which he urged was, however, afterwards found to be correct; for he alleo-ed, and with truth, that the Canarese Christians of Goa spoke a mixture of different languages, and that their dialect varied greatly in many districts. No farther steps were taken by the committee till, in 1817, a letter was addressed to them by Mr. Hands, of Bellary, an agent of the London Missionary Society, stating that he had translated the whole of the New Testament into Canarese. As this translation was found on examination by competent judges to be adapted for general usefulness, an edition of 2000 copies of the Gospels and Acts was printed at Madras, with the sanction and at the expense of the society, under the immediate eye of the translator. In order that Mr. Hands might not be longer detained from his station, the types and material for printing were afterwards forwarded to Bellary, and the entire New Testament was completed in 1821. At this period, Mr. Hands had likewise completed the translation of the Old Testament; and his friend and coadjutor, the Rev. Wm. Reeve, had engaged in a separate translation of the Pentateuch, with the view of comparing it with that of Mr. Hands, and of securing by this means a more correct and idiomatic version. In 1822, while these two translators were labouring conjointly in their important undertaking, they were invited by the Madras Bible Committee, upon whom the superintendence of this translation had devolved, to associate themselves with I\Ir. A. D. Campbell and Mr. R. C. Gosling, so as to form a sub-committee of translation, calling in the farther aid of such learned men as they should find expedient. Under the care of this sub-committee, there- fore, the revision of the Old Testament was continued; and every separate portion was again subjected to the careful inspection of the committee at Madras previously to its publication. The printing of the Old Testament was commenced in 1827, and in the following year, Mr. Hands made the following statement concerning his own share in the translation: — "The work was commenced sixteen years ago, and scarcely a day has passed in which I have not laboured therein : it has engaged the best part of my time and strength : many of the books have been revised and re-copied seven or eight times." The printing of the New Testament, which had been commenced at IMadras in 1820, was completed at Bellary in 1831, by the publication of the Epistles and the Book of Revelation, under the care of the sub-committee. In 1832, the Old Testament likewise left the press, and a sub-committee was Class III.] KARNATA. 143 formed for the express purpose of revising the New Testament, prior to a second edition. This edition was intended to consist of 5000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, 1000 extra copies of St. Luke and Acts, and 3000 copies of the Epistles : it docs not appear, however, that the edition -was eventually issued. It has, however, been subsequently found desirable to submit the entire Canarese Scriptures to a farther and more elaborate revision, under the immediate care of the Rev. G. H. Weigle, who was engaged by the British and Foreign Bible Society, at the instance of the Madras Committee of Revision, to devote his entire time to the task. Under this arrangement, a thoroughly revised trans- lation of the Canarese New Testament was completed in 1853, and two large editions have been publislied (the one at Bellary, and the other at Bangalore) since that date. A like revision of the Old Testament has subsequently been accomplished. The whole has been printed, and is now (1860) in the hands of the Canarese missionaries and their people. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. In proof of the acceptableness of this version may be cited the observations of the Rev. Mr. Taylor, made during a tour in 1831 : — " Wliile travelling about the country," he writes, " in my journey from Belgaum, I have had opportunities of putting in circulation the sacred volume in whole and parts. Very few instances of unwillingness to receive the Scriptures have come under my observation, but innumer- able evidences of great earnestness and solicitude to obtain them. I have had opportunities of ascer- taining that the word has been read, and its contents tolerably understood; and the knowledge I found some possessed of concerning Christ, and of what he did and suffered to save sinners, has afforded me both delight and encouragement." Omitting other testimonies respecting the influence of the Scrip- tures on Canarese communities, it may not be uninteresting to quote the following individual instance of the blessing of God attending the perusal of the Canarese Bible : — " When travelUng last year," says the Rev. Mr. Wurth, of Hoobly, " in the southern parts of the Dharwar Collectorate, I met with a man who told me that there was a Lingaite Swamee in a village called Maraulee, wlio advised the people to throw away the Linga they wear on their breast, and put no confidence in idols, but to believe in Christ. The Swamee, at my request, came to meet me, followed by many of his disciples (Lingaite priests) who carried with them a great number of books. Among these were the New Testament, Genesis, the Psalms, and the Prophets, all in Canarese. After some preliminary conversation the Swamee said openly, ' I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, is the only true God; and though the people call me a madman, I shall not give up this my conviction.' He has formed a circle of disciples around him, who are to believe that of which their master is convinced. I was quite astonished to hear such sentiments from a Swamee of the Lingaites, who was never in close connection with a missionary. He had drawn his knowledge partly from tracts, but more especi- ally from the Bible, which in its sublime simplicity is the best teacher. He did not, it seems, till now, seek the remission of his sins in Christ, although he admired the sublime truths of the Christian religion. But I entertain a good hope, that the word of God, which has led him on so far, and which is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, will, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, become to him, in this respect also, a lamp unto his feet, and a light unto his path.'' 144 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.. [Class III. TULU, on TULUYU. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. ToLTJVU is the ancient and proper dialect oftlie long narrow tract of land now called Canara, situated westward of the Mysore, between the range of the western Ghauts and the ocean. Canara extends about 180 miles along the coast, and comprehends 7,720 square miles. Its inhabitants, in point of number, amount to 1,056,000, of whom about one-fifth are Brahmins, and the proportion of Jains and of Mussulmans is also rather considerable. Owing to the long subjection of Canara to Karnata princes, the Karnata, or Canarese, language is now chiefly spoken by the higher orders of the population in that province; Tuluvu, however, still continues the vernacular of the common people, especially in South Canara. The number of individuals who employ the Tuluvu language has been estimated at 150,000. IX. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Tuluvu in idiom and structure closely resembles the Malayalim language, and is written in the same character. It contains, however, a great many Mahratta, Gujerattee, Telinga, Canarese, and Tamul words. III. VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. In 1834, a missionary station was established at Mangalore, the capital of Canara, by the German Missionary Society; and some progress was shortly afterwards made imder the patronage of that society, in the translation of the New Testament into the vernacular dialect of the province. In 1844 the Gospel and Epistles of St. John, and the Acts, translated by Mr. Ammann, and the Epistle of St. James, translated by Mr. Griener of Mangalore, were lithographed at the mission-press of that station. The editions consisted of from 350 to 400 copies of each book. The entire New Testament has since been translated and printed in Tuluvu, under the direction of the missionaries of the Basle Society, who have made this province one of their special fields of labour. We do not possess any direct information respecting the results that have ensued. Class III.] MALAYALIM. 145 MALAYALIM. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE MALAYALIM VEESION, see Platk 11, page 337. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. TnE Malayalim language is spoken along tKe wcstei-n coast of Peninsular India, from Cape Comorin to tlie borders of Canara, and from the sea to the western Ghauts. This region, sometimes distinguished by the general name of Malayala, includes an area of 14,190 square miles, and a population of 2,880,000: it comprises the British district of Malabar under the Jladras presidency, and the territories of the several rajahs of Travancore, Cochin, and Coorg. The natives in general arc Hindoos. The Syrian Christians, who form an important section of the population, have already been mentioned. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. !Malayalim is a dialect of the Shen Tamul. It has been observed by Mr. Ellis, that the peculiar characteristic which distinguislies it from all other Tamul dialects is, that though it is derived from a language superfluously abounding in verbal forms, its verbs arc entirely devoid of personal terminations, the person being indicated simply by the pronoun. The alphabet, as in the other languages of the Deccan, is arranged in the order of the Devanagari, but the form of the characters is peculiar. It is a more masculine language than the Tamul. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Dr. Buchanan, who visited the Syrian Christians of Malayala in the beginning of tlie present century, found that several attempts had been made by thera at difibrent times, though without success, to effect a translation of the Scriptures into Malayalim, their vernacular language. At the suggestion of Dr. Buchanan the design was at length carried into execution, and the venerable bishop Mar Dionysius engaged to superintend the translation. On his second visit to Travancore in 1807, Dr. Buchanan had the gratilication to find that tlie version of the Four Gospels had been completed by Timapah Pillay, and Eembar, a catanar or priest of the Syrian church, under the direction of the arch- bishop. The translation had been made from the excellent Tamid version of Fabricius, and an edition of 5000 copies of these Gospels was printed soon afterwards at Bombay, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Timapah Pillay was subsequently placed under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Thompson at Madras, in order to complete the translation of the New Testament from the version of Fabricius, and he accomplished the work in 1813. Inquiries, however, instituted by Mr. Thompson among persons versed in the language, soon con- vinced him that this version, originally intended for the Syrian Church, was not calculated for general circulation. It was found to abound witli words familiar to the Syrian Christians, but almost unintel- ligible to other classes of the Malayalim population. An entirely new translation was accordingly projected without delay, and Timapah Pillay was sent to the coast of Malabar for the immediate commencement of it, under the superintendence of a gentleman well qualified for the undertaking. The progress of the work was retarded by the opposition of the Catholic archbishop of Cranganore, and by various other obstacles, and when at lengdi completed it was still found open to the same objections that had been brought against the original translation. It appeared in fact, on farther investigation, that the language of Malabar varies so much from the purer dialect spoken in Travancore, as to render two separate versions desirable, if not indispensable, for the respective parts of the country. Mr. Spring, chaplain at Tellicherry, therefore proposed to enter upon a complete revision of Timapah Pillay's version, so as to render it acceptable to the natives of Malabar; while Mr. Bailey, who was u 146 INDO-EUllOPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. stationed at Cottayam, engaged to execute a new translation for the benefit of the inhabitants of Travancore. Mr. Spring was assisted by two learned natives who translated from Dr. Carey's Sanscrit Kew Testament: their work was afterwards submitted to a committee of natives all versed in Sanscrit, and one of them acquainted both with English and Tamul, while Mr. Spring had before him the Greek text and various critical works. Mr. Bailey was assisted in his translation by the catanars and nairs of the Syrian Church : it was executed partly in the peculiar idiom of the Syrian Christians, and partly in a medium style adapted for general usefulness. It was finished in 1819, and on being sub- mitted to the Madras Translation Committee was preferred to the purer Malayalira version executed by Mr. Spring. In consequence of the great anxiety manifested by the Syrian metropolitan, his clergy, and people, to obtain some portion of the Scriptures in their vernacular language, an edition of Mr. Bailey's version, to consist of 5000 copies, was commenced at Cottayam, at the expense of the Madras Bible Society. The Gospel of St. Luke, the first portion printed, was completed at press in 1827; other portions followed, and in the year 1830 the whole of the New Testament had been printed. This edition was printed with types cast for the purpose by Mr. Bailey: he had never even seen a type foundry or its apparatus, but derived all his information from books, and had no assistants but a coramou carpenter and two silversmiths, yet his success was complete. The translation of the Old Testament was like- wise completed by Mr. Bailey in 1830, and this work was submitted to a sub-committee, formed in 1832 in connection with the Madras Bible Society, for the publication of a Malayalim version of the Old Testament. About the same period an edition of 3000 copies of the Psalms was begun at press : the translation had been made by the Eev. T. Norton, and revised by the Kev. H. Baker. In 1834 an edition of 5000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, with 2000 separate copies of St. Luke and the Acts, was printed in London with types belonging to the Church Missionary Society, and at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The edition was carried through the press by Mr. Bailey, the translator, who had been compelled to visit England on account of his health. On returning to Cottayam, he took with him the entire edition for distribution, together with a supply of paper for printing the remainder of the New Testament at the mission-press. Complete editions of both the Old and New Testaments in Malayalim have since issued from the Cottayam press, besides large numbers of particular portions of the Scriptures. The version previously in current use was, however, admitted to stand in need of farther revision, and a publishing committee was appointed, a few years since, for the purpose. The duty undertaken by this committee has since made steady advance, and it is stated in the Bible Society's Report for 1860, that the task is com- pleted. The entire Malayalim Scriptures, in this revised form, are now ready for the press. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The following affecting account of the influence of the Scriptures over the heart and life of a Syrian of Malayala, is related by the Kev. ]Mr. Harley of the Church Jlission, in his journal for 1840. " Some years ago, a Syrian, of the name of Curiatha, was reclaimed from a most sinful course of life by the study of the Gospels, a copy of which he had received from the Rev. S. Ridsdale. In studying this holy book he became quite another man; he abandoned his covetous, worldly, and self-seeking views, and began to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a self-denial, zeal, and boldness seldom to be witnessed in a native Christian. He travelled through a great part of South India, preaching the Gospel among the heathen. He was quite careless of worldly emolument, and many times refused pecuniary assistance, travelling penniless, and contented to live on casual alms. How much he suffered for Christ cannot be known, for Curiatha never revealed such matters. As in life, so in death, he upheld the honour of the Gospel. He was preaching in the Kunnamkoollam Bazaar, when an opposer of the truth, a Syrian, incensed at his zeal, went home for a knife, and returning stabbed Curiatha to the heart. Curiatha put up a prayer to God not to lay this sin to the charge of Class III.] CINGALESE. 147 the murderer, and immediately fell lifeless. Such was the end of Curiallia. lie was faithful unto death." Concerning the effects of the dissemination of the vernacular Scriptures manifested throughout ]\Ialayala, we have the following interesting account from the Rev. J. Hawksworth, in a late report received from tliat country: — "Although I cannot enumerate many instances ot evident spiritual beneSt and conversion by distribution of portions of Malayalim Scriptures, I am persuaded that great good is being quietly and extensively effected. Besides which, 1 believe the careful distribution of the Scriptures here at the present time is the course to be taken to prevent the fallen Syriac Church becoming a prey to her old and designing foe — the apostate Church of Eome. I may mention, that about ten days ago, I baptised a family of five converts from heathenism, making now altorfether a party of about tliirty souls that have embraced Christianity in one village during the last eighteen months. The conversion of the whole of these is traceable to the giving of a JMalayalim Testament as the means." CINGALESE. rOU SPECIMEN OF THE CINGALESE VEESION, see Plate 5, page 14L I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Island of Ceylon lies at the entrance of the Bay of Bengal, between the 6th and 10th degrees of north latitude, and the 80th and 82nd degrees of east longitude. Its area has been estimated at 25,000 square miles, and the population, according to recent returns, amounts to a miUion and a half The Cingalese language is only predominant in the interior of the island, and on the southern coast, from Batticaloa on the east to the river Chilaw on the west. Tamul, as before mentioned, prevails on the northern coast, and Indo- Portuguese is spoken by the descendants of European settlers in many of the seaport towns. Pali, as we have already had occasion to state, is the learned and religious language of the Buddhists of Ceylon. II. — CHAKACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The remarks already made on the peculiarities of the Tamul language are almost equally applicable to the Cingalese, which closely resembles the Tamul in construction and idiom. In Cingalese, as in the languages of the Deccan, and indeed, more or less in all the living languages of India, there are two distinct dialects; namely, the dialect employed in books, properly called Elu, but more commonly high Cingalese, and which offers very few points of approximation to the Sanscrit, and the vulgar or colloquial dialect, in which nine out of every ten words are derived either from Sanscrit or Pali. It is a soft language, in which vowels predominate. It partakes of the rich soil and beautiful climate of that favoured island in which it is vernacular. The Elu, it is generally supposed, was the language of the aborigines of the island, and the colloquial dialect is thought to be a modification of the Elu, altered by the intermixture of Pali words, and by other causes. The Cingalese alphabet, which is peculiar, contains fifty letters, arranged very much upon the Devanagari system; but upon examination of their powers, the number of articulate sounds may be reduced to seven vowels and twenty-three consonants. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first Cingalese version of the Scriptures was made when Ceylon was in the possession of the Dutch. The Dutch Governor Von Imhoff established a printing press at Colombo in 1737, with the 148 IXDO-EUPvOPEAN LANGUAGES. [Cla^s III. view of disseminating the knowledge of the Gospel among tlie natives. In 1739 an edition of the Four Gospels in Cingalese was completed at this press, under the care of the Rev. J. P. Wetzel, a minister of the Dutch church at Colombo. The translation had been executed from the original Greek by the Kev. W. Konym, a minister of the same church. It was reprinted at Colombo in 1780, after having been revised and corrected by the Eev. Messrs. Fybrands and Philipsz. These two ministers likewise superintended an edition of the Acts, printed at Colombo 1771 : two learned Cingalese natives had executed this translation, under the direction of the Rev. S. Cat. The Epistles to the Galatians and Corinthians were translated by ilr. Philipsz, and printed in 1773; he then completed the trans- lation of the remaining books of the New Testament, and committed them to the press in 1776. Of the Old Testament, a metrical version of the Psalter was printed at Colombo in 1775, and republished in 1778. The books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus were published in 1783. Mr. Philipsz appears to have continued the version as far as the Book of Job; and after his death the MS. was deposited among the archives of the Dutch church at Colombo. The Colombo Auxiliary Bible Society was formed in 1812, and one of the first measures adopted by the society was the examination of the state of the Cingalese version of the New Testament. It was found so replete with errors, that a thorough revision, or a new translation, was deemed indispen- sable, and the execution of this important work was intrusted to a committee of Cingalese interpreters, under the superintendence of Mr. Armour, an English schoolmaster, well versed in the language, and W. Tolfrey, Esq., a civil officer vmder government and eminent Cingalese scholar. As it had been, however, previously ascertained that a most deplorable scarcity of the vernacular New Testament existed in Ceylon, a reprint of the former text was made by the Calcutta Auxiliary Society: this edition, consisting of 1000 copies, was printed at Serampore in 1813, and was presented to the Colombo Society for the purpose of meeting the urgent wants of the people, while the revised edition was in course of preparation. As many alterations were requisite in the printed text, the work of revision progressed but slowly; constant reference was made to the Sanscrit and Bengalee versions, whence many appropriate words and phrases were obtained. The Tamul version was also of much assistance, for, owing to the affi.nity between the two languages, the form of expression in Tamul was often found to run easily into Cingalese. The Pali was likewise consulted in order to give clearness and precision to the translation; and Mr. Tolfrey declared that it was expedient to render every chapter into Pali, before it could be revised with effect in Cingalese. The whole revision was conducted with continual reference to the Greek text and the English version. In 1815, 200 copies of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark were struck off' for circulation among Cingalese scholars, and the criticisms and opinions thus elicited were decidedly in favour of the work, which was declared to be free from the low and familiar words which disfigured the former text, and which, though of constant occurrence in the colloquial dialect, are deemed peculiarly reprehensible in the Cingalese written composition. The lamented death of Mr. Tolfrey occurred just as the revision had reached the Second Epistle to Timothy. The prosecution of the woik then devolved upon the Rev. Messrs. Chater and Clough, in conjunction with Mr. Armour, and by their united exertions a complete edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament left the Colombo press in 1817. They then applied themselves to the preparation of a version of the Old Testament Scriptures, which they conducted on the same plan as that on which the revision of the New Testament had been executed. By the aid of grants received from the Parent and Calcutta Bible Societies, and from the American Board of Missions, 1000 copies of the Book of Genesis were pj-inted at Colombo in 1818; and in the following year, a second edition of 3500 copies of the revised New Testament was published. This was soon followed by 2000 copies of the Psalter, and by 1000 copies of each of the other books of the Old Testament, and the entire version was com- pleted at press in 1823. Some assistance to this work was granted by the British Government. As the supply of the Scriptures was still found inadequate to meet the urgent demands of the people, another revised and cheaper edition was undertaken with the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Class III.] CINGALESE. 1-19 Society; it consisted of 2500 copies of tlie Old Testament and of GOOD of the Xew. The Pentateuch and Gospels left the press in 1828, and the entu-e edition was eompleted in 1830. Farther editions, consisting of 5000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, and 3000 copies of the entire New Testament, have subsequently been printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The demand, however, continues to be so rapid and constant that these issues are already in a great measure exhausted. Another translation of the Cingalese Scriptures was undertaken by the Eev. ilr. Lanibrick, of the Church Mission, at Cotta, a village near Colombo. The first portion of this version that passed through the press was the Gospel of St. Matthew, 100 copies of which were printed for the use of the schools at Cotta. Other portions of the Scriptures were successively issued, and in 1833 the New Testament was completed at press, followed in 1834 by an edition of the Old Testament, printed at the expense of the Church Missionary Society. An edition of 3000 copies of the New Testament has since been printed at the expense of the same society. This translation, which is generally distinguished as the " Cotta version," differs from tlie version set forth by the Colombo Bible Society in the following particulars: — " 1. All the honorilic terminations, that is, peculiar terminations of the verbs, nouns, and pronouns, indicative of respect, used in books in the high Cingalese dialect, are omitted in the Cotta version. 2. Those terminations of nouns, etc. in common use in the colloquial dialect are adopted. 3. One pronoun for the second person singular (there are twelve others in use in Cingalese books) is uniformly used throughout the Cotta version, whoever may be the person spoken to, human or divine. 4. Words in common use are invariably substituted for learned ones." The aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society has beeen extended to both these versions; and in 1838, 2000 copies of the Cotta version were ordered to be printed at their expense. The total number of both versions printed by the Colombo Auxili:iry, from its commencement down to the present time, is stated to be not less than 40,000. Although considerable difference of opinion for a time existed among the missionaries respecting the use of honorific terminations, yet it was felt to be extremely desirable, on all sides, that there should be but one standard version of the Cingalese Scrip- tures; and the missionaries of various persuasions engaged in Ceylon having happily agreed upon the adoption of a common system, a revision committee was appointed in 1853, and has since been steadily engaged in the prosecution of its labours. The new translation in course of preparation under this committee had in 1857 advanced as far as the completion of the entire New Testament, an edition of which was at once put to press, and that of the Old Testament has made very considerable progress. There is every reason to believe tlierefore that no long time will now elapse ere the devoted agents of missionary labours in Ceylon will be in possession of a standard version of the Cingalese Bible. Meanwhile, it has been found necessary to print more than one edition of the Old Testament according to the previously existing versions. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Ceylon is the venerated seat of Buddhism, and one of the chief depositaries of Buddhistic learning; yet in no country of the East has the distribution of the Scriptures been attended with more abundant manifestations of the Divine blessing. Many individual instances of conversion resulting from the perusal of the word of God in this language are dispersed tlirougliout the records of the Bible, Church Missionary, and Wesleyan Societies. The following statement by Mr. Clough, one of the translators, shows the rapid progress of truth through the length and breadth of the island: — "The Bible in Ceylon is working a great ch.ange in the views and feelings of the heathen. Formerly the priests and others felt but little at its circulation; but since the people have got a more extensive supply, and the effect of their reading is become apparent, the priests have taken the alarm, and have endeavoured to thwart the circulation. But the matter has gone too far, and this they now see; for in our schools in the southern part of Ceylon we have, by the blessing of God, raised up in the midst of the population not less than 30,000 native Christian readers, who do read, and will read, in spite of the opposition of the 150 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. heathen." And in late reports received from Ceylon, the Rev. Mr. Gogerly writes: — "The number of Cingalese readers is increasing daily; there is much more of a spirit of inquiry than was formerly apparent, and a greater willingness to read the word of God. In some Instances, especially about Marotto, even Roman Catholics apply for the New Testament. Vital Christianity has not spread among the people so much as we desire; yet, in the Wesleyan body alone, nearly 1000 sincere Christian men and women, without enumerating their children and family connections, besides the members of other sections of the church, daily receive instruction in the Holy Scriptures." MALDIYIAN. Thk Maldives are a chain of islands, supposed to be about 1200 in number, in the Indian Ocean, extending between the first degree of south, and the 7th of north, latitude, and between the 72nd and 73rd degrees of east longitude. They are of coraUine formation, and many of them are little else than reefs. The amount of their population is not known with any accuracy, but it has been estimated at between 150,000 and 200,000. The natives are generally described as a timid and inoffensive race, of dark colour, and rather short in person. They are expert sailors, and carry on considerable com- mercial intercourse with various places on the coasts of Ceylon, Malabar, and other parts of India ; besides visiting, for like purposes, more distant localities, from the shores of the Red Sea in one direction to those of Sumatra in the other. They are under the rule of a native Sultan, who pays an annual tribute to the British government in Ceylon, and are stated to be followers of the Mohammedan religion. The Maldivian language is a very mixed one, and contains a far greater number of Cingalese, Hindustani, Sanscrit, and Arabic words, than of Malay, among the dialects of which some have wished to class it. Dr. Leyden considered that it bears a distant relation to Cingalese. The Maldivians have two alphabets of their own, one very peculiar in form, and another which to a certain degree resembles the Persian alphabet in name and form. The Four Gospels were translated into Maldivian by Dr. Leyden, who presented the MS. to the Calcutta Bible Society. The deatli of that eminent scholar arrested the farther progress of the version, but the native whom he had employed in making the translation was retained at Serampore. A fount of types was cast for the purpose of printing the Gospels, but through some cause now unknown, no portion of the version appears at any time to have passed through the press. CLASS IIL-INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. C. CELTIC FAMILY. WELSH. SPECIMENS, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12. SALESBtTET'S VERSION. London, Folio, 1567. ^i^ 2 ticriirac otili ort)l3 o <3m, a'r ©air octitj g cjuS a Duto, a'r ©air IjUjiito ortt) Huito. 2 %}\sn ortt) m 5 iJEctrac gglj a Diiln. 5 ©11 a ttinartijplDDt trixjg r ©air Ijtonfa, ar cirttjatu ng tonactbplugt tiim ar a tDn= nctbptout. 4 gntiliala olil) ortt) butogt, aTbotout ortb 'olcimi tjgnion. 5 R'x golr= uni a tigingn m v tnttigU tor}), a'r tgiioltorij nib ortli gn ci aingglfrcb. 6 JDbb ocM gtor a bbanboiirsit g gan Dbito, a' ti cnU) ociiti loan. 7 ^|ton a Mactij gn tcstiolncti), g icsticlactiju o'r golcuni, xm o cijrcticnt oil trtogbbatriT 8 i^gti cfc ortti g golcuni Ijtunto, rittjr t bbanfoncsit g ticstiolafliju o'r golcuni. 9 lijblinSjb ocbb g gluir "olcuni g sg gn golcuo pop lign 'son gn iguot ir bgt. 10 gn g bgti gSb ocSli d, a'r bgti a iunactl)pii]gt trtogtitialu cf : a'r bgti ngti atinabu btiim o jJanaUj. 11 9t gr ci="6tiaiB g Ijun g tiacti), a'r ci-'Wam gljun ng 's liticrbgncsont tC 12 3f ctgnniucr aci bcrbgnicsont cf, rljocs g^'bbtognt faraint 2 faot gn bcibion i Dtiutti, scf ir satol a crctiant an g Cnia cf, DR. W. MORGAN'S TERSION. BISHOP PARRY'S VERSION London, Folio, 1588. giU g ticdjrcuati gr ocM g gair, a'r gair ocM ggti a Diito, a Oulu ocbb g gair. 2 Pjton ocM gn g Drrijrcuab ggb a Duin." 3 CTrttigbtio cf g glnnactifiptcig'b pob pctlj, ac Ijcbiitia cf ni teinacb bini a'r a Irmactljptogb. ^ gnli= So cf gr octst) fagingtiT a'r bgingb ocbl) olcuni bgnion. 5 il r golcuni a Icingrdjobti gn g tglngUtoclj, a'r IgtogU toci) nit) oc'6'b gn ci amggf= frcb. 6 gr gbortilj giir tiiclii ti anfon obUi lurUj Dtnto, a'i cnta loan. 7 Itjian a tibactlj gn lic3= tiolactlj, fd g tcstiolactljc cfc am g golcuni, fd g crctic palnb tvttigbtio cf. l3 ilitj cfc octj'b g golcuni fjinnntei, citijr i licstiolacHju am g golcuni. 9 [^JiunnlD] ortiS g giutr olcimi, gr IjIbu sgM gn golcuo pob tih\ a'r, g sgbU gn igfoi i'r bgb". \0 gn g bgb gr ortib cfc, a'r bub a bonadijplugb trin-- gtibo cf : a'r bob nib abnabu cf. U 3t ti cibbo ci ijun g bad!) cfc, a'i cibbo cl l)un ni's bcrbgnniasant cf. 12 ©nb cgnnifrr a'r a'i bcrbgnniasant cf, cfc a rob= bcs ibbgnt allu i fob gn fci= bion i DbuiD, [scf] i'f satol a grcbcnt gn ci cntn cf, London, Folio, 1620. gi^ g bcrfjrcuab gr ocbb g ©air, a'r ©air ocbb ggb a Quto, a Duio ocbb g ©air. 2 f.}\xin ocbb gn g bcdj-- rcunb ggb a Suiii. "3 Ex-- togbbo cf g glrmadfjpUigb pob pdl) ; ac ^cbbba cf, ni tonactljpingb bim a'r a lim= adljptogb. 4 gnbbo cf gr ocbb bgUjgb, a'r bginob ocbb olcuni bgnion : 5 S'r go= Icuni sg'bb gn Ucingrdju gn g tgtogTtori), a'r tgtrigltodj nib ocbb gn ti amggCfrcb. 6 gr gbocbb glrir tocbi ci anfon obbi tortl) Dbuln, a'i cnio toan : 7 ?i?lun a bbartlj gn bgstioladl), fd g tgstios lactljci am g golcuni, fd g rrcbai patol) trixigbbo tt $ i^ib cfc ocbb g golcuni, citljr [cfc a anfonasib] fcl g tgstioladljai am g golcuni. 9 P;tongbocbbggii)irolruni, gr Ijttm sgbb gn golcuo pob bgn a'r g sgbb gn bgfob i'r bgb. id gng bgbgrocbb cfc, a'r bgb a iBuactljptogb trirgbbo cf; a'r bgb nib abnabu cf. U 3t ti citibo ti ijun g badlj, a'r cibbo ci Ijun ni bbcrbgniasant cf. 12 ©nb cgnnifcr ag a'i bcr= bgniasant cf, cfc a robbcs ibbgnt allu i fob gn fcibion i Dbuto, [scf] i'r satol a grcbant gn ti ntbo cf. BRITISH & p. BIBLE SOCIETY, London, ISmo., 1859. YN y dechreuad yr oedd y Gair, a'i Gair oedd gyd a Duw, a Duw oedd y Gair. 2 Hwn oedd yn y dechreuad gyd a Duw. 3 Trwyddo ef y gwnaethpwyd pob peth ; ac hebddo ef ni wnaeth- pwyd dim a'r a wnaethpwyd. 4 Ynddo ef yr oedd bywyd ; a'r bywyd oedd oleuni dyn- ion. 3 A'r goleuni sydd yn llewyrchu yn y tywyllwch ; a'r tywyllwch nid oedd yn ei amgyffred. 6 Yr ydoedd gwr wedi ei anfon oddi wrth Dduw, a'i enw loan. 7 Hwn a ddaeth yn dys- tiolaeth, fel y tystiolaethai am y Goleuni, fel y credai pawb trwyddo ef. 8 Nid efe oedd y Goleuni, eithr e/e a anfonasid fel y tys- tiolaethai am y Goleuni. 9 Hwn ydoedd y gwir Oleuni, jr hwn sydd yn goleuo pob dyn a'r y sydd yn dyfod i'r byd. 10 Yn y byd yr oedd efe, a'r byd a wnaethpwyd trwyddo ef; a'r byd nid adnabu ef. 11 At ei eiddo ei hun y daeth, a'r eiddo ei hun nis derbyniasant ef. 12 Ond cynnifer ag a'i derbynias- ant ef, efe a roddes iddynt allu i fod yn feibion i Dduw, srf i'r sawl a gre- dant yn ei enw ef : I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Celts, or KeXroi or KsXtuI, were a people of the origin of which nothing positive is known. They occupied a great part of Western Europe, perhaps in times antecedent to the invasion of Indo- Germanic nations. 1.52 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES [Class III. The very name Celt is of uncertain etymology. Ammian derives it from tlie king, Kelta or Celtn; Leibnitz from tlie German (jelt or geld, money; Mezorai, from the British (/all or gault, a ibrest; Pclloutier from the Tudesk wallen, to wander; Latour-d'Auvergne, from goel or gcell, yellow, alluding to the liglit hair of the Galli, whom Bochart identifies with Dodanim (for RJiodanim) of Gen. x. But the name Celt may possibly come, as Camden says, from gioalth, a head of hair, coma, and gioaltliog, comatus: from whence KeXral, TaXdrai, or TaXKoo, Galli or Gaiih; the Gcedd, Ccedil or Keill, and in pi. Keilt or Keiltiet, or Gaels, Gcedels or Guidhelud, as the Irish call themselves and their tongue. The language called Celtic is divided into two principal branches, viz.: 1. the IrinJi or Hibernian, from which the present Irish or Erse, and the Gaelic of Scotland, are derived : 2. the British, to which the primitive Gaelic or Gallic was allied, and from which are derived the Welsh, the Cornish, and the Armoric or language of Brittany. The Manks dialect is peculiar to the Isle of Man, and is a corruption of the Irish branch of the Celtic tongue. The Welsh, sometimes called the British language, on account of its former predominance in Britain, is then a dialect of the Celtic, as we have said, once diffused throughout the greater part of Europe, although now confined to certain sections of the British Isles and to a portion of Brittany. According to the census of 1851, the population of Wales and of Monmouthshire amounted to 1,163,251; but a large proportion of this population, particularly in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, consists of English and Irish immigrants. It is believed that, throughout the whole of Wales, the natives of the principality to whom the Welsh language is vernacular do not number above 700,000 individuals; an amount of population which is less by one half than that of either Yorkshire or Lancashire. In estimating, however, the number of individuals by whom Welsh is spoken, it must be taken into account, that from fifty to seventy thousand Welshmen are settled in various towns of England, particularly in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Birmingham, and Bristol: there are, besides, a considerable number in the United States. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. One grand distinctive feature which runs through the Welsh, and all the other dialects of the Celtic language, is the incompleteness of the grammatical system of inflections, and the general rough- ness of articulation, as compared with the complex and elaborate systems of the Sanscrit, Teutonic, and other families of languages. This circumstance, viewed in connection with the generally recei\ed opinion, tliat Europe was first colonised by tribes of Celtic origin, leads to the inference that the sepa- ration of the Celtic family from the parent stock in Asia took place at a period anterior to that in which the language then common to the Asian race had attained its full development. The study of the Celtic dialects has, therefore, a bearing more or less direct upon all questions connected with the eai'ly history and origin of nations; for the remarkable analogies still preserved by those dialect.' with other families and classes of languages, lead us back to the most remote epochs that can possibly be inves- tigated by the aid of comparative philology. In Celtic may still be traced some faint Indications of the ancient relationship, if not of the original identity, of the Indo-European and Shemitic classes. The Celtic, like Hebrew and other Shemitic languages, has two sets of personal pronouns; namely, the full or unmutilated forms used chiefly in the nominative case, and the abbreviated forms employed in construction; the latter often found in conjunction with a preposition, so as to make but one word. The Celtic pronouns also point to the solution of a problem that has long occupied the attention of philologists, for it has been satisfactorily ascertained that the personal terminations of Welsh verbs are neither more nor less than a series of pronominal suflixes; so that, as Dr. Pritchard has justly observed. the long-debated question respecting the origin of these terminations may now be considered as set at rest, so far, at least, as the Celtic is concerned. In the number of its tenses in the active voice, and especially in the possession of a passive voice, the Celtic dialects are richer than any of the Teutonic languages except the Mooso-Gothic, which alone retains a remnant of its ancient passive form, and that only in the present tense of the indicative and subjunctive moods. In the laws of euphony Class III.] WELSH. 153 regulating the permutation of consonants when brought together in composition, the Celtic offers many points of resemblance to other languages of its class; but with this distinctive peculiarity, that while in Greek and in most of the Indo-European languages one consonant has no power in modifying another, except when joined thereto in one and the same word, the Celtic alone resembles the San- scrit in the modifying influence possessed by the final and initial consonants of words in sequence. The principles upon which these changes in the consonants of distinct words depend are, in Sanscrit, comprised in what is teclmically called the law of Sandhi, and are purely euphonic in their nature. In Welsh and its cognate dialects, on the contrary, these characteristic changes of initial consonants seem to have a more especial reference to the meaning of the preceding word, or to some rule of grammatical construction ; yet there arc many cases in which the alteration of the initial letter seems in Welsh to depend mainly, if not solely, upon euphonic principles. The Welsh differs in several respects from the other Celtic dialects: it is derived immediately from the Cymric branch of the Celtic language, anciently spoken throughout Germany to the ocean, wliereas Gaelic, Erse, and Manks, probably owe their origin to the ancient language of Celtic Gaul. The Welsh is remarkable, like the Eolic Greek, for its habitual substitution of liard palatal and guttural consonants for the soft palatal and sibilant letters of tlie Sanscrit in such radicals or elementary words as are common to both lanEfuao'es. In this peculiarity it is followed in some degree by the Teutonic languages, altliough they often incline more strongly to the introduction of an aspirate. The great number of Latin words which enter into the Welsh vocabulary may in part be accounted for by the long supremacy of the Romans in Britain: to which cause may also be traced the adoption, by the Welsh, of the Roman characters, which took place at an early period, as is evident from ancient inscriptions and legends on coins. To account, however, for the numerous Celtic words which are to be detected in the Latin and Greek lanETuafes. we must resort to the hypothesis that the Umbri, the Osci, and perhaps some of the other primitive colonists of Italy and Southern Europe, were of Celtic descent. In many words, of which Lhuyd gives a detailed list (Arch. Brit. p. 269), the Celtic and Greek approximate so closely as to leave no room for doubt respecting the identity of their origin, while the corresponding terms in Latin evidently proceed from an entirely distinct source. Such words as in Latin commence with sc, sp, or st, have the letter ?/ prefixed in Welsh (e. g. Lat. scelere, Wei. ysceler; Lat. spiritus, Wei. yspryd; Lat. status, Wei. ystad); a similar peculiarity is exhibited by the French, and severa Eastern languages, such as the Arabic, Hindustani, Bengalee, which also insert a vowel before Latin or foreign words commencing with these letters, as in eapece, from Lat. species; esperer, from Lat. sperare, etc. Tlie form of conjugation in the Welsh verbs bears affinity to that of the Latin, as will appear by exhibiting some of the forms of a verb common to both languages: e. g. Wei. canu, to sing, Lat. cano, or canto; Wei. canaf, or canav, Lat. cantavi; Wei. canaist, Lat. cantavisti, contracted cantasti; Wei. canodd, Lat. canit; Wei. impera'ive, caned, Lat. future, canet; Wei. canasom, Lat. contr. cantassemus, for cantavissemus. The form of the second person plural is peculiar to the Welsh: canasoch, you sang; the ch is derived from chwi, you ; a personal pronoun used in Welsh as a distinct word ; Wei. canasent, Lat. cantassent. It appears from these examples that the Welsh has some analogy with the Latin (though not derived from it like the Italian), as far, at least, as the conjugations are concerned: for the Italian terminations deviate from the Latin as mucli as the Welsh, and nearly in the same manner, with the exception of the second person plural already noticed : as -amus in Latin is -arno in Italian, and in Welsh -om, as in the above examples. III. — VERSIONS OF THE -SCKIPTURES IN THIS L\XGUAGE. The earliest mention of a Welsh version of any part of the Scriptures occurs in an epistle prefixed by Dr. Richard Davis, bishop of St. David's, to the first printed edition of the Welsh New Testament (that of 1567), in which he states that there was a version of the Pentateuch extant about the year 1527, and that he himself saw a copy of the work in the possession of a learned gentleman, a relative of his own: he does not, however, give any Information respecting the translator, or the period at 154 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. wliich the version was executed.' Several short detached portions of Scripture were translated into Welsh, and printed during the reign of Edward VI., probably for the use of the Liturgy or Service Book compiled during that period. In 1562, a law was enacted by parliament enforcing the translation of the entire Scriptures into the Welsh language, under the superintendence of the Bishops of St. Asaph, Bancfor St. David, Llandalf, and Hereford. In consequence of this enactment, William Salesbury, a Welshman of hberal education, and a good linguist of the age, was appointed by the bishops to take the oversight of the projected edition; and by him the entire Xew Testament was translated, except the Book of Revelation, which is ascribed to Huet, a chantor or praacentor of St. David's, and five of the Epistles (2 Timothy, Hebrews, St. James, and the two Epistles of St. Peter), wiiich were translated by the above-named Dr. Richard Davis, bishop of the same place. The whole version was made from the Greek, collated with the Latin : its general fidelity has never been disputed, but it is faulty in style and orthography. It is divided, like our present Testaments, into chapters, but has no distinction of verses except in some books toward the end. It was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and was printed in 1567 in Loudon, at the expense of Humphrey Toy. The edition, which consisted of 500 copies, was in quarto, and printed in black letter. More than twenty years elapsed after the publication of the New Testament, before a version of the Old Testament was bestowed upon the people of Wales. This boon was at length conferred by Dr. William Morgan, originally vicar of Llanrhaiadr-mochnant, in Denbighshire, and raised in 1595 to the see of Llandaff, and in I60I to that of St. Asaph. With the aid of several eminent scholars, he prepared a version of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and revised Salesbury 's version of tlie New Testament. He was not nominated to this important undertaking, but engaged in it spontaneously. In 1588 he printed both Testaments, with the Apocrypha, in one volume folio. The work was divided into verses throughout, and, like the former edition of the New Testament, was dedicated to (Jueen Elizabeth. This edition also consisted of 500 copies, and was printed in black letter: a copy, presented by the translator himself, may be seen at Westminster in the library of the dean and chapter, and another in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Dr. ilorgan afterwards subjected the New Testament to a second revisal, and the corrected version was ready for the press in 1604, when he died : it does not appear to have been ever printed. The important work which had occupied so many years of this prelate's life, was not discontinued after his decease. His successor in the see of St. Asaph, Dr. Richard Parry, manifested equal zeal in the preparation of a faithful version of the Welsh Scriptures. Of his own accord, and in concert with his chaplain, the celebrated Dr. John Davies, Dr. Parry undertook a complete revision of the Old and New Testaments, in the course of which lie introduced so many corrections and alterations, that the work is deservedly regarded as a new and independent version, rather than as an amended translation. It lias always been held in such high estimation that it has been used as the text of all succeeding editions; and the few variations that from time to time may have been made from it, are chiefly of an orthographical nature: it is, in fact, the standard version of the Welsh Scriptures. It was first published in 1620, by Norton and Hill, his Majesty's pi inters in London, and contained a dedication to King James. The copy which was presented to the king is now in the British Museum. The edition, however, only consisted of 500 copies: hke the two previous editions, it was printed in black letter and in folio, and the total want of copies of the Scriptures printed in a more accessible form was at this period severely felt in Wales. In consequence of this lamentable dellciency, some noble-minded citizens of London combined together to furnish a portable edition of the Welsh Bible at their own expense. Their edition, which was publislied in 1630 in London, was in small octavo, and contained, besides the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha, 1 A "Welsh version of the Bible was preserved in MS. at Celi/dd Ifaii. near Bridgend in Glamorgan : it appears to have been executed from the Latin Vulgate, by an ancestor of the family residing in that place, about the year 1470. A considerable portion of the MS. was still extant a fevr years ago, though no trace of it can be found at present. It may have been a MS. of the Pentateuch of this version to i,\ hich Dr. K. Davis referred. We may, how- ever, also mention that it has been stated that the translation of the Pentateuch into English, by William Tyndale, was the basis of a Welsh version. Class III.] WELSH. 155 the Book of Coinmon Prayer, and a mctrlca/ version of the Psalms. Prys, archJoacon of Merioneth, was the transhitor of this PsaUer, whicli is now used in the Welsh churches. Another metrical version of the Psalms, hy Captain Jiliddleton, had been printed by Salesbury in London as early as IGO.?. The other principal editions of the Scriptures, issued during the 17th and 18th centuries, may be briefly enumerated as follows: — 1647. The New Testament in 12mo., without headings to the chapters; 1000 copies. 1648. Second edition of the Metrical Psalms, by Archdeacon Prys, in 12mo. 1654. The whole Bible in 8vo.; 6000 copies. This is sometimes called Cromwell's Bible. 1654. A separate edition of the New Testament, also in 8vo., 1000 copies; printed in larger type than the Bible of the same date. 1672. The New Testament with the Psalms, both in prose and metre. This edition was pub- lished by means of subscriptions collected in Wales and England: it was printed in 8vo., and consisted of 2000 copies. 1678. The whole Bible with the Book of Common Prayer, in 8vo., printed in London. Of this edition, which consisted of 8000 copies, 1000 copies were distributed gratis among the poor, and the rest were sold at a price below the cost of printing. Mr. Thomas Gouge, a man of noted benevolence, was the principal promoter of this edition : it passed through the press under the care of his friend, the Rev. Stephen Hughes, who formerly held the living of Mydrim, in Caermarthenshire, but was ejected at the passing of the Act of Uniformity. The corrections in orthography and punctuation, introduced by Mr. Hughes, were numerous and important; and this edition, though not without its defects, has in consequence been held in high estimation. 1690. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies. This edition was published by the Eev. David Jones, the ejected minister of Llandisilio near Narberth, under the patronage of Lord Wharton, and with the assistance of some ministers and citizens of London. 1690. Bible in folio, 1000 copies, printed at Oxford, for the use of churches. This is sometimes called Bishop Lloyd's Bible, because he is believed to have had some hand in the pub- lication, and to have supplied the chronology and references. It was printed under the superintendence of Mr. Pierce Lewis, a gentleman of Anglesea. This was the first edition printed in Eoman characters ; it varies from preceding editions in the orthography of many words. 1718. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies, printed in London. This is often called "Moses Williams' Bible," because that gentleman, then vicar of Dyfynog, in Brecknockshire, super- intended the publication. This edition was the first published under the patronage of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: it has the Apocrypha, the Psalms in metre, some hymns and forms of prayer; also marginal references and the contents of chapters. 1727. Bible in 8vo., 5000 copies, London. This edition was published under the same patronage as the last, but without the references or the headings of the chapters: on account of this omission it was never so highly valued or sought after by the people. 1746. Bible in 8vo., 15,000 copies, Cambridge. This was the third edition brought out under the superintendence of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It contains nearly all that was printed in the edition of 1718, and passed through the press under the care of ilr. R. Morris, of the Navy Office, a distinguished Welsh scholar. In this and the following edition the orthography of Bishop Lloyd's Bible was adopted. 1752. Bible in 8vo., 15,000 copies, London. This, like the edition of 1746, was printed under the superintendence of Mr. iMorris, at the expense of the Society I'or Promoting Christian Knowledge: these two editions cost the sum of £6000. 1752. New Testament and Psalms in 8vo., 2000 copies, London: printed from the edition of 156 INDO-KUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. 1672 by tlic Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Several reprints from this edition have been made at Slirewsbury. 1769. Bible in 8vo., 20,000 copies, London: published by tlie Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The orthography is that of Bishop Lloyd's Bible. 1770. Bible in quarto, Caermarthen, with notes by the Rev. Peter Williams. This has been reprinted at least twelve different times at Caermarthen, and similar editions have issued from other Welsh presses. The same Bible has been printed in folio size, with plates, by Fisher and Co., London. 1789. Bible in folio, London. This was a small edition, printed for the use of churches by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1790. Bible in 12mo., with Mr. John Canne's References, printed at Trevecca, in Brecknockshire, under the superintendence of Jlr. Peter Williams. An edition of the same Bible was subsequently printed at Caermarthen. 1799. Bible in 8vo., 10,000 copies; and New Testament printed separately (also in 8vo ), 2000 copies. These editions were published under the care of Rev. John Roberts at O.xford, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The editions above enumerated, with the exception of 10,000 copies of the New Testament in various sizes, printed in the year 1800 at Shrewsbury, were all that appeared before the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. At the close of the last, and commencement of the present century, great scarcity of the vernacular Scriptures prevailed in Wales. The large edition of 1799 was no sooner published than sold, and the last copy was disposed of before one fourth part of the country was supplied. Several urgent applications were made to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, entreating them to grant farther supplies of the Welsh Scriptures, but the state of their funds debarred the Society from giving efficient assistance. At this juncture, when no aid seemed attainable from any existing source, the Rev. Thomas Charles, of Bala, formerly a clergvman of the establislred church, but then officiating in connection with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, suggested the idea of forming a great printing society among Christians, for the purpose of supplying the prin- cipality with Bibles. Several influential individuals, both Churchmen and Dissenters, co-operated in carrying out this scheme, which, after being farther developed, and receiving a more comprehensive character, idtimately resulted in the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. As the scarcity of Bibles in Wales had thus been the proximate cause of the origin of this noble institution, so one of the first measures of the Society, when established, was an attempt to meet the urgent demands of the Welsh people for copies of the Scriptures. The Society resolved in 1804 to print an edition of the Welsh Bible and Testament on stereotype plates: the number ordered was 20,000 Bibles in 12mo., with 5000 additional Testaments in a larger type. The text selected was the Oxford edition of 1799, and the proffered services of Mr. Charles were accepted in revising and preparing a copy for the press. While this revision was being vigorously carried on, a communication, emanating from the Rev. J. Roberts, rector of Tremcirchion, Flintshire, was conveyed, through the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to Lord Teignmouth, the president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, impeaching the accuracy of certain orthograpliieal alterations introduced by Mr. Charles. A sub-committee was appointed to investigate the validity of these complaints; and after a lengthened controversy it was proved, that though Mr. Charles had in his revised copy ventured on the adoption of certain orthographical changes, chiefly in accordance with the system of Dr. Pughe, yet that he was guiltless of innovation so far as the general sense or meaning of tlie sacred text was concerned. The expediency of the alterations in orthography adopted by JMr. Charles formed the next subject of inquiry; and as the sub-committee, from their imperfect acquaintance with the language, felt them- selves incompetent to decide the question, the matter was referred to the arbitration of the Rev. Walter Davies, vicar of Meifod, Montgomeryshire. This gentleman declared his opinion to be in Class III.] WELSH. 157 favour of the old system of ortliograpliy, which the Society accordingly determined to adopt in their forthcoming edition; and it must be mentioned to the honour of Mr. Charles, that he liberally gave his services to the correction and revision of the text by which his own was superseded. In 1805 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge announced their intention of printing 20,000 copies of the Welsh Bible from the text of 1746; afterwards, however, preferring the text of 1752. To avoid the serious evil of discrepancy between their versions, the British and Foreign Bible Society resolved that they likewise would adopt this latter text; and their edition, prepared from this standard, left the press in 1806. Including this their first edition, the number of copies issued at successive intervals by the British and Foreign Bible Society from the year 1806 to the year 1860 may be briefly stated as follows: — Bibles 499,635 Testaments 563,130 Diglots, Welsh and English . . . 42,936 Total . , . 1,105,701 Other large editions besides those above described have been published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, but the exact number cannot be ascertained; of these the principal was that printed at Oxford in 1809, for which collations were made from previous editions, typographical errors were corrected, and the orthography of proper names was restored according to the text of 1620. ]More recently still, in 1853, a large folio edition has been printed at Oxford for the use of Welsh churches. The American Bible Society completed in 1858 an edition of the Scriptures in Welsh, together with a Welsh and English Testament in parallel columns. IV. FACTS RELATIVE TO THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The manner in which the Bible Society's first edition of the New Testament was received in Wales is thus described by an eye-witness: — "When the arrival of the cart was announced which carried the first sacred load, the Welsh peasants went out in crowds to meet it, welcomed it as the Israelites did the ark of old, drew it into the town, and eagerly bore off all the copies as rapidly as these could be dispersed. The yoimg people were to be seen spending the whole night in reading. Labourers carried some with them to the fields, that they might enjoy them during the intervals of their labour, and lose no opportunity of becoming acquainted with their sacred truths." The increase in the issues and circulation of the Scriptures in Wales since that period is highly encouraging. Adding the circulation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and that of private printers, to the number issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society, as stated above, the total number of Welsh Bibles and Testaments printed at different times, and in different places, is probably little short of a million and a half copies. Those circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society alone, as the Table shows, number considerably upwards of A MILLION. 158 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. GAELIC. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 11. Anns an toiseach bha am Focal, agiis bha 'm Focal maille ri Dia, agus b'e 'm Focal Dia. ^ Bha e so air tiis maille ri Dia. ^ Rinneadh ma h-uile nithe leis ; agus as eugmliais cha d'rinneadli aon ni a rinneadh. ^Annsan bha beatha, agus b'i a' bheatha solus dhaoine. *Agus tha 'n solus a' soillseachadh anns an dorchadas, agus cha do ghabh an dorchadas e. •^ Cluiireadh duine o Dhia, d"am b'ainm Eoin. "^ Thkinig esan mar f hianuis, chum fianuis a thoirt mu'n t-solus, chum gu'n creideadh na h-uile dhaoine tridsan. * Cha b'esan an solus sin, ach chuireadh e chum gu tugadh a fianuis mu'n t-solus. ^ B'e so an solus fior, a ta soillseachadh gach uile dhuine tha teachd chum an t-saoghail. ^" Bha e anns an t-saoghal, agus rinneadh an saoghal leis, agus cha d'aithnich an saoghal e. '' Thainig e dh'ionnsuidh a dhiicha fein, agus cha do ghabh a mhuinntir fein ris. ^- Ach a mheud 's a ghabh ris, thug e dhoibh cumhachd a bhi 'nan cloinn do Dhia, eadhon dhoibhsan a to creidsinn 'na ainm : ^^ A bha air an gineamhuin, cha'n ann o f huil, no o thoil na feola, no o thoil duine, ach o Dhia. ^^ Agus rinneadh am Focal 'na flieoil, agus ghabh e cbm- hnuidh 'nar measg-ne, (agus chunnaic sinn a ghloir, mar ghlbir ao-n-ghin Mhic an Athar) Ikn grais agus firinn. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Gaelic is spoken in tlie Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, and pervades a region not much less in extent tlian tlie half of all North Britain. The people to whom this language is ver- nacular has, in round numbers, been estimated at 400,000 individuals. Antiquarians are not agreed as to whether the progenitors of this population were the ancient Britons, or merely colonists from Ireland. Be that as it may, from the original keilt or keilit (Celts or Gaels) and dun, fortress, castle, comes probably the name Caledonia. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The characteristics of the Gaelic are essentially the same as those of the Erse dialect. One point of difference however is, that the Gaelic verbs, unlike the Irish, possess but two simple tenses, the preterite and the future. The substantive verbs " bi," to he, and " Is," I am, form perhaps the only exception to the rule, as they both possess a present tense: such forms as " Creidim," I believe, " Guidheam," I pray, now occasionally to be heard in the Highlands, do not properly belong to the Gaelic, but seem to have been introduced from Ireland. In this singular defect of possessin"- no simple present tense, the Gaelic (like the Welsh, the Manks, and the extinct dialect of Cornwall) resembles the Hebrew and Sheinitic class of languages, to which, as it has already been observed, the Celtic class makes several notable approximations. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The venerable Bede informs us that, in his time, the Scriptures were read in Great Britain " in five dialects then vulgarly used, viz. those of the Angles, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins." But if a version of Scripture in the language we call Gaelic really existed in Bede's time, it is certain that no Class III.] GAELIC. 159 fragment of it is now extant; nor lias any allusion to its existence been made by any otlicr early writer. Scotland, indeed, appears to have been left longer than almost any other part of Europe unprovided with a version of the Bible in the vernacular language. In 168C, 200 copies of the Irish Bible, printed, as is subsequently mentioned, at the expense of Mr. Boyle, were transmitted to Scotland for the use of the Highlanders, and owing to the similarity between the two dialects, were found to be generally intelligible. This edition was, however, printed in the Irish character, with which the Highlanders were but imperfectly acquainted, whereas they had been taught to read, although they could not understand, English. For their benefit, therefore, an edition of the Irish Bible was issued in Koman characters in 1690: the work was prhited in London under the superintendence of the Kev. Robert Kirk, minister of Aberfoylc, and was promoted chiefly by the Rev. James Kirkwood, of Astwick, and assisted by Mr. Boyle. Another small edition of the Irish New Testament (consisting of about 500 copies) was published in Glasgow in 1754, but it was not till the year 1767 that a New Testament in the Gaelic tongue was provided for the Scotch Highlanders. For this important trans- lation, alike creditable to the venerable translator, and gratifying to all capable of understanding and appreciating it, Scotland was indebted to the Rev. James Stuart, of Killin: the work was published at the expense of the Society in Scotland for Promoting Christian Knowledge, assisted by a grant from the London Society. The first edition consisted of 10,000 copies in 12mo., and a larger edition of 21,500 copies was issued by the same Society in 1796. Encouraged by the acceptableness of these editions, the next step of the Society was to obtain a Gaelic version of the Old Testament. Several ministers co-operated in this translation, which was made directly from the Hebrew text. To facilitate the work, the Old Testament was divided into four parts, two of which were allotted to the Rev. Dr. John Stuart, minister of Luss, the son of the learned translator of tlic New Testament. A third part, also, afterwards fell to his share, although it had in the first instance been executed by another hand. The remaining fourth part, consisting of the Prophetical Books from Isaiah to Malachi both inclusive, was translated by the Rev. Dr. Smith, of Campbeltown, and, on its completion, was found to differ altogether in style and execution from the other portion of the Bible translated by Dr. Stuart. The translation of Dr. Stuart was remarkable for its simplicity and its close adlierence, so far as the idiom of the Gaelic language would permit, to the letter of the sacred text; Avhereas the Prophetical Books are translated in a style which is at once free and poetical, resembling in some respects Bishop Lowth's translation of Isaiah. The work was published in parts: the first part, containing the Pentateuch, appeared in 1783, and 5000 copies of the whole version were com- pleted at press in 1801, at the expense of the Society. In consequence of many complaints concerning the discrepancy in style between the prophetical and the other books, the Society resolved in their next edition, to subject the former to a thorough revision, that they might be rendered conformable to the other parts of the version. This plan was carried into effect in 1807, when an edition of 20,000 copies of the Old together with the New Testament was printed at Glasgow, under the care of the Rev. Alexander Stewart, of Dingwall. Many opposed this version as fearing it would encourage the existence of the Gaelic language (which some desired to extinguish, as identified with Jacobitism). Dr. Johnson did much to encourage the version. One of his letters shows the deep interest which he took in the subject. In the meantime, forcible representations having been made to the British and Foreign Bible Society respecting the deplorable scarcity of copies of the Scriptures in the Highlands, and the inadequacy of the means employed for their supply, the Society agreed to furnish an edition of the Gaelic Bible, from the text adopted by the Scottish Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. This edition was published in London in 1807, nearly at the same time as the Edinburgh edition above noticed: it consisted of 20,000 Bibles and 10,000 Testaments. It was received with the utmost joy and gratitude by the Highlanders, but their demands for more copies still continued so urgent, that the British and Foreign Bible Society, from time to time, have issued other editions; and the total number of Gaelic Bibles and Testaments printed by them up to the year 18G0, is 71,726 160 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Bibles, and 82,999 Testaments. Tlie last boon conferred by tins Society on tlie Highlands was a Jubilee edition of 2000 copies of the entire Bible, with marginal references. The following list of editions published by other societies is given by Mr. Anderson : — 1810. By Scottish Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge 10,000 Bibles, 12mo. 1821. By ditto ditto ditto 10,000 Tests., 12mo. 1827. By ditto ditto ditto 1,000 Bibles, 4to. 1827. By ditto ditto ditto 2,000 Tests., 8vo. 1828. By Edinburgh Bible Society 7,500 Bibles, 24mo. 1828. By ditto 5,000 Tests., 24mo. 1829. By ditto 10,000 Bibles, 12mo. 1829. By ditto 5,000 Bibles, 8vo. I E I S H. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12. [London, 1844.] 21NM r* co|-Ac feo bi Ai) BbitjACAn, t ho \>\ Atj BbfilACAjt A bpocAi|t ^o ^i beACA ; 1 sob ] ai) beACA j*olu|* >)A rjb^oioe. 5 21511^ ro|llti5|6 At) foluff]!) aO |-a t>o|tCAbA|"; "1 i)joii 5Ab At) &0|tcA&Ar cv5e 'e. 6 'Do cMiiieAb ft-viije 6 "DblA, &;\ft bAiijrT) 66it). ; 7 DAitJic At) cS fO n)Ait ]:|A6t)\^i|, bo crti) 50 t)b6A0A& f& f:|^&t)vii5 boi) 'Cpol'irj loij^r o" 5Cfte|bpib]r [cAc] vile t\\'\t). 8 Mjori beireAi) At) Solup iib, Acb [bo cvfieAS 6] lo^vi* 50 t)beAi)A6 ]•& pia8i)\t|-| bot) ■C|'oliir ub. 9 43o b& ro At) Soluf |.-jiti5<'Ac, foillj*|5eAf 5AC \ile 6\Tt)e b& bci5 ah a cpaogAl. 10 4)0 bj fe Aijt A cfJvo^Al, 1 ciiibfCAt) bo |t|ijeA6 At) l*iV03Al, ACb t)i01t AIC]t) At) f^OJAl 6. 11 "DioOrvrje A cobA p^it) t,i\ii)|c f&, "| i)jo|t 5AbAbA|t A 6ivo]i)e pe|t) crcA 6. 12 2lc& Ai) ti)&ib bo 3Ab cvca &, CV5 fd cvii)- AcbA 66|b be|c oa ScloiF) A5 'DjA, [e6or)] bot) bpo|t)5 cpejbep aij a Ait)n)feAij : [London, 1824.] Ann sa tosach do bhi an Bhriathar, agus do bill an Bhriathar a bhfochair De, agus do be Dia an Bhriathar, 2 Do bill so ar tiis a bhfochair De. 3 Leisean a tdid na liuile neithe d^unta, agus gan ^ ni bhfuil einni deuiita, da ndearnadh. 4 Ann san do bhi beatha, agus dob i an bheatha solus na ndiloine : 5 Agus soillsighidh an solus siu ami sa dorch- adas, agus nior gliabh an dorchadas chuige i. 6 Do cuireadh duine 6 Dhi'a, dar bhainm Eoin: 7 Tai'nic ail te so mar fhiadhnuisi, do chum go ndeanadh se fiadhnuisi don tsolus, iomius go gcreidfidi's cilch uile thn'd. 8 Ni'or bhesean an solus ud, achd do cuireadh c ionnus go ndeanadh s^ fiadhnuisi don tsolus ud. 9 Do be so an solus firinneach shoillsifrheas gach uile dliuine dd dtig ar a tsaoglial. 10 Do bill se air a tsaoglial, agus tn'dscan do rinneadh an saoghal, achd nior aithin an sdoghal e. 11 Dionusuighe a choda fein tliainic s^, agus nior ghabhadar a dhaoine fein chuca e. 12 Achd an mheid do gliabh cliuea e, tug se cumhaclida dhuibli bhcith na gclolnn ag Di'a, eadhon don droinii chreideas ann a ainmscan. Class III.] IRISH. 161 SPECniEJf OF THE IRISH OF JIUNSTER. St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 10. Annsa tosacli do blii an Briathar, agus do blii an Briathar a blifochair De, agus do b'e Dia an Briathar. - Do Bin so air dtuis a blifochair D6. ° Is eisean do rin an uill nidh, agus gan e nior rineadh aon nidh da ndearnathas. '^Is ann (fein) do bhi beatha, agus dob'i an bheatha (sin) sohis na ndaoine. ^Agus soillsigheann an solus (sin) annsa doiri- cheacht, agus nior ghaibh an doirichcacht chuige e. ^ Do cuireadh duined Dhia, da'r bhainim Eoin. ^ Thainigh an duine sin mar f hine, chum fine dlieanadh adtaobh an t'Soluis, air nos go gereidfeadh an uill dhuine trid. * Nior bh'eisean an Solus lid, ach do cuireadh air an saoghal e chum fine dheana a dtaobh an t'Soluis ud. ^ Dob' e sin an Solus firinneach, do shoillsigheann an uill dhuine da dtagann air an saoghal. ^^ Do bhi se air an saoghal agus a se (fein) do rin an saoghal, ach nior aithin an saoghal e. I. — GEOGRArmCAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Except in large towns and their vicinity, the Erse or Irish language is still spoken more or less in almost every part of Ireland, but it prevails more especially in Munster and Connaught. There are no less than 600,000 individuals who can speak no other language. The English language has been partially acquired by about three millions of the native Irish, but so Imperfectly that they are unable to receive religious instruction through its means. The entire population of the island, including English settlers and those familiar with the English language, amounted in 1841 to 8,175,000; but, as is well known, this number underwent a remarkable diminution within the ensuing ten years. The census of 1851 showed a total of only 6,515,794 persons; a reduction in the ratio of nearly twenty per cent. It had been computed, at the former of these periods, that, in round numbers, out of every hundred souls eighty-one were Roman Catholics, eleven belonged to the Anglican church, and eight were Protestant Dissenters. The proportionate number of Protestants has probably since undergone a slight increase. Yet, although Eoman Catholicism has at present this preponderating influence, a pure form of Christianity existed in Ireland until the yoke of Popery was imposed upon it by England. This subversion of the ancient faith of the Irish people dates from the period when Pope Adrian IV., himself by birth an Englishman, bestowed on Henry II. of England the papal sanction for the annex- ation of the island to the British crown. II. — CHAEACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Although the Erse or Irish is now little known except as the vernacular of an illiterate population, it was once the language of literature and science. " The English Saxons," observes Camden, "anciently flocked to Ireland, as to the mart of sacred learning;" and the monuments of Irish philosophy, poetry, and history, have been handed down from the tenth, and in some instances, probably, from the sixth and seventh centuries. Erse belongs to the Gaelic branch of the Celtic language; but in what country it originated is unknown, for Gaul, Spain, Scythia, Iran, and even Troy, have all laid claim to the honour of having first sent colonists to Ireland, and the question will probably never be decided. By Gaelic is understood not merely the Celtic dialect spoken in the Highlands of Scotland, but the tongue of the Gaeddodh, or Gaels, as the Iriad studied Hebrew under Rabbi Leo, the chief chachan of the Jewish synagogue. For some cause or other, however, Mr. King, then above eighty years of age, incurred the enmity of Usher and some other bishops, in fact of the very persons by whom he had been recommended as a translator, and great opposition was made to the translation; the old man sank beneath these unjust persecutions, but Bishop Bedell remained firm in his determination to publish the version, and finally resolved to print it at his own expense, and in his own house. But while he was making preparations for the undertaking, the rebellion broke out; his palace was attacked, and he and his family were sent prisoners to the Castle of Lochwater. He was soon afterwards removed to the house of his friend Dennis O'Sheriden, where he closed his career of usefulness in 1641. After the death of this excellent prelate, the circulation of the vernacular Scriptures was utterly noorlected by the bishops and clergy of Ireland; the version of the Old Testament was suffered to 164 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. remain in MS.; no attempt was made to reprint tlie New Testament; and even the types that had been provided by Queen Elizabeth, after being handed about from one printer to another, were bought up by the Jesuits, and were carried by them to Douay, to be used as the vehicle of disseminating their own sentiments among the native Irish. At length, when tlie New Testament was completely out of print, another edition was conferred on Ireland by the munificence of a private individual, the Hon. Kobert Boyle. A new fount of Irish types was cast by order of Mr. Boyle in London, with which a second edition of the New Testament, consisting of about 750 copies in 4to., was published in 1681. This was followed by the printing of Bishop Bedell's version of the Old Testament, chiefly at the expense of Mr. Boyle. The MS. had been confided by Bedell to tlie care of his friend Dennis O'Sheriden, one of the translators, from whom it had passed to Dr. Henry Jones, bishop of Meath : this latter communicated with Mr. Boyle on the subject, and the MS. was placed in the hands of Dr. Andrew Sail for examination; the sheets were found in much confusion, and defaced in some parts. Dr. Sail, therefore, undertook to revise the work, which revision he continued to prosecute till his death in 1682. Mr. Higgins, the Irish lecturer in Trinity College, who had assisted Dr. Sail in preparing the corrected copy for the press, completed the revision in conjunction with Mr. Keilly, under the general superintendence of Dr. Marsh, afterwards primate of Ireland. An edition con- sisting of 500 copies of the entire Bible, in 2 vols, quarto, was printed in London in 1686, imder the care of Mr. Keilly. Above 200 copies of this edition, as has already been stated, were sent to Scotland for the benefit of those to whom the Gaelic tongue was vernacular. More tlian a century was suffered to roll away before any eflicient measures were taken to reprint the Scriptures in Irish. A second edition of the Bible was certainly printed in 1790; but this edition was in Eoman characters, and designed chiefly for the Highlanders of Scotland. In 1799, Dr. Stokes published 2000 copies of St. Luke and the Acts, followed in 1806 by an edition of the Four Gospels and the Acts, in parallel columns of Erse and English ; but these small portions of Scripture were far from sufficient to meet the wants of the Irish nation, and were moreover printed in the Roman character. The honour of first supplying Ireland with Bibles, after so long a period of destitution, belongs to the British and Foreign Bible Society. " In 1809," says Mr. Owen, " after a discussion, alternately suspended and renewed, for five years, and a correspondence of considerable extent with prelates, scholars, and public bodies in Ireland, an edition of the New Testament of 2000 copies, con- formable to the accredited version of Bishop Bedell, was put to press by the Society. This edition was in Roman characters, and was followed in 1813 by another edition from the same stereotype plates, of 3000 copies. Another edition of 2500 copies was struck off in 1816, and again another of 3000 copies in 1817. An edition of the complete Irish Bible, in Roman characters, was issued by the Society in 1817; the version of Bedell was employed as the text of the Old Testament. The edition was in octavo, and consisted of 5000 copies. In the course of the following year, 3000 copies of the New Testament, in the Irish character, were struck off from stereotype plates. At length in 1828 the entire Irish Bible appeared in the vernacular character, from the version of Bedell and Daniel. The edition was published under the superintendence of a committee, and consisted of 5000 copies in 8vo., besides 20,000 copies of the New Testament. The editor on this occasion was Mr. M'Quige; but the sheets were hkewise examined by Dr. Monck Mason and others." The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge have had their attention recently directed to the superintendence of a revised edition of the Irish Scriptures, but the work has been deferred until the more urgent demand for a revised edition of the Common Prayer Book (at present in progress) shall have been met. The total number of Irish Bibles and Testaments that have been published by the British and Foreign Bible Society up to the year 1860 is as follows: — Bibles 15,000 Testaments . ' . . . . 84,523 Separate Books ..... 18,020 Total . . 117,543 Class III.] IRISH. 165 IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Notwitlistanding tKe calamities with which Ireland has at various times been visited, the sacred Scriptures have been diligently disseminated throughout the length and breadth of the country ; and though the results may not yet appear, it is certain that the precious seed thus scattered will ultimately take root, and bear fruit to the glory of God. At the anniversary of the Hibernian Bible Society, in 1855, which was also their Jubilee meeting, it was stated that the issues of this Society from its formation in 1806, at which time there were not more than twelve towns in Ireland in which the Scriptures were sold, had amounted to 2,360,814 copies, of which 84,671 were Bibles, Testaments, and portions in the Irish language. One result of the circulation of the Irish Bible has been the extensive perusal of tlie English version. The Irish version is remarkably faithful and accurate, but contains many difficidt, and some obsolete, words. The meaning of several passages is thus greatly obscured, and this has served to rouse the naturally enquiring spirit of the native Irish. In cases of perplexity they have acquired the habit of seeking in the English Bible an elucidation of the Irish text. The study of the English language has in consequence greatly progressed in Ireland, and in some places the Englisli Bible is known by the familiar designation of" the construer." Dr. Monck Mason mentions that after the circulation of the Irish Bible, 700 copies of the English Testament were sold upon one occasion in the course of a few hours in the same place, where, but a dozen years previously, one of these very volumes had been publicly and triiunphantly burnt. Owing to the benevolent efforts of the Sunday and other School Societies, the Irish peasantry have the means of learning to read the Scriptures very generally within their reach. At the commencement of the year 1860, the schools connected with the Sunday School Society for Ireland amounted to 2,686, which were reported to be attended by 230,668 children and adults, instructed by 20,873 gratuitous teachers; and 151,315 of the scholars were stated to be reading in the Bible or Testament. The total number of Scriptures gratuitously granted, or sold at reduced prices, since the Society's formation, amounts to a total of more than a million and a half The following remarks, occurring in a collective address of eight Irish teachers, written in the year 1845, are too appropriate to be omitted : — " What a living Ronge has effected iu Germany, the immortal Bedell may yet effect in Ireland. ' He being dead, yet speaketh' — yet speaketh in the Irish Bible; which, under the blessing of the Almighty, has already brought thousands from darkness to light — from bigotry and superstition to Christian knowledge and liberality of mind. Though persecution and anathema deter many from uniting with us, still the Irish Bible and the Irish school have raised up intelligent men, who will not be prevented from reading the Holy Scriptures. These men know that for centuries past their brethren in Ireland, speaking the Irish language exclusively, have been allowed to live and to die without the Scriptures in their own tongue — they know that the Church of Rome, until this day, has not provided a translation of the Scriptures in Irish — they know. If it had not been for the Irish Society, they themselves must have been as the neglected generations departed. They feel then most grateful for Irish Schools and the Irish Bible. They have read it — they are reading it — they will rc;ad it, and hand it down to their children's children as the most valuable gift that Ireland ever received." 166 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class 111. M ANKS. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. «. 1 to 14. [London, 1819.] Ayns y toshiaght va'n Goo, as va'n Goo marish Jee, as va'n Goo Jee. ^ Va'n Goo cheddin ayns y toshiaght marish Jee. ^ Liorishyn va dy chooilley nhee er ny yannoo ; as n'egooish cha row nhee erbee jeant va er ny yannoo ; ^ Aynsyn va bea, as va'n vea soilshey deiney. ^ As ren y soilshey soilshean ayns y dorraghys, as cha ren y dorraghys goaill-rish. ^ Va dooinney er ny choyrt veih Jee va enmyssit Ean. ' Haink eh shoh son feanish, dy ymm)Tkey feanish jeh'n toilshey, horishyn dy voddagh dy chooilley ghooinney credjal. ^ Cha nee eh va'n soilshey shen, agh v'eh er ny choyrt dy yramyrkey feanish jeh'n toilshey shen. ^ Shen va'n soilshey firrinagh, ta soilshean ayns dy chooilley ghooinney ta cheet er y theihll. ^° V'eh ayns y theihll, as va'n seihll er ny yannoo liorishyn, as y seihll cha dug enney er. ^^ Haink eh gys e vooinjer hene, agh cha ren e vooinjer hene soiaghey jeh. ^^ Agh whilleen as ren soiaghey jeh, dauesyn hug eh pooar dy ve nyn mec dy Yea, eer dauesyn ta credjal ayns yn ennym echey : ^^ Va er nyn ruggey, cha nee jeh fuill, ny jeh aigney ny foallcy, ny jeh aigney dooinney, agh jeh Jee. ^* As ghow yn Goo er dooghys ny foalley, as ren eh bcaghey nyn mast' ain (as hug shin my-ner yn ghloyr echey, yn ghloyr myr jeh'n ynrycan Mac er-ny-gheddyn jeh'n Ayr) lane dy ghrayse as dy irrinys. The Isle of Man, the ancient Mona (of Caesar), is situated in the Irish Sea, almost in the centre of the United Kingdom, and comprises an area of 280 square miles. The feudal sovereignty of the island was conferred by Henry IV. on the House of Stanley, in the fifteenth century, and was held by that family and their successors, the Dukes of Atholl, till purchased by Parliament in 1765 for the sum of £70,000: the island, however, still continues to be governed by its own laws The established religion is that of the Church of England, and the bishopric of Sodor and Man is the most ancient in the United Kingdom, having been founded early in the fourth century. Much labour has been expended by anti- quarians in the endeavour to discover the precise meaning of " Sodor," but in vain. " The byshop" is mentioned as early as 18th January, 1417—18. According to the census of 1851, the amount of popula- tion is 52,116. English may now be said to be the predominant language of the island: it is spoken familiarly by all the young people, and in the elementary schools is the exclusive medium of instruction. It is heard from the pulpit in all the churches of the towns; and even in the country parishes, public worship is seldom conducted in Manks more frequently than on alternate Sundays, and in some places only once a month. In several instances, service in Manks is desired by the people, but cannot be obtained, as the minister is unacquainted with it. Yet, although the knowledge of English is so generally diffused, Manks is still spoken by the adults of the working class, and in rural districts by their children. The old people in particular are much attached to their ancient tongue, and many of them understand no other. I. CHAKACTEEISTICS OF RACE AND DIALECT. The island appears to be inhabited by two races; the one, with light hair, ftiir and florid com- plexion, dwelling chiefly in the north; the other, with dark hair and complexion, in the south. Manks is more used by the former than the latter race, and with greater purity of diction and of Class III.] MANKS. 167 pronunciation. It lias scarcely any resemblance to AVelsh ; it contains a few words like Irish, Lut to Gaelic it bears a strilcing affinity, many words being identical in meaning and sound, and frequently in orthography. Manksmen call their own dialect Gailck (from Gllk). It is highly expressive, being at once matter of fact and metaphorical. A frequent rhythm is observable, especially in the Liturgy, owing to vowel terminations. It abounds in guttural, full sounds, of broad pronunciation. The verb has few inflections, but by the preposition in composition undergoes a surprising change in meaning. Speaking of this interesting dialect, the author of the Manks Dictionary (Prcf. p. xv.) says: — "I cannot but admire the construction, texture, and beauty of the Manks language, and how the words initially change their cases, moods, tenses, degrees, etc. It appears like a piece of exquisite net-work, inter- woven together in a masterly manner, and framed by the hand of a most skilful workman; equal to the composition of the most learned, and not the production of chance. The depth of meaning that abounds in many of the words must be conspicuous to every person versed in the language." Manks is characterised by the incorporation of many Scandinavian words, which were doubtless introduced during the continued sway of the Danes and of the Norwegians, who succeeded tlie Saxons in the government of the island. There is no written literature except the Bible, Prayer Book, and a small volume, now very rarely met with, a translation of part of Milton's Paradise Lost, by Rev. J. or T. Christian, a Grammar by J. Kelly, and a Dictionary by A. Cregean. II. YERSIONS OP THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. It is currently reported that a Manks version of the entire Scriptures was executed as early as the commencement of the seventeenth century, yet not the smallest vestige of the MS. is now to be met with; and, what is still more singular, no portion of it appears to have been in existence even during the last century. The translator is said to have been Dr. John Philips, bishop of Sodor and Man. He was born in North Wales, and before his elevation to the bishopric was rector of Hawarden, in Flintshire. His familiarity with his native language greatly facilitated his acquisition of the Manks dialect, and he devoted himself during the space of twenty-nine years to the translation of the Bible and of the Common Prayer Book into Manks. He was assisted by Sir Hugh Cavoll, vicar of Kirk- Michael, and others; but he died in 1633, leaving his translations completed, but not printed, and no portion of them appears to have been committed to the press after his decease. The present version of the Manks Bible was produced by the christian zeal of two other bishops of Sodor and JIan. It was commenced in the gaol of Castle Rushen, by the excellent Bishop Wilson, in concert with Dr. Walker, one of his vicars, when unjustly imprisoned by the governor of the island. This was in the year 1722. The Gospel of St. Matthew was translated by Dr. Walker, and printed, under the direction and at the expense of the bishop, in London, in 1748. The other Gospels and the Acts •were left in a state of readiness for the press by this venerable bishop, who died in 1755, at the advanced age of ninety-three, after having held the bishopric of the island for fifty-eight years. Dr. ALark Ilildesley, his successor, entered with the utmost ardour and anxiety on the prosecution of the translation. " My whole heart," said Dr. Hildesley, in a letter to a correspondent, " is set on the Manks translation." He was however deterred, by his imperfect acquaintance with the language, from taking any part in the work beyond that of general supervision. After untiring application to the study of Manks, he at length qualified himself to conduct the services of the Church in tliat language; yet, notwithstanding his praiseworthy efforts, he never obtained a higher reputation than that of being "u very pretty Manks:" on one occasion he himself observed that "he would give five hundred pounds were he enough master of ]\Ianks as to be able to translate." It is not certain whether Dr. Walker completed the translation of the New Testament, or whether Bishop Hildesley availed himself of the service of some other Manks scholar. The version was published in 1767 in London, chiefly by the aid of tlie Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. About the time of the coiii[jlction at press of the New Testament, the bishop made arrangements for the translation of the Old Testament, dividing it for this purpose into twenty-four parts, which he distributed among as many diflcrcnt individuals. 168 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. The twenty-four per.sons thus selected as transhitors were nearly all residents in the Island, and, witli one exception, they all held clerical appointments. After passing through their hands, the work was committed for final revision to Dr. Moore and Dr. Kelly: the latter was tlicn only eighteen years of age, but he had displayed such proficiency in the critical knowledge of Manks, which was his native language, as to justify his engaging in this important undertaking: he transcribed the whole version, from Genesis to Revelation, for the press, and in conjunction with Dr. Moore corrected and revised the proof sheets. Dr. Moore was aided by the advice of Bishop Lowth and Dr. Kennicott, both of whom took a deep interest in this version. The feelings with which Dr. Moore regarded his work may be inferred from his last will and testament, where he blesses God "./or all the comforts of his existence, but above all that he had a capital hand and concern in the Blanks Scriptures." He died in 1783, but not till he had witnessed the completion at press of the entire version. The first part of the Old Testament was printed in 1770, at Whitehaven; the preservation of the second part was entirely due to the intrepidity of Dr. Moore and Dr. Kelly. They were proceeding to Whitehaven for the purpose of superintending the press, taking with them the second portion of the MS.: a storm arose, in which they were shipwrecked, and almost every article on board was lost except the MS., which they pre- served by holding it above the water during the space of five hours. In 1772, the Old Testament, to the great joy of Bishop Hildesley, was completed and published. This good bishop had frequently said, " I wish but to see the sacred volume finished, and should then be happy, die when I may." On the last sheets of the work being placed in his hands, he very emphatically sang " Nunc Domine, dimittis" in the presence of his congratulating family. This happened on Saturday, Xovember 28th, 1772. On the following day he preached with more than usual fervour on the uncertainty of life, and resumed the same subject in his family circle in so affecting a manner as to draw tears from all present. Thus in "something like prophetic strain" did he prepare the minds of others for his approaching end, for on the very next day he was suddenly attacked by apoplexy, which deprived him in a moment of his intellectual faculties : he lingered but a week, and then entered Into rest. The second edition of the Manks Scriptures was published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1775: In this edition the entire Bible was in quarto, and separate copies of the New Testament were printed in octavo. Other editions have since been issued by the same Society. In 1810, a stereotyped edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament, in 12mo., was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bishop of Sodor and Man having, through his clergy, ascertained the want of the Scriptures In the several parishes of the Island, applied for 1.326 Testaments, which were promptly supplied by the Society, at reduced prices, for the accommodation of the poor. An additional supply of 250 copies was struck off from the same plates in 1815, and another edition of 5000 copies of the entire Bible was printed by the Society In 1819. Since then no (lirther editions of the ]\Ianks Scriptures have appeared, and It Is probable that the edition of 1819 Is the last that will ever be published. English Bibles are now In general demand In the island, and, with the Increased cultivation of the English language, are daily getting more and more into use; indeed so far back as the year 1825, the Bishop of Sodor and Man Informed the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, that there was no longer any necessity for impressions of the Bible in the Manks language, and that the islanders were eager to be supplied with English copies. The Manks translation of the Old Testament has been esteemed nearer the Hebrew than Is the English authorised version, and is frequently of a paraphrastical character. A remarkable variation between the English and Manks Bible occurs in 1 Kings xvii. 3 — 6: Instead of "ravens," the reading is " Cummaltee Oveb," inhabitants of Oreb. III. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. At the period of the first publication of the Manks Scriptures, the English language was com- paratively little cultivated in the island, and the English Bible was unintelligible to the mass of the Class III.] CORNISH. 169 inliabitants. The benefit of the ilanks version to the generation for whom it was executed can therefore only be estimated by taking into account their inability to read the Scriptures in any other language. A poor Manks woman, on hearing her son read to her for the first time a chapter of the new version, cried out, in great exultation, " We have sat in darkness {dorraghys) until now." And when the first books of the Manks New Testament were brought into circulation (in 1763), Dr. Hildesley wrote: — " The vast eagerness and joy with which the first specimen has been received and sought after have amply convinced me of the utility of the undertaking, had I had no previous persuasion in my own mind of the real benefit it must needs be to the souls of the far greater part of the people of my charge." That the Manks version is even now valued by those to whom the lan- guage is vernacular is evident from the fact, that in the year 1848, 300 copies were dispatched to the island by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a farther supply in the Society's year of Jubilee; yet there is every probability that the prediction of a recent writer will be literally fulfilled, and that in the course of another generation, " the Manks tongue, regarded with dishke by the utilitarian piiilosophy of the nineteenth century, will be a venerable relic of past times, interesting only to the philologist and antiquary." CORNISH. SPECIMEN, FROM GENESIS, Chap. i. v. 1 to 13. En dallathvaz Dew aveth' wraz neve ha noare. ^ Ha thera an noar heb roath, ha g'wag', haveth an tewlcler war bedgcth a'n downder ; ha sperez Dew rig gwayath war bedgeth an dowrow. ^ Ha Dew lavarez, gwrenz boz goollo, ha enathera goollo. * Ha Dew gwellas a goollo, tro va dab ; ha Dew rig deberrhee an goollo thurt an tewlder. ^ Ha Dew a henuys an goollo deeth, ha an tewlder ea grioz noz ; ha gothewhar ha metten o an kenza journa. ® Ha Dew lavaraz, gwrenz ena boz ebbarn en creez an dowerou, ha grenz e deberrhe an dowerou, thur't an dowerou. '' Ha Dew 'wraz an ebbarn, ha theberhaz an dowrow era en dadn an ebbarne, thor't an dowrow era eah an ebbarn ; ha an dellna etho. ®Ha Dew crioz a ebbarne neve, ha gothu har ha metten o a nessa journa. ^ Ha Dew lavaraz, gwrenz a dowrow en dadn an n^f bos cuntellyes warbarth tha idn thellher, ha gwrenz an teer zeah disquethas ; ha an dellna etho. ^^ Ha Dew a griaz an tir zeah noare, contellyans, war barb a'n dowrow e criaz moar ; ha Dew a wellas tro va dab. ^' Ha Dew laveraz, gwrenz an 'oar dryrag gwelz, ha lusu toan haz, ha an gweeth toan lavallo warier go' hendah, leb go haaz etta go honnen, war a doar, ha an dellna etho. ''^Ha an 'oar a droz rag gwelz, ha an lozo rig dasker haz poka e cunda, ha an gwyth toon lavallo, ha go haz ctta go honnen, warier go henda ; ha Dew gwellas tro va dab. ^^ Ha gothuar ha metten o an tridga journa. The Celtic dialect, once spoken in Cornwall, is now extinct as a living language. Dolly Pentreath, who died at Penzance in 1778, aged 102, was then said to be the only person in Cornwall who could speak the aboriginal idiom of that province of ancient Britain. One cannot see such relics of antiquity disappear from the face of the earth without regret. The 170 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. very fact tliat the dialect of the ancient British tongue spoken until lately in the soutlicrnmost county of England, was most likely the same in which its inhabitants bartered their tin for the purple of Tyre with the Phojnician traders who gave Britain its glorious name, cannot but make the complete annihi- lation of the Cornu-British dialect of the Celtic tongue, a source of regret for all who love antiquity. The Cornish dialect, one of the three branches of the old British, bears greater affinity with the Breton, or Armorican dialect of Brittany, than it does with AVelsh; although it properly forms the link of union between the Celtic dialect of France, and that of the Cambrian hills. The nature of its inflexions, both in letters, and in tenses and cases, is generally speaking alike, allowance being made for dialectic variations arising from the nature of the country in which the dialect is spoken. The only remains of the Cornish dialect are preserved in several MSS. kept in the Bodleian, in the British Museum, and elsewhere in this country. Of these, several have been publislied, viz.: j\Iount Calvary, a poem in 259 stanzas; another called The Creation; both edited by D. Gilbert, in 1826-1827, and, lately, an ancient Cornish Drama, edited by Mr. E. Norris. Tliere is also a Cornish Grammar, by Dr. Pryce, printed at Sherborne in 1790, 4to, under the name o? Arch(Boloffia Cornu-Britannica, and a smaller one by Mr. Norris. The extract from the first chapter of Genesis given here is borrowed from the appendix to " The Creation of the AVorld." This, and the parable of the Prodigal Son, are the only portions of Scripture that have been printed in the Cornish dialect; and on this account it is remarkable as a curiosity. BEET ON. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to LI. [Beest, 1847.] Er gommansamant e oa ar Ger, hag ar Ger a oa gand Done , hag ar Ger a oa Doue. ^ He-ma a oa er gommansamant gand Doue. ^ An hoU draou a zo bet gred drezan, liag hepzan n eo bet gret netra hag a zo bet gret. ^ Ennan e oa ar viiez, ar vuez a oa goulou an dud. ^ Hag ar goulou a ra scleria en devaHen, hag an devalien n'e deus ked e resevet. ® Bez' e oe un den caset gand Doue, hanvet Ian. ^ He-ma a zeuaz da desteni, evit rei testeni diwarben ar goulou, evit ma credche an hoU drezan. * Ne ket hen a oa ar goulou, mes cased e oa evit rei testeni diwarben ar goulou. ° Hen a oa ar guir c'houlou , pchini a sclera an boll dud, en eur zond er bed. ^^ Er bed e oa, hag ar bed a oa gred drezan, hag ar bed n'en deus ked e anavezet. ^' Deued co d'e re, hag e re n"o deus ked e resevet. ^- Mes da gemend hini en deus e resevet, en deus roed ar galloud da veza bugale da Zone ; d'ar re a gred en e liano ; ^^ Pere n'int ket ganet eus ar goad, nag eus a volonte ar c'hig, nag eus a volonte an den, mes eus a Zone. " Hag ar Ger a zo bet gret kig, hag en deus choumed en hon touez, (hag hon eus gueled e c'hloar, ur gloar evel eiis a Vab unic-ganet an Tad) leun o c'hras hag a ouirionez. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Bketon, the language of the ancient independent kingdom of Armorica, is now spoken in Lower Class III.] BRETON. 171 Brittany. Its exact geograpliical diffusion has been minutely described by the Eev. Thomas Phillips, to whose personal observations, during his active exertions in the cause of the British and Foreign Bible Society, we are indebted for much information concerning this interesting country. " In Nantes and the surrounding country," says Mr. Phillips, " Breton is unknown. It is, therefore, wholly con- fined to the Basse-Bretagne, comprising the three westerly departments of Finisterre, Morbihan, and C6tes-du-Xord. A line drawn from the north to the south coast, so as to pass a little to the west of St. Brieux, through Pontivy to Vannes, will show the extent of country in which this language is spoken. On the west side of this line, and from Vannes along the sea shore in a southerly direction, towards the department of Lower Loire, it continues to be tiie prevailing language, while on the eastern side of this supposed line you hear both Breton and French for some distance." Deducting the French part of the population, Mr. Phillips estimates the number of persons in Lower Brittany ordinarily using the Breton language at 800,000: of these he considers that upwards of half a million are unacquainted with French, and unable to read or converse in any language but Breton. The religion of Brittany is the Roman Catholic, and Latin is therefore the liturgical language; but the priests in the country districts preach in Breton. French is now the only language used in all the elementary schools: it is also the language chiefly employed in commerce and in the courts of law, and appears likely soon to supersede the native Breton in the larger towns. The priests, how- ever, from a principle, it is thought, of ecclesiastical conservatism, oppose the encroachments of the French language; and Breton will, in all probability, continue to be for ages the vernacular of the uneducated portion of the population. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The affinity between Breton and Welsh, through the Cornish, is so close, as to admit little room for doubt concerning their original identity. After the capture of Belle Isle by the English in 1701, such of the soldiers as were natives of Wales were able to make themselves intelligible to the Bretons, and to act as interpreters for their English comrades; and it is found at the present day, that a Welshman, if acquainted with French and Latin, requires but little study to enable him to converse, read, and even write in Breton. An old and current tradition represents the country of Brittany as having been peopled by a colony of ancient Britons, who fled thither to escape from the aggressions of the Saxons, while others of their countrymen sought refuge from the same enemy in Wales. If this account could be satisfactorily proved, there would be no occasion to seek farther for the cause of the remarkable similarity that exists between the languages of Wales and Brittany; but Niebuhr rejects the whole story as fabulous, and there certainly is a total want of all contemporaneous evidence on the subject. Still, the testimony of early writers, who mention the tradition as an undoubted historical fact, is entitled to some weight; and the resemblance between the names of many places in Brittany and in Wales is a farther proof that some connection anciently existed between the inhabitants of the two countries. It is also rather remarkable, and yet natural, that the same kind of antiquities, supposed to be Druidical remains, should be found in Brittany, Wales, and Cornwall, particularly as these antiquities are distinguislied by the same names in each country. These and other indications, together with the similarity of language, clearly establish the fact that Britain and Brittany were colonised by the same branch of the Celtic race; although as to the period and mode of this colonisation, and the nature of the intercourse which undoubtedly existed in very ancient times between the Bretons of Armorica and the Britons of Wales, history is silent. Breton resembles Welsh not only in the Celtic elements common to both languages, but also in the large stock of Latin words with which they are both intermixed. Some difference has, however, of late years sprung up between Welsh and Breton, owing to the multitude of French words which the latter h;is admitted into its vocabulary, especially in the neighbourhood of towns: but these additions have not affected the structure of the language, which remains in all essential points precisely tlie same at the present time as at the most distant epoch from which written compositions in Breton have been transmitted. 172 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. III. VERSIONS OF THK SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. As early as the year 1814, an application was made by the Antiquarian Society of Paris to the British and Foreign Bible Society, on the subject of procuring a Breton version of the Scriptures. Another representation of the same purport was laid before the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1819; and in 1824 they authorised the Rev. David Jones, who was at that time the secretary of the Auxiliary Bible Society at Swansea, to proceed to Brittany, there to institute inquiries concerning any version or versions of the Bible in Breton that might be in existence. After a diligent search in all the libraries of the country, Mr. Jones ascertained that no portion of the Scriptures, either in print or MS., existed in the Breton language, with the exception of such scriptural extracts as had appeared in various Romish books of devotion. With the concurrence of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Mr. Jones, therefore, engaged the services of Legonidec, a Breton of considerable learning, to prepare a translation of the New Testament. Mr. Jones died during the progress of this work, but the sheets were regularly forwarded by Professor KieiFer of Paris to the Rev. T. Price, of Crickhowel, an eminent Celtic scholar. After having been carefully revised and corrected by Mr. Price, an edition of 1000 copies of this version of the New Testament was completed in 1827, at Angouleme, where Legonidec then resided: the copies were deposited in the Society's warehouse at Paris. This translation was made from the Vulgate, for Legonidec was a Catholic, and unacquainted with the original language of Scripture: it possesses many excellences of style and diction, yet at the same time is scarcely suitable for general circulation. Legonidec's great object was to restore the language to its pristine purity, by the rejection of all foreign words and phrases that had, in the process of time, been mingled with it. But in his efforts to attain to classical correctness, he unconsciously adopted a style of writing that appeared obscure, and almost unintelligible, to his less educated countrymen ; and moreover being, like Dr. W. Owen Pughe in Wales, the inventor of a new system of orthography, he unadvisedly introduced his system into this version, and thus rendered it still more unintelligible to the mass of the people. When Protestant missionaries first commenced their labours in this country (about the year 1834), they were greatly discouraged to find that this New Testament, the only version possessed by the Bretons in their own language, was but imperfectly understood by them. The Rev. J. Jenkins, there- fore, of Morlaix, a native of Glamorganshire, and agent of the Baptist Missionary Society, undertook a new translation, in which he was assisted by a native Breton. He translated from the Greek original, and consulted the Welsh and English authorised versions, and Martin's and Ostervald's French versions. This work, when completed, was found to be intelbgible to the whole Breton population, except the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Vannes, who speak a peculiar dialect of Breton. Proofs of its accuracy and faithfulness having been laid before the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, they resolved on publishing an edition of 3000 copies. The edition was printed at Brest, before the close of the year 1847, and depositories have been established both at Morlaix and Qulmper. No edition of the Old Testament has yet been published; but a version executed by Legonidec, and revised by Mr. Price, is preserved in JIS. in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The demand for the revised edition of the New Testament was such as to justify the preparation cf another edition of 4000 copies; and these, notwithstanding the opposition of the priesthood, too willingly supported by the civil authorities, are now being gradually circulated, partly by the missionaries, and partly by colporteurs. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The ignorance of the people, and the bigotry of the priests, have hitherto retarded the circulation of the New Testament in this country; but the recent sale of an edition of 3000 copies by tlie instru- mentality of Protestant ministers and colporteurs, is a hopeful circumstance, and likely to lead to important results. Class III.] BRETON. 173 THE PRODIGAL SON. TEANSLATED INTO BEETON, IN THE DIALECT OF LEON OE FINISTEEEE, BY M. LEGONIDEC AE MAB GWALL-ZISPENER, v. 17 to 20. '^ HoGEN 6 veza distroed d'ezlifm he-unan, e lavaras : a bed gopraer z6 e ti va zad hag en deus bara e leis, ha me a varv amaii gand ann naoun ! ^^ Sevel a-rinn, hag ez inn etrez^ va zad, hag e hvirinn d'ezhan: va zad, pec'hed em euz a eneb ann ^nv hag enn hoc'h enep. ^^ N'ounn ket talvoudek pelloc'h da veza hanved ho mab ; va digemerid evel unan euz ho kopraerien. '" Hag 6 sevel e tenaz ^trez^g h^ dad. Hogen, pa dd6 c'hoas pell, he dad hen gwelas, hag en doe truez out han, hag 6 tiredek e lammas d'he c'howyong, hag e pokas d'ezhan. THE SAME, IN THE TBEGUIER DIALECT, BT THE LATE M. LE BEIGAUT, EEVISED BY M. LEGONIDEC. AJR, MAB PEODIG., v. 17 to 20. ^^ HoGEN 6 distroi d'dhan he-unan a laras : nag a dud a zo enn ti ma zad an eus bara arpez a geront, hag amaii a varvann gaiid ann naon. ^^ Sevel a rinn, hag a inn d'am zad, hag a larinn d'ehaii : ma zad, pec'hed em euz ouz ann env-ha dirag hoc'h. ^^ N'onn ken talvoudek da veaii hanved ho mab: leked anon evel unan a ho mevello. Hag 6 sdvel a deuas d'he dad. -" Hogen pa voa pell c'hoaz, he dad a welaz anehan hag an efoe true out-haii, hag 6 tiredek a lammas d'he c'houk, hag a pokas d'ehaii. CLASS III.-INDO-EIJEOPEAN LANGUAGES. D. TEUTONIC FAMILY. GOTHIC. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. xv. v. 1 to 12. Ik im veinatriu thata sunjeino. jah atta meins vaurstvja ist. '-^all taine in mis unbairan- dane akran goth usnimith ita. jah all akran bairandane gahraineith ita. ei managizo akran bairaina. ^ju jus hrainjai sijuth in this vaurdis. tliate irodida duizvis. *visaith in mis jah ik in izvis sve sa veinatains ni mag akran bairan af sis silbin. niba ist ana veinatriva. svah nih jus. niba in mis sijuth. ■' ik im thata veinatriu. ith jus veinatainos. saei visith in mis jah ik in irama. sva bairith akran manag. thatei inuh mik ni maguth taujan ni vaiht. ® niba saei visith in mis. usvairpada ut sve veinatains jah gathaursnith jah galisada jah in fon galagjand jah inbrannjada. " aththan jabai sijuth in mis. jah vaurda meina in izvis sind. thatavvah thei vileitli. bidjith. jah vairthith izvis. * in thamma hauhiths ist atta meins. ei akran manag bairaith. jah vairthaith meinai siponjos. ^ svasve frijoda mik atta. svah ik frijoda izvis. visaith in friathvai meinai. '° jabai anabusnins meinos fostaid. sijuth in friathvai meinai. svasve ik anabusnins attins meinis fastaida jah visa in friathvai is. '• thata rodida izvis ei faheths meina in izvis sijai jah faheds izvara usfulljaidau. ^- thata ist anabusns meina ei frijoth izvis misso svasve ik frijoda izvis. I. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. The Gotlis formed an important section of the Teutonic or Germanic race, but their idiom is now extinct, and what little we know concerning it is gathered from the immortal work of Ulphilas, and a few other existing monuments. The earliest mention of the Goths by name occurs in some fragments of the Periplus of Pytheas, the renowned navigator of Marseilles. From these fragments we may infer that they inhabited the coasts of Jutland about 325 years before the Christian era; but it is probable that they had arrived in Europe several centuries prior to that period, ilany authors are of opinion that their first seat in Europe was Scandinavia. It appears from the statement of Tacitus tliat they were settled in Pomerania and Prussia, near the mouth of the Vistula, about the year a.d. 80. Sword in hand, they gradually extended their dominion in Eastern Germany till the age of Antoninus (about A.D. 180), when suddenly, from some unknown cause, they began to migrate in vast hordes towards the northern coast of the Black Sea. From this point they made frequent incursions into the Koman Empire, and possessed themselves of Dacia, and some of the neighbouring states. As their Class III.] GOTHIC. 175 dominions increased, tliey became distinguished, according to the geographical position of the territories they occupied, by the appellation of the Eastern, Ostro, or Austro-Goths, and of the Western or Visi- Goths. About the year a.d. 377, the inroads of the Huns caused some of the Visi-Goths to implore the protection of the Roman Emperor Valens. In compliance with their request, he assigned them the province of Moesia, the present Bulgaria and Scrvia; and it was on account of their long residence in that province that some have called the language the Mffiso-Gothic. Tliey subsequently revolted from their allegiance to the Imperial government, and in 409, under Alaric, they took and pillaged Rome. Their next migration was to the south of France; and then, crossing the Pyrenees, they established themselves in Spain, where they reigned nearly three hundred years, until finally subdued by tiie Saracens. In the meantime the Eastern or Austro-Goths had established a monarchy in Italy, wliich continued from the time of Theodoric the Great, A.D. 493, until the power of this nation was crushed by Belisarius and Narses, under Justinian, the emperor, of the East. These Italian Goths used the same language as tliose in JMoesia, as is proved by the monuments of the language at Arezzo and Naples. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Although the Gotliic is by no means the oldest Teutonic language, being nearly cognate with Saxon, Friesic, Alemannic, and other ancient branches of the Germanic family, yet it is especially interesting to the philologist, because, owing to its preservation in the precious version of Ulphilas, it all'ords means for the examination of one of the earliest stages through which the speech of the great Germanic family has passed. Many of the elements of the modern Germanic languages are traceable in the Gothic, and it is through the medium of this ancient language that their original connection with Sanscrit, Persian, Greek, and Latin, is most clearly to be demonstrated. The Gothic retains several ancient forms which have wholly disappeared in modern languages. Like the Sanscrit and the Greek, it possesses a dual number and a passive form of the verb, and it forms its past tense by means of a reduplication. It is also remarkable for uniformly exchanging they? of Latin, Greek, and Sanscrit words for f: thus, the Latin word pes, in Greek ttoO?, and in Sanscrit padas, is in Gothic fotus ; so 7ro\i5 in Greek is converted miojilu in Gothic, and the Latin piscis becomes ^«As. In the same way the t of the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin becomes th in Gothic; and other uniform mutations of con- sonants might be cited. The characters used in writing the Gothic language were invented by Ulphilas, and are merely modifications of the Greek and Roman capitals. III. — VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. One of the most valuable remnants of antiquity, a part of a version of the Scriptures belonging to the fourth century, exists in this language. The version of the New Testament was made with great accuracy and fidelity from Constantinopolitan MSS., and that of the Old Testament from the Septuagint. Many readings from the Latin have been interpolated in more recent times, but they are easily dis- tinguished from the genuine version. This work is, therefore, of great importance in the history of the sacred text, as it affords a correct representation of the state of Constantinopolitan MSS. during the fourth century of our era. Unfortunately the fragments of this version now known to be in existence consist only of large portions of the Four Gospels, part of the Pauline Epistles, fragments of the Psalms, of the Pentateuch, a few remnants of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and of some of the ilinor Prophets. The translator was Ulphilas, the celebrated bishop of the Moeso-Goths. lie was a Gotli by birth, but of Cappadocian ancestry. He was born A.D. 318, and was educated at Constantinople, where he embraced Christianity, and was ordained bishop in 348. By his moral and mental endowments he acquired unlimited inlluence over his countrymen, and easily induced them to embrace a religion the doctrines of which were exemplified in his own holy life. It became at last a proverbial saying among the Goths, " whatever is done by Ulphilas, is well done." But Arianism was then the prevailing form of religion in the eastern part of tlie empire, and the history of Ulphilas affords but too many proofs that he upheld this heresy. 176 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. In one passage of this version a vestige of Arianism is apparent: Phil. ii. 5 is rendered '■'■ galeiko Gutha," like God; instead of the true rendering, "equal to God." But the version of Ulphilas is in general accurate, and in many cases of great importance in a critical and hermencutical point of view. The most important codex of the Gothic version now extant is that called Codex Argenteus, or the Silver Book, from the circumstance of the letters being of a silver hue, except some of the initials, which are of gold. The vellum itself is chiefly purple, but in some parts of a violet colour. The MS. was produced in Italy, but the time of its execution is doubtful: by some authors it is attributed to the fifth century. It has evidently no claim to be regarded as the autograph of Ulphilas, for it possesses some marginal readings which clearly attest that several transcripts had been made since his time. This valuable codex was not generally known to be in existence till it was discovered in the Benedictine Library at Werden on the Kuhr, in Rhenish- Prussia, where it had lain for several centuries; but when or by what means it found its way thither cannot be ascertained. Its subsequent history is curious. About the beginning of the seventeenth century it was removed to Prague; but in 1648, Prague being taken by the Swedes, it was sent among other spoils to Christina, queen of Sweden, who presented it to the Royal Library at Stockholm. Vossius, the keeper of that libi-ary, by some means now unknown, possessed himself of the codex, and took it in 1655 to Holland. Here it was borrowed by his uncle Junius tor the purpose of publication, as will hereafter be mentioned. Puffendorf, who in 1662 was travelling through Holland, purchased it for the Swedish Count de la Gardie; the purchase money was 400 rix-dollars. The count had it bound in silver, and presented it to the Royal Library at Upsal, where it is still carefully preserved in a glass box, under lock and key; and no one, whatever be his rank, is allowed access to it, but as a great favour, and in presence of the chief librarian. This jealous care appears to have arisen from eleven leaves having been stolen by some one who examined it. Gabelenz and Loebe, however, were allowed the free use of the MS. Another Gothic Codex was discovered in 1756 in the Ducal Library at Wolfenbuttel, in the duchy of Brunswick, by Knittel, archdeacon and counsellor of the consistory of that city. This MS. contains part of Ulphilas' version of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (namely, part of the lltli and following chapters, as far as the 13th verse of the 15th chapter), with a parallel Latin version. It is familiarly known as the " Codex Carolinus," which name it received in honour of Charles, duke of Brunswick, the patron of Knittel. The text of this MS. was expunged during the eighth or ninth century, to make room for a Latin work, the Origines of Isidore of Seville in Spain, which was written over it on the same vellum. The letters of this lattef composition, however, faded, and Knittel was thus enabled to detect the vestiges of the original writing, which had not been completely obhteratcd. The characters are similar to those of the Codex Argenteus, but not so beautifully formed. Other fragments of the Gothic version have been since discovered. In 1817, Angelo Mai, then keeper of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, found portions of St. Paul's Epistles under the homilies of Gregory the Great on Ezekiel. In subsequent years he discovered other remnants of the version con- cealed under various works. Among the most important of his discoveries were passages from the Gospels, which supplied chasms in the Codex Argenteus. In other Palimpsest ilSS. he found frag- ments of the Old Testament, and a Gothic homily, rich in quotations from the version of Ulphilas, which have also been used in filling up some of the lacunaj in the Upsal MS. The first portion of this version committed to the press was the mutilated copy of the Gospels contained in the Codex Argenteus. It was printed from a beautiful facsimile MS. made by Derrer, but with continual reference to the original codex. It was edited by Junius and Marshall, and pub- lished in two volumes 4to., at Dort, in 1665. This edition was provided with an imperfect glossary, and contained the Anglo-Saxon and Gothic versions in parallel columns, printed in their original characters from types cast for the purpose at Dort. Such copies of the work as remained uncirculated were reissued, by means of a new title-page affixed to them in 1684, at Amsterdam. In 1671, Stiernhelm published an edition at Stockholm in Roman characters, but it is not esteemed so accurate as that of Junius. In addition to the Gothic, the edition of Stiernhelm contains the Icelandic, Class III.] GOTHIC. 177 Swedish, German, and Latin versions. Dr. Eric Benzel, arclibisliop of Upsal, made a new copy of tlie original Codex, with a literal Latin translation, and prepared it for the press. He wished to publish the whole MS. in facsimile, engraved on wood: a specimen which he had thus engraved was published in 1705. After his death, his MS. was edited and published by Lye at Oxford, in 1750, in royal ([uarto. This edition is in Gothic letters, and has a short but very imperfect Gothic grammar prefixed by Mr. Lye. In 1762, Knittcl published the first impression of the Codex Carolinus, with several other fragments connected with biblical criticism, especially the text of two Palimpsest IMSS. of part of the Gospels in Greek. The whole was accompanied by an elaborate commentary, and is esteemed very correct; but, for want of sale, many copies were used as waste paper, and the twelve copper- plates employed in printing were sold for old copper: this edition is consequently scarce. The Codex CaroHnus was reprinted at Upsal in 1763, by Ihre, a learned Swede: this edition was in quarto, and consisted of ninety pages: it was in Roman characters, and accompanied by a Latin version and notes. Another impression of this Codex has been given by Manning in the appendix to his edition of Lye's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, printed in 1772. The Codex was again printed in 1773, by Busching, at Berlin. A corrected and very important edition of the fragments of Ulphilas, including those of the Codex Argenteus, was published by Zahn, at Weissenfels, in 1805, from a revised text which had been carefully prepared by Hire, and from which he had expunged errors of preceding editors. This work comprises critical annotations on the text, a Latin version by Ihre, a literal interlinear Latin version, a grammar and glossary by Fulda, and a history of the version by Zahn. In 1819 some extracts from the Ambrosian Palimpsest MSS. were published, with a Latin version, by Mai and Castiglione, at Milan. Ten years afterwards, Count Castiglione published the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, from one of the codices discovered by Mai; and in 1834 he pub- lished, at Milan, the Epistle to the Komans, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Ephesians. During the same year (1834) a work was pubhshed by H. F. ]\Iassmann at ilunich, containing a Gothic Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, with a Latin translation, and several critical appendages of great service in the study of the Gothic codices. In 1835, Castiglione published the Epistles to the Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians ; and in 1839 he published 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. This completed the publication of the fragments that had been discovered. Two editions of the version of the Gospel according to St. Matthew yet remain to be noticed: the first was published from the Codex Argenteus in London, in 1807, by Samuel Henshall, with the cor- responding English or Saxon, from the Durham book of the eighth century, and various etymological dissertations. The other separate editions of this Gospel appeared at Stuttgart, in 1827. Schmeller, the editor, drew the text from the Codex Argenteus and from the fragments of the version discovered by Mai: his design in this publication was to compare the version of Ulphilas with the translation of the Harmony incorrectly ascribed to Tatian, executed by a Saxon writer of the ninth century, and he therefore printed both versions in this volume. We now come to the latest and the most complete editions of the remains of the Gothic version. One edition comprises all the Gothic fragments of the New Testament then known to be extant, and the Skeireins: it is furnished with collations and emendations from MSS. and from various printed editions; and also with a glossary, a grammar, learned prolegomena, and various critical annotations. This valuable work was published at Lcipsic, between the years 1836 and 1847: it was edited by Dr. H. C. de Gabelenz and Dr. J. Loebe. The editors recoUated the MSS. at Upsal and Wolfenbuttel, and corrected many errors of previous editions: the Milan MSS. were re-examined for this work by Count Castiglione. Tliis edition has, therefore, superseded all that went before it. A small and not very accurate edition was published by Gaugengigl, at Passau, in 8vo., 1848; from which our 13 178 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. specimen is taken. It contains fragments of the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; also from the Old Testament, and the Skeireins, or exposition of St. John's Gospel. A better edition has lately been published at Stuttgardt, by JIassmann, in one volume, 8vo. ALEMANNIC, OR OLD HIGH GERMAN. SPECIMEN, EEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1, &c. Er alien uuorolt kreftin, joli engilo gisceftin, So rumo ouh so mahtoii, man ni mag gidrahton Er so ioh himil uuurti, joh erda ouh so herti. Ouh uuiht in thiu gifuarit thaz siu ellu thriu ruarit So uuas io uuort uuonanti, er alien zitin uuorolti, Thaz uuir nu sehen offan, thaz uuas thanne ungiscafan. Er alleru anagifti, theru Druhtines giscefti, So uuas iz mit gilusti in theru Druhtines brusti. Iz uuas mit Druhtine sar, ni brast inio es io thar. Ante oranes mundi vires, et Angelos creates Turn spatium turn potentias, nemo potest concipere, Antequam coclum factum ac terra atque mare horridum, Et quicquid in his productum, quod lia3c omnia tria movet, Erat vcrbum habitans ante omnia secula mundi. Cluaj nunc conspicimus palam erant tunc nondum areata. Ante principium omnium Domini creaturarum, Erat id cum jucunditate in Domini pectore. Erat cum Domino illico ncc defecit ipsi unquam. ORATIO DOMINICA ALEMANICE, MAEG. EEEHERI NOTIS EXPOSITA. 1609. EX S. GALtl VETUSTISSIMO CODICE M.S. Father vnseer thv pist in himile. Vvihi namvn dinan. Qhveme rihi din. vverde vvillo din so in himile, sosa in erdv. prooth vnseer emezhic kip vns hivtv. oblaz vns scvldi vnseero, so vvir oblazen vns scvldiken. enti ni vnsih firletti in khorvnka. vzz erlosi vnsih fona vbile. This ancient language was spoken by a people of the Teutonic, or High German race, who at one period of their history were called the Suevi, or Suabians, probably from their having settled near the Baltic, then known as the Mare Sucvlcum, or Suabian Sea. In the beginning of the third century they migrated to the borders of tlie Koman empire, between the Danube, the Rhine, and the Main, and they there associated themselves witli other Germanic tribes, forming a confederacy to which the designation of Alemannic was subsequently applied. The modern Germans, who are Class III.] ALEMANNIC. 179 ]iartl3' descended from these confederated tribes, are still called Alemanni (or Allemands) by the French and Spanish. This language appears to have been in use from the sixth to the eleventh or twelfth century, nor can it even yet be said to be extinct, for it is still spoken with slight modifications in the north of Switzerland, Alsace, the grand duchy of Baden, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, the Tyrol, and Styria. In this ancient dialect we can distinctly trace the rudiments of the modern German; its chief peculiarities consist in the prevalence of the first vowel a, which is generally used in cases where the modern Germans use e; and in tlie general substitution of the diphthong au for the German o. It is a corruption of the Gothic, and called Old High German. Its next altered state is named Middle High German; and lastly German, in its present state. The earliest and most important monument of this language which has been transmitted to our times is a Harmony of the Gospels, composed by Otfrid, a Benedictine monk of Weissenburg in Alsace, about the year 870. We are told of this Otfrid that " he was profoundly versed in the know- ledge of the Holy Scriptures, and extensively acquainted with literature in general; a philosopher, a rhetorician, and a fiimous poet; eloquent in speech, and excellent in disposition." His Harmony is written in verse, and is the first German poem in which rhyme is introduced; all previous poetical compositions adopting alliteration instead of rhyme. His chief motive in composing it was, as he himself tells us, to provide a substitute for the vain and worldly songs which his countrymen were in the habit of singing. This work can scarcely be called a translation, for altliough it relates the facts of the Saviour's life as recorded by the four evangelists, yet the events are not ranged in chrono- logical order, but seem to be related as they occurred to the memory of the writer. There arc three MSS. of this work extant, preserved at Munich, Heidelberg, and Vienna. It was first printed at Basle in 1571, and in Schilter's Thes. vol. i. with Scherz's annotations. It was afterwards published at Bonn in 1821; and again at Konigsberg, in 1831, under the title o^ Krist. The gradual transition of Alemannic into pure High German may be traced by means of the Alemannic version of the Psalms, executed by Xotker, abbot of St. Gallen, in Switzerland. He is said to have undertaken the work for the benefit of the monks imder his care, that they might under- stand what they read. This Notker is distinguished from others of the same name by the surname of Labeo, given to him on account of his thick lips. He died in 1022. Besides the Psalms he translated the book of Job, but this version is lost. His translation of the Psalms is in prose, and is much valued on account of its grammatical accuracy, its eloquence, and its faithfulness. It was published by Schilter, in his Thesaurus, at Ulm, 1726. The Paraphrase of the Canticles, by Willeram, may be here mentioned. Willeram was abbot of Ebersberg in Bavaria, and died 1085. Between the years 1070 and 1084 he composed a prose para- phrase of the Canticles in the Francic (a dialect akin to the Alemannic), accompanied by a rhythmical Latin version. This work was published at Leyden in 1598, edited by P. Morula, and at Worms in 16.31, under the editorship of F. Vogelin. It also appeared in Schilter's Thesaurus; and was again published by Hoffman, at Brcslau, in 1827. FRANCIC SONG OF SONG S.— Chap, ii., v. 1 to 4— [Bbeslau, 1827.] WILLIRAM's UEDEESETZUNG TTND ArSLEGUND DES HOHENLIEDES IN DOPPELTEN TEXTEN AUS DEE BEESLAUER UND LEIDENEE HANDSCHBIFT HEBADSGEGEBEN UND 3I1T EINEN VOLLSTAENDIGEN WOEETEEBUCIIE TEBSCHEN VON DE. H. HOFFMANN. — CODEX VBATISLAVIENSIS. I'h bin ueltblfloma unte lilia dero telero. -A'lso diu lilia ist linter den dornon, samo bist du, friuntin min, unter anderen tohteron. ^ Min uuine ist unter andercn liiiten, samo afFaltcra unter andremo uvaltliolza. I'h saz unter sitiemo scatc, dcs fh ie gerota unte sines obezes nietet mih. * Der cuning Icitota mih in sinen vninkellare, unte vvista mi'h, dvie ih minnan sule. 180 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. NOTKER'S ALEMANNIC.-ULMa:, 1726. rSALM XXIV. Truhtenis ist diu erda, unde iro fulli. Sin ist der erdering unde alle die dar anabuent. ^ En gestata sia obe dien merewazzeren. Unde obe dien ahon macliota er sia. ^ Uuer gesteig uf in Gotes perg ? aide uuer ist dar stahe in sinero heiligun stete ? ^ Daz ist der unsundigo in sinen uuerchen, unde der reino in seinen gedanchen. Der sina sela ne ahtot in bosheite. Noli in undriunuon ne suuor sinemo gelegenen. ^ Der so getano infahet segen fone Gote, unde irbarmida fone sinemo haltare. ^Daz ist diu geburt dero Got suochenton, dero suochenton Gotes masiune des Jacobis Got is. 'Neraent furder lanthercn iuuuere portas. Unde ufhenent inh enuige portae. Unde dien gestalten Kat in ze in der chuning dero guollichi. *Uuer ist diser guollicho chuning? Truhten der starcho unde der mahtigo, Truhten mahtiger in uuige. ^ Nement portas iuuueres fursten. Unde uuerdent ir usirrihtet, euuiges rehtes porta3. Unde dar gattanne in zu, der chuning, ^° Truhten deiit) chresto, der ist chuning dero guollichi. EVANG. MATTH^I FEAGMENTA ALEMANICE.— [ViENNiE, 1841.] Chap. 12, v. 14 to 18. Uuida?* imo huueo sie inan forleosan mahtin. ^^ Jesus auh ?mista iz, fuor danan enti folgetun imo menace enti aer gaheilta siae alle, ^^ enti gabot im, daz sie inan ni martin, ^^ daz arfuUit uurti dhaz gaque^an uuart durah forasagun esaiam quuedawtan : ^^ See miin sunu, den ih gachos, minan leoban, in imo galihheta mineru seulu. Seczu ih minan gheist ubar'man, Enti miin urteili chundit deotum. DEUTSCHE INTEELINEAEVEESIONEN DEE PSALMEN. AUS EINEE WINDBEEGEE HANDSCHEIFT ZU MUNCHEN UND EINEE HANDSCHEIFT ZU TBIEE, ZUM EESTEN MALE HEEAUSGEGEBEN VON E. G. GBAFF. [QUEDLINBUEG UND LEIPZIG, 1839.] WINDBEEGEE INTERLINEARVERSION DER PSALMEN.— PSALM xxxix., ti. 1 to 4. Ih sprah : ih behuote wege mine daz niht ih missetuo an zungen miner. ^ Ih fazte munde minem huote, so gestuonte der suntoere wider mir. ^ Ih erstummete unde genideret bin unde gesuicte none den guoten unde ser min eriteniuwet ist. * Erwarmete lierce min innerhalbe min unde in denchunge — ahtunge — miner embrinnit daz fiur. INTERLINEARVERSION DER PSALMEN IM COD. TREVIE.— PSALM xsxix., v. 1 to 4. IcH sprach : ich wil behuden wege mine daz nut misseduch an zungen miner. ^Ich han gesezet munde mime hude, biz gestunde der sundere wider mir. * Ich uirstumite unde gedemuteget bin unde sweich uon den guden unde ser minaz irnuweret ist. * Irwarmit ist herce min in mir unde in gedenkungen miner sol inbrinnen daz fur. Class III.] GERMAN. 181 GERMAN. SPECIMENS, FROM St. JOHN. CrtAP. i. v. 1 to 14. LuTHEK, Leipsic, 1825. 3m ^(nfang irar bn? 'JSort, unb bag 933ort rear tc!} ®ott, imb ®ott ivar bau JBort. 2 ©affclbijc war int Qlnfang 6c5 (Sott. 3 *2l(le Diiiije finb burdj baffelbijc gcmart^t, uub o^ne bajjclHijc ijl nicfjtg gcmad^t, reaS gcmadjt t|1. 4 5n i£)m wax bag )}eben, unb bag 'ithtn rear bag Cid)t bcr a)icnfclH'n. 5 Unb ba3 iJicljt fd^cinet in bcr Sinflcrnip, unb bie 5in|1crnip ^aben e3 nidjt tegriffen. 6 G3 rear ein aJtcnfdj oon ®ott gefanbt, ber ^ie§ SobanncS. 7 I)crfc[Hgc fam jum 3tugnif, baf er oon bcni I'idjt jeugctc, auf bap fie aflc burdj itin gtaiiOten. 8 (£t irar ntci^t bag Sictjt, fonbcrn baf cr jeugete »on bcni I'irtjt. 9 Tiag luar baS iratjt^aftige Sid)t, recld)e3 aHe STOcnfdjen errciid^tft, bie in bicfe JBctt fommcn. 10 m rear in bcr 3Bc(t, unb bie 2ScIt ijl burc^ baf= feIHgc gcniad)t ; unb bie 23e(t tannte c8 nic^t. 1 1 (Sr tarn in fein Gigcnt^um, unb bie ©einen na^nicn itjn ni(^t auf. 12 2Bic oielc ifcn afcer aufna^men, bcnen ga6 er a)?ad;t, ©otteS Jl'inbcr ju recrben, bie an feincn Olanicn gtaufren. 13 aSelc^c nid)t »on bem ©ebliit, nod; oon bcm 9Biflen beg S'leifdjcg, noc^ bon bcm aSideu eincg ajfanneg, fonbcrn Oon ®ott gctorcn finb. 14 Unb bag SMort rearb SIcifd), unb reo^netc untcr ung, unb reir fabcn feinc -§errlid)fcit, cine •Oerrlidjfeit alg beg eingctorncn So^neg boni iJater, ooUcr ®nabe unb SBa^r^cit. Van Ess, Sulbach, 1842. 3m 9lnfange rear bag QEort, unb bag Sffiort roar fei ®ott; unb ®ott rear bag SBort. 2 Dicf rear im Qlnfange tci ©ott. 3 5(flcg iji burc^ baffel6e crfc^affcn, unb ol;nc baffelfcc i(l niditg, reag ba ifl, erfdjaffen. 4 3n i^m rear iJcbcn, unb bag Men rear bag Sic^t bcr 2)ienfdjen. 5 2)ief Sid)t Ieud)tct in bcr ffinfJernip; ater bie Sinflcrnig fafte eg nid)t. 6 (Sg reor ein SDJcnfc^ con ®ott gefanbt, JiHamcng So^anncg. 7 5)iefer trat jum 3c«gnif auf, urn Son bem Sid)te ju jcugen, bamit ^Ittc burd) i^n gtaubtcn. 8 ©r fclfcji re'ar nidjt bag 8id)t ; nur fotttc cr jcugen son bem ^idjte. 9 @g rear bag rea^re Sic^t, bag jeben SKenfc^cn er= Icuditet, bcr in bie SBett tommt. 10 Sr rear in bcr QBcIt ; unb bie SBett ifl burc^ i^n erfdjaffen ; boc^ erfannte bie 9BeIt i^n nic^t. 11 ©r lam in bag ©einige; allein bie ©einigen natimen it)n nidjt auf; 12 ane 23icle i^n atcr aufna£)mcn, bcnen ga6 er bag SBorredit, Jlinber ©ottcg ju reerben, bcnen nomIi(^, reelc^e an fcinen 3Jamen giaubcn ; 13 recld^c nic^t aug bem ®e6(iitc, nid)t nac^ bem SBillcn beg SIcifd)cg, nod; nac^ bem aSiltcn cineg SKanncg, fonbcrn son ®ott geboren finb. 14 ®ag 2Bort reurbc 5(ctfc^, unb reo^ntc untcr ung, (reir faiicn feine •§crrlic^fcit, cine <§crrlid;feit, roie beg ©ingebornen »om 33atcr) SoU ®nabe unb SBa^r^cit. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The limits of Germany have varied considerably at different eras of its history. It now consists, politically, of a confederation of thirty-five independent sovereignties and four free cities. The terri- tories of this confederation include an area of 244,600 English square miles, and a population of 43,000,000. The population is composed partly of the Germanic, partly of the Sclavonic, and partly of the Greco- Latin race: the Germanic race, however, preponderates, for about four-fifths of the inhabitants of Germany are of German extraction. The whole of Austria Proper, and the greater part of Styria and of the Tyrol, are occupied by Germans; but they form a minority of the population in Illyria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. German is the predominant language throughout the German states properly so called; it also prevails in the north of Switzerland, and in the German colonies in various parts of Russia. Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Roman Catholicism, are all professed in Gormnny; but at least one half of the inhabitants arc said to be Roman Catholics, and this form of religion predominates in the Austrian states. Calvinism and Lutheranism have for 182 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. some years been united, in almost all the otlier states, under the denomination of tlie Evangelical Church. GosNEK, Munich, 1836. 3m Qlnfange rear ba§ 9B0913:, unb bag 3Bort rear 6clj ®ptt, unb ba6 Sfficrt rear OJott. 2 2)agfc[tc rear im >Hiifaiujf tcl) ®ott. 3 -Mci ift buret) baSfclbe gcmadjt, unb ofyu baSfclte ifl nicl)t8 gnnad)t, remS ba gcmadjt ifi. 4 3n 3^m rear bag idrnx, unb baS 2c6cn rear bn3 Sicljt bcr 3.1i'cnfri)cn. 5 Unb baS H'lAjt leufljtcte in bcr S'-inftcrnig, atcr bie g-injlernij) t;at C'3 nidit fcegriffcn. 6 (fg rear cin 3}Jenfd; son ®ott gcfanbt, bcr |ief SofjanncS. 7 Sicfer tarn jum 3£ii9iiiiTf> ""i Beugni^ ju gcC'cn tton bcm 5*id)tc, baniit atlc burd; it)n gtautcn niodjtcn. 8 (Sr fcltfl re'ar nid)t ba3 Ii'idjt ; fonbcrn nur Scugnif; fo((te cr iJDm !^id)te getcn. 9 5)ag [3«ert] \\t bag reat)rc Sicfit, bag oHe 3)Jenfc^cn erlcuditet, bie in bicfc SBclt tommcn. 10 (Sr rear in bcr aScIt, unb bie SEcIt ifl burd) 3t;n gcnmdit, unb bie SBctt ertanntc 3l)n nidjt. 11 (ir fani in fcin ©igent^um, unb bie ©einigen nat)mcn 3l)n nid)t auf. 12 5lttcn aljer bie 5^n aufnat)mcn, gat dx iKadjt, Jlinber ©otteS ju recrbcn, bcncn ndmlid), bie an fcincn Skmcn g(au6cn, 13 Sic nid)t aug *BIut, nid)t aug beni 2Bi(Icn beg S'teifd^cg, nid!t aug bcm QSiHcn beg StJanneg, fcnbern aug (Slott getorcn [inb. 14 Unb bag aSort ifi 5'Ieifd) gereorben, unb ^at unter ung gereotint (anr fallen feine -^errtidifeit, eine •§enlidi= feit, reie fie ber (lingebcrne beS aJaterg ^at,) bott ®nobe unb aBn[irt)cit. II.- KisTEMAKER, Munster, 1848. 3m 2(nfang rear bag SlBort ; unb bag 5Bcrt rear feci ®ott ; unb ®ott re^ar bag sfficrt. 2 2>iefcg re'ar im Qinfang tei 0ott. 3 *2Ulcg ift burd) 3)affclWgc geinadit ; unb o£|ne ©aJTel- t'ige ifi niditg gemad^t, reag gemadit ifi. 4 3n 3(}m rear bag i'eben, unb bag Seten rear bag Sid)t ber iKenfdjen. 5 Unb bag 8id)t fdjeinct in ber Sinflernifj ; unb bie S'infiernifj l;at 'DaffelMgc nid't erfaffet. 6 @g rear ein ajienfdi, gcfanbt »on ®ctt ; fein 9lame rear: Sofcanneg. 7 Siefer fam jum 3f"9nif/ bamit « geugete Son bcm Sid)t, auf baf) olte giauben reiirben burdj il^n. 8 (fr rear nidjt bag S^id)t; fonbern bamit er jeiigete >jon bcm Sidjt. 9 2)ag wax bag rea^r^aftige SJidjt, SBcIc^eg erleitd;tet jeben 5Kenfd)en, bcr in biefe 2BeIt tijmmt. 10 3n bcr *IBeIt rear (5r ; unb bie ©ett if! burd) S^^m gemadjt recrbcn ; unb bie iffielt fannte 3t)n nidjt. 11 @r fam in j ®Dbc, 3 ocrmi)bbcl|l 6m fijnt aHe bincf gcmatet, iin gunber cue i)8 nidjt gemafct. 4 ©at bar S)8 gcmafet mi omc, bat iraS bat Iciiont, unb bat leucnb iraS cin Ii)cl)t bet ml)iifc()c, 5 un bat h)cl)t Iiidjtet i ben buflcrniffen, unb be cuflcrniito bcgrcpe bc8 nicljt. 6 ©'iiii m'.)iifii)c wa^ gl}cfciib irnu ®obe, bc8 name uhv3 3o(iane§. 7 3)itffc fani fell cine gctud^niffe ii>) bat^ l^e g^ene tuc^eniffe »an belijrtjte, bat 6e atte gelouebe bovc^ one. 8 -^e luaS nidjt bat Is)d)t, men bat ^e geoc tiid^niffe oan bem Ii}c^tc. LOW-GERMAN BIBLE IN A DIALECT APPROACHING THE DUTCH, cieca 1480. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. «. 1 to 7. 3Pl beme antegijnnc (bat tS in bem gotlifen rcefcn be3 almeditigen »aber3 in ber en.nd)eit) rcaS bat S[??ovt (bat iS 5i;n cyngetaren 8oen), enbe bat QBort iras ti) ®abe : en ®cb ira§ bat SBort (irant in bem tjaber \i bat ivefen beS gonS in naturcn in §imt>er[;cit bev Vi'rf""*'"), 2 bat (Qi'Drt) irae in bem amtegijnne (in eieid^eiit), bi) ®acbe (bem caeber). 3 !Dor^ en simt aflebinf gemacft : enbe giitiberen en iS nict gemaft. 4 Sat baer i8 gemaft iimS in cm eijn (euen (irant in be ivefcn b».ig aSortg entfaiige af(e creatuven ev lenen), enbe Dat Icuen (bat is be seen ®abe§), roaS e*)n lic^t ber mi>nfd-en : 5 enbe bat lidite hidjtet in ber butjflevnifl'e (beg msinfc^Iifen ge3[cd;teg), enbe bV)e butjjlcruijye en bcgrepe beg iiict (reant bat gotlife lidjt beg oaberS in be goen boed) natitrlif tterfiennig nict gefi)en en ma^ ircrben). 6 S'^n m>.;fd)e ((euenbe na bem leuen ei)ng minfdie), wag gcfant yau ®abe ; beg naeni roag 3ot)anneg, 7 bcfer guam in ei}n getudmig : fV bat bl) gene getud)nig can bem Uc^tc (bat ig »au bem gone ®abes fomenbe in bl)e iccrlte), bat Si) aUe geloueben bor(^ en ^5 (bat ig 3o^anneg). MODERN SAXON, OR COLOGNE DIALECT.-SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 13. 3>JJ beme amfcegine wag bat SCort un bat SBort icag bi ®abe. 2 Un ®ob irag bat irort bat leag i beme aticg£)inne ti ®abc. 3 Dord) cne gint atle bsjct gcmafet, unb an en ig nic^t g^cmafet. 4 Dat bar ig gtjemafet in erne bat ipag bat leuen, enbe bat Icuen rcag tm Iid)t ber niijufdjen. 5 a?nbe bat li^t luc^tet in V buflcrmijyen »n be buj^ermiffen begrc))e beg nid)t. 6 ©en ni«nfd)c u-ag gtiefant »a ®abe, beg namen isag Sct^anneg. 7 3)effe guami i cne gt}e tud)niiffc, op bat \ji gene getndnuiffe, oa beme lidjte bat ge atJe gelouebe bord) en. 8 >§e en roag nid;t bat (id)t, me bat l;e gene g(;etnd^mif[c oabeme lic^tc. 9 "Dat amg bat reae li^t bat bar icriuc^tj cne ierceiife mifd)c famebe i beffe irevlt. 10 -§e reaS i b' U'crlt, on be locrit ig gcmaf bord; en; cube be loerlt en fanbc en nid)t. 11 -^e quam in f'.m ciigenbcm, onbc be fine cntjlcnge en nidjt. 12 iDicn be en entfcngtjen ben gt)aff l}c be g^eiralt t^o rcerben be tinbere ®abcg ben be bar g^elouen in ftnen nomcn, 13 be bar nid}t jlu »an beme blobc, no^ tian beme reiden beg olcfc^eg, noc^ can beme reitte beg niang, funb' oon ®abe gl^cbarcn. NIEDERDEUTSCHE PSALMEN AUS DER KAROLININGER ZEIT.- [Bkeslau, 181G.] PSALM LIV. V. 7 to 9. SP©J15JRS uuet punbo minon, an unar6cibc t[}iuro tc gprcioc gia. 8 SBuiHico gal ic offran tl^i, in tegian gal ic namin tannin tcrro, uuanba guot ifl. 9 5l5uanba fan alliu artmbin gencrebog tu mi : in onir funba mina gcouuuota oga min. IV. RESULTS OF THE DI.'^SEMINATION OF THE GERMAN VERSION. The mighty results of the publication of Luther's version are to be traced throughout the whole liistory of the Kcformation in Germany. The effect of recent endeavours to circulate the Scriptures in that country has been tlie conversion of many individuals from the vain theoretical systems of German 186 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. metaphysicians, to the slmphcity of the Gospel of Christ. Tlio results of the labours of tlie Bible Society were described as follows in 1838, by Dr. Pinkerton, the agent of tlie Society: — " That we have laboured successfully in Grrmany during the last twenty-four years, against infidelity in every form, will not be questioned by impartial judges; and though the success we have liad lias not been everywhere in proportion to our expectations, yet, be it remembered, it is the return of evangelical light to many districts of this country which is daily exposing, more and more, the fearful extent of the spiritual darkness in whicli human systems have involved the present generation. We lament over the chaos encompassing us, but we are not in despair; we know and believe that the wisdom and power of Divine truth shall finally triumph." The narrative of a visit paid to Brussels, Cologne, and other parts of Germany, in the summer of 1852, by the Rev. T. Phillips (given in the 49th Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society), supplies many deeply interesting illustrations of the value of tlie labours carried on by the Society's agents in this portion of the continent. JEW I SH-GEEM AN. SPECIMEN, FKOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. D'fi ih\ m'z'imh ' • x>-ib\\ \bi iH wh -ii\b ,v)i3fc 6"3 ibw •oibw \bi ii\b pib\^ \bi ^^1l wfiw6 0-6 Citoj 1^11 plbvvi puS'J wb W3iuii67 wrfi ii\b pibpv:i wjiruifi? pn iy\ wjt vbhb ^ -.uuf-j ^"3 :,:b'i>:b yji yb wy'u u5'i 167 7:16 ' '.]vo}vv ivi vl'b 167 -7611 irani \by 7)if> ,]vzvh \bi ibw o^b yb * '.wb • .]:vv pw? ^D7 pi^bwi mbi ]b3 Zj^jv yb nbj) pu " • .]Dp5n:iu3 m'j dp vbp p-umpyp bn n'lb p'iyMpy^ ,u3'i \bi u3o lb)) -jD ' • .yjm'^bi p'b pn vbbb pbi ^>\b pwyi w-i oui ]b'B iv pbi ,D'«"i oi3 ob;^ vy2bvna^ ' yb bn pm:"biv pziivp vbbb Dwiuii ,u5'i wupfimpfiii ^h ibj) ih * '.\)5i ddi ]b3 mvyi iv pbi ]yji^b\ PD DWib^ Dim bn 7Jifi ; u3fiTO3 vnbmbi pn wb vbvn bn i^b pbm yji yb ib}) pv '" • .]vvvbp vbun bn ,]Dmbih')b -)V3b p'b riu'p fi'ii '^ • ?i'ifi p5o p'b ]vr>?bi yjy\ bn i^b pvvivrb yt yb ofip yj " '.uro cirr )uii'ii 01^7 ]b3 M'J winii " • .]uy)b: ]mbi jwi ]b bn ]v:vi ; ]in->vvi li yjiyp pvvvbi plbp yj 2b: ]v:vi lyb ,0"i5 i-)b}\ mbw ]bi ii\b '* •.7J'i ]irib3oi uufij ]b'b pvnU pviibv pvyb i^ii'i 0^7 ]b'b -[bi pvG"bp ,lDvbs ofip pvipbi ]vi-)b3v:ii"b pvi pbb vyyb-)-]vr< w"6 ,l3"p5'i^^^? vi"\ ]v?U yit lyb p\b yj^yb v]:vi?b\) •.U"Mrf;ii 75ifi vibi:i ivbbbp i^LTHOUGil the language of the German Jews differs from pure German only in the circumstance of its being written in Hebrew characters, yet, as these Jews form an important and distinctive section of the dispersed people of Israel, the several versions executed or printed by them, and for their special benefit, may be entitled to a separate consideration. The number of these Jews settled in the Austrian states has been computed at 700,000: until within the last two centuries their condition was degraded and pitiable in the extreme, and their character became enfeebled under the manifold sufferings they were called to undergo: in the words of their historian, " they became divested of natural feeling, absorbed in pecuniary interest and self-preservation, and even accustomed to their servile and abject position." They are now happily released from the persecutions by which their existence was formerly rendered so wretched, as to be justly termed, by a contemporary historian, " a mass of suffering;" but Class III.] JEWISH-GERMAN. 187 it is remarkable, tliat tlicv arc now ?aiJ to be cbaracteriscd by a tendency to " merge Mosaic as well as Talmudlc Judaism in a philosophical and social Pantheism." The first portion of the Scriptures translated and published expressly for the German Jews con- sisted of the Pentateuch and Mcgilloth ((. e. Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Canticles), an edition of wliicli was printed in Hebrew characters at Cremona, in Italy, in 1542: the author of this translation is unknown, but it is attributed to Elias Levita, a celebrated Jewish grammarian. Two years afterwards a version of the Pentateuch, the Megilloth, and the Haphtorotli (lessons from the Prophets appointed to be read in the synagogues), was made by Michael Adam, a converted Jew, and an edition was printed at Constance. The first four chapters of Genesis were printed at the same place, in 1543, from the German-Jewish translation; and the books of Exodus, Joshua, Ezekiel, and Canticles, appeared at Prague in 1553. Some separate books of tlic Old Testament were likewise published by R. R. Nathan, F. E. Jlichol, JIardochacus, F. Jacob, and otliere. The first edition of the German New Testament in rabbinical characters was printed at Cracow, in 1540: the work was executed by Johan Herstige, a converted Jew, on the basis of Luther's version; but the book of Revelation is omitted. Five books of the New Testament (namely, St. Luke, St. John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, and part of the first and second chapters of St. Matthew) were translated into German by Elias Schadaeus, a German pastor of the church of Strasburg, chiefly from Luther's version ; and an edition was printed at Strasburg, in 1592: a tract on the conversion of the Jews was appended to the work. In 1820 the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews undertook to furnisli the German Jews with copies of the German Scriptures in rabbinical characters. The Society's first edition of the New Testament appeared in 1820: the German text from which it was taken was the edition of Luther's version published by Senator Von Meyer, at Frankfort, in 1819, and the transcription into rabbinical characters was made by Mr. Judah D'AUemand, of London. With respect to the cflects produced by the dissemination of this version, it has been stated that " those who have gone over to the Protestant Church from the synagogue have been more numerous during the last few years in Germany than they ever were elsewhere or before." The number of Jews baptized in Germany during the last twenty years is estimated at 5000; and the sincerity of some among them has been attested by the irreproachable tenor of their conduct, and by the devotedncss with which they have preached the new covenant of "race in Christ Jesus. 188 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. J UD E 0-P 0 LI S H. SPECIMEN, FROM St. .JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. jfi I'f" ^flll 'joiui Dfi7 ' : u^J ih uif^ii ofi? 'jifi ,i;f'j u-p ifiii u^^l1 zh 'iib ,lJ-)^11 ofi? ^f'll iif^p ]fi ]'6 ■)6ii 0*6 1'6 * : \55fip';i I'fi of'ii ,u5fip'j pdo ^fl:^ -)6ii of i^ 'jifi ; u56p':i o'^ pn i^ii ij'i6 ' : ])h WP ufip do-)ud:'p M 'ji6 ,d'j-50pj'p 07 jf uj"d uj'i Df"? 'jifi ^ : i'sdjup ^t jip u5'i 067 -jfiii jori 167 'Ji/i pvb zfn 16 ,!:o:i"ii ]"fi -i3 I'Pip*: I'fi -)i'7 ' : jipv jCv-'';! 1:6? s6ii ,i:p'D'j ufi: jip i6p ]"fi -jfiii fi7 * : ipnj'3 Vi w vh? ]3"i'3 li vpz'i ^flll IP l^7:lI ,i55'i 067 j;5'j 1611 in ' : cf" pn jj-h i'i6i -if" 16 ,o5'i dot 1'x;ii jvio ifit lu nfill lU '" : ]"-)(> UiWl 17 ]'f> UPip Dfill DUJ'DP l^'iU'fi 155"i D^ll ,U5'i HPfill 0^7 iMl ofi? ' : D5'i D»7 j'JiJM 'jif" ,)rj"i Dii yvyi I'fi in " : wrp'j u-j of uf"? uirii fiT 'jif" ,u5f'PU of pn if uiuii H 'jf ^uiyii 17 ]f I'Jfii fi"i i'3wj i:56p -)v vf>o bn ii ,iti3'j ifi of r^fi? dd i'p ^'w 136 '^ : I'po'i ]b u-j of i'3f'? 'rj-i bn jw ji'ii DOT jip O'j 'jf ,uii3 jip inu'j U'j iifiii d6ii " : \vbi \"\ ]b i3"h ofiii bn li ,u^J jip i7yp bn pyii ,Djfivj oifi u'P 1)6? 'Ji6 ,C"ip infiivj if uifiii 067 ':f '* : ufij ]i9 177J11 ,dujup jip li'ii oir? jip ci 'jifi ,D"ip : U'wM) 'jf 7fiju U'P iip ,ti:6p oir? ]ip ]« jj-ii-f ou? ]i? fi'v. 0"p5'iii;? ]'f pyl'hoTi ]"i j'^pi-j jo^? tp 'iifi The Polish Jews are regarded by their brethren as the most highly gifted of their nation in intellectual endowments, and their reputation for superior sagacity is apparently not unfounded; for in no other section of the Jewish people, it has been observed, do we find a life of so much social activity combined with so decided a bent towards religious and contemplative philosophy. Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, they have in a great measure, supplied the synagogues of Germany with teachers and rabbins; and, according to the testimony of Chevalier Bunsen, "there is scarcely any branch of literature or science taught in the universities (at least of Prussia) where the professors are not either converted Jews or the sons of those who were Jews." The Polish Jews have long been settled in Poland, and the whole trade of the country is in their hands. They form a large proportion of the population; and in Cracow there is one Israelite to every eleven inhabitants. Russia, says Da Costa, since the accession of its Polish provinces, numbers not less than 1,120,000 Jews among its 63,000,000. These Jews, having been exposed to much suffering by the oppressive measures of the Russian government, have in many cases adopted the same expedient tliat was resorted to, under similar persecutions, by some of their brethren in the Spanish peninsula; and, by concealing their religion, have shielded themselves from persecution. The immense power acquired by the Jews of the Russian empire is not generally known, because not outwardly manifested; yet we are told, by one of their own nation, that " from the smallest retail dealer in Poland, to the general officer at Petersburg, there is said to exist a line of Jews in communication with each other, through whose hands pass the chief affairs of the home department, as well as the most important foreign negotiations." The language spoken by the Polish Jews is principally Old German, with a mixture of Hebraisms, or at least phrases peculiar to the Jews: there is very little Polish in it. A translation of the New Testament into this language was undertaken, in 1820, by the London Society for Promoting Christi- anity among the Jews: the preparation of the work was intrusted by the Society to a converted Jew, Benjamin Nehemiah Solomon, who prosecuted this translation under the roof of the Rev. Thomas Scott. An edition was published by the Society in 1821, and 300 of the copies were purchased by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 200 of which were placed at the disposal of the Prussian Bible Society, for sale or gratuitous distribution among the Jews. In 1827, the Rev. A. M'Caul proposed to undertake a translation of the Old Testament into Judeo-Polish ; but it does not appear that this Important work has been yet completed. Class III.] OLD SAXON. 189 OLD SAXON. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 4. ' In anaginne uuas uuort, inti thas uuort uuas mit Goto, inti Got selbo uuas thas uuort. ^ Thas uuas in anaginne mit Gote. AUiu thuruh thas uuurdun gitan, inti uzzan siu ni uuas uuiht gitanes, thas thar gitan uuas. ^ Thas Ub uuas in imo, inti thas hb uuas hoht manno. ■* Inti tlias Uoht in finstarnessen leuhta, inti finstarnessen, thas ni bigrifl'un. ^ In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus ipse erat verbum. ^ Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est. ^ Vita erat in ipso, et vita erat lux hominum. ^ Lux in tenebris lucebat, et tenebrse earn non comprehenderunt. The Hcliand and the Niederdeutsclie Psalmen present the best specimens of the pure Old Saxon. Although no version, strictly so called, of the Scriptures exists in this ancient dialect, yet it possesses a Harmony of the Gospels, translated in the ninth century, which has a special claim on the attention of philologists, and which can, therefore, be scarcely passed over without notice. This harmony is the earliest document extant which exhibits the stock whence Anglo-Saxon sprang. The language in which It is written has been spoken almost from time immemorial in the greater part of Low, Piatt, or Korthern Germany. The Saxons who emigrated from this part of Germany to Britain, and founded the various kingdoms of the Heptarchy, spoke this language ; but from various causes, hereafter to be men- tioned, it underwent several modilications in consequence of their residence in this country. Their brethren, on the contrary, who remained in their fatherland, preserved the purity of their language; and the original vernacular idioms of our Saxon progenitors are still to be heard, with comparatively little variation, among the peasantry of Hanover, Holstein, Slesvvick, Mecklenburg, Magdeburg, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and the kingdom of Prussia; in part of Westphalia and of Jutland, and as far north as Livonia and Esthonia. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Old Saxon, more appropriately designated by Grimm the Alt-niedcr-deutsch (i. e. Old Loio Germaii), was probably cognate with the Gothic, for it is impossible to say which has the stronger claims to antiquity: judging from the close similarity of structure which prevails between these two dialects, the Frlesic, and the Alemannic, or Old High German, we may infer that at some very remote period they all branched oif from the language originally common to the whole Teutonic family. Old Saxon, like all the Low German dialects, is far more soft and flowing than High German. It sub- stitutes smooth consonants for the harsh aspirated sounds of High German, and regularly changes sch into «, and sz, or z into i. The most flourishing period, it has been remarked, of Low German was that immediately pre- ceding the Reformation ; and many have regretted tliat the influence of Luther should have caused 190 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. the harsli Higli German dialect, spoken by him, to prevail as the language of the educated classes throughout Germany, to the exclusion of tlie Low German dialects, now confined to the poorer classes) in the regions above mentioned. Dr. Bosworth observes that the Low German equals the High in strength and compositive power, while it exceeds it in richness and facility of enunciation; and that " the true Old German freedom, sincerity, and honesty, can liave no better medium to express its full mental and political independence, its genuine and confidential feelings of the heart, than its old, unsophisticated, open, Low German dialect." II. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS IN THIS LANGUAGE. This ancient harmony, written by some unknown author in the ninth century, bears the title of Hdiand, or the Healer. The reason of this appellation can be best explained in the words of our own King Alfred, who says that the history of our Lord Is thus designated, because He " sothlice hys folc Hal gedeth fram liyra synnum : " that is. He truly maketh His people to be healed from their sins. The Heliand is written in alliterative lines, and adheres pretty closely to the original. It Is of some importance to the biblical student, from Its showing the interpretation affi-xed by the early Saxons to the various passages of Scripture in which the words and actions of the Saviour when on earth are recorded. Two MS. copies of this poem have been preserved, although in a very mutilated condition. One of these copies belongs to the Cottonian Library in the British Museum, and is marked Caligula, A. vil. An old tradition has been circulated, to the effect that this very copy formed part of Canute's collection, and hence it Is still generally known as " Canute's Bible;" but we possess no direct evidence In proof that It was ever In the hands of that monarch. The other codex was found in 1794 by Gerard Gley, a Frenchman, in the library of the cathedral church at Bamberg: It has since been removed to Munich. Some extracts from the Heliand were published (erroneously under the name of Franco- Theotisc), in the second volume of HIcks's Thesaurus, and also by Nyerup at Copenhagen in 1787. A complete and splendid edition was published at Munich in 1830, by Schmeller. The Munich MS. was taken as the, base of this edition, and the various readings occurring in the London MS. are given In the notes. It may here be mentioned that. In the year 890, a Harmony of the Gospels, erroneously attributed to Tatian, was translated by an unknown writer Into a sort of Old Saxon. The dialect of this translation is softer than the Alemannlc and Bavarian; it contains words peculiar to Old Saxon, and may be considered as a kind of transition between Low and High German. MSS. are preserved at Oxford and St. Gallen. In an edition published by Palthenlus, in 1706, the dialect is styled "the ancient Theotisc." This work was republished by Schilter in the second volume of his Thesaurus. Class HI] ANGLO-SAXON. 191 ANGLO-SAXON. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap, i, v. 1 to 14 [London, 1&12.] On fruman wfcs Word, and Ipsct Word wses mid Gode, and God wses Jiset Word, ^paet wses on fruman mid Gode. ^ Ealle Jsing wseron geworhte Jjurh hyne ; and nan ]?ing nses geworht butan him. ^ Daet Avaes lif ]?e on him geworht wses, and J>8et lif wses manna leoht. ^ And l^set leoht lyht on J^ystrum ; and Jjystro jjset ne genamon. ® Man wses fram Gode asend, ]?ses nama wses lohannes. '' pes com to gewitnesse |?0Et he gewitnesse cySde be ]?am Leohte, ]>xt ealle men |jiirh hyne gelyfdon. ^ Nses he Leoht, ac )jset he gewitnesse forS-baere be J^am Leohte. ^So'S Leoht wses, Jjset onlyht selcne cumendne man on Jjysne middan-eard. ^^ He wses on middan-earde, and middan-eard wses geworht J>urh hine, and middan-eard hine ne gecneow. '^ To hys agenum he com, and hig hyne ne imderfengon. ^'- SoSUce swa hwylce swa hyne underfengon, he sealde hym anweald ]>eet hig wseron Godes beam, ]?am ]>e gelyfa'S on his naman: ^^J^a ne synd acennede of blodum ne of flsesces willan, ne of weres willan ; ac hig synd of Gode acennede. '"^ And Jjset Word wses flsesc geworden, and eardode on lis, (and we gesawon hys wuldor, SAvylce an- cennedes wuldor of Fseder,) J^set wses ful mid gyfe and so'Sfsestnysse, I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND ORIGIN. Anglo-Saxon was the language introduced into England with the Saxon domination by three distinct tribes of tlie Saxon Confederacy; namely, the Old Saxons properly so called (of whom mention is made in the foregoing memoir), the Angles from Anglcn in the south-east of Sleswick in Denmark, and the Jutes from Jutland. The whole of England was divided between these three tribes : the Old Saxons established themselves in the west and south, fonning the kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Wesscx; the Angles obtained large dominions in the north and cast of England, and the south of Scotland; and the Jutes possessed a small territory in Kent and the Isle of Wight. Of these tribes the Angles a])pcar to have been most numerous; in fact, they flocked to our island in such numbers as to leave their native country almost destitute of inhabitants. But from the time of Egbert, A.D. 827, the power of the West Saxons became predominant, and although the Angles gave their name to their adopted country (Angle or Engle-land), yet their descendants are to the present day termed, not Angles, but Saxons, by the h-ish and the other Celtic nations. One and the same form of paganism prevailed among Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, from the period of their first arrival in England, A.D. 449, till the end of the sixth century, when Christianity was introduced among them by Augustine and the forty monks sent by Pope Gregory from Rome. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The tlu-cc Saxon tribes who tluis established their eight separate kingdoms in Britain, all spoke dialects of one language. The dialect of the Angles was broader and more harsh than that of the West Saxons, and was distinguished by the name of the Dano-Saxon, whereas the dialect of the West Saxons was called pure Anglo-Saxon. Tliese two dialects remained distinct as long as Anglo-Saxon was the language of England, yet the difference between them probably was not greater than that which ly2 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Ci,ass 111. now exists between the dialects of English spoken in difTorcnt counties. Alfred the Great, a AVest Saxon king, gave predominance not only to the power but to the dialect of his countrymen ; lie patronised learning and learned men, devoted himself to literature, and produced several translations from Latin into his vernacular tongue. Under his auspices, therefore, the language of the West Saxons became the cultivated dialect of Anglo-Saxon, tliough afterwards modified more or less by the influence of the other dialects. The supremacy of the Danes during twenty-six years in England, vmder Canute and his two sons, had some slight effect in altering the language of the Anglo-Saxons. The Norman- French, introduced in 1066, had a still farther influence on Anglo-Saxon, which afterwards, by gradual and successive alterations, insensibly merged into the English. The Anglo-Saxon ceased to be spoken during the reign of Henry III., about a.d. 1258; it then took its place among the dead languages. In a great degree, however, it still lives in the English language, of which it forms the very ground- work; and it is not possible without some acquaintance with this ancient language, to understand thoroughly the structure of our own. Several of the provincial dialects, especially that of Dorset, preserve features of nearer resemblance to the Anglo-Saxon than the present polished English does. Anglo-Saxon itself however is, as we have just shown, but a scion of the Old Saxon language described In a preceding notice: among other evidences that it is not an original language may be cited the singular fact, tliat no less than five different fragments of verbs, of which the principal terminations appear In other languages, are huddled together in the conjugation of the substantive verb. As compared with its cognate languages, Anglo-Saxon bears the nearest resemblance to the ancient Friesic, and It Is more than probable that many of the Friesians accompanied their Saxon neighbours in the invasion and colonisation of England. In its grammatical forms, Anglo-Saxon presents comparatively few deviations from the early branches of the Germanic family. It has two numbers, singular and plural, and three genders. The gender of nouns is chiefly determined by their terminations, and the adjectives have variable terminations to correspond witli their nouns in gender, number, and case. There are four cases, and three declensions. Adjectives have a definite and an Indefinite form of declension ; the latter (of which the inflections are the same as those of nouns of the second declension) Is used when the adjective has a definite article, a demonstrative, or a possessive pronoun before it. In nouns the final syllable ing is sometimes patronymic, like ihrj<; in Greek : In the Anglo-Saxon version of the Bible, the servant of Elisha Is called Elising : from this source arise our words duckling, gosling, nestling, etc. But perhaps, one of the most remarkable characteristics of Anglo-Saxon is the multiplicity of its synonymous words. It has ten synonymes for the word 'man,' and as many for 'woman:' It has eighteen different words to denote 'persons in authority,' besides ten compounds, and several official titles. It has also eighteen words expressive of ' the mind,' and fourteen to denote 'the sea;" and to express the name of the Supreme Being, it has more terms and periphrases than many other languages. The Anglo-Saxons possessed a strong partiality for metaphor and periphrasis: thus to describe the Ark, the poet Caedmon used no less than thirty compoimd phrases, such as, " the sea house," " the ocean palace," " the wooden fortress," " the building of the waves," etc. This poetical combination of words was so continually resorted to, especially in poems, that many of the words thus combined became current in the language as compound terms. The Anglo- Saxon lan^Tuage displayed extreme aptitude in the formation of compounds, but, like most ancient languages, It drew Its materials from its own resources, and formed its compound words by the combination of its own roots, without drawing, like modern English, from foreign vocabularies. " Great, verily," observes Camden, " was the glory of our tongue before the Norman conquest in this, that the Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) could express most aptly all the conceits of the mind without borrowing from any." III. — ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. The Teutonic and the Celtic nations possessed an alphabetical system, of which the origin and the history are lost In remote antiquity. This system was styled tlie Eunic, from the Teutonic word Kun, Class III.] ANGLO-SAXON. 193 denoting a mystery, because tlie Runic characters were used in pagan rites. " The heathen Teutons," says Sir Francis Palgrave, " believed that the Runs possessed magical influence, could stop the vessel in her course, divert the arrow in its flight, cause love or hatred, raise the corpse from the grave, or cast the living into death-like slumbers." The Runes, however, of the Teutons and of the Celtic varied in form ; and even the Runes of the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians diifered from each other as much as the languages themselves. On account of the idolatrous veneration with which paganism invested these Runes, the early preachers and missionaries of Christianity endeavoured to set them aside, and to introduce the use of the Latin characters in their stead. It was doubtless from this cause, that Ulphilas refrained from writing his version in the Runic letters employed by the Germanic tribes, and adopted a modification of the Greek and Latin alphabets. The Anglo-Saxons, who had brought their Runes with them from Germany, as is evident from several ancient inscriptions, continued to use them till the time of Augustine, when tliey were induced to substitute the Latin characters. The Anglo- Saxon alphabet, however, has preserved a relict of the more recent Runes in its two peculiar characters J), J)j stungen ihuss, and D, 'S, stungen duss, the former of which had the hard sound of th as in thing, and the latter the soft sound of the same letters as in tlane. The other Ancflo-Saxon letters, though very dissimilar from the Roman letters of the present day, are precisely the same as those used at Rome during the age in which Augustine flourished. Five letters of our English alphabet, _/, A, q, v, and z, are not found in genuine Anglo-Saxon, but c and cio are invariably placed where k and q would be used by us. IV. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. It is very doubtful whether the entire Scriptures have ever been translated into Anglo-Saxon. We have no traditionary account of a complete version, and all the biblical MSS. in Anglo-Saxon now in existence contain but select portions of the sacred volume. The poems on sacred subjects usually attributed to Ca;dmon, afford the first feeble indications of an attempt being made by our Saxon fore- fathei-s to convey the truths of Scripture in their vernacular tongue. Caadmon lived in the seventh century; he was a monk in the monastery of Streoneshalch in Northumbria. It is said that he could neither read nor write, but that some of the other monks used to teach him portions of sacred history, and that he afterwards sang his lesson to his instructors in poetical strains. His poems have been strung together so as to form a sort of metrical paraphrase on some of the historical books of Scripture. He commences with the fall of the angels, the creation and fall of man, and proceeds to the history of the deluge, carrying on his narrative to the history of the children of Israel, and their wanderings in the desert. He also touches on the history of Nebuchadnezzar and of Daniel. The authenticity of this work has been doubted, some writers being of opinion that it was written by different writers at ditlferent periods ; the striking similarity between some of the poems and certain passages in Milton's Paradise Lost has been repeatedly noticed. Two editions have been printed; the first by Francis Junius at Amsterdam in 1655, and the second, with an English translation and notes, by Mr. Thorpe, in London, in 1832. The literal versions of such portions of the Scripture as have been translated into Anglo-Saxon have chiefly been transmitted to us in the form of interlineations of Latin MSS. A Latin Psalter, said to have been sent by Pope Gregory to Augustine, is still preserved among the Cottonian MSS., and contains an Anglo-Saxon interlinear version, of which the date is unknown. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, and Guthlac, the first Anglo-Saxon anchorite, translated the Psalms soon after the com- mencement of the eighth century, but their MSS. are lost, and nothing is known with certainty respecting them. The same may be said concerning the portions of Scripture reported to have been translated by the Venerable Bede. At the time of his death, this renowned historian was engaged in a translation of the Gospel of St. John, and almost with his latest breath he dictated to his amanuensis the closing verse of the Gospel. Alfred the Great also took part in the translation of the Scriptures. He translated the commandments, in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and part of the three following chapters, which he aflSxed to his code of laws. He likewise kept a " hand-boc," in which he daily 14 194 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. entered extracts from various authors, but more especially verses of Scripture translated by himself from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. There are three different versions of the Four Gospels at present known to be in existence. The most ancient of these is the famous Northumbrian Gloss, or Durham Book, preserved among tlie Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum. This MS. is one of the finest specimens extant of Saxon writing. The Vulgate Latin text of the Four Gospels was written by Eadfrid, bishop of Lindisfarne, about A.D. 680: his successor in the see adorned the book with curious illuminations, and with bosses of gold and precious stones; and a priest named Aldred added an interlinear gloss or version, probably about the year 900. The second Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels belongs to the tenth century, and was written by Farraen and Owen at Harewood, or Harwood, over Jerome's Latin of the Four Gospels. The Latin text was written about the same period as that of the Durham Book, having been made during the seventh century. This valuable MS. is in the Bodleian Library, and is called the Eushworth Gloss, from the name of one of its former proprietors. The other translation of the Gospels was made by an unknown hand, apparently not long before the Norman conquest, and is thought to have been translated from the Latin version which was in use before Jerome's time. These important MSS., with the version of -^Ifric hereafter to be mentioned, were for two or three centuries thrown aside as useless lumber. With the disuse of the Anglo-Sa.xon language they ceased to be understood, and were consigned to the shelves of monasteries. At the time of the Eefor- mation, some Anglo-Saxon MSS. on doctrinal subjects were drawn from their places of concealment, and placed before the world in testimony that the early Saxon Church withstood the growing heresies of the Church of Rome. The Reformers, aware that the translation of part of the Scriptures into Anglo-Saxon was a precedent in favour of their own translation into the vernacular tongue, collected the fragments of the Anglo-Saxon version, and in 1571 issued an edition of the Four Gospels with an English parallel version. The te.xt of this edition was a late MS. belonging to the Bodleian Library at Oxford : it was edited by Archbishop Parker, and a preface was written by John Fox, the martyrologist. This edition was carefully collated with four MSS. by Francis Junius, jun., and published by Dr. Marshall at Dort, in 1665, in parallel columns with the Mceso-Gothic version. Some copies of this edition were provided with new title-pages, bearing the date, Amsterdam, 1684. The most complete edition of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels is that of Mr. Thorpe, printed in London, 1842, in Roman type. Two Cambridge MSS. form the basis of this text, which in all doubtful passages is carefully collated with other MSS. Two editions of the Anglo-Saxon Psalter have been published. The first appeared in 1640: it ■was printed in London under the care of Spelman, from an ancient MS. by an unknown translator, and collated with other MSS. of equal antiquity. This version was undoubtedly made from the Latin Vulgate, which interlines with the Anglo-Saxon. A splendid edition of the Psalms was published in 1835 at Oxford: the MS. which forms the text formerly belonged to the Due de Bcrri, the brother of Charles V., king of France, and was preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. Mr. Thorpe, the editor, attributed this MS. to the eleventh century; and by some it is supposed to be a transcript of the version executed by Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, in the early part of the eighth century. It is, however, rather a paraphrase than a version, and is written, partly in prose, and partly in metre. A partial interlinear translation of a Latin version of Proverbs, made in the tenth century, is pre- served among the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum. To the same century belong the celebrated translations of uElfric, archbishop of Canterbury: they consist of the Heptateuch, or first seven books of the Bible, and the book of Job. An edition of this version was published by Mr. Thwaits, at Oxford, in 1699, from an unique MS. belonging to the Bodleian Library: the book of Job was printed from a transcript of a MS. in the Cottonian Library. ^Ifric in some portions of his version adheres literally to the text; but in some parts he appears to aim at producing a condensation, or abridgment, rather than a translation of the events related by the inspired historian. Like the other Anglo-Saxon frasments, his translation was made from the Latin version. Class III."| ANGLO-SAXON. 195 A few IISS. of the Psalms, written shortly before, or about the time of, the Norman Conquest, are extant, and show the gradual decline of tlie Anglo-Saxon language. The history of the language may still farther be traced in three MSS. yet in existence, which were made after the arrival of the Normans. They are MSS. of the same translation, and two of them are attributed to the reign of Henry the Second: but the language in which they are written is no longer pure Anglo-Saxon; it has merged into what is designated the Anglo-Norman. V. FACTS EELATIVE TO THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The Anglo-Saxon version was never disseminated among the people, for the art of reading was, during the Anglo-Saxon period, exclusively confined to priests and kings. Learning was then cul- tivated chiefly in monasteries, and the Latin version of the Scriptures was there generally studied. Some members of the clerical body were, however, but imperfectly acquainted with the Latin tongue, and it was for their benefit that the interlinear glosses were added to the Latin MSS., in order that they might themselves understand the portions which it was their duty to read to the people. NOETHUMBEIAN DIALECT, no title oe date. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 8. Ges^h wutotlice 'Sreatas gestag in mor & mi's 'Sy gesastt geneolecedon to him 'Seignas his. ^ & untynde mu'S his gelserde hea cuoed. ^ eadge biSon 'Sa 'Saerfendo of i from gaste for^on hiora is ric heofna. ■* eadge biSon Sa milde forSon 'Sa agnegaS eor'So. * eadge biSon 'Sa 'Se gemsenas mi for'Son 'Sa gefroefred bi'Son. ® eadge bi'Son 'Sa 'Se hynegraS & Syrstas soSfaestnisse for'Son 'Sa iho gefylled biSon 1 geriorded. '' eadge bi'Son miltheorte for'Son hiora 1 'Sa miltheortnise him gefylges. * eadge biSon claene of i from hearte for'Son 'Sa god geseas. The above is extracted from " The Anglo-Saxon Gospels," undertaken about 1833 by Messrs J. M. Kerable and B. Thorpe at the expense of the University of Cambridge, and printed at the Pitt Press. The progress of the work was suspended by the sudden departure of one of the editors to Germany, and it was not resumed on his return. 196 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. ENGLISH. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12. WicLip, 1380. • IN the bigynnynge was the word and the word was at god, and god was the word, 2 tliis was in the bigynnynge at god, 3 alle thingis weren made bi hyni : and withouten hym was made no thing, that thing that was made ■• in him was liif, and the liif was the li3t of men, 5 and the lijt schyneth in derknessis i and derknessis comprehendiden not it. c A man was sente fro god to whom the name was Ion, ' this man cam in to witnes- synge, that he schulde here witnessynge of the li3t, that alle men schulden bileue bi hym, * he was not the li3t, but that he schulde here witnessynge of the li3t, 9 ther was a verri li3t : whiche li3t- neth eche man that cometh in to this world, '" he was in the world, and the world was made bi him i and the world knewe hym not. " he cam in to his owne thingis : I hise resceyueden hym not: '2 but hou many euer resceiueden hym : he 3af to hem power to be made the sones of god, to hem that bileueden in his name. Ttndai,e, 1534. ' IN the beginnynge was the worde, and the worde was with God : and the worde was God. 2 Xhe same was in the beginnynge with God. 3 All thinges were made by it, and with out it, was made nothinge, that was made. ■• In it was lyfe, and the \jte was the lyght of men, * and the lyght shyneth in the darcknes, but the darcknes comprehended it not. s There was a man sent from God, whose name was lohn. ^ The same cam as a witnes to beare witnes of the lyght, that all men through him myght beleve. * He was not that lyght : but to beare witnes of the lyght. 9 That was a true lyght, which lyghteth all men that come into the worlde. "> He was in the worlde, and the worlde was made by him : and yet the worlde knewe him not. >' He cam amonge his (awne) and his awne re- ceaved him not. '2 But as meny as receaved him, to them he gave power to be the sonnes of God in that they beleved on his name. COVEBDALE, 1535. IN the begynnynge was the worde, and the worde was with God, and God was y' worde. The same was in the begynnynge with God. All thinges were made by the same, and without the same was made nothinge that was made. In him was the life, and the life was the light of men ; and the light shyneth in the darknesse, and the darkness compre- hended it not. There was sent from God a man, whose name was Ihon. The same came for a wit- nesse, to beare wytnesse of y° light, that thorow him they all might beleue. He was not that light, but that he might beare witnesse of y* light. That was the true light, which lighteth all men, that come in to this worlde. He was in the worlde, I the worlde w.as made by him, and y' worlde knewe him not. He came in to his awne, and his awne receaued him not. But as many as re- ceaued him, to them gaue he power to be the children of God : euen soch as beleue in his name. Matthew, 1537. IN the beginninge was the worde, and the worde was with God : and the worde was God. The same was in the beginnynge wyth God. AH thinges were made by it, and wythout it, was made no- thynge that was made. In it was lyfe, and the lyfe was the lyght of men, and the lyght shyneth in y' darck- nes but the darcknes com- prehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same cam as a witnes to beare wytnes of the lyght, that all men through him myght beleue. He was not that lyght: but to beare witnes of the lyght. That was a true lyght whych lyghteth all me that come into the worlde. Ho was in the worlde, and the worlde was made by hym : and yet the worlde knewe hym not. " He cam amonge hys awne, and hj's awne receaued hym not. But as many as re- ceaued hym, to them he gaue power to be the sonnes of God in that they beleued on hys name : I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The population of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, according to the census of 1851, is 27,500,000 souls, and that of England alone, 16,920,000. But the extension of the English lan- guage must by no means be estimated by that of England, or even of the united kingdom. It may be said to be co-extensive with the habitable world, for of all people, except the Jews, the Enn-lish are the most widely scattered, and their language may thus be heard in every country, and amongst every nation, under heaven. The United States of America are inhabited almost exclusively by an English-speaking population. English is also the predominant language in the Canadas and the West Indies. In the East its ascendancy is being gradually increased and established: amongst the millions of India, for instance, it is becoming more and more cultivated; but in spite of the progress of edu- cation it will never altogether predominate over all the various native dialects spoken in the numerous colonies and settlements establislied by the enterprise, and maintained by the energy, of the Anwlo- Saxon race. The recent rapid increase in the population of the Australian colonies adds largely to the means previously operating in the distribution of the English tongue, which promises to become ere long widely diffused over the coasts and islands of the Southern Pacific Class III.] ENGLISH. 197 II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The English language is the daughter of the Saxon, and preserves to a great extent the features of its parent. So far, however, as respects its vocabulary, English is essentially a compound language, and borrows freely from all sides and from all sources. In the first period of its history it was greatly influenced by the Norman-French, introduced by William the Conqueror. During the first century after the Conquest, the two languages subsisted side by side; but a fusion gradually took place, in which the language of the people triumphed over that of their invaders, for although Norman words were freely admitted into the vocabulary, the genius and structural character of the new language evolved by this intermixture were Saxon. The exact period of the transmutation of Saxon into English has been disputed, but it seems most reasonable to believe that the process was gradual. A fragment of the Saxon Chronicle, published by Lye, and concluding with the year 1079, exhibits the language in the first st;ige of its transition state, no great deviation having then been made from Anglo-Saxon. But in the con- tinuation of the same chronicle, from 1135 to 1140 A.D., the commencement of those changes may be distinctly traced, which subsequently formed the distinctive peculiarities of the English language. The principal change introduced about this period was the gradual substitution of particles and auxiliary words for the terminal inflections of the Anglo-Saxon. The English has happily retained the facility of its parent language in compounding words, the only difference in this respect being, that, in the formation of its compound terms, the Anglo-Saxon drew only from its own resources, •whereas unfortunately the English has had recourse to the Latin, the Greek, the French, the Italian, and even the Arabic languages. It has been remarked by a distinguished foreigner, that "everywhere Cranmeb, 1539. 1 IN the begynnynge was the worde, and the worde ■was wyth God : and God was the worde. ^ Xhe same was in the begynnyng with God. ' All thynges were made by it, and without it, was made nothynge that was made. ■• In it was lyfe, and the lyfe was the lyght of men, * and the lyght shyn- eth in darcknes, and the darcknes comprehended it not. 6 There was sent from God a man, whose name was lohn. ' The same cam as a wytnes to beare wytnes of the l3'ght, tl\at all men through hyra myght beleue. * He was not thit lyght : but was sent to beare wytnes of the lyght. 9 That lyght was the true lyght, whych lyghteth euery man that cometh into the worlde. '0 He was in the worlde, and the worlde was made by hym : and the worlde knewe hym not. " He cam amonge hys awne, and hys awne re- ceaued him not. '2 But as man}' as receaued hym to them gaue he power to be the sonnes of God: euen them that beleued on hys name. Tavebneb, 1549. IN the begynnynge was the worde, and the word was with God, and the worde was God. The same was in the begynnynge wyth God. All thynges were made by it and without it was made nothynge that was made. In it was lyfe, and the lyfe was the lyght of men, and the lyght shyneth in the darknes, but the darknes comprehended it not. Ther was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came as a wytnes to beare wytnes of the light, that all men through him myght beleue. He was not that lyght but to beare witnes of the lyght. That was a true lyght, which lyghteth all men that come into the worlde. He was in the worlde, and the worlde was made by him, and yet the world knewe him not. (Jdr He came amonge his (owne) and his owne receiued him not. But as manye as recpyued him to them he gave power to be the sonnes of God in that they beleued on his name. Geneva, 1557. ' IN the beginnyng was the word, and the worde was with God, and that worde was God. 2 The same was in the begynnyng with God. 3 Althinges were made by it, and without it was made nothing that was made. ^ In it was lyfe, and the lyfe was the light of men. ^ And the light shineth in darkenes, and the darknes comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was lohn. ' The same came for a wytnes, to beare wytnes of the light, that all men through hym might beleue. * He was not that light, but ii'ax sent to beare wytnes of the light. 9 That was that true lyght, which lyghteth all men that come into the worlde. '" He was in the worlde, and the worlde was m.ade by hym : and the worlde knewe him not. " He came among his owne, and his owne receaued him not. •2 But as many as receaued hym, to them he gaue power to be the sonnes of God, euen to them that beleue in his Bishops, 1568. ' IN the begynnyng was the worde, and the worde was with God : and that worde was God. 2 The same was in the begynnyng with God. 3 All thynges were made by it : and without it, was made nothyng that was made. ■' In it was lyfe, and the lyfe was the lyght of men. ^ And the lyght shyneth in darkenesse : and the darkenesse compre- hended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John : ' The same came for a witnesse, to beare witntsse of the lyght, that all men through hym myght beleue. 8 He was not that Ij'ght : but was sent to beare wit- nesse of the lyght. 9 That [lyght] was the true lyght, which lyghteth every man that commeth into the worlde. "> He was in the worlde, and the worlde was made by h3'm, and the worlde knewe hym not. " He came among his owne, and his owne receaued hym not. '^ But as many as receaued hym, to them gave he power to be the sonnes of God, euen them that be- leued on his name. 198 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. the principle of utility and application dominates in England, and constitutes at once the physiognomy and the force of its civilisation." ' This principle is certainly legible in its language, which although possessed of remarkable facility in the adaptation of foreign terras and even idioms to its own use, is at the same time free from the trammels v^ith which the other languages of its class are encumbered. In the gender of nouns, for instance, we meet with no perplexity or anomaly, every noun being masculine, feminine, or neuter, according to the nature of the object or idea it represents; and as the adjectives are all indeclinable, their concordance with the noun is at once effected without the apparently useless trouble of altering the final letters. This perfect freedom from useless encumbrance adds greatly to the ease and vigour of expression; undoubtedly, however, the best English is that which is most free from foreign admixture. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. During the period of the gradual disappearance of the Anglo-Saxon and evolution of the English language, as above described, England was under papal domination, and the Scriptures were no longer sought after. The Anglo-Saxon versions became useless from the alteration in the language, and until the fourteenth century the efforts made to produce a new translation were few and feeble. An ecclesiastic named Orm, or Ormin, supposed from his dialect to have been a native of the north of England, composed a metrical paraphrase of the Gospels and Acts, in lines of fifteen syllables, during the latter part of the twelfth century. This work is entitled the Ormulum, from the name of its author, and is preserved in the Bodleian Library. A more extensive metrical paraphrase, com- prising the whole of the Old and New Testaments, is to be found amongst other poetry of a religious nature in a work entitled Sowle-hele (Soul's health), belonging to the Bodleian Library : it is usually Rheims, 1582. ' IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. 2 Xhis vvas in the beginning with God. 3 Al things were made by him : and without him was made nothing. That which vvas made, < in him vvas life, and the life vvas the light of men : 8 and the light shineth in darkenesse, and the darkenesse did not com- prehend it. 6 There vvas a man sent from God, whose name vvas John. ' This man came for testimonie : to giue testimonie of the light, that al might beleeue through him. 8 He vvas not the light, but to giue testimonie of the light. 9 It vvas the true light, which lighteneth euery man that commeth into this world. '" He was in the world, and the world vvas made by him, and the world knew him not. " He came into his owne, and his owne received him not. 12 But as many as re- ceiued him, he gaue them power to be made the sonnes of God, to those that beleeue in his name. DouAT, 1847. ' IN the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 2 xhe same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him : and without him was made nothing that was made : ■• In him was life, and the life was the light of men : ^ And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not compre- hend it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ' This man came for a witness ; to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him. * He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light. 9 That was the true light, wliich enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. " He came into his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as re- ceived him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Authorised, 1611. I IN the beginning was the Word, and the ^^'ord was with God, and the Word was God. 2 'Jhe same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. ■* In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ^ And the light shin- eth in darknes, and the dark- nes comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was lohn. ' The same came for a witnesse, to beare witnesse of the light, that all men through him might beleeue. " Hee was not that light, but itas sent to beare witnesse of that light. 9 That was the true light, which lighteth euery man that commeth into the world. "> Hee was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not " Hee came vnto his owne, and his owne receiued him not. '-But as many as receiued him, to them gaue hee power to be- come the sonnes of God, euen to them that beleeue on his Name. Blatnet, 1769. ' IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was Gol. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made. •• In him was life ; and the life was the light of men. * And the light shineth in darkness ; and the darkness comprehendeil it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ' The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He vvas not that Light, but ivas sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, 'o He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. " He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as re- ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that be- lieve on his name. Class III.] ENGLISH. 199 ascribed to tlie end of tlie twelfth century. Another metrical version, probably of the same date, is preserved in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: it comprises only the first two books of the Old Testament, and is written in the dialect then spoken in the north of England. In the same College, a metrical version of the Psalms, apparently written about the year 1300, has been deposited: this version adheres to the Latin Psalter, corrected by Jerome, as closely as the nature of the composition will admit. Several other MSS. of the old English Psalter, preserved in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library, are supposed to be exemplars of the same version, with the orthography altered in conformity with the state of the language at the periods in which they were written. A translation of the Psalms from the same text (the corrected Latin of Jerome), was executed by Eichard KoUe, of Hampole, near Doncaster, during the early part of the fourteenth century. This version is remark- able as being the first portion of the Scriptures ever translated into Enghsh prose. Rolle, or Hampole as he is more generally called, also wrote a paraphrase in verse of a part of Job. Two other versions of the Psalms, belonging to the same period, are likewise extant. In Bene't College, Cambridge, there is a version of Mark, Luke, and the Pauline Epistles, but the translator and the date are unknown; and in the British Museum there is a translation of the Gospels appointed to be read on Sundays, written in the northern dialect. Such were the principal translations of scriptural portions executed before the time of Wickliffe. A version has been commonly ascribed to John de Trevisa, vicar of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, who flourished toward the close of the fourteenth century; but he only translated a few detached passages, ■which he introduced in certain parts of his writings. Some texts translated by him were painted on the walls of the chapel belonging to Berkeley Castle. To WicklilFe, therefore, " the Morning Star of the Eeformation," belongs the honour of having produced tlie first version of the entire Scriptures in the English language. His translation was made immediately from the Latin Vulgate, and was completed about the year 1380. So great was the opposition it excited, that in 1390 a bdl was brought into the House of Lords for its total suppression. The motion, however, was thrown aside through the influence of the Duke of Lancaster, who ia reported to have said, " We will not be the dregs of all, seeing other nations have the law of God, which is the law of our faith, written in their own language." It was perhaps, about this period, that the followers of Wickliffe revised and corrected his version : several copies of this revision are extant. In 1408 the farther translation, and even the perusal, of the Scriptures was formally prohibited in a Convocation held at Oxford, by Archbishop Arundel. Great persecution followed this edict, and many suffered unto death for having read the English Bible. Although Wickliffe's version of the English Bible was the earliest in point of execution, yet, as the art of printing was unknown during the age in which it was produced, it was among the latest of the English versions in being committed to the press. The first printed edition was published in 1731, by Mr. Lewis. This edition, which was preceded by a history of the English biblical transla- tions, by the editor, included only the New Testament. The same version of the New Testament was re-edited in 1810 by the Rev. H. H. Baber, with very valuable prolegomena. It was agam published with extreme accuracy in 1841, as a portion of the English Hexapla, the best MSS. having been most carefully collated for this purpose by George Offor, Esq.; a MS. then in the possession of the Duke of Sussex was used as the basis of this edition. Another edition was pubhshed by Pickering in 1848 : it is printed from a contemporary MS. written about A.D. 1380, formerly in the monastery of Sion, and now preserved in the collection of Lea Wilson, F. S. A. The Old Testament of Wickliffe's version remained in MS. till within the last few years; but a complete edition of both Testaments was published at Oxford, in 1850, under the editorship of the Rev. J. Forshall and Sir F. Madden. We now come to the history of our authorised version of the Scriptures, which may be said to date from the year 1524, when the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, the first portions of Tyndale's translation, were printed at Hamburgh. Tyndide's version, which has served as the basis of all succeeding versions of the English Scriptures, was executed directly from the sacred originals. It was 200 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. produced in tlie midst of persecution, and furnishes a wonderful example of the result of steadfast faith and firm determination of purpose. Though opposed by the combined power of the King of England, his whole council, and the emperor Charles V., William T3mdale contrived to elude their vigilance until the great work, upon which his heart was set, was accomplished. " Having from the first con- sulted only with God and his own conscience, he possessed an indescribable severity of conviction that he had but one thing to do, and though perpetually exposed to seizure and death, not a day was to be lost by him, nor was lost." And although he finally sealed his testimony with his blood, (for he was martyred at Vilvorde, near Brussels, in 1536,) yet he died in the midst of victory; for before he expired no less than fourteen editions of his version of the New Testament had been published, the last of which, being the first edition of the English Scriptures ever printed in his native country, was passing through the press in London " before or at the very time that he was receiving at Vilvorde the crown of martyrdom." It seemed as if all who had been concerned in this first translation of the English Scriptures from the original tongues were to be admitted to the glory of martyrdom, for John Fryth, who had yielded some assistance in the work, was afterwards burnt to death in Smithfield; and Wilham Roye, who had at one time been Tyndale's amanuensis, was put to death in Portugal on a charge of heresy. Although the enemies of the truth thus succeeded in removing the translators from the earth, their efforts to suppress the translation, by destroying all the printed copies, were utterly unavailing. On one occa- sion Sir Thomas More, who was then chancellor, inquired of an individual who was suffering imprison- ment for conscience sake, how Tyndale subsisted abroad, and who were the persons in London tliat abetted and supported him : the prisoner replied, that it was the Bishop of London who maintained him by sending a sum of money to buy iip the impression of his New Testament. The chancellor admitted the truth of the statement, and suffered the man to escape. Coverdale's Version of the entire Scriptures was published in 1535: it was printed on the continent, but at what place is uncertain. In producing this version, Coverdale, by his individuiil energy, accomplished what the combined efforts of the king, of the two Houses of Convocation, and of Archbishop Cranmer, had been unable to effect; for in 1533 an edition of the complete English Bible had been resolved upon, and actually commenced by Cranmer, but the attempt proved utterly abortive. In his preface, Coverdale states that he had used five different Latin and "Douche" (or German) versions in the formation of his own. It is also certain from internal evidences that he availed himself largely of the labours of Tyndale. " His style," observes Scrivener, " is vigorous ; the renderings of particular texts are very perspicuous, though they are often questionable and diffuse; while an air of freshness and novelty pervades the volume, since no one of our translators has ventured on such bold interpretation as Coverdale, and but little of his peculiar diction was adopted by those who followed him." This translation, happily, was regarded with favour by Henry VIII., and was the first English Bible allowed by royal authority. This capricious monarcli further directed, in 1536, that a copy of the whole Bible in Latin and in English should be laid in the choir of every churcli throughout the realm, " for every man that would, to look and read therein." Matthew's Bible was edited by John Rogers, the ardent friend of Tyndale, and the proto- martyr of Mary's reign. The whole of the New, and the first part of the Old Testament, as far as the end of the Second of Chronicles, was merely a reprint of Tyndale's version witli a few orthographical alterations. Tyndale had also translated a number of chapters from the Prophetical Books, which had been printed along with the New Testament. These Rogere inserted, and the portions which Tyndale had left untranslated he supplied from Coverdale's version. The printers, Grafton and ^Yhitchurch, bore unaided the entire expense of the publication of this work; and from prudential motives Rogers affixed to it the fictitious name of Thomas Matthew. It was printed in folio in 1537, probably at Marlborow in Hesse. It is remarkable that up to the d.ay of its arrival in London, the very existence Class III.] ENGLISH. 201 of this Bible was unknown to Henry and liis ministers. During the previous ten years this version had been denounced and proscribed ; tlie copies surreptitiously imported into England had been searched for and burnt; even the persons by whom they had been read had been committed to the flames, and, only the year previously, the translator himself had been put to death ; and yet, no sooner was the entire version, " the desire of Tyndale's heart," printed for the first time in one volume and sent to England, than the hearts of those who had heretofore been persecutors were over- ruled to receive and sanction it. The volume received the royal license, and enactments were forth- with issued commanding the clergy to place copies in all the churches that the parishioners might obtain constant access to them. Cranmer's Great Bible (so called from its containing a prologue by Archbishop Cranmer, as well as from its size) is a revision of Matthew's Bible. The edition was commenced at Paris, where the paper was better and cheaper, and the workmen more skilful, than in England. But before the work could be completed at press, the Inquisition interfered, and the edition, consisting of 2500 copies, was seized and condemned to the flames. Some copies, however, were rescued and brought to England; the French printers were prevailed upon to bring their types and presses to London, and the edition was completed under the correction and revision of Coverdale in 1539. Taverner's Bible is likewise a revision of Matthew's Bible, edited, as the name imports, by Richard Taverner. It appeared in folio in 1549, and was dedicated to the king. The Geneva Version of the Bible is a revision of Tyndale's version, executed after the immortal work of Tyndale had been again diligently compared with the Hebrew and Greek texts. It was usual to ascribe this translation to the principal reformers who had taken refuge in Geneva during the persecutions of Mary. Anderson, however, has sliown that so far from this version being the collective work of several individuals, the Xcw Testament can in all probability be correctly attributed only to one individual, the Eev. William Whittingham, afterwards dean of Durham; while in the translation of the Old Testament, the names of Gilby and Sampson only are to be associated with that of Whittingham. The Old Testament appeared in 1540. The New Testament was published at Geneva in 1557, and is the first in our language which contains the distinction of verses by numerical figures. Archbishop Parker's or the Bishops' Bible was completed in 1568, after having been in course of preparation during three years. Several individuals were engaged in the work, for the Bible was divided into at least fourteen different portions, each of which was allotted to persons of learning and ability : eight of the individuals who thus took part in the revision were bishops ; hence the edition is generally known as the " Bishops' Bible." Archbishop Parker, the promoter of this revision, employed otlier critics to compare the version with the sacred texts, and he directed and reviewed the whole work himself. His object in setting forth this edition was, not to produce a new version, but to test and correct Cranmer's Bible, the translation then commonly in use, by a critical examination of the inspired originals. This Bible was in 1571 appointed to be used in churches, and for forty years it continued to be the Church version, although the Geneva Bible was more generally used in private houses. A reprint of the Bishops' Bible, published in 1572 in large folio, with cor- rections and prolegomena, is commonly called " Matthew Parker's Bible." King James's Bible, as our present authorised version is sometimes called, was commenced with the sanction of that monarch in the year 1604. It was undertaken on account of several objections having been made to the Bishops' Bible at the Conference held at Hampton Court during the preceding year. Fifty-four men, selected on account of their eminent classical attainments, were 202 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. appointed to execute the work; but from death, or some other cause, only forty-seven eventually engaged in it. They were divided into six companies, to each of whom a separate portion was assigned. They met periodically, for the purpose of conferring on the result of their individual labours; and at these meetings, says Selden, " one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, etc. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on." The basis of the excellent version thus produced still continued to be Tyndale's; for, according to the directions given them at the outset, the translators followed the Bishops' Bible (which, as we have shewn, was based on that of Tyndale) as closely as the original would permit; but they compared it with the early editions of Tyndale's version, and with Coverdale's, Matthew's, Cranmcr's, Taverner's, and the Genevan Bibles, and adopted from each the renderings which were the most faithful to the sacred text. Our present authorised version, therefore, so far from being a new translation, was a compilation from previous translations; but its inestimable value arises from the fact, that it is a compilation founded on a collation with the original Scriptures, conducted by men duly qualified for so momentous an undertaking. And it may be said to be, on the whole, the best substitute there is for the Hebrew and Greek originals. It was commenced in the spring of the year 1607, and was completed at press in 1611. Selden, Lowth, Horsley, Middleton, and other learned men who have critically examined this Bible, bear testimony to its great excellence. Dr. Adam Clarke justly remarks, that "the translators have seized the very spirit and soul of the original;" and that, of all European translations. King James's version is " the most accurate and faithful." Although this precious volume bears the name of King James, we are not indebted to him even for pecuniary aid in its production. Its publication was a mere business transaction; the entire expenses of the work were undertaken by Robert Barker, patentee of the office of king's printer, and it was printed and published by him as a speculation in trade. This Bible of 1611 is, with some trifling emendations and ortho- graphical alterations, the Bible of all who use the English language at the present day. It must be observed, however, that the Roman Catholics have a version of their own, which is in general use among them in preference to ours. Their version of the New Testament was printed at Rheims in 1582, and that of the Old Testament at Douay in 1609-10. The real character and object of this version can only be learned from the preface and notes: the text does not contain many real departures from the Vulgate, although a studied obscurity involves the entire diction. A great number of Greek words, such as azi/mes, pasche, etc., are left untranslated, for the purpose, no doubt, of mis- leading and perplexing common readers. And the notes breathe such a spirit of treason, and such a recklessness of assertion, that now they are commonly omitted in reprints. The text has been frequently revised and printed for distribution among Roman Catholics, and from time to time it has been rendered more and more conformable to our own authorised text. The Socinians have also a version of the New Testament: it was published in London in 1808, by anonymous editors, professedly on the basis of Archbishop Newcome's translation; but his authority is disregarded in all passages where their peculiar sentiments can be obtruded. Several translations of portions of the Scriptures have been executed in English since the year 1611; but our venerable authorised version has not hitherto, in whole or in part, been superseded by any. Passing over the translations of Bellamy and Geddes, which are too extravagant to deserve mention, several translations of particular books of Scripture by Lowth, Newcome, Horsley, Lee, Henderson and others, might be enumerated; yet these can scarcely be called versions in the popular sense of the term, being adapted rather for the learned than for the people. At the present time, there are associations established in America for the revision of King James's Bible, to meet the pretended wants of the Christian public there. But judging from the specimens put forth by those associations, the Authorised Version has nothing to fear. It rises high above the cavil of all its assailants in dignity and in force of language: in beauty of expression, and in an easy and free flow of words, to which no otlier version can aspire. We notice also a similar movement in this country, raised by persons who are little aware of what they desire, in wishing for a new version of the Bible. All our version requires Class III.] ENGLISH. 203 is to be carefully revised, in order to fit it for public reading, leaving the frame and body of the whole work untouched. IV. — PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE ENGLISH SCRIPTURES. The editions of the Bible and Testament in our language have been so numerous, that even the bare enumeration of them would be a matter of absolute impossibility. During the eighty-seven years which elapsed from the appearance of the first portion of Tyndale's version (a.d. 1524) to the publi- cation of the authorised version in 1611, at least 278 editions of the Bible and Testament are known to have been printed ; of these the principal are the following : — 1524. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, translated by Tyndale, printed at Hamburgh. 1525. The New Testament of Tyndale's version, in 4to., published at Cologne and Worms: only one fragment of this work is known to be in existence: it was discovered in 1834 by Mr. Eodd, a bookseller, who happening to examine a quarto tract by QScolampadiiis, which he had received from a friend, perceived that there was attached to it, by binding, a portion in the English language, black letter. This proved to be a relic of the three thousand copies of Tyndale's first edition of the New Testament. It afterwards adorned the library of the Hon. Thomas Grenville, and by his munificent gift it is now in the British Museum. 1526. The New Testament of the same version in 18mo., published at Worms. Until recently this has been generally believed to have been the first edition of Tyndale's version. A copy, wanting the titlepage, is in the Baptist museum at Bristol, from which the London reprint, published by Mr. Bagster in 1836, was executed. 1526. The New Testament of the same version, published at Antwerp. This was the first surreptitious edition, and was followed by two other editions, printed at the same place, during the two subsequent years. A corrected edition, compared with the Greek by Tyndale, was published in 1534: it forms one of the versions in the English Hexapla. 1535. The entire Bible, with the Apocrypha, translated by Coverdale, some time lord bishop of Exeter, published in London, in folio. An exact reprint of this Bible, in Koman cha- racters, was published by Mr. Bagster, in 4to. in 1838, from a copy in the possession of the late Duke of Sussex. A second edition has since been issued. 1537. Matthew's Bible, in folio, probably printed at ]\Iarlborow, in Hesse. Matthew was the cognomen adopted by Rogers, the translator. This Bible was a revised edition of Tyndale's version, with the chapters which he had left untranslated supplied from Coverdale's version, tlic whole being carefully corrected by Rogers. 1539. Hollybushe's New Testament, 8vo., London. This is a reprint of Coverdale's translation, with the Latin version. The printer, Nicolson, inserted the name of Hollybushe, a man employed by him, in the titlepage. This New Testament was reprinted in 8vo., in London, a.d. 1839. 1539. Cranmer's Great Bible, folio. This edition was commenced at Paris, and finished in London. It is a revision of Matthew's Bible, produced by a re-examination of the sacred texts; and with the prologues and notes by Tyndale, and the other notes appended to Matthew's Bible, wholly omitted. It contains a prologue, or preface, by Archbishop Cranmer. 1539. Taverner's Bible, folio, London. This was a correction of Matthew's Bible, with a large proportion of his marginal notes retained, and others added by Taverncr. 1550. The Gospel of Matthew, and part of the first chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, was translated by Sir John Cheke, from the Greek, about the year 1550; but this version, with the original notes that accompanied it, remained in MS. till 1843, when it was committed to the press under the editorship of the Rev. James Goodwin. Sir John Cheke made 204 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. much use of the older Enghsh versions, and especially endeavoured to avoid the intro- duction of any word derived from a Latin root. 1557. The Geneva New Testament in 8vo., printed at Geneva, by Conrad Badius. The second edition was published at the same place in 1560. An exact reprint of the edition of 1557, with the italic supplements and marginal annotations of the original, was published by Mr. Bagster in 1842: it also appears as one of the versions of the English Hexapla. 1560. The Geneva Bible (containing the Old and New Testaments, with annotations), printed In 4to. at Geneva. The second edition was published in folio, in London, the following year: numerous other editions were subsequently printed at Geneva and London. Some editions of the Geneva Bible (as those of 1599 and of 1611) contain Beza's translation of the New Testament, Englished by L. Thompson. At least 1 29 editions of the Geneva Bible and Testament are known to have been printed between the years 1560 and 1611. 1568. Archbishop Parker's, or the Bishops' Bible, folio, London: another edition, in quarto, was issued the following year for the use of families. This Bible has numerous marginal references, notes, and tables. The words which are printed in italics by James's trans- lators are here printed in a smaller type, and placed between brackets. The chapters are divided into verses, and the 7th verse of 1 John v., which was before printed in a different letter, is here inserted in the same type as the rest of the volume. 1611. The present authorised version, commonly called King James's Bible, folio, London. In 1649, in consequence of the high estimation in which the Genevan version continued to be held, this version was printed with the Genevan notes; but about this period, says Anderson, it prevailed, and took the place it has occupied ever since. 1769. A revised edition of the authorised version, prepared by Dr. Blayney, under the direction of the vice-chancellor and delegates of the Clarendon press at Oxford. This is con- sidered a standard edition, on account of its great accuracy ; yet one hundred and sixteen typographical errors, which evaded the scrutiny of Dr. Blayney, were rectified by Eyre and Strahan in their editions of 1806 and 1813. There is no land which has been so highly favoured as Britain in the multiplicity of editions of the Scriptures printed since the year 1611. The number of copies of the Scriptures printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society alone, from its establishment in 1804 to the beginning of 1860, is as follows: — Bibles 10,609,106 Testaments 10,859,816 Psalms 568,587 Gospels and Acts . . . . 5,198 If to these be added the number of copies printed by the Universities, together with those pub- lished by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and other kindred Societies, with the numerous editions published by Messrs. Bagster, as well as those issued in Scotland, the aggregate amount seems almost incredible. The number of English Bibles and New Testaments separately which have passed through the press within the perfect recollection of many now living, has exceeded the number of souls in Britain ! It has been more than double the population in 1801 ! And yet there is in many places an awful destitution. A large proportion has been sent to the colonies ; and if Mr. Dudley's calculation be correct, of wear and tear (in schools particularly) at the rate of 15 per cent. ■per annum, we shall cease to wonder at the continued demand. A revised edition of the authorised English version was a few years since published at New York, under the sanction of the "American Bible Union" institution of that city. In this edition the Class III.] FLEMISH. 205 pliraseology of tlie authorised version is to a great extent retained, but some corrections and emenda- tions, proposed by eminent biblical scholars, have been introduced; and the ecclesiastical and Latinised terms employed in certain passages by King James's translators are rendered into plain English words, adapted to the comprehension of unlearned readers. FLEMISH. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. I to 14 [Brussels, 1838.] In het beginne was het Woordt, en het Woordt was by Godt, en het Woordt was Godt. ^ Dit was in het beginne by Godt. ^ Alle dingen zyn door het zelve gemaekt, en zonder dat en is 'er niet gemaekt van al dat 'er gemaekt is. ^ In 't zelve was het leven, en 't leven was het licht der menschen. '^ En het licht schynt in de duysternisse, en de duysternis en heeft 'et niet begrepen. ^ Daer was eenen mensch van Godt afgezonden, met name Joannes. ' Dezen quam als getuyge, om getuygenisse van het licht te geven, op dat zy alle door hem gelooven zouden. ® Hy en was het licht niet, maer om getuyge- nisse te geven van het licht, ^ Dit was het waeragtig licht, het welk alle menschen verlicht, komende. in deze wereldt. ^^ Hy was in de wereldt, en de wereldt is door hem gemaekt, en de wereldt en heeft hem niet gekent. ^^ Hy quam in syn eyge, en de syne en namen hem niet aen. ^'^ Maer aen alle, die hem aengenomen hebben, heeft hy de magt vergunt van kinderen Godts te worden, aen hen, die in synen naem gelooven. '^ Welke niet uyt den bloede, noch uyt den wille des vleesch, noch uyt den wille des mans, maer uyt Godt geboren zyn. ^* En het Woordt is vleesch geworden, en heeft onder ons gcwoont : en wy hebben syne glorie gezien, een glorie als van den eenig-geboren des Vaders, vol van gratie en waerheyt. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Flemish, though merely a dialectic variety of the Dutch, is entitled to prior consideration on account of its being the older dialect of tlie two. It is spoken in East and West Flanders, in Antwerp, and in part of Limburg, the collective population of which, according to the latest census (1856), exceeds 2,000,000. It is also spoken in the arrondissements of Brussels and Louvain, in Brabant, and even in parts of the neighbouring departments of France. In the other provinces of the kingdom of Belgium, (namely, Liege, Namur, Hainault, part of Luxemburg, and the arrondisseraent of Nivelles in Brabant,) Walloon, which is derived from the French of the thirteenth century, is spoken. German is exten- sively spoken in portions of Luxemburg and Limburg; but Modern French is the language of the court, of the legislature, and of general literature, throughout Belgium. It is extensively cultivated by the educated classes, and, even in the proper Flemish provinces, all government notices are drawn up in French as well as in Flemish. The dominant religion in Belgium is Eoman Catholicism : during the frightful persecutions of the Duke of Alva, under Phihp II. of Spain, the Protestants of Belgium, having no alternative between recantation and martyrdom, lied the country; and it was not until the period of the French revolution that Protestantism was even tolerated. 206 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. II. — CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. One language, sometimes called the Bclgic, a branch of the Platt-Deutsch, or Low German, was originally common to the people of Holland and Belgium. It was introduced into this country by various Germanic tribes, among whom may be mentioned as the most remarkable the Batavi, celebrated as the brave allies of the Romans, and the Saxons and Salian Franks, who, on the fall of the Eoman empire, dispossessed the Batavi, and established themselves in their territories. The Belgaj, from whom the whole country received its ancient denomination, are by some regarded as a Celtic, and by others as a Germanic, race; while others contend that they were a mixed race of borderers. It is, however, generally admitted that the present language of the Netherlands results from the coalescence of the petty dialects of numerous tribes of Germanic extraction, among whom the country was subdivided. In the thirteenth century, the language then predominant in Holland as well as in Flanders received the appellation of Flemish on account of the flourishing state of the Flemings, and the superior diction and grammatical accuracy of their writers; and by this name it continued to be frequently designated, until the language we now call the Dutch, from being a mere provincial dialect of the Flemish, acquired the dignity of a written and polished tongue. " Even at tlie present day," says a recent writer, " Flemish appears nothing more than the Dutch of the preceding century." Flemish differs from Dutch chiefly in orthography and pronunciation; and owing, perhaps, to the great ascendancy of the French language in Belgium, it has adopted many French words. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Brandt, in his History of the Reformation, speaks of certain Protestants in the Netherlands turning the Scriptures into Low Dutch rhymes, in the early part of the thirteenth century, "according to the custom of tjiese ages, and in imitation of the Old Germans, who used to record their most memorable transactions in verse." A prose version of the Scriptures is also said to have been executed about the year 1300, and Le Long gives the following short list of ancient MSS. : — 1. Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, four Books of Kings, Tobit, Daniel, Judith, Esdras, Esther, and Maccabees, in Belgic; folio. In the Colbert Library. 2. Four Gospels, written 1472. In the Bodleian Library. 3. Epistles of Paul, the Acts, and the Apocalypse; also in the Bodleian Library. 4. Apocalypse in the Brabant (or Flemish) language. In the Basle Library. The first printed edition of the Belgic, or Flemish, Bible appears to have been that published in two volumes folio, at Delft, in 1477, and again at Gouda, in folio, in 1479. It is imknown when the translation was executed; Le Long says, that the text is the same as that of 1300. It is evidently translated from the Latin Vulgate, and the Gouda edition of 1479 contains several fabulous narratives intermixed with the text. Other editions were printed at Antwerp in 1518 and 1525. In 1526 another translation of the Scriptures into Belgic was made by several learned men, whose names, unfortunately, have not been transmitted to us, and was published at Antwerp. It seems to have been collated with such parts of Luther's version as had then been published ; and in later editions was rendered still more conformable to that celebrated version. The printer, Jacob a Lies- veldt, published several successive editions of this Belgic translation at Antwerp, but he was at last condemned and beheaded, because, in the annotations of one of his Bibles, he had said that " the salvation of mankind proceeds from Christ alone." The next edition was that of the Old Testament by William Vosterman, who represented it as having been printed from a very carefully corrected translation of the Latin text; but Le Long says, that " it sometimes departs from Luther's version, and in other cases follows it." The Old Testament was published at Antwerp, in folio, in 1528, and the New Testament in 1531, and again in 1533. Class III.] FLEMISH. 207 This edition was followed by others, almost too numerous to be here speciOed. Many of these editions were afterwards prohibited by the Inquisition, and their continued publication was suspended by the edict of Charles V. in 1546, which ordered that "none should presume to print any books unless they first obtained from the emperor a license for exercising the trade of a printer, &c., on pain of death." It was, however, found impossible to withhold the Scriptures from the people, and certain divines of the University of Lou vain took upon themselves the task of revising and correcting the Belgic version according to the last revision of the Latin Vulgate. Nicholas von Wingh, a regular canon of Louvain, was the principal conductor of this work; an edition of the whole Bible was published by him and his assistants, in folio, at Louvain and Cologne, in 1548. This version was examined and approved by learned doctors of the fliculty of theology of Louvain, deputed by Charles; and it was published under the sanction of that emperor. After numerous editions of this version had been issued at Antwerp, it was revised and corrected by the doctors of Louvain, according to the text of the Vulgate, as revised by order of Pope Clement VIII. This revised translation was printed at the celebrated Plantin press, at Antwerp, in 1599; again at Cologne in 1604, and at Antwerp in 1626: and it may, perhaps, be regarded as the standard Flemish version. Several other revised editions of this version followed. In 1717 another version of the Belsic Scriptures was published, with short notes on difficult passages, by -lEgidius Wit, a Ghent divine. This version chiefly follows the Vulgate, but in certain parts the original texts have been consulted: the idiom in which it is written is that of the provinces of Flanders and Brabant. About the same time another translation of the Belgic Bible was commenced by Andrew Scurrius of Gorcum, licentiate of the University of Louvain. Two volumes were printed at Utrecht in 1715-1717: but the death of the translator in 1719 put an end to the work, when he had carried it only as far as the Second Book of Kings. It is said to be in the purest dialect of the Flemish. Several other translations of the whole, or parts, of the Scriptures into Flemish might be enumerated, but little is known concerning them beyond the mere name of the translator, and date of execution. In 1689-90 a Flemish version was published at Emmerick, which had been made by Andrew Vander Schurcn, from the French edition of Mons, the first edition of De Sacy's French version. This version went through several editions at Emmerick and at Antwerp. Another Flemish translation according to the Vulgate was printed at Antwerp in 1717, and again at Utrecht in 1718. This is the last Flemish version mentioned by Le Long. In 1820, in accordance with the wishes of the people, permission was given by the Archbishop of Malines to an individual to print an edition of the Flemish New Testament, translated by Maurentorf, without note or comment, for the use of the Roman Catholics; and it was at the same time stated that no such edition had been printed since the year 1717. The edition sanctioned by the archbishop appeared at Brussels about the year 1821 ; and an edition of the whole Bible was printed at the same time from the Louvain edition of 1599. This latter edition found a wide circulation, the Bible having, from the scarcity of copies, become almost an unknown book in the Flemish provinces. It does not appear that the British and Foreign Bible Society granted any assistance in the publication of this edition; but owing to its favourable reception, an edition consisting of 2656 copies was printed, by order, it is generally supposed, of that Society at Brussels in 1825. It was printed from the Antwerp edition of the Flemish Testament published in 1717, and in the same 12mo. form. Owing however to the overthrow of the Orange family, and the consequent increased influence of the priests, this edition remained very much as a dead stock upon the hands of the Society, until the arrival of Mr. W. P. Tiddy in the country about the year 1833. Affected with the state of Belgium, and its awful destitution of the Scriptures, he made several applications for small supplies in French and Flemish, which were cheerfully granted. At length, in 1835, he was invited to settle at Brussels as the agent of the Society, when he very soon disposed of the remaining copies of the Flemish Testament. A second edition of the Flemish Testament, of 8000 copies, was printed under his superintendence 208 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. at Brussels in 18.37, followed by a third edition of the Testament, and an edition of the entire Bible. Another edition (of 5000 copies) of the Flemish Testament issued from the Brussels press in 1854. The total number of copies issued by the Society up to the beginning of 18G0 have been 5000 Bibles, and 78,750 Testaments. The active agency of Mr. Tiddy on the Bible Society's behalf — extended over a period of above eighteen years (1835 to 1854) — has been productive of highly important results in connexion with the distribution of the Word of God. Besides the central depository at Brussels, depositories for the sale of the Scriptures have been opened at Amsterdam and Cologne, and the total issue of copies of the Scriptures from these three depots, for the supply of Belgium, Holland, and Northern Germany, in the respective languages vernacular to each, amounted up to the commencing portion of the year 1854 to the extraordinary number of 899,568 volumes. Since Mr. Tiddy's retirement from this post, in 1854, the separate agencies have been maintained, and with a like measure of success. DUTCH. SPECIMEN, EEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. In den beginne was het Woord, en het Woord was bij God, en lict Woord was God. - Dit was in den beginne bij God. ^ Alle dingen zijn door hetzelve gemaakt, en zondcr hetzelve is geen ding gemaakt, dat gemaakt is. ^ In hetzelve was het leven, en het leven was het licht der menschen. ^ En het licht schijnt in de duisternis, en de duisternis heeft hetzelve niet begrepen. '' Er was een mensch van God gezonden, wiens naam was Johannes. '^ Deze kwam tot eene getuigenis, om van het licht te getuigen, opdat zij alien door hem gelooven zouden. * Hij was het licht niet, maar u'as gezonden, opdat liij van het licht getuigen zou. ^ Dit was het waarachtige licht, hetwelk verlicht een' iegelijk mensch, komende in de wereld. ^^ Hij was in de wereld, en de wereld is door hem gemaakt ; en de wereld heeft hem niet gekend. ^^ Hij is gekomen tot het zijne, en de zijnen hebben hem niet aangenomen. ^'^ Maar zoo velen hem aangenomen hel)bcn, dien heeft hij magt gegeven kinderen Gods te worden, namelijk die in zijnen naam gelooven ; ^^ Welke niet uit den bloede, noch uit den wil den vleesches, noch uit den wil des mans, maar uit God geboren zijn. ^*En het Woord is vleesch geworden, en heeft onder ons gewoond (en wij hebben zijne heerlijkheid aanschouwd, eene heerlijkheid als des eeniggeborenen van den Vader), vol van genade en waarheid. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Dutch Is a language spoken by all classes of society in Holland. This kingdom comprises the terri- tories which formerly belonged to the Seven United Provinces; and its total area, Including Dutch Limbiirg and Dutch Luxemburg, is 13,598 square miles. The population, according to the latest census (1857), is 3,523,800. The number of Roman Catholics in Holland has been estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000: the majority of the Protestants belong to the Calvinistic or Dutch Reformed Church, which is similar in many respects to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. There are, like- Class III.] DUTCH. 209 wise, considerable mimbers of Lutherans, Remonstrants, and Mennonitcs, in Holland; all sects are freely tolerated, and tlie Church and State liavlnj^ been separated since 1816, the teachers of every denomi- nation can receive pay from the State. The Dutch language is also spoken to a great extent in Southern Africa, which was formerly under the dominion of Holland: it is likewise spoken, more or less, in Java, the Moluccas, and the other Dutch colonies, and among the Dutch colonists of the United States. ir. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Except in orthography and pronunciation, Dutch, in almost every respect, resembles the Flemish language. Like Flemish, it is very rich in compound words, which it forms freely from its own indigenous roots: it possesses more terms of Latin origin than the German, though fewer than tlie English; and being derived, like the English, from the low German stem, many of its words present a remarkable analogy to the corresponding English terms. In pronunciation it is more guttural than the Flemish,' and even than the German ; but altliough neither soft nor musical, it is sonorous and emphatic: "it has not," says Dr. Bowring, "the beauties of the vowelled idioms of the South, but it has beauties they can never possess ; and especially in the variety and grace of its diminutives (a quality in which our language is singularly deficient), it may be compared with the richest among them." III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. It has been remarked, that the experience of the Dutch churches in the production of a stand.ard version has been rather similar to our own; for, like us, they had long to wait before the great work could be completed. The first Dutch version concerning which any thing is accurately known was a bad translation of Luther's German version, made about the middle of the sixteenth century, by an elder of the Reformed Church, at Embden. The necessity of procuring an improved version was publicly discussed as early as 1571, and seems to have occupied the attention of all the synods of the Dutch churches from that period till 1618. Political troubles, however, drew the public funds into another channel; and it was not till the famous Synod of Dort, in 1618-19, that actual preparations were made for the immediate commencement of a new translation. Six translators and eight revisers for the Old, and as many for the New Testament, were chosen by the votes of the Dutch members of the synod; and the States General were requested to undertake the expense of the work. In the directions delivered to the translators, the foremost were, — " That they should adhere religiously to the original text, and solicitously retain the very phrases of the original tongues, so far as perspicuity, and the idiom of the Dutch language, permitted; and that in supplying ellipses, when the sense actually required it, they should use as few words as possible, and express those in the text by a difierent character, and included in brackets, that they might be distinguished from the text itself." The translators of the Old Testament entered upon their work at Leyden, in 1626, and held daily meetings, wliicli they invariably commenced with prayer. The translation of the New Testament was conducted in the same spirit of prayer; it was commenced in 1628, and finished in 1634: the trans- lation of the Old Testament was completed in 1632. Each book was printed as soon as finished, and a copy was sent to each of the revisers. The revision of the Old Testament was begun in 1633, and completed in 1634. Six hours daily were devoted to the work, and the revisers commenced each meeting with prayer, and ended with thanksgiving; those who were not punctual in attendance were fined a small sum, which was given to the poor. The revisers of the New Testament commenced their imdertaking in 1634, and during the latter part of the year which they devoted to it tlie plague was raging at Leyden, yet, although their meetings were held in a room overlooking a churchyard in which interments were continually taking place, not one of their number was attacked by the disease. It is also remarkable, that none of the translators long survived the completion of the work. It may have been that the arduous nature of the undertaking tended to abridge their lives, for, although they 15 210 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. were all men of great literary attainments, many of them declared that they had never before laboured as they did at the translation of the Bible. The first edition was printed at Leyden, in 1637. The Remonstrants, who were followers of Arminius, and vehemently opposed to the translators in their religious opinions, deputed four of their most learned men to examine the translation. After strict investigation, they were so struck with the faithfulness and accuracy of the version, that they adopted it as their own, and the Old Testament has been in use among the Remonstrants ever since. After the lapse of more than forty years, a version of the New Testament was executed expressly for their use by Christian Hartsoeker, an Arminian minister, at Rotterdam. It was printed at Amsterdam in 1680; but although professedly a new translation from the Greek, it chiefly follows the version of the synod. The orthography of the established version was altered in one edition, according to the system introduced in 1806 by Professor Siegenbeek, and which received the sanction of the government. The Rev. Henry Cats, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Leyden, was employed to efiect the necessary alterations ; but he died before he had finished the work, and it was completed by Professor Van Hengel. The revised edition appeared in 4to., in 1834. Siegenbeek's system has since fallen into disrepute, and has not been adopted in subsequent editions. This beautiful and emphatic version still retains its place as the authorised text of the Dutch Church ; but a new translation has since been made, in the modern style and orthography, by the learned Professor Van der Palm, of Leyden: it was published in 1825, and, though not adopted in churches, it is greatly esteemed and extensively used. Another translation, which, however, included only the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Romans, was made from the Greek, by Adam Boreel, of Zealand: it was published at Amsterdam in 1693, with the Greek text. Within a recent period the Netherlands Bible Society appointed a commission to modernise the orthography of the Bible, and the alterations which were introduced, both in spelling and in some points of grammar, were considerable. All the editions of that Society are now printed with these alterations. Several editions of the authorised Dutch version have been issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Their first edition, consisting of 5000 copies of the New Testament, appeared in 1809; it was designed primarily for the Dutch prisoners of war in this country, and eventually for the Dutch settlements and colonies. Considerable numbers of these copies were forwarded to the Cape of Good Hope, and were most thankfully received ; for it was ascertained that not a single Dutch Bible could be had for money throughout that extensive colony. On receipt of this intelligence, the Society immediately commenced a large edition of the entire Dutch Bible. Several large editions have since been printed, at the Society's expense, at Breda, in Holland; amongst them was one consisting of 105,000 Testaments, in diamond, 32mo., in 1850. A 4to. edition of the Bible, with chapter headings and marginal references, specially intended for family use, and consisting of 5000 copies, issued from the press at Arnheim on account of the Society in 1859. The total number of copies issued by the Society up to the beginning of 1860 amounted to 171,395 Bibles, 601,154 Testaments, and 15,500 Psalters. The Netherlands Bible Society has distributed, since its formation in 1815, altogether above 700,000 copies. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. During the last nine years no less than 326,689 copies of the Scriptures have been sold In Holland by colporteurs, and many Instances have been reported of the blessing of God accompanying their perusal. A colporteur, labouring In Drenthe and Groningen, met with an instance in which one New Testament had been blessed to several persons. A Roman Catholic family. In whose house there were continual quarrels before the introiluctlon of the Scriptures, now live in peace and harmony. The parents, through the power of the word, have become converted characters. " We have evidence," it Is further stated In a recent Report, " that the work in Holland has been blessed by the Lord. Class III.] CREOLESE. 2H Many who, when first offered tlie Scriptures, mocked or insulted the colporteurs, have more lately purchased them with avidity. Others, who were remarkable for their awful oaths, have become humble worshippers of the living God. At Rotterdam, and in the environs, there has been a great revival, through the distribution of the Bible." Recent issues of the Dutch Scriptures by the British and Foreign Bible Society to the settlers at the Cape have been very large, and have been attended with a great blessing to the colony, particularly in schools. CREOLESE. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. In die Begin die Woord ha wees, en die Woord ha wees bie Godt, en Godt ha wees die Woord. ^ Die selve ha wees bie Godt in die Begin. ^ Almael gut ka maek door die selve ; en sonder die niet een gut ka maek, van almael, wat ka maek. '^ Die Leven ha wees in hem, en die Leven ha wees die Ligt van die Mensen. ^ En die Ligt ha skien in die Dysternis, en die Dysternis no ha begriep die. •" Die ha hab ee Mens, Godt ha stier hem, en sie Naem ha wees Johannes. '' Hem ha kom tot een Getiegnis, dat hem ha sal getieg van die Ligt, dat almael ha sal gloov door hem. ® Hem no ha wees die Ligt, maer dat hem ha sal getieg van die Ligt. ^ Die ha wees die waeragtig Ligt, die verligt almael Mensen, die kom na die Weereld. ^^ Hem ha wees in die Weereld, en die Weereld ka maek door hem, en die Weereld no ka ken hem. -^^ Hem ha kom na sie Eigendom, en sie eigen no ha neem hem an. ^' Maer sooveel ka neem hem an, na sender hem ka giev Magt for kom Kinders van Godt, die gloov in sie Naem ; ^* Die no bin gebooren van Blud, ook niet van die Wil van Vleis, ook niet van die Wil van Man, maer van Godt. ^"^ En die Woord ka kom Vleis, en ka woon onder ons, en ons ka kik sie Heerligheid, een Heerligheid, als van die eenig gebooren Soon van die Vaeder, vol van Gnaede en Waerheid. CuEOLESE, a kind of broken Dutch, with a rather Danish orthography, is the language of the black population in the Danish West Indies. The possessions of the Danes in the West Indies consist of three islands, namely, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, all of which form part of the Virgin group. Of these islands, St. Croix, or, as it is frequently called, Santa Cruz, is the most important: it contains an area of about 110 square miles, and a population of 32,000, chiefly negroes. St. Thomas comprises an area of 37 square miles, and its population is estimated at 7000, of whom about 500 are whites. In St. John tliere are 1 50 whites and 250 negroes : the population to whom this language is (or rather was) vernacular, is, therefore, upwards of 39,000. The Creolese idiom is very peculiar, possessing no distinction of gender or of number (so far at least as terminations are concerned), no declension of nouns, and no simple conjugation of verbs. The Kew Testament was translated into tlris language, and an edition printed at Copenhagen, by order of the Danish government, in 1781. A school-book, containing the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, in Creolese, was published about the same period, by order of the same authority. Another edition of the New Testament, consisting of 1500 copies, was printed at Copenhagen, in 1818, by 212 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. the Danish Bible Society. It is said, however, that Crcolese has long been gradually falling into disuse, and that it has now ceased to be spoken. The slaves, or, as the Danes wish to have them called, "the unfreed," were in 1848 nominally emancipated in the Danish islands; and on this occasion a copy of the New Testament and Psalms in the English language, furnished by the British and Foreign Bible Society, was presented to each negro who could read, and who was not in possession of the Scriptures. SURINAM NEGR 0-E N G L I S H. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Na begin da Woord ben de, da Woord ben de nanga Gado, en da Woord ben de Gado srefi. ^ Da ben de nanga Gado na begin. ^ Nanga hem allasanni ben kom, en sondro hem no wansanni ben kom, dissi de. * Da Liehi ben de na inni va hem, en da Liebi ben de da kandera va somraa. ^ En da kandera de krieni na dongroe, ma dongroe no ben teki da kandera. ^ Gado ben senni wan somma, hem neem Johannes ; "* Da srefiwan ben kom vo wan getuigenis, va a getuige vo da kandera, va dem allamal kom briebi nanga hem. * Hem srefi no ben de da kandera, ma a ben kom va takki vo da kandera. ^ Datti da reti troe kandera, dissi kieni gi alia somma dissi kom na kondre. '" A ben de na kondre, en em srefi ben meki kondre ; en kondre no ben sabi hem. ^^ A ben kom na hem Eigendom, en dem somma va hem no ben teki hem. '- Ma sa menni va dem dissi ben teki hem, na dem a ben gi tranga, va kom pikien va Gado : dem, dissi briebi na hem neem. '^ Dissi no komoppo na broedoe, effi na wanni vo skien [nanga broedoe] , effi na wanni vo wan man, ma dissi ben kom gebore na Gado. " En da Woord ben kom somma, a ben liebi na wi mindri, en wi ben si hem Glori, wan Grangglori, dissi fitti da wan Pikien va Tatta Gado, foeloe va Gnade en Troefasi. NEGRO-ENGLisn, or, as it might be designated with equal propriety, Kegro-Dutch, is the lan- guage of the Dutch colony of Surinam, in Guiana, and is current among a population of at least 100,000, of whom 80,000 are slaves, 10,000 free negroes, and 10,000 are Dutch and other Europeans. A mission of the United Brethren has existed in Surinam since 1738: there are now more than 13,000 negroes in connexion with the Moravian Church, and 10,000 unconverted negroes are under Clu-istian instruction; for the prejudices of the colonists against the education of the negroes are wearing away, and the missionaries are permitted access to more than 150 plantations. The language of these negroes is a compound of English and Dutch, with a sprinkling of Spanish, Portuguese, French, and African or Indian words. It is doubtful whether the English or the Dutch element predominates: the former was introduced when the English were possessors of the colony; but the Dutch, with few interruptions, have held possession since the year 1669, and many of their words and phrases have, in consequence, become incorporated with the language. The country was discovered by the Spanish, and, at some remote period, was subjugated by the Portuguese, and subsequently by the French; and this accounts for the presence of Spanish, Portuguese, and French words in the language. The structure of Negro-English is simple and inartificial in the extreme, and it is nearly Class III.] SURINAM NEGRO-ENGLISH. 213 devoid of grammatical forms. Almost every word terminates with a vowel; and, according to Captain Stcdman's account, it is " sweet, sonorous, and soft" in enunciation, and, moreover, " wonderfully expressive and sentimental." The vocabulary is by no means copious, but this deficiency is supplied by the ease with which the words are compounded. This language will probably. In process of time, sink into disuse; yet the prospect is but small that either the present or the ensuing generation will be able to dispense with it. A translation of the Harmony of the Gospels, as used in the Moravian Church, was early made in this language, and a version of the Acts, Epistles and part of the book of Revelation, was executed by Mr. Schuman prior to the year 1813. In 1828 a version of the entire New Testament had been completed by the Moravian missionaries, and had been repeatedly and carefully corrected. The MS. was sent to Germany, and was revised by Hans Wied, who for upwards of twenty years had resided in Surinam, and was intimately acquainted with the language: the opinion he passed on the translation was, " that it is as perfect as possible." The Brethren's Society for Propagating tlie Gospel, therefore, applied for aid to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and an edition of 1000 copies was accordingly printed in London, under the supervision of Mr. Latrobe, assisted by C. A. Austen, Esq., of Queen's College, Cambridge, a native of Surinam. The copies were all forwarded to Surinam, and were received with much gratitude; but the edition was soon exhausted, and after the last copy had been disposed of, more than 12,000 converts were added to the Church. Another edition of the New Testament and Psalms was therefore prepared by Mr. Treu, a Moravian missionary; and at length, in 1845, its publication was resolved on by the Missionary Society of the United Brethren in Holland. Aid was granted by the Netherlands Bible Society, but the chief expenses of printing were defrayed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The edition, which consisted of 2000 copies, left the press in 1846. The intelligence received within recent years from Dutch Guiana furnishes most gratifying and hopeful accounts of the progress of missionary labour in that region. The Surinam Mission supports at the present time above fifty missionaries, stationed in different parts of the colony, and upwards of 20,000 negroes and coloured people are converts to the Gospel. School-houses, as well as churches, have been numerously erected, and, notwithstanding impediments, due to various causes (and most especially to the existence of slavery), the cause of Christian truth is making steady advance amongst its long benighted population. " On every estate (writes one of the labourers in this vineyard) there are some, perhaps only a few, yet some who are decided Cliristians — children indeed as regards know- ledge and practice, yet evidently believers in Jesus." The benefits of the mission are not confined to the negro portion of the population: — " During my visit to the Para plantation, we met with a married couple belonging to the Arawack tribe. After some conversation with them, I read to them St. Paul's sermon at Athens, from Acts, chap, xvii, as I fortunately happened to have a copy of that portion of Scripture in the Arawack language. The impression whicli this produced was very striking. The woman, who was advanced in years, burst into tears, and her husband appeared to be much affected also. They both came afterwards to the meeting, as they understood the Negro-English dialect." '214 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. NOESE, OR ICELANDIC. SPECIMEN, FKOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. •;;. 1 to 12. [ViDETAE KlAUSTEI, 1841.] 3 i^iptjafi «ar Drbib og Drbib Dar ^(a ®ubt, eg orbib Bar ®ub. ^ pab »ar i u^jp^af! ^ja ®ubi. ^ ^tdir fjlutir cru fi)rir J'ab fijorbir eg An i'cfS cr cffert tit orbib, fern tit cr. ■• 3 l'«i »ar (if eg tifib oar IjoS mannanna ; ^ Og Ijofib ffein i tnQrfrinu eg mijvfrit mebtof Jmb ctfi. •> SJiiibur notturr Bar fcnbur af ®ubi, ^ann ^ct 3ot)aimf§. ' pcffi toiu til »itni>3tnivbar, ah l}ann Bituabi urn Ijcftb, g»o attir tri)bu sijrir ^aii3 BitniShirb. * (Sffi Bar I;ann Ijcftb ^ctbur dtti t)ann ab Bitna urn Ijejtb. ^ pab Bar l;ib fanna Ijcg, fern uBpIi)ftr ^Born maun, er fom i tjciminn. '" pab Bar i Iicimimini eg tjeimiiriim Bar [sjrir Jmb gjorbur eg j'ctfti tjann ]>6 cffi. " >§ann torn tit ftniia eg t}an§ cgin mcftofu i^ann cffi. '^ (Sn [bo morguni, fern Iiann mcbtofu og d Ijann tnibu, gjorbi t^antt tofi a ab Bcrba ®ubS 6orn. I. — GEOGEAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Iceland lies on tlie confines of the polar circle, and comprises an area which exceeds 40,000 square miles. Its population amounted, in 1855, to 64,600. The island was first peopled about the year 874, by refugees from Norway, who fled thither to escape the tyranny of Harald Harfager, or the Fair- haired, king of Norway. In the course of the next half century, all the habitable parts of Iceland became occupied by Scandinavian settlers; and, about 928, the inhabitants established a republic, which form of government subsisted till 1275, when Iceland became subject to Norway. On the annexation of that kingdom to Denmark, Iceland was transferred with it ; and the island is now governed by a stiftamtman, or governor, appointed by the king of Denmark. The established church in Iceland is the Lutheran, under one bishop and 300 clergy. A dialect of Norse was formerly sjioken in the isles of Orkney and Shetland, but all vestiges of it have now disappeared. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The ancient language of the Scandinavians was planted in Iceland by the Norwegian refugees, in the ninth century. The insular and remote position of Iceland, and its consequent isolation from foreign intercourse, have caused the language to be preserved in the utmost purity; and so few are the changes which the lapse of time has effected in its structure, that the humblest Icelandic peasant can read and understand the most ancient written documents extant in the island. By means of the Icelandic, tlie connexion of the Scandinavian with the Teutonic languages is distinctly to be traced. The Old Danish, or Scandinavian, now the living language of Iceland, was intimately connected with the Gothic, Alemannlc, Francic, and other cognate dialects, so that the members of these nations were intelligible to one another without the aid of interpreters; and in the "Young Edda," a compilation of the eleventh century, it is said of the Anglo-Saxons and the Icelanders, wer erum einnar htngu, " we are of one tongue." The aspiration of the consonants I and lo is an infallible characteristic of the Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Icelandic languages: these peculiar sounds cannot be emmclated by Germans or Danes; and, except in the province of Dalecarlia, in Sweden, they are now no longer to be heard in the Scandinavian peninsula. But one of the most remarkable characteristics of the Scandinavian languages is the placing of the article after the noun; as an appendage to it, e.g. as above: myrkrid, " the darkness." III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. No version of the Scriptures was made in Icelandic before the Reformation, although an ancient compendium of scriptural history, entitled the Stiorn, has sometimes been mistaken for a biblical trans- lation. Oddur Gotshalkson, son of a bishop of Holum, in Iceland, was the instrument chosen by God Class III.] ICELANDIC. 215 to impart to liis countrymen the first version of the Bible in their own language. OclJur was educated in Norway; and, liappily for himself and for Iceland, he remained abroad till the doctrines of the Keformation began to excite a general sensation throughout the North of Europe. His own attention was forcibly arrested by the truths which were then unfolded; and we are told that, for three successive nights, he prostrated himself half-naked before the Father of lights, beseeching him to open the eyes of his understanding, and to show him whether the principles of Rome or those of Luther were from heaven. The result of his prayers and meditations was a deep-rooted conviction that the cause of the reformer was the cause of God; and with the view of obtaining further information he repaired to Germany, and attended the lectures of Luther and Melanchthon. On his return to Iceland he entered upon a translation of the Scriptures; and, to avoid persecution, he commenced his important labours in a small cell in a cow-house. He completed a version of the New Testament in 1539; but finding it impossible, from the state of public opinion, to print it in Iceland, he sailed for Denmark, and published it at Copenhagen, under the patronage of Christian III. The translation was made from the Vulgate, except in a few passages where Oddur mistrusted that version, and where he consequently followed Luther. Besides the New Testament, Oddur is believed to have translated part of the Old Testament; but the only portion of this latter translation which he committed to the press was the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, printed with some short expository notes, at Copenhagen, in 1558. All his translations were published at his own private expense. in 1562, Olaf Hialteson, the first Lutheran bishop of Holum, published the Gospels and Epistles in the order appointed to be read in churches: this was chiefly a reprint from Oddur's version. In 1580, the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Sirach were published at Holum, translated, it is supposed, by Gissur Eincerson, the first Lutheran bishop of Skalholt. This version of the Proverbs was made from Luther's translation, except in a few passages where it follows the Vulgate. At length, in 1584, the entire Bible was printed in Icelandic at Holum. The work was con- ducted by Gudbrand Thorlakson, bishop of Holum. It is not known what share this prelate had in the translation; the Old Testament was evidently executed by several hands, but the whole was revised and corrected by Gudbrand; and the New Testament, and such portions of the Old as had been translated by Oddur Gotshalkson, were adopted. The edition consisted of 1000 copies, small folio; the expense of which was defrayed partly by a munificent donation from Frederic II. of Denmark, and partly by the collection of a rix-doUar from every church in the island. This version has been called " a faithful mirror of Luther's German version," and, on account of the purity of its diction, it is still held in high estimation. Another edition of the New Testament was published at Holum, by Bishop Gudbrand, in 1609, " revised and corrected according to the best translations that could be obtained." A revised edition of this version was published at Holum, in 1644, by Thorlak Skuleson, the grandson of Gudbrand, and his successor in the episcopate. The expense was partly defrayed by Christian IV. of Denmark, and he directed the bishop to remodel the version according to the Danish translations of Resenius. But as the peculiar renderings of Kesenius are only adopted in a few isolated passages of this revision, Dr Henderson has conjectured that the old version was rendered conformable chiefly to the Danish Bible published at Copenhagen in 1633, which follows Luther's version. The text of this Icelandic edition may be considered as exhibiting the version now in standard use. Another Icelandic Bible was published in 1728, under the inspection of Stein Jonson, bishop of Holum. ■ He obtained from Frederick IV. of Denmark a renewal of the grants made to his predeces- sors, of raising a rix-dollar from every church in aid of its publication: but instead of printing the text of the former edition, he was enjoined to make a new translation from the Danish Bible, printed at the Orphan-house, Copenhagen. In complying with this injunction, the bishop followed the Danish version with so much servility, that his work, when complete, was found to be full of Danicisms, and scarcely intelligible to the Icelanders. It never obtained much circulation, and is still considered the worst edition of the Icelandic Bible. 216 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. In 1747, tlie fourth edition of the Icelandic Bible was publislied at Copenhagen, and the edition of 1644 was adopted as the text. This was followed, in 1750, by an edition of 2000 New Testaments in 8vo. This supply of Bibles was not, however, sufEclent to meet the wants of the population of Iceland ; and, in 1806, information was transmitted to the British and Foreign Bible Society, to the effect, that although the island scarcely contained one person in a hundred, above the age of twelve or fourteen, who could not read, yet the Scriptures were no longer to be obtained for money; and that, as the only press of which the Icelanders were possessed had not been used for many years, they had to resort to the tardy expedient of transcribing books ; and, moreover, that not above forty or fifty copies of the Bible were to be found throughout Iceland. An edition of the Bible, consisting of 5000 copies, printed from the approved text of 1644, was accordingly undertaken, chiefly at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society: it was carried through the press under the direction of Justiciary Thorkelin, privy-keeper of the royal archives of Copenhagen, and himself a native of Iceland. The impression was completed at Copenhagen in 1807, and 1500 copies were immediately sent to Iceland. The remaining copies narrowly escaped destruction at the bombardment of Copenhagen, where they -were preserved in the midst of a conflagration which laid almost every thing on the spot in ashes. In 1812, in the midst of the war between Great Britain and Denmark, permission was given to the Eev. Dr. Henderson to reside at Copenhagen, with every requisite privilege, for the purpose of publishing another edition of the Icelandic Bible: this concession was obtained from the King of Denmark, through the medium of a Danish member of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In the course of the year 1813, an edition of 5000 Bibles, and 5000 additional New Testaments, was printed at Copenhagen, under the direct superintendence of Dr. Henderson, from the text of 1644, or rather from the reprint of 1747. The Edinburgh Bible Society, the Fuhnen Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and some friends in Holstein, combined to defray the expenses of the edition. Before Dr. Henderson quitted Copenhagen in 1814, he had the satisfaction of seeing the formation of a society for the purpose of furnishing Iceland with adequate 'supplies of the Scrip- tures. The first efforts of the Society were directed to a thorougli revision of the existing Icelandic text, but some time appears to have elapsed before they Issued a fresh edition. In 1841, the version from which our specimen is taken was printed in the island, the type used being of large size, adapted to the use of the Icelanders, who, owing to the high latitude of their island, are for the most part obliged to read by lamplight. Class III.] DANISH. 217 DANISH. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. [Cheistiania, 1848.] 3 a?cgi)nbclfen »ar Drbct, og Orbct oav ^oi ®ub, og Drbet oar ®ub. 2 53^1 sar i Segljnbclfcn :^o8 ®ub. ^ %^i S'ing crc ucb bet Hcfnc tit ; og iibcn bet cr ittc enb ecu encjle (3;ing) ticocu til (af bet), font er bleocii til. ■• 3 bet »ar i.'iO, og IMoet »ar 50Jcnue[fet8 S«)g. » q^^ j^Ji^j-et ftinner i 2)J«fct, og SO;0rfet fattebc bet iffe. s Ser 6Ic» ct SKcnncfte ubfenbt af @ub ; ^au ^ebte 3o^aune3. ' ©enne foiii tit ct 58ibncg6s)rb, at ^m ftulbc oibnc om Si)fct, )()![S)i bet at QlHe ftulbc troe »eb l^am. * -gan oar ittc 'iViSti, men (torn for) at |an ftiitbc oibnc om 8i)fet. » Set »or bet fanbc l'i)8, fom ogau torn tit fit (Jget, og (^anS) ®gne annammebe t)ani ifte. '^ «Kcu faa a)iange fom ^ani annam= mebe, bcm l^aoer tjan gioet TOagt ot btioe ®ub3 iSovn, bem, fom troc )jaa l^ang 9Jaon ; '^ ^oilfe ittc crc f0btc of SBIob, ci tjetlcr af R[«'ti Sitlie, ei l^ctlcr af SOianbS ^BitJie, men nf ®ub. '* Dg Drbct tfeo ^job, og fcocbc ibfanbt o§,— og »i faac ^ana ■gerligljeb, en >§crtig^cb, fom ben ©entaorneS af Saberen, — fiitb af 0laabc og Sanb^eb. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The superficial area of the Danish territories, exclusive of Iceland and the Faroe Isles, has been stated at 21,856 square miles. The entire population, according to recent returns, was 2,468,713, divided as follows: — Denmark Proper (in 1858) . . . 1,499,850 Duchy of Slesvig (in 1855) .... 395,860 Duchy of Holstein (in 1858) . . . 523,528 Lauenborg (in 1858) 49,475 Danish is the language of Denmark Proper; in Slesvig the Danish, German, and Frisic are all found; and in Holstein, German prevails. Danish is, likewise the vernacular tongue of the Norwegians, who, in 1855, numbered 1,433,488 individuals. Lutheranism is the established religion of the Danish states, but all others are tolerated. It has been computed that there are 8000 Jews in Denmark, 2330 Koman Catholics, 1600 Calvinists, 678 Ilernhutters or Moravians, and 30 members of the Anglican Church. II. — CHAEACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. We have already shown that the Norse, or Old Danish tongue, entombed among the snow and ice of Iceland, has been preserved almost in its pristine purity from tlie ninth to the present century; but this ancient language has in its parent country undergone so many alterations, tliat an Icelander and a Dane, speaking in their respective dialects, are utterly unintelligible to each other. So great, indeed, is the divergence of the modern idioms of Denmark and Sweden from the parent stem, that the language of the Edda has not been understood for at least four hundred years, by Swedes or Danes, without previous study. These modern dialects are, however, still distinguished from other branches of the Teutonic family by having a passive voice, and two articles, one of which is prefixed, and the otlier aflixed, to nouns. In point of pronunciation the Danish is considered the softest language in Europe, the consonants being pronounced so softly as to be almost imperceptible. It is softer than Swedish; but the intonation of the Swedish language is more marked; and its features are more characteristic than those of its sister-dialect, the Danish. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The earliest translation of any portion of the Scriptures into Danish is contained in a MS. pre- 218 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. served in the Eoyal Library of Copenliagen, supposed to have been written in the thirteenth, or beginning of the fourteenth, century. It is a servile imitation of the Vulgate, and defective in several parts; it proceeds no farther than the Second Book of Kings. In 1515, Pedersen, who is said to have been the first Lutheran clergyman in Zealand, published at Paris a Danish version of the Gospels and Epistles appointed to be read in churches: this work- was reprinted at Leipsic in 1518. The first Danish version of the whole Isew Testament was made by Hans Mikkelsen, sometimes called John ]Michaelis. It was published at Leipsic in 1524, and reprinted at Antwerp in 1529. This version was executed by the command, and under the immediate patronage of Christian II.; " a monarch," says Dr. Henderson, "whose character earlier writers have depicted in the blackest colours, but whom posterity, though not blind to his faults, seems on the whole inclined to favour." Like our Henry VIIL, he seems to have been actuated less by zeal for the progress of truth than by the desire of freeing his kingdom from the domination and tyranny of Home. During a rebellion in Denmark, he fled for safety to Holland, and it was during his state of expatriation that he promoted the translation and publication of the New Testament. Hans Wikkelsen, the translator, was originally mayor of Malmoe, in Scania, or Southern Sweden, and afterwards secretary to Christian II.; he volun- tarily forsook his country, his connections and interests, and accompanied his sovereign into exile. When compelled at length, by the resentment of the Catholics of the Netherlands, to quit his royal patron, he retired to Harderwick, in Guelderland, where he died about eight years after his New Testament had left the press. This version professes to be " properly translated according to the Latin;" but Dr. Henderson has shown that this designation in all prolaability applied only to the first part of the work, which con- tained the Four Gospels, and in which the Latin version of Erasmus was followed. In the Acts, and remainder of the New Testament, Mikkelsen has followed the German version of Luther so closely, that his translation is little else than a verbal transmutation of Luther's. Some writers have attempted to account for this circumstance by suggesting that Mikkelsen had probably commenced his- translation before Luther's version had appeared; but that when he came to the Epistles, the first edition of Luther's version having then been published, he preferred the version of the faithful and intrepid reformer to that of the timid and indecisive Erasmus. The language in which Mikkelsen wrote is partly Danish and partly Swedish, resembling the dialect still spoken in his native district of Scania, in the south of Sweden. He has arranged the books of his New Testament in the same order as in that of Luther, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of St. James and St. Jude, are placed after the rest, on account of the doubt then entertained by the reformers as to their authenticity. In 1528, two versions of the Danish Psalms were published: the one at Eostock (by Francis Wormord, originally a Carmelite friar, but who afterwards espoused the principles of the Reformation, and became bishop of Ltmd), and the other at Antwerp, by Pedersen, who has been already mentioned as the translator of the Gospels and Epistles of the church service. In his version of the Psalms, Pedersen appears to have translated both from the Hebrew text and from Jerome's translation: his diction is considered too paraphrastic, and too much accommodated to Christian sentiments; yet the style is remarkably pure for the age in which it was written, and an admirable preface on the beauty of the Psalms enhances the value of the work. It was reprinted in 1531, and again in 1584 and 1586 at Copenhagen. In 1529, Pedersen translated and published the New Testament at Antwerp. This version was executed on the basis of Mikkelsen's, but it is written in a superior style; foreign words and idioms are excluded, and a better system of orthography is adopted. The Epistle to the Hebrews here finds its proper place, but the Epistle of St. James is found last in order, as in Luther's version. Pedersen, however, had obtained clearer views as to the real value and importance of the Epistle of St. James than his predecessors, for he expresses his disapprobation of the irreverent manner in which Luther and Mikkelsen had spoken of it. This version obtained so wide a circulation that Pedersen republished it at Antwerp, with the Psalms, in 1531. Class III.] DANISH. 219 In 153o, some progress was made toward the production of a DanisK version of the Old Testa- ment, by tlie publication of the Pentateuch at Magdeburg, translated by Hans Tausen, afterwards bishop of Ripen. Tliis version was made from the Hebrew text, with constant reference to the Vulgate and to Luther's version : it was so well received that a second edition was printed at the same place in the following year. The book of Judges, translated by Peter Tideman, a clergyman of Zealand, was published at Copenhagen in 1539: it sometimes follows the Vulgate, and sometimes Luther's version. It was not till 1550 that the whole Bible was publislied In Danish. Denmark was indebted for this treasure to her monarch Christian III. The translation was undertaken at the suggestion of Biigenhagius, the celebrated reformer, who had been invited to the court of Copenhagen to assist in the correction of ecclesiastical abuses. The execution of the work was committed to the theological faculty at Copenliagen, then consisting of Peter Palladius, Olave Chrysostom, John Synning, and John JMacchabceus, or Macalpine. Tideman, the translator of the book of Judges, was also engaged in it; and Pedersen, the translator of the Psalms and of the New Testament above mentioned, was employed in writing out a fair copy from the several translations which were made by those appointed to the work. The version was made from that of Luther, and follows it closely, except in a few instances, in which the translators have mistaken the meaning of the German. The first edition con- sisted of 3000 copies of the entire Bible, and, to meet the expense, a tax of two rix-dollars was levied on every church in Denmark. A separate edition of the New Testament of this version in 4to. was published at Wittenburg, with some slight orthographical corrections. Le Long speaks of another translation of the New Testament having been made by Jonas Turreson, at Copenhagen, in 1584, but Dr. Henderson expressly states that no such translation is known in Denmark. A revision of the entire version was undertaken in 1586, by the command of Frederic II. That monarch wrote to the rector, professors, and others of the University of Copenhagen, ordering them, " with tlie assistance of three of the Copenhagen preachers, to read through the version of the Bible, which had been made in the reign of his royal father; to collate it with the Hebrew text; and where any defect was found, or any passage in which the true sense had not been expressed, to amend and correct it." The heads of the university appointed the most learned divines of the day to execute this important undertaking. The New Testament was revised by Nicholas Hemmingius, D.D., whose name is famous in the ecclesiastical history of Denmark for his attachment to the doctrines of Calvin. The revision of the entire Scriptures was not brought to a close till 1589, when an edition was issued in folio at Copenhagen, with Luther's notes. Two editions of the Psalms, from the version of Palladius, were published at Copenhagen in 1591 and 1598; and, in 1599, an edition of the Psalms, in German and Danish, was published in 8vo. at Lubeck. Early in the following century some more extensive measures were taken for tlie spread of the divine word. An edition of the New Testament was issued at Copenhagen in 1604, printed from the former text, as a temporary supply; and a royal letter was, at the same time, addressed to the rector of the university on the subject of obtaining a more correct impression. The king. Christian IV., eventually appointed Dr. Resen, bishop of Zealand, to superintend a fresh revision of the Scriptures. The old version was again collated with the original texts, and several European translations were con- sulted; but Dr. Resen considering the version of Luther too free and paraphrastic, foil into the opposite error, and followed the originals too literally, without sufficiently considering the genius and properties of his own language. The New Testament was published in two volumes, ISmo., in 1605: an edition of the Pentateuch, also in 18mo., was published the same year; and, in 1607, the entire Bible was completed at press In Svo. These editions were printed at Copenhagen, at the expense of the king. Several editions of the Psalms succeeded the publication of Resen's Bible ; among which was one at Copenh.agcn, in 8vo., 1614, and another in 1632, at the expense of the benevolent Lady Marsvin. An edition of the entire Bible, printed from the revised text of 1589, was published in 1633 at Copenhagen; and Lo Long speaks of it as "the m^der of other smaller editions In 8vo.; which the 220 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. printers from tliat time exposed for sale." The expense of its publication was borne by means of a sum levied from every church in Zealand and Norway. In 1639, the royal permission was obtained for reprinting Resen's Bible, the former impression being completely exhausted. This edition is designated " Swaning's Bible," because it was corrected principally by Hans S waning, archbishop of Zealand. The New Testament appeared in 1644, and the entire Bible, in 1647, at Copenhagen. Another edition of this Bible was also published during the same year, in six volumes 8vo. ; followed by several editions of the Psalms, and, in 1670, by another edition of the Bible in small 8vo. for common use. A College of Missions was established at Copenhagen in 1714, and Denmark was Indebted to this institution for several successive editions of the Scriptures. The New Testament, from the edition I'evised by Swaning, was issued from the mission press in 1716; followed in 1717 and 1720 by editions of the entire Bible, also from Swaning's text. In the preflice to a Bible printed by the college in 1722, it is stated that, in the space of six years, 22,580 copies of the New Testament and 13,784 Bibles had been published at the mission press. In the fire which occurred at Copenhagen in 1728, the mission press was destroyed, and the Orphan-house then obtained the exclusive privilege of printing the Danish Bible; and several editions of the New Testament and of the entire Bible were published by that institution between the years 1732 and 1745. In the meantime efforts were made to obtain a more correct and faithful edition of the Scriptures than any that had yet appeared, and a specimen of a revised edition was published in 1742, by the Committee of Revision appointed by royal authority. In 1748, the Committee published a revised New Testament, but it is not believed that they corrected any portion of the Old Testament. About this period a specimen of a new and singular translation of the Scriptures was printed by Schwartz, councillor of justice to his majesty, but he does not appear to have published further portions of his translation. A translation of Habakkuk was given In 1752 by Monrad, a clergyman in Aagerup; and in 1780 a new version of the Testament was printed at Copenhagen, translated by Dr. Bastholm from the Greek, but marked by too servile an adherence to the idiom of the original. Numerous other editions of the established text were printed at Copenhagen before the formation of the Danish Bible Society. The first edition of the Danish Scriptures, undertaken by the British and Foreign Bible Society, was designed for the benefit of the Danish prisoners of war, of whom there were, in 1808, no less than 2782 In this country; and also for distribution In the Danish colonies In the East and West Indies. This edition, which consisted of 5000 copies of the New Testament, was printed in 1810 in 12mo., from the Copenhagen edition of 1799; and the press was superintended by the Rev. W. F. Rosing, minister of the Danish church in London. A second edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament, In the same form, was published by the Society in 1814. In the course of the following year, another revision of the Bible was commenced at Copenhagen by royal authority. Bishop Munter and five learned professors were formed into a commission of revlsal by his Danish majesty, and an edition of 10,000 New Testaments, corrected and revised by them, left the press In 1819. A second and stereo- type edition, also of 10,000 copies, was printed under the authority of the king at the Orplian-house, about 1820. The same royal commissioners continued their labours in a similar revision of the Old Testament; and in the year 1824 appeared, under the same royal sanction, from the Orplian-house press, a 4to. edition of the whole Bible. The revised New Testament on Its first appearance was received with general approbation, and was reported by Dr. Pinkerton and others to he " a faithful and excellent version." The British and Foreign Bible Society, with its accustomed liberality, granted several sums in aid of the publication; but this assistance was afterwards withheld, on its being discovered that several exceptionable renderings and marginal notes had been admitted by the revisors. The committee of the Danish Bible Society, conjointly with the committee of the Norwegian Bible Society in Christlania, have been engaged for several years past in the task of revising the Danish Class III.] DANISH. 221 Old Testament. Tliis work is advancing slowly under the care of Professor Hermanscn. Up to the year 1859, the total number of copies of the Scriptures issued by the Danish Bible Society, since its formation in 1814, amounted to 259,983. Greatly increased facilities for the circulation of the Protestant Bible in the kingdom of Denmark have been opened within recent years, by an arrangement happily come to between the British and Foreign Bible Society of London and the Orphan Institution at Copenhagen, which latter body possesses by law the exclusive right to print the Scriptures within the Danish realm. Prior to 1855, all editions of the Scriptures produced at the Copenhagen press were accompanied by the Apocrypha and explanatory notes, and hence the Bible Society was by its rules precluded from taking any part in their circulation. In that year, however, at the instance of the London Society, the directors of the Orphan Institution agreed to produce the New Testament free from all notes and apocryphal references. The concession thus happily obtained was at once acted on: an edition of 10,000 Danish New Testaments was produced for the London Society under the auspices of the Copenhagen Orphan Institution, and passed into rapid circulation. A subsequent edition of 5000 has been found neces- sary to meet the demands made upon the Society's Agency, and is now (1859) completed. IV. — EDITIONS OF THE DANISH SCRIPTURES FOR NORWAY. Upon the incorporation of Norway with Sweden, a Norwegian Bible Society was formed at Christiania in 1816, under the patronage of the king of Sweden; and, aided by a grant of £500 from the British and Foreign Bible Society, an edition of 6000 New Testaments was printed in 1819, not from the revised and exceptionable edition, but from the former authorised version of the Danish Scriptures, which had been executed on the basis of Luther's. In 1820 fartlier assistance from London was granted to the Norwegian Society; and another edition of 10,000 copies of the New Testament, from tlie same text as the preceding, left the press at Christiania in 1823. Keprescntations having been laid before the British and Foreign Bible Society concerning the scarcity of Bibles in Norway, an edition of 5000 copies was printed in London in 1823, from the Christiania edition, under the editorship of the Rev. Mr. Treschow, a native of Norway. Another issue, consisting also of 5,000 copies, was printed in 1827, Mr. Troilius correcting the press, and the Kev. C. Rahm also reading the proof sheets. An edition of the entire Bible was published by the Society in London in 1829: it consisted of 5000 Bibles, and about 10,000 additional New Testaments, and was superintended by Mr. Rahm. The text selected was the authorised version of 1644, or rather the reprint of 1744, generally considered the most correct edition that had appeared. The British and Foreign Bible Society established an agency of its own at Christiania about the year 1827, for the purpose of printing and circulating the Danish Bible alone, without the addition of the Apocryphal Books, which the continental Societies were in the habit of binding up with the inspired volume. Several stereotype editions have been issued under the superintendence of this agency on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The total number of copies published at the expense of that Society, up to the end of 1859, is 50,848 Bibles, and 300,934 New Testaments, with 10,000 Psalms. Similar agencies have also been established at Drontheim and at Stavanger (on the S.W. coast of Norway), and at each of these places the work of distribution has for some years past been actively carried on. The total number of issues, by the Society's agents in Norway, during the year ending February 1860, amounted to 25,061, a considerable increase upon previous issues. V. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. To the light diffused in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, by the early publication of Danish versions of the New Testament, may be attributed the rapid progress which was made by the Eefbrmation, on its first promulgation in those countries. Concerning the result of modern efforts in 222 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. disseminating tlie Danish Scriptures, much encouragement may be obtained from the reports of the several Societies engaged in that important work. In their annual statement (for 1847) the agency of Christiania write, that " almost everywhere in Norway the desire for the word of God is tc a certainty increasing, though, perhaps, only by slow degrees." And in the same report there is the following account respecting Denmark: — " If I cannot," says the writer, "point out many striking instances here of the triumphs of the divine word over the world, sin, and infidelity, as the result of its abundant circulation among us, still the moral and spiritual benefits which accompany it are great and undeni- able; and the more the saving truths of the sacred volume are made known, the more they are appreciated, and its possession sought after." From a later report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, we learn that their Norwegian agents have succeeded in enlisting in their cause the good oflSces of the village schoolmasters, through wliose assistance the circulation of the sacred volume throughout Norway promises to be yet farther increased. At Drontheim, similar gratifying testimony is offered: — -"It affords us much pleasure (writes the Society's agent, in 1852) to be able to give you, on the whole, encouraging accounts respecting the progress of our work. The desire to possess the Scriptures has in many parishes been much increased, owing to the eflbrts of the clergy, and it is to be hoped that the copies thus circulated will produce a greater amount of blessing, as several of the pastors have, in consequence of the desire thus manifested, felt themselves encouraged to hold frequent meetings for reading and expounding the Scriptures to their parishioners, with a view of making them better understood; and, according to the information we had received, these meetings are well attended." SWEDISH. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. I to U. [Stockholm, 1848.] 3 tcgijnncTfen njcir Drbet, oc^ Orbct mor ntir ®ubt, od} ®ub rear Drbct. ^ "S^d famma rear i tegijimcffcn ndr ®ubi. ' ®cnom bet dro all ting gjorb, o^ bet foriitan fir intet gjorbt, bet gjortt ar. ■• 3 bet uhu lifivet ; oc^ lifiiict wax nicnniffornaS IjuS: * Ocl^ Ijufet ls)fer i niortrct, oc^ mijifvct liafiter bet icfc kgvi).nt. « Gn man nav ,fdnb af ®ubi, [cm t)et 5ot}anne§ : ' "Oan foni tit unttnegfcorb, )pa bet ^on f!ulle reittna cm V!jufct, at alle ffullc tro genom '^oncmt. ' 3cfc wax f)an Sjufet ; men {Ijan wax fdnb) tit at rcittna cm i.'jiiCet. ' 2)et irar bet fanna Ciufct, ^luiltct iiplsjfer alia iiienniffor, fom tomnia i reerlben. '" 3 ivcrlbene ivar bet, ocf; igencm bet dr TOerlben giorb; od) reertben fdnbe bet ide. " -gan fom tit fitt eget, oc^ ^an3 egne ananimnbe :^onom icfe. '= Wlcn aUom bem, fom tcnom anammabe, gaf ^an magt at tlifiro ®ubg barn, bcm fom tro \>a tjanS yiamn ; '3 <§ivilfc icfe af ttob, irfc pellet af fottSlig ivilia, irfe ^ctlcr af nagor3 man? ivilja, utan nf ®iibi fobbe dro. '* Dd) Orbct warbt fott, od^ tobnc ifilanb o^ ; od) wi fagom ^an3 ^dvtig^et, fdfom euba rg ; o taa»iii ^m «ar fctflur, giiiiju ©ifciplar |anfara tit linnfi. 2 O ban IcaC up SDiunn fuiii, lavbi taiv, o fcjc : ^ igaali eru tei fantatu ui -^(antini, tlnii •§inimcrigji8 Ohiigic cr taira. ■• <2aa(i evu ti-i, [uin ftrgja, tliui tci ftuflu fcugfvcalatt. ^ Saali cru tei Sagtmoniu, ttjui tci ffuQu area 30rinn. ^ Saali cru tci, ui ^uugva o tifla ettur 9iattclit)atl', t^ui tci ftuHu luacttaft. ' <£aa(i cvu tci 3?nrml)jartiu, t[)ui tci ffudu nicuba 58avm^jartit)nii'. * @aa(i cru tei rcinu cao ^jartanun, t£)ui tci ffutlu futija ®uti. s ©iinli cru tci grialiu, t^ui tci ffuflu fublnfi ©utS 3?iJt)n. 'o ©aali cru tci, fuiu (uja Scrfifgjilfe firi 9iattcti£)aibS ©fjiib, tbui tnira er >§immcrigii6 9?uigic. " ©aalijir cru Jib, urn tci fpotta o fcrfiigia S^itun, 0 tciiia ui Oblun I'iibun ibla urn lifun firi inuiua ©fjilb, o ligija tea. '^ (^[^■^^[ ^ ffijj Jifm,, t[}ui fipi»n 5ifara f fcdt sacra luigjil ui •§ini[unuii ; t£)ui fo i)(iha tci forfilgt I'rdpK-tarnar, fum Bouru firi lifun. " iJib cru 3prina ©alt ; men qoiSui ©alti miffur Sijiiui, pi qupirjun ffeai tea fnltap ? Zea biur til oufjc -Jlnna, enu a bleagafi ilb, o traffajt unbur Sulfa Soiibun. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Fariie or Feroe Islands belong to Denmark, antl lie in the Northern Ocean, between the Shetland Isles and Iceland. They are twenty-two in number, but only seventeen are inhabited. Their total area amounts to 495 square miles, and the population is about 7000. The islanders are of Scandinavian origin, and speak a dialect of the Old Xorse, or Icelandic language. All mercantile, judicial, and ecclesiastical affairs are carried on in Danish, but the natives employ their own dialect as the common medium of colloquial intercourse. II. VERSION OF THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW IN THIS DIALECT. About the year 1817, the Kev. Mr. SchroBter, rector of one of the churches in the Faroe Isles, offered to produce a translation of the New Testament into the Faroese dialect, provided that the directors of the Danish Bible Society would imdertake to print an edition. He urged, among other reasons for engaging in this work, that the islanders are so situated that they cannot attend their churches more than from four to six times a year; and that most of them, especially the younger part of the community, are so little acquainted with Danish, that they are unable to read the Danish Bible. The Gospel of St. Matthew was accordingly prepared by Mr. Schroster, but as there "was some difficulty in writing in a dialect in which neither grammars nor even printed books existed, the publi- cation was delayed, in order that greater accuracy might be ensured. The Danish Committee at length found a learned pastor in Jutland, the Rev. Mr. Lyngbye, who during his botanical rambles in the Faroe Isles had acquired a familiar acquaintance with the dialect. He was employed to correct the press, and under his superintendence 1500 copies of St. Matthew's Gospel were printed in Faroese, at Randers in Jutland, without any assistance from the British and Foreign Bible Society apart from the grants made for the general purposes of the Danish Society. It does not appear that any other books of the New Testament have been printed, or even translated into Faroese. CLASS III.-INDO-EIJEOPEAN LANGUAGES. E. CR>ECO-LATIN FAMILY. ANCIENT GREEK. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. EN apxfl V^ ° Xo-yo?, Koi 6 Xoyw; rjv Trpbalvei,, Kal rj aKorla avTO ov KoreKaj^ev. 6 'Eyevero dvdpcoTro<; dTrecTTaX/^eVo? Trapa &€ov' ovofia avTu> 'lQ}dw7]<;. 7 05to? ^\6ev ek fiaprvplav, 'iva fjiaprvpTja-r] -jrepl tov (/)&)to9, tW iravre? TriaTevacoa-t Bi avTOV. ^ Ouk tJv SKelvo^ to ^co9, dXX' iva /lapTvpyjcTT] Trepl tov (poJTOt;. 9 ^Hv to cu^ to aXrjOivov, b (jicoTi^ei iravTa civSpanrov ip^ofJ^evov ek tov KocTfiov. 1" ^Ev TO) Koajxat ijv, Kal o Koa/xof Si avTov eyevsTO' Kai 6 Koafio<; avTov ovk eyvco. !• Eh xa iSia ■tjXde, Kal ol ISioi avTov ov irapeXa^ov. ^2 "Qcroi, Se eKa^ov aiiTov, eScoKev avTok e^ovat'av TeKva 0eov yeveadai, toi? iriaTevovaiv ek to ovofia aiiTOv' ^^ 01 ovk e^ alfiaTatv, ovSe eK OeXr^fxaTO'i aapKo'i, ovSe eK deXi]fiaTO'i dvSpo'i, aW eK 0eov iyevvrj6r]crav. '^ K.al 6 X070? (7ap^ eyeveTO' Kal eaKi^vcoaev ev ^(uv, {jcal edeaffdjjLeda ttjv So^av avTov, So^av co? fiovoyevow Trapa TraTpo^,) TrXtjprjii xf^piTO'; Kal dXrjOela'i. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. At the time of tlie first preaching of Christianity, the more civilised nations of the Koman empire (however dissimilar their respective vernacular tongues) were united by the bond of a common language, which to them was almost the only known medium of poetry, learning, and philosophy. That language was the Greek. In certain countries, as in Greece itself, in Egypt, and, as some say, in Syria, it was used in the common affairs of Hie; but everywhere it was the language of literature, and as such held the same position that was occupied by Latin during the middle ages. The conquests of Alexander the Great had been the primary cause, under Providence, of the wide diffusiou of this language; and although the Grecian empire was afterwards supplanted by the Eoman, yet the civilisation, the arts, and the language of Greece long remained predominant. II. — CIIAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The ancient Greek language was divided into four principal dialects — the Attic, whicli was the purest, the Ionic, the Doric, and tlie ^ollc, spoken originally in those colonies on the coast of Asia Minor — distinguished from each other by varieties of orthography and pronunciation. When, under Philip of Macedon, the Grecian republics lost their freedom, and became more or less united under one government, the various dialects were gradually amalgamated into one. The language which thus sprang from this intermixture of dialects differed materially from that of books, as preserved in the 228 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. writings of the early poets and philosophers. It became current however wherever the Greek language was spoken; it was even used by the later writers; and, on account of its wide diffusion, received the name of Koivrj Bui\eKTo<;, the common dialect. The Scptuagint version was written in this dialect, and it was also selected by Divine Providence as the appropriate medium of communicating to man the new covenant in Christ Jesus. It is characterised by the promiscuous employment of forms originally peculiar to one dialect; Attic, Ionic, and Doric words are indiscriminately used, and often placed in juxtaposition with words of foreign origin. Planck has observed, that in the New Testament there are, in the flexion of nouns, no traces of any of the ancient dialects except the Attic, but that in the flexion of verbs there is more variety, the Attic furnishing most examples, and the Doric affording others, while many of the forms are exclusively to be met with in the latter idiom. The influence of Hebrew characteristics is likewise to be traced in the New Testament, in several passages the phrase- ology being Hebrew, while the words are Greek. This is more especially observable in the frequent use of a double substantive (arising from the paucity of adjectives in Hebrew), and in the use of the words of God as indicative of the superlative degree. The Greek alphabet is a modification of the Phoenician, and it is to the adoption of this alphabet, which is but ill-adapted to express any sounds except those of Shcmitic origin, that many of the anomalies of the Greek language are to be attributed. III. — CODICES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. There seems every reason to believe that the whole of the New Testament was originally com- municated by the Holy Spirit to the inspired penmen in the Greek language. Some indeed have asserted, that the Gospel according to St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews were originally written in Hebrew, and at a subsequent period transferred into Greek; but the data on which this opinion is founded are by no means conclusive.' It is generally thought that the autographs of the evangelists and apostles were not preserved beyond the commencement of the third century, even if they remained in existence so long; but, prior to that period, many copies of the sacred writings had been made and dispersed among the infant churches. The most ancient copies appear generally to have been made on Egyptian papyrus, a very perishable material, so that none of these have been trans- mitted to us. As early as the fourth century we find vellum in common use for writing; and, in the eleventh century, paper made of cotton, wool, or linen, was adopted. The oldest MSS. have no divisions of words, and po accents, and are all written in capital, or, as they were formerly called, uncial letters. The earliest MS. written in letters of the present cursive form bears the date 890, but even after this period the old uncial characters were sometimes used on account of their beautiful regularity. Although the Scriptures were given in the first instance by the immediate inspii-ation of God, yet no supernatural power was communicated to those who transcribed them, The multiplication of copies was conducted on the same principle as that of other books which have been transmitted from ancient times. The MSS. of the New Testament are not, therefore, free from the errors of copyists; but as it is not likely, or even possible, that copies executed by different persons, and from different exemplars, should all contain precisely the same errors, it seems reasonable to believe that, by the careful comparison of copies, one copy can be used to correct another, and the purity of the original text bo thus in a great measure restored. An error in an ancient exemplar would be perpetuated in all copies and versions made from it; and it is probably owing to tliis cause that a sort of family resemblance is to be traced in copies, certain MSS. indicating, by peculiar or faulty readings, the age and country of the exemplar to which they owe tlieir origin. This circumstance has led to the classification of MSS. ' Upon tliis point, however, the student may be usefully referred to a paper "On the Original Language of St. Matthew's Gospel," by Dr. S. P. Tregelles (London, Bagster and Sons, 1S50), reprinted from the Journal of Sacred Literature, No. 9, and in which the subject is discussed with much learning and ability. The opinion of the Hebrew original of St. Matthew's Gospel was, as the author shows, universally entertained by the Christian Church for tlie long term of fourteen hundred years subsequent to the close of the first century. Class III.] ANCIENT GREEK. 229 Gricsbach has divided all MSS. of tlio New Testament into the following classes, generally termed lamilies, editions, or recensions: — I. The Alexandrian recension, so called because it emanated from Alexandria: it is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, by Origen, Euscbius, and other Greek fathers. The Coptic version agrees wholly with it, and the Ethiopic and Armenian versions coincide with it in part. II. The Western recension, used in countries where the Latin language was spoken, and with which the Latin versions coincide. The Sahidic and Jerusalem Syriac versions also agree with it: Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, and other Latin fathers, quote it. III. The ConstaniinojMlitan recension, to which the mass of modern MSS. and the Moscow codices of St. Paul's epistles are referable. Quotations from this recension appear in the works of the fathers who lived from the end of the fourth till the sixth century, in Greece, Asia Minor, and the neighbouring provinces. The Gothic and Sclavonic versions coincide with it. The classification of MSS. is, however, a very intricate subject, the classes being so blended that it is difficult to separate them; and, besides, the discrepancies are so trifling, being chiefly of an orthographical nature, that in many cases it is not easy to determine to which class a given MS. may belong. Hence various systems of classification have been proposed by different writers: some afBrm that there are four distinct classes, and others that there are only two. According to the system of Scholz, MSS. are divisible into the Alexandrian or African (including the first two classes of Griesbach), and the Constantinopolitan or Asiatic. Individual MSS. are conventionally distinguished from each other by one of the letters of the alphabet being aflSxed to each. These marks do not point out the relative antiquity or value of the MSS., but seem to have been applied in the first instance in a very arbitrary manner, and to have been afterwards retained for the sake of convenience. The most ancient and valuable MSS. which have been handed down to us are the following: — Codex A, sometimes called the Alexandrine MS., having in all probability been written at Alexandria, whence it was certainly brought. It is commonly referred to the fifth century. It contains the Old Testament in three volumes, and the New Testament in one volume : appended to the latter is the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, and a fragment of the Second. This MS. was presented by Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and afterwards of Constantinople, to Charles I. of England, in 1628, and it is now in the British JIuseum. A facsimile edition of the New Testament was published at tlie expense of the University of Oxford in 1726, under the editorship of Dr. Woide: the Old Testament was afterwards edited by the Kev. H. H. Baber. Codex B, generally termed the Vatican MS., because it belongs to that library, marked 1209. It is one of the most ancient MSS. extant, being ascribed to the middle of the fourth century. It contains both the Old and New Testaments, but the book of Revelation has been added to it by a modern hand. It wants the end of the Epistle to the Hebrew?, and those to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The Old Testament was printed from this MS. in 1587 by order of Sixtus V., and a translation of the New Testament has been given by Granville Penn. Another MS., also marked B, and therefore sometimes confounded with the preceding, is in the Vatican Library. It is supposed to belong to the seventh century, and contains the Apocalypse, with the Homilies of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa: a facsimile of it is given in Bianchini's Evangeliarium Quadruplex. The text has been published by Tischendorf Codex C, also called Codex Ephraemi, and sometimes Codex Regius, because preserved in the 230 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Royal Library of Paris. This valuable MS., which originally contained the whole of the New Testament, and the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, was written in Egypt, about the si.xth century, but was erased in the thirteenth century to make room for the works of Ephraem the Syrian, which were written over it. By means of chemical applications, however, the original text has been in a great measure restored. Wetstein succeeded in deciphering and collating it; and, in 1843, a splendid facsimile edition, with prolegomena, was published by Tischendorf Codex D, also known as Codex Cantabriyiensis or Bezce, because presented in 158 1 to the University of Cambridge by Beza. It had for years previously lain neglected in the monastery of St. Irenoeus at Lyons, whence Beza had procured it. It contains the Gospels and Acts with a Latin version. It belongs probably to the seventh century, but to what country is uncertain. A beautiful facsimile edition was published by Dr. Kipling at Cambridge, in 1793. Codex D, or Codc.x Claromontanus, probably marked D, because erroneously believed by Dr. Mill and other critics to form the second part of the preceding. It is a Greek and Latin copy of St. Paul's Epistles, and is called Codex Claromontanus because procured from Clermont in France by Beza. It belongs either to the seventh or eighth century. It is preserved In the Royal Library at Paris. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, certain sheets were cut out of it by a thief, and sold in England, but they were restored to the library by Lord Oxford in 1729. Codex Zacynthius (B), a palimpsest MS. discovered in Zante in 1820 by the late General Macaulay, contains a considerable portion of the Gospel by St. Luke. It is in the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Committee granted the use of it for collation and transcription to Dr. Tregelles, who says, " I do not know of any MS. of equal antiquity accompanied by a Catena; in many respects this most valuable palimpsest is worthy of special attention : it is remarkable that it had remained in this country for nearly forty years unread and unused." It is printed with the Alexandrian types lent by the Trustees of the British Museum, and published by Messrs. Bagster. Facsimiles of several other ]\ISS, have been published, but the bare enumeration of all the MSS. of the New Testament would be impossible within our limits. The number of MSS. known to have been collated in whole or in part amounts, according to Scholz, to 674. By far the greater number of these MSS. contain only the four Gospels, this portion of Scripture having been most constantly in demand, because most frequently used in the public service of the church. Ancient copies of the entire New Testament are extremely rare. MSS. Lectionaria, which contain the detached portions of the Testament appointed to be read in churches, are by no means uncommon. Copies of tlie book of Revelation are remarkably scarce: there are in fact but three ancient MSS. in which this book is to be found, namely Codex A, one of the Codices marked B, and Codex C. Of these, Codex C is the most valuable, but it is unfortunately very defective, about nine chapters being missing; so that Code.x B, the text of which has been lately publislied by Tischendorf, and Codex A (the Alexandrine MS.) are tlie only ancient exemplars to which we are indebted for our acquaintance with the whole of the New Testament in the original. IV. PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE GREEK TESTAMENT. Si.x chapters of the Gospel of St. John were printed at Venice as early as 1504, by Aldus Manutius, and the whole of that Gospel was printed at Tubingen in Suabia, the modern kingdom of Wurtemberg, in 1512. But these editions are interesting only as literary cuiiosities, for though they constituted the first portion of the Greek Testament ever committed to the press, yet they exercised no influence whatever on succeeding editions. The earliest printed edition of the entire New Testament is contained in the Complutcnsiun Cl.vss III.] ANCIENT GREEK. 231 Polyglot, a work we have already mentioned in our account of the Hebrew Scriptures. The JISS. used (or this impression were most probably, as it is stated in the prologue, furnished for the purpose by Pope Leo X. from the Vatican Library. There is abundant internal evidence to prove that these MSS. were of no great antiquity, for the text agrees with MSS. written in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries in all passages wherein they differ from ancient exemplars. The earliest pvblished edition of the Greek Testament was that of Erasmus, which appeared at Basle in 1516; whereas the Complutcnsian text, although printed in 1514, was not puljlished till 1520. Erasmus prepared the text from four IISS., the most ancient of which belonged to the tenth century, and contained all the New Testament except the Apocalypse. His other three MSS. consisted of a copy of the Gospels, written, according to Wetstein, in the fifteenth century; a copy of the Acts and Epistles of rather earlier date, and a document containing the book of Revelation, which he asserted was almost apostolic in age: but as the text in this MS. was accompanied with the Commentary of Arethas, wlio lived at least 900 years after the time of the apostles, its antiquity seems very doubtful. It belonged originally to Reuchlin, but after its publication by Erasmus it seems to have disappeared, and no one knows what has become of it. Th.j other three MSS. used by Erasmus are still preserved at Basle. In addition to these ^ISS., he seems to have possessed no other critical apparatus except the Latin Vulgate, and a commentary of Theophylact containing part of the Greek text: but this Theophylact was the last of the Greek fathers: he lived at the end of the eleventh century, and his testimony is therefore of little weight as compared with that of the early fathers. Erasmus professed, indeed, to have consulted Origen, Chrysostom, and Cyril; but he could only have seen the Latin versions of their writings, as no edition of their original texts had then been issued from the press. He employed but nine months and a half in the preparation and printing of his first edition, although it comprised copious annotations and a Latin version printed in parallel columns with the Greek. Indications of this undue haste are clearly perceptible in many places, and it is nearly certain that in several passages where his MSS. were illegible, he supplied the defects by words of his own translation from the Vulgate. This is especially the case with the concluding six verses of the Book of Revelation, which are well known to have been wanting in Reuehlln's MS. The second edition of the Greek Testament was published by Erasmus three years after the first, and, according to Mill, it contains no less than 400 corrections. His third edition appeared in 1522, and he then inserted the text 1 John v. 7, which he had rejected in his first two editions because it was wanting in the MSS. he had originally employed. This alteration was made on the authority of a MS. now in Dublin. The first English version from the Greek was made by Tyndale from this third edition. A. copy of the Complutcnsian text was not seen by Erasmus till after the year 1522, but his fourth and fifth editions, which appeared in 1527 and 1535, contain many alterations made in con- formity to it. Dr. Mill states that in these editions there are ninety corrections from the Complutcnsian text in the book of Revelation, and twenty-six only in all the other books. These editions are of especial importance, as they form the basis of all subsequent editions, and contain, suhstantiaUy , the Greek text in general use at the present day. During the nineteen years which elapsed between the publication o.f the first and last editions of Erasmus, nine or ten other New Testaments were printed; but they were all taken from one or other of the editions of Erasmus, except that by Colina^us, which was printed at Paris in 1534. Colinaius drew his text partly from those of Erasmus, partly from the Complutcnsian, and partly from MSS. which he collated for the purpose. Three of these MSS. are preserved at Paris. This edition is particularly correct and valuable, but it met with undeserved neglect, and being shortly after its appearance eclipsed by the more popular editions of Stephens, it had no share whatever in the for- mation of the received text. The four editions of Robert Stephens (the step-son of Colinreus) appeared in 1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551: his son published a fifth edition in 1569. These editions are more celebrated for their typographical neatness than for their critical excellence: the text is drawn partly from Erasmus, and 232 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. partly from the Complutensian; and even the third, or folio, edition, which was alleged by Stephens to have been formed on tlie authority of ancient ^ISS., was found, on subsequent examination, to be little more than a mere reprint of Erasmus's fifth edition, with marginal readings from about sixteen MSS. The verses into which the New Testament is divided were invented by Stephens, and first appeared in his edition of 1551. The third edition of Stephens was reprinted by Beza, in 1565, with about fifty emendations. It is rather surprising that Beza did not introduce farther improvements in the text, as he had the advantage of possessing two valuable MSS., the Codex Bezaj and the Codex Claromontanus above described, besides the Syriac version, then lately published witli a very close Latin translation by Treinellius: but Beza employed these critical materials almost exclusively in drawing up the polemical disquisitions which he inserted in the notes of his editions. Like Stephens, he was a native of France, and a Protestant; and being persecuted on account of his religion, he fled to Geneva, where, between the years 1565 and 1598, he published five editions of his Testament. All these editions are accom- panied by the Latin Vulgate, and a Latin version executed by himself. The best reprint of Beza's Greek text is generally considered to be the edition which appeared at Cambridge in 1642, with the notes of Joachim Camerarius. In 1624, the first of the celebrated Elzevir editions was published by the Elzevirs, printers at Leyden. The editor is unknown; but it is evident he had little recourse to MS. authorities, the text, like that of Beza, being founded on the third edition of Stephens. This text, however, obtained so much celebrity, that it became commonly known as the textus receptus ; and for upwards of a century it was (with few exceptions) reprinted in every successive edition of the Xew Testament. Among the most noted of the editions formed from this text, may be mentioned those published bv CurccUasus, at Amsterdam, in 1658, 1675, 1685, and 1699: these editions contain a collection of parallel passages, and the greatest number of various readings to be found In any edition of the New Testament prior to that in the sixth volume of Walton's Polyglot. Some of these readings are said to be unfairly quoted, without authorities, in order to favour the Socinlan heresy. The Greek text in Walton's Polyglot is printed from the folio edition of Stephens. Dr. Fell published another edition, chiefly from the same text, at Oxford, in 1675; he copied the numerous readings of the Polyglot, to which he added collations from other sources. A new era in biblical criticism commences with the year 1707, when the Rev. Dr. John Mill published, at Oxford, his important edition of the New Testament, with 30,000 various readings and useful prolegomena. He selected for his text the third edition of Stephens, as reprinted in Walton's Polyglot, and added all the collections of readings that had then been published: he also formed new collations himself of original editions, and of the quotations from the New Testament which occur in the writings of the fathers; and he obtained extracts of 1\ISS. that had not previously been collated. During thirty years he devoted himself, with increasing assiduity, to the production of this work, and he survived its publication but fourteen days. A re-impression of his edition was executed by Kiister, at Rotterdam, in 1710, with the readings of twelve additional MSS. The editions of the Greek Testament published at present are generally, at least in this country, printed from Jlill's text. An attempt towards a critical amendment of the text was made by Dr. Wells, in his edition of the New Testament, published at Oxford, In detached portions, between the years 1709 and 1719. But far more considerable corrections of the received text were introduced in the edition published by Bengel, at Tubingen, in 1734: it is however remarkable, that except in the book of Revelation, Bengcl does not adopt one reading which is not to be met with in some of the printed editions. His edition is distinguished by its accuracy; he does not alter the text itself, except In the book of Revelation, but the relative value of the various readings is signified by the characters of the Greek alphabet affixed to each citation. The materials for the revision of the text were greatly Increased in 1751-2 by the publication of Wetsteln's edition, with its valuable prolegomena and its vast collection of readings. Wetstelu Class III.] ANCIENT GKEEK. 233 collated several MSS. himself; (in thirty-eiglit years he collated about eighteen MSS. of the Gospels;) others he examined, and the collations of others were diligently collected by him. This edition is con- sidered by ilichaelis to be more important, in a critical point of view, than any other. The notes are particularly useful; for they contain copious extracts from rabbinical writers, which greatly serve to explain the idiom and turn of expression of the New Testament. The text is simply a reprint of the editio recepta of the Elzevirs. The emendations proposed by Wetstein, and indicated by him in the niar'dn, were adopted by Bowyer, a learned printer in London, who inserted them in the text of his edition, published 1763: a second edition appeared in 1772. Between the years 1775 and 1777, Dr. Griesbach published his revised text of the Greek Testa- ment; but the second edition of this work, which was completed in 1806, is by fiir the most important, because it contains the results of collations made subsequently to the publication of the first edition. The first volume of this second edition was reprinted in 1796, at the expense of the then Duke of Grafton. All the critical materials which had been amassed by Mill, Bengel, Wetstein, Matthaji, Birch, and Alter, together with the results of his own extensive researches, were collected by Dr. Griesbach, and applied by him to the general revision of the text. Besides the readings which he admitted into the text, he formed a large collection of marginal readings, to which he affixed marks to denote the various degrees of probability as to the genuineness of such readings. In 1805, he pub- lished a manual edition, exhibiting, in a compendious form, the results to which he had been led by his minute critical investigations. An edition of the various readings has been printed, together with Mill's text, in an 8vo. volume, by Messrs. Bagster. The advantage of these will appear from the subjoined tabular form : — AOYKA, XI. 1-13. KAI iyivcTO Iv Tip ilvai. avTov iv totto) tlvl ■Kpof!'tV)(p)j,aiov tAc. ^tJo-ov p.01 Tpfts apTous, * 'EttciS^ (jyikos ' /^ou irapeyivtro i^ oSoC Trpos fit, KoX ovK t)(ui o irapadT^croi avT(u- ' K.aKcivo% taaidev aTroKpiOels tiTrq- Mtj ^01 KOTTOus 7rupc;^f •^817 rj 6vpa K€K\eurrai, Kai Ta TraiSi'a /xov jutT lp.ov eis t^v koIttjv el(7LV oi Svvafjiai avacTTo.'; Bovval v xpjj^ti. ^ Kayia Vfuv Xeyw Aitcite, Kai 8o6j;o'€Tai ifuv ^7jT«tT€, Kai tvp^o'eTC' Kpovere, Kai ' dvoiyrjo'£Tat ifuv. '" Ilai yap o aiTtiiv \a/i/3dv«, Kai o ^ijtwv ivpiCTKii, Kai Tip KpouoiTt ' di'0iyrJ<7£Tai. " Tiva oe " vp.u>v tov narlpa aiTijtrei 6 utos apTOV, /it] \C6ov tjri8ii(r£t avT(3 ; " «i Kai l)(dvv, fir/ avrl L)(6vos oil>iv ° (ttiZmtu avTw ;" '^ *H Kai iav aiTtJcrg too;', |li-^ eViSuio'ft avru) o'KopTriov ; '^ Ei ovv up-ti?, Trovqpol UTrdp^ovrts, oiSaTE ' dya^a Sofiara 8i8o'vai Tots t«ki/ois vjjmv, vocria fiaXXov 6 IlaT^p, " 6 i$ oipavov, 8uj<7ei ni'tiyita dyiov tois aiToDo-ii/ QVToi' ; Griesbach. 1805. ^ trov ri Paxri\eia. ^ om, yevi\Brfrfti . . S om. SCHOLZ, 1830. fa^Co^tv, ' (^ vfj.tiiV rs). "• ef VfiiSv. P Sofiaja aya6a.. \p Sofiara dyada. Lachmann. 1842. [107 ^1* ovpavtS Kai cn-i y^«.] TiSCHENDORF 1849, om. ' om. yevri9i/}Tia . f a^lou-tv^ s om. avoi\B^]'S machus. ■ iv Tw cAe'et aov, AquUa (al. cV TT7 <-A€ij^o(n>»-T) uov). " ^tf^atnaatLi, Syranio- chu3. Class III.] ANCIENT GREEK. 237 having been translated by seventy or seventy-two translators, each of whom, it is said, executed a separate translation from the Hebrew text; and, on coming together afterwards to compare the results of their labour, discovered a miraculous verbal agreement between their respective productions. The accounts given by early writers concerning this version, when divested of fabulous and improbable details, afford us little or no information as to its real history beyond the more date of its execution, which concurrent testimonies lead us to place somewhere about the year 285 B.C., or during the joint reign of Ptolemy Lagus and Philadelphus his son. This version is far more ancient than any Hebrew MS. now extant; and it is therefore peculiarly valuable not only as exhibiting the state of the original text at that early period, but also as showing the interpretation conventionally attached to the words of sacred writ by the Jews of that epoch. The Septuagint, on its first appearance, seems to have been received with comparatively little favour by the Jews of Palestine, but afterwards it became regarded among them as an accredited version of their Scriptures. The large and tlren rapidly increasing class of their countrymen called Hellenistic or Grecian Jews, from their living in cities where Greek was spoken, adopted this version as their own; and it was habitually used in public and private among them, from the time of its completion till about the close of the first century of the Christian era. The early Christians, who were generally ignorant of Hebrew, had recourse to this version in proving from the prophets that Jesus was the promised Messiah; and the Jews, being unable to meet the arguments drawn from this source, endeavoured to throw discredit on the version itself, by alleging that it did not agree with the Hebrew text. In order still further to evade the proofs that Jesus was the Christ, which in the pages of the Septuagint were laid open to the gaze of all nations, the Jews, in default of better arguments, instituted a solemn annual fast, in execration of the day in which the version was completed. Thus rejected by the Jews, the Septuagint became the accredited version of the professing Christian Church; it was uniformly cited by the Greek and Latin fathers; and from it the old Italic, the Armenian, the Arabic, and most of the ancient versions of the Old Testament were made. The Septuagint has been, moreover, honoured above all other versions, in being quoted by the inspired writers of the New Testament. There are in all 244 quotations from the Old Testament in the New; and of these, according to Bishop Wetenhall, 147 are from the Septuagint, while 97 vary more or less from it. Taking ten citations from each of the four evangelists as they rise, the bishop has shown that, of these forty citations, twenty-two differ from the Septuagint, having been apparently translated anew from the Hebrew, while fourteen agree both with the Septuagint and the Hebrew; whence he draws the conclusion, that " the Holy Ghost did not intend, in the style of the New Testament, to canonise any translation by a constant and perpetual use of it." The dialect in which this version is written resembles that of the New Testament, but it contains more Hebraisms, and is even further removed from the idiom of the classical Greek writers. It is evident that the translators were not Palestine but Alexandrian Jews, and that they were familiar with the phraseology of Egypt. This is proved by the many Coptic words and terms, appertaining to Egyptian customs and philosophy, which appear in the translation. Thus, the Thummim of the high priest is in the Pentateuch rendered by the term uXrjOela (truth), which same word was inscribed on the sapphire collar worn about the neck of the chief priest in Egypt. It is equally evident from the style of the Septuagint, that different portions were executed by different hands, the various books of which it is composed being very unequal in point of execution. The Prophetical and most of the Historical Books, and the Psalms, were translated by very incompetent Individuals. The Pentateuch, the Proverbs, and the book of Job, are generally considered the portions best translated. In several passages of the Pentateuch, the Septuagint follows the Samaritan more closely than the Hebrew text. The translator of the book of Job appears to have been familiar with the language of the Greek poets, and though he often seems studious of elegance rather than of accuracy, yet his very faults, it has been remarked by Jahn, are indicative of genius. The discrepancy in point of chronology which exists between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text is very remarkable, and not easily to be accounted for: 238 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. according to tlie Hebrew, a period of 2448 years elapsed between the creation and the giving of the law by ]\Ioscs; whereas, in the Septuagint, this interval is represented as extending over 3953 years. In consequence of the numerous transcriptions of the Septuagint made by Jews and Christians, errors arising from the inadvertence of copyists crept into the text, and a revision was therefore under- taken, during the early part of the third century, by Oiigen, a learned father of the Church. His object in engaging in this recension or revision was not only to detect and remove the errors of copies, but by a thorough comparison of the Septuagint version with the Hebrew original, and with all other existing Greek versions, to form a standard of appeal for the Christians in their arguments with the Jews. He devoted twenty-eight years to the preparation of the work, and travelled all over the East in quest of materials. During the course of these travels he met with six Greek translations, namely, the version of Aquila, the version of Symmachus, and that of Theodotion, hereafter to be mentioned, and three anonymous translations. He instituted a minute comparison between these six translations, the Septuagint, and the Hebrew. The versions of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Septuagint, were written by Origen in parallel columns, forming what early writers termed the Tetrapla; and when he added two columns of the Hebrew text, the one in Hebrew the other in Greek characters, the entire work was denominated the Hexapla, by which title it is still known. Origen made no alteratioris whatever in the text of the Septuagint which ho inserted in the Hexapla: whenever he found that text deficient in a word which occurred in the Hebrew, or in any of the other Greek versions, he indicated the omission, using for that purpose an asterisk (* :) and two large dots, placed after the word itself; when, on the other hand, he met with a word or words redundant in the Septuagint, he made no erasures in the text, but placed an obelus (-h :) and two smaller dots, to show that the reading was wanting in the original. This great work extended to fifty volumes, and from its admitting in certain books fragments of other translations besides the four above enumerated, it has been variously denominated the " Octapla," or the " Enneapla." Fifty years after the death of Origen it was found at Tyre, where that great man had died, by Pamphilus and Eusebius; and by them it was deposited in the famous library of Pamphilus the martyr, at Ca^sarea, the civil metropolis of Palestine. It was unfortunately consumed with that library in A. D. 653, when Cassarea was taken by the Saracens. But although destroyed, this laborious compilation is not altogether lost to us, for the column containing the Septuagint had been transcribed by Pamphilus and Eusebius, with the marks and annotations of Origen. Of this transcription, however, we possess no perfect copy, for the asterisks, obeli, and other marks, were confused and interchanged by copyists, and readings and glosses from later versions were added to those cited by Origen. Two other revisions of the Septuagint remain to be noted, both of which were executed about the same period as the transcription of the Hexapla text by Pamphilus and Eusebius. The principal of these revisions was executed by Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch, A.D. 312, who confined himself to the comparison of the Septuagint with the Hebrew text, without having recourse to other Greek versions. This recension was adopted by all the churches of the East, from Antioch to Constantinople. The other revision was effected by Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop, and according to Jerome, was used in all the churches of Egypt. The principal MSS. in which the Septuagint has been transmitted to us are the Vatican and Alexandrine codices, already described in our notice of the New Testament. The Vatican JIS. is supposed to contain the earlier text, while the Alexandrine MS. apparently exhibits many of the amendments and interpolations of Origen's Hexapla; but these texts have been so often blended, that it is difficult to distinguish between them. The printed editions of the Septuagint, although very numerous, may all be considered as belong- ing to one or other of the four following primary or original editions : — I. The Complutensian edition, so called because it appeared in the Complutensian Polyglot. Much diversity of opinion exists as to the MSS. used for this edition. It approaches so closely Class III.] ANCIENT GREEK. 239 to tlie Hebrew, tliat it is questioned whether the editors corrected the readings of their MSS. by comparison with the original, or whetlier they employed a MS. in whicli portions of Aquila's version were blended with the Septuagint text. This might be ascertained by examining the MSS. used, which are now at Madrid. II. The Aldine edition, published at Venice, at the Aldine press, in 1518. Several ancient MSS. were used in the formation of this text, and it is usually accounted considerably purer than the Complutensian; yet, according to Archbishop Usher, it follows in many instances the peculiar renderings of Aquila's version; by some it is thought to contain readings from Thcodotion's version. III. The Eoman or Vatican edition, printed in 1586, chiefly from the Vatican MS. at Eome. This edition was undertaken by order of Sixtus V., whence it is often called the Sixtine edition. It was printed under the care of Cardinal Caraffii, who with his coadjutors devoted nine years to its preparation and publication. In this edition the Vatican MS. is rarely departed from, except when, through some inadvertence of the printer, readings from the Aldine edition are inserted; but such instances are comparatively few. This text has been more frequently reprinted than any other, and may be called the iextus receptus of the Greek Old Testament Scriptures. IV. The Alexandrine edition, printed at Oxford from the Alexandrine MS., between 1707 and 1720. This edition was prepared for the press, and partly printed, under the care of Dr. Grabe, and after his death it was completed under the editorship of Lee and Wigan. The defective and incorrect passages of the Codex Alexandrinus are supplied in this edition, partly from the Vatican MS., and partly from the Complutensian edition; and these amended portions are distinguished from the rest of the text by being printed in smaller characters. The critical marks used by Origen are inserted, and copious pro- legomena were added by Dr. Grabe. A facsimile edition of the Alexandrine MS. was publislied at the public expense, under the care of the Eev. H. H. Baber, one of the librarians of the British Museum, between 1816 and 1827. Several valuable editions of the Septuagint have been published with various readings. The first in point of time is that published by Breitlnger, at Zurich, 1730-1732: it contains Grabe's text, with the various readings of the Vatican edition printed at the foot of the page. In I82I, Mr. Bagster issued an exact reprint of the Vatican text, with the various readings of the whole Alexandrian text as edited by Grabe. A splendid folio edition was published at Oxford, 1818-1827, under the editorship of Dr. Holmes, dean of Winchester, and, after his deatli, of Rev. J. Parsons. The text is that of the Vatican edition, to which readings from all known MSS. are added, with quotations from the patristic writings and from ancient versions. The various readings are so numerous, that they confirm the general opinion, that " the text of the Septuagint is in a worse state than any other except the Latin Vulgate." This edition is furnislied with prolegomena and other critical apparatus. Another edition of the Vatican text, with readings from the Alexandrine and other I\ISS., from the Complutensian and Aldine editions, and from the fragments of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, was publislied at Paris in 1839, edited by the Abbi^ Jager. An important edition, also from the Vatican MS., has been issued by Messrs. Bagster: it includes the real Septuagint version of Daniel; and in the Apocrypha, tlie fourth book of Maccabees has been added to the three found in previous reprints. The Septuagint has been twice translated into English. The first translation was made by Charles Thomson, late secretary to the Congress of the LTnited States, and was published at Phila- delphia in 1808, in 4 vols. 8vo. In 1844, a clo.'^e translation from the Vatican text, with the principal readings of the Alexandrine copy, was completed by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, and published in London, in 2 vols. Svo. 240 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. II. — GREKK VERSIONS COLLECTED BY ORIGEN. We have already seen that, during his travels through the East, Origen met with six Greek translations of the Old Testament. All the information we possess concerning these translations may be briefly summed up in a few words. The versions of Aquila, Synimachus, and Tlieodotion, appear to have been executed during the second century of the Christian era. The versions of Aquila and Theodotion are at least known to have been completed before the year a.d. 160, for Justin Martyr, who wrote about that period, refers to them. Aquila was a Jew born at Sinope, in Pontus. He is supposed to have embraced Christianity, and to have afterwards relapsed into Judaism. His object in writing this version was to assist the Jews in their arguments with the Christians, and he is said to have wilfully perverted many of the prophecies relating to the Messiah. WTien the Jews rejected the Septuagint, they adopted this version in its stead; and, in token of their approbation, distinguished it by the name of "the Hebrew Verity." It is a close and literal translation of the Hebrew, and is of some use in criticism, as exhibiting the antiquity of certain contested readings of the Masoretic text. The version of Symmachus (an Ebionite, or semi-christian) is less literal than that of Aquila, but clearer and more elegant. The version of Theodotion, who was also an Ebionite, holds a middle place between the literal exactness of Aquila and the freedom of Symmachus. Theodotion's version conforms in so many instances to the text of the Alexandrine MS., that it has sometimes been questioned whether his design was to produce a new translation, or simply to rectify the readings of the Septuagint text. Three other versions, less ancient than the preceding, were discovered by Origen, but their date and the names of their translators are unknown. They are usually distinguished by the numerals 5, 6, and 7, applied to them in accordance with the number of the column they occupied in the great biblical work of Origen above described. The fifth translation contained the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Canticles, the twelve minor prophets, and the books of Kings. The sixth comprised the same portions of the sacred volume with the exception of the books of Kings. The seventh contained only the Psalms and the minor prophets. All that now remains to us of these six translations, besides what we possess through Syriac channels, consists of a few fragments, preserved by means of the transcription of the Hexapla text of the Septuagint, made, as above stated, by Pamphilus and Eusebius, about a.d. 300. These fragments, with the remains of Origen's Hexapla text, were published by Montfaucon at Paris, 1714, in 2 vols, folio, with preliminary disquisitions on the Hebrew text, the ancient Greek versions, and the labours of Origen. On account of the costliness and rarity of this work, a smaller find abridged edition was published at Leipslc, 1769-70, by Bahrdt. III. — THE GRiECA VENETA. This appellation is usually given to a Greek version found in a unique MS. of St. Clark's Library at Venice. This version is of little use in criticism : its age and author are unknown, but it is supposed to have been executed at Byzantium for private use, after the close of the ninth century. It is evidently a direct translation from the Hebrew, to which it adheres with rigid, and even slavish, exactitude. The style is very peculiar, at times furnishing examples of Attic elegance, yet occasionally admitting the grossest barbarisms. It contains the Pentateuch, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Canticles, Lamentations, and Daniel. The Pentateuch was published by Amnion at Erlangen, 1790-91 , in 3 vols. 8vo. ; the other portions had previously appeared at Strasburg in 1784, under the editorsliip of Villoison. Extracts from this version are given in Holmes's edition of the Septuagint. IV.— TO SAMAPEITIKON. Certain Greek fragments, in all probability the remains of a Greek translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch, are generally known by this appellation. These fragments are met with in several ancient Class III.] MODEKN GREEK. 241 JISS., and are referred to by tlie Huliers of the third, fourth, and following centuries. They agree in a great measure witli the Septuagint, but are accounted of little or no value in criticism. MODERN GREEK. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN Maximtts Calliopolitan's Version, 1638. EIS TTjv dpxi]V tJtov o \6yo<;- koI 6 Xoyos tjtov fiera ®iuv Kol 0eos TjTov 6 Xoyo's, '•' 'EtoiJto? ip'ov €is Trjv apxtjv /irra ®eov. ^ "OXa [rot TrpayyiiaTa] Sta |neo"ou tov [Xoyov] lyivTjKaVf koI ^wpis avTov 0€v eycve Kaveva etrt eyii/e. * Eis avTov Tjtov ^wrj- koX fj t,ii>ij ijtov to <^uJs Tuiv avOpuiTTuiv. ^ Kai to <^m tis ttjv CTKOTetav eyyu, Kol rj CTKorela Skv to KardXafie. ^ 'Eywev Ji/as avBpunro'i a5r€o-Ta\/xci'09 am tov @(uv, to wo/ta tou luiawtj^. ' Etovtos rjXOiv CIS /naprupiav, va /xapTVpicni Sta to <^u)S VKnevaow oXoi Sia /xltrov airov. ' Aei' tjtov ckcivos to <^(iJS, dAXa va jiapTvplcn] Sia to c^Ss. ^ Htov to <^Ss TO dXij^ivov, to OTTOiov r] rjTOV to <^u)S tSv dv-9p(07r(DV. '^ Kai TO ^uJs XdjttTrct /icVa cts to (tkotos, Kai to ctkotos Stv to KaTtXafSfv. ^ 'Eyc'vETO Tts av^pwiro's ovopta^opevos I(o- dvvTjs, 6 OTTOtos ia-rdXrj atro tov ©edv. ' Autos ^A ^c Sta va yevYjTat pdpTVSt kol va p.apTvprj(r7j ota to t^tos, ota va jrtoTcuo-tucrtv oXot Sta piaov avTOv. * Aev tjtov CKCtvos (6 'ItodvvTjs) TO <^Ss, (etrrdXTj) o/xtos Sta va papTvp-^a-g Sta TO <^ws. ' To dXrj.Jtv6v <^u)s ^TOV, to ottoiov (^ooTt^ct Ka5cva dv.?po)7rov, 6 OTrotos (p\CTai (ts tov koVjuov. '" Ets TOV Kocrpov rjTov, Kat 6 ko'o-jxos i8r]piovpyr]6r] St auTou- irX^v o Koap.o's Scv tov iyviopicrev. " HX^Jcv cts Ta tSid TOV, Kai oi tStot tou Scv tov iBi)(6r]crav. '^ Oo-oi o/tci)s TOV cSe^'^Tjo-av, cts auTous cStoKC StKat'tDjxa tou va ycvwvTat utoi ©cou, STjXaS^ cts CKCtvous. ot oTrotot CTrto"- Tcucrav cts to 6vop.d tov "AuToi Scv cycvvT).9Tjo-av aTro aTp.a, /iTjTC aTTO OiX-qcriv (rapKos, jU-tjtc dTro OeXyjcriv dvSpos, dXX' eycwTj^Tjo-av d?ro tov ©cov. ''' Kat 6 Xoyos cye'vCTO (xdp^- Kai KaTtoKTjo'cv cts rjpd<;, yc/ictTos djro Xdpiv Kat dX^^ctav, Kai rj/icts ciSojxcv ttjv Sd^av auToG (tou Xdyou), (US Sd^av (utou) 6 ojrotos ctvat jnovoycv^s aTTO TOV IlaTcpi. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Modern Greek, or Romaic, is the vernacular language of about 2,000,000 descendants of the ancient Greeks, dispersed throughout the Turkish empire. The modern kingdom of Greece, the original seat of the lang\iage, is bounded, as of old, on three sides by the Mediterranean ; but on the north it extends no further than the frontiers of Albania and Thessaly: its area has been estimated at 15,000 square miles, and its population amounted, in 1856, to 1,067,216. The established religion of Greece is that of the Greek Church ; but the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople is not recognised, the King of Greece being regarded by his subjects as the head of the Church. Toleration is extended to all sects: Protestants are few in number, but there are about 4000 Jews, and (according to recent statements) as many as 70,000 Roman Catholics, in Greece. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Although the yoke of foreign dominion has been imposed upon Greece from the time of the 17 242 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Koman conquests till within the last half century, yet the classical language of the ancient Greeks has never given place to that of the conquerors, but has maintained its vitality in the midst of political ruin. It has been said that Modern Greek differs from Ancient Greek but little more than the Doric from the Attic dialect. This statement must be received with some reservation; yet it is certain that Italian, French, and Spanish, have diverged far more widely from Latin than Modern Greek from its parent source. The changes incident to time are not so visible in the vocabulary as in the grammatical structure of Modern Greek. The dual number, the dative case, the middle voice, and the optative mood, have all disappeared; but, unlike the languages of Latin origin, this modern tongue retains the three genders and the declension of nouns. The place of the lost dative is commonly supplied by means of the accusative, either with or without the preposition ew: in all other respects, Greek nouns are still declined according to the analogy of the ancient language. On the other hand, in the conjugation of verbs, the Modern Greek departs further from the Ancient than Italian from Latin. The very system of conjugation is changed in Modern Greek; three auxiliary verbs are brought into requisition, and almost all the simple tenses have ceased to exist. Even the future is no longer expressed by a simple tense, but is construed in three ways: thus, 6iX(o ypd-^p-ei, (I loill write), 6e\.ei, ypd'\{ro), and de va ypdijra), (by crasis) 0a rypdyfro}, are all equivalent to the ancient 'ypd^frco. The composition of most of the other tenses is susceptible of similar variety. In syntax, the Modern Greek preserves many ancient turns of expression, yet at the same time admits of great innovations. In imitation of French and Italian, its verbs are accompanied by personal pronouns, more frequently than was customary in the ancient tongue; and it often changes the case formerly required by the particle or verb. INIany peculiarities, characteristic of the New Testament and ecclesiastical writers, are to be met with in Modern Greek. The language no longer retains any possessive pronouns, but their place is supplied by the genitive case of the personal pronouns, and in the third person plural by the accusative of the relative pronoun, with or without a reflected pronoun. The ellipsis, or loss, of the infinitive, is accounted the greatest imperfection of Modern Greek: this mood is now construed by means of the particle vd (an abbreviation of the ancient 'lvo) and the subjunctive; for instance, the Hellenic propo- sition, iiriBv^oi IBeiv avTov (/ wish to see him), is now rendered i-mdufiM vd top ISat. The term Romaic, or Romeika, is often applied to Modern Greek; it arises from the name Romaioi or Romans, obtained or assumed by the Greeks during the period of their subjection to the Roman empire of Constantinople. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Three versions of the New Testament exist in Modern Greek. Of these, the earliest was printed at Geneva, in 1638, in parallel columns with the inspired text: it was executed by Maximus Calliergi (or Callipoli, as he is sometimes called), at the solicitation of Haga, the ambassador of the then United Provinces at Constantinople. The translation is remarkable for its close and literal adherence to the Greek original text. The expense of this work was borne by the United Provinces. It is preceded by two prefaces, the one by the translator, and the other by Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Constantinople, who, having spent his youth at Geneva, had imbibed the principles of Calvinism: both prefaces treat on the necessity of presenting the Scriptures in a language intelligible to the people. This version was reprinted, with corrections, in 1703, in London, by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts; and another edition was issued by the same Society in 1705. A reprint of this version, in 12mo., was published at Halle, in 1710, at the expense of Sophia Louisa, queen of Prussia. From this edition, the British and Foreign Bible Society published an impression, under the superintendence of the Rev. J. F. Usko, in 1808, with the Ancient and Alodern Greek in parallel columns. This edition was so favourably received, that, in 1812, it was found necessary to undertake another edition, for the supply of the urgent demands In the Levant, the isles of the Archipelago, and Class III.j MODERN GREEK. 248 certain other Greek stations. A strict and thorough revision of the text being deemed requisite, the Rev. C. Williamson, and, afterwards, Dr. Pilkington, were directed by the British and Foreign Bible Committee to enquire among the learned Greeks at Constantinople for an individual properly qualified for so important an undertaking. The Archimandrite Ililarion (subsequently archbishop of Ternovo), with two assistants, both ecclesiastics, was accordingly appointed, in 1819, to execute a revision, or rather a new version, of the Testament ; and as a great desire had been expressed for a version of the entire Scriptures in Modem Greek, arrangements were at the same time made for the translation of the Old Testament. Father Simon, in his " Critical History," speaks of a version of the Bible in this language having been printed at Constantinople in the sixteenth century; but this statement has been doubted, and it is generally believed that the translation of the Old Testament undertaken by Hilarion, for the British and Foreign Bible Society, is the first that has ever been executed in Modem Greek. In 1827, Hilarion's version of the New Testament was completed; and, after having been submitted to the inspection of Constantius, archbishop of Mount Sinai, it was printed at the national jirinting-office in the patriarchate, under the eye of the Greek Church. This version was made from the inspired text; but though faithful and accurate as a translation, the diction is considered rather stiff, and the forms of the ancient language are too frequently imitated. About the same time, Ililarion executed a translation of the Old Testament from the Septuagint; and, in 1829, the whole of his ilS. was submitted to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in London. After mature and anxious deliberation, however, the Committee came to the conclusion that it would be more desirable to circulate a version prepared from the Hebrew text itself, than a mere translation of the Septuagint. The Rev. H. D. Leeves was therefore appointed to reside in Corfu, where, with the assistance of natives, he commenced a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Modem Greek. In conjunction with the Rev. I. Lowndes (an agent of the London Missionary Society), he engaged the services of Professors Barabas and Tipaldo, to which, for a short period, were added those of Professor Joannides; and the plan pursued was the following: " A certain portion of the books of the Old Testament was allotted to each of the Greek translators, who with the English authorised version, the French of Martin, and the Italian of Diodati, before them, consulting also the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and other versions and aids where necessary, made as good a translation as they were able into the Modern Greek. It was then the office of Mr. Leeves and Mr. Lowndes to compare this translation with the Hebrew, calling in the aid of other versions and critical commentaries, and to make their observations and proposed corrections in the margin of the manuscript. The manuscript, thus prepared, was brought before the united body of translators, at their regular sittings, where the whole was read over; and every word and phrase being regularly weighed and discussed, the final corrections were made with general consent. A fair copy was then taken, the comparison of which with its original gave occasion to a last consideration of doubtful points; and afterwards it was sent to England for the press. This process was twice repeated in some parts of the work." In 1836, the translation of the Old Testament was completed; but in consequence of the great demand, portions had previously been committed to the press. As early as 1831, 5000 copies of the Psalms had been printed in London, under the care of Mr. Greenfield, after having been revised by the original, and corrected by Mr. T. P. Piatt; and this edition was so greatly approved, that another edition, also of 5000 copies, had followed in 1832, of which the Rev. W. Jowett was the editor. Mr. Leeves died in 1845, and the revision of the Old Testament, translated under his superintendence, then devolved upon Mr. Lowndes. He availed himself of the continued services of Professors Bambas and Nicoiaidcs in this revision; and each sheet, when completed, was examined by the Rev. J. W. Mellor, vicar of Woodbridge. An edition of 3000 copies was printed at Oxford, in 1847, under the superinten- dence of the Rev. J. Jowett, assisted by Mi. Mellor. While engaged in the translation of the Old Testament, Professor Bambas devoted part of his time to the production of another version, or rather revision, of the New Testament in Modern Greek. 244 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. This work was revised by Mr. Leeves and Mr. Lowndes; and 2000 copies of the Gospels and Acts were printed at Athens before the year 1839. An edition of 10,000 copies of the entire New Testament was printed at Athens, in 1848, by the British and Foreign Bible Society; and this revision is con- sidered so correct and idiomatic, that it has now completely superseded that of Archbishop Hilarion. A further revision of the Old Testament was undertaken by Mr. Lowndes, with the aid of Messrs. Bambas and Nicolaides, in 1846, and was completed early in 1849, after an arduous labour of three years' duration. The remaining portion of the year 1849 was devoted to a similar revision of the New Testament. Editions of these revised versions, embracing the entire Scriptures, have since been printed in England by the British and Foreign Bible Society; and an edition of 5000 New Testa- ments in Modern Greek was printed at Athens in 1854, concomitantly with one of 10,000 copies in London. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. It is a well known fact, and attested by native writers, that, before the efforts made by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Greece, nearly the whole Greek nation, though making an out- ward profession of Christianity, " knew only by hearsay of the existence of the Holy Scriptures." Hence it may well be considered as a manifestation of the merciful intentions of Divine Providence towards the Greeks, that, at the very commencement of their political career as a free people, this Society was induced to place before them the long-forgotten word of God in their own vernacular language. No less than 45,294 copies of the New Testament, in Ancient and Jlodern Greek, had, up to the end of 1858, been issued by the Society, besides 232,738 copies of smaller portions of the Scriptures in Modern Greek. The Greeks, as a nation, have received and valued the heavenly gift. The government encourages the reading of the Scriptures in the schools, and has charged the teachers of primary schools to communicate scriptural instruction to their pupils every Sunday after church. The good thus done is not confined to the children alone, for many of the parents have declared that " they have learnt much of the truths of the Gospel by hearing their children repeating their lessons." The school appears, indeed, to be the chief medium through which a knowledge of the word of God is becoming disseminated in Modern Greece. " I was pleased to find (writes Mr. Lowndes in a recent communi- cation addressed to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and dated from Athens) on my arrival here, a confirmation of what ilr. Nicolaides had stated by letter, viz. : that the Director of Government schools now distributes the New Testament to these establishments. Four thousand copies of the edition of 1844 were presented to the Government by Mr, Leeves, for this purpose, and they remained undisturbed in their magazine till lately; but now a large portion of them have been issued, and the remainder are to be thus disposed of." The Scriptures are now exposed for sale, without hindrance, in one of the most public streets of Athens. All who choose to avail themselves of it, have free access to the word of God. Concerning the spiritual results of this extensive circulation and perusal of the Scriptures, we are not without satisfactory evidence. One missionary writes: " It hath pleased Him who hath said, ' My word shall not return unto me void,' to grant us, in addition, many interesting proofs that ' God is not slack concerning his promises.' We know many who are even now walking In the light of God's word. They are as suns in the centre of their respective circles, and their influence attracts others to come and seek at its source the light which they are distributing." Class IIIJ LATIN. 245 LATIN. SPECIMEN, FEOM EXODUS, Chap. xv. v. 1 to 13. Antb-Hiehontmian Version. ' Ti'NC cantavit Moj'ses & filii Israel canticum hoc Domino, & dixerunt di- eere : Cantemus Domino : gloriose enim niagnificatus est, equum & ascensorem dejecit in mare. 2 Adjutor, & protector factus est mihi in salutem : iste Deus nieus, & glorificabo eum; Deus patris mei, & exaltabo eum. 3 Dominus con- terens bella, Dominus nomen est ei. ■• CuiTus Faraonis & exercitum ejus projecit in mare : electos ascensores ternos stantes demersit in rubro mari. ° Pelago cooperuit eos, devenerunt in prufundum tanquam lapis. ^ Dextera tua, Domine, glorificata est in virtute : dextera manus tua, Domine, confregit inimicos. ' Et per multitudinem glo- ria; tua; contribulasti adversaries ; mi- sisti iram tuam, & comedit illos tan- quam stipulam. <* Et per spiritum irse tua; divisa est aqua: gelaverunt tan- quam murus aqute, gelaverunt fluctus in medio mari. 9 Dixit inimicus : Per- sequens comprehendam, partibor spolia, replebo animara meam : interficiam gladio meo, dominabitur manus mea. '0 Misisti spiritum tuum, & cooperuit eos mare : descenderunt tanquam plum- bum in aquam validissimam. " Quis similis tibi in diis Domine? quis similis tibi, gloriosus in Sanctis, mirabilis in majestatibus, faciens prodigia? '^Ex- tendisti dexteram tuam, & devoravit eos terra. '3 Gubernasti in justitia tua populum tuum hunc quern redemisti : exliortatus es in virtute tua, in requie sancta tua. Vulgate Version. ' Tunc cecinit Mojses et filii Israel carmen hoc Domino, et dixerunt : Can- temus Domino : gloriose enim magnifi- catus est ; equum et ascensorem dejecit in mare. 2 Fortitude mea, et laus mea Dominus, et factus est mihi in salutem : iste Deus meus, et glorificabo eum : Deus patris mei, et exaltabo eum. 3 Dominus quasi vir pugnator ; Omni- potens nomen ejus. ^ Currus Phara- onis et exercitum ejus projecit in mare : electi principes ejus submersi sunt in Mari rubro. ^ Abyssi operuerunt eos, descenderunt in profundura quasi lapis. 6 Dextera tua, Domine, magnificata est in fortitudine : dextera tua, Domine, percussit inimicura. ^ Et in multitu- dine gloria; tuse deposuisti adversaries tuos : misisti iram tuam, qua; devoravit eos sicut stipulam. * Et in spiritu fu- roris tui congregatse sunt aqua; : stetit unda fluens, congregata; sunt abyssi in medio mari. 9 Dixit inimicus : Perse- quar et comprehendam, dividam spolia, implebitur anima mea : evaginabe glad- ium meum, interficiet eos manus mea. '"Flavit spiritus tuus, et operuit eos mare : submersi sunt quasi plumbum in aquis veheraentibus. ' ' Quis similis tui in fortibus Domine ? quis similis tui, magnificus in sanctitate, terribilis atque laudabilis, faciens mirabilia ? '2 Extendisti manum tuam, et devo- ravit eos terra. '3 Dux fuisti in niise- ricordia tua populo quern redemisti : et portasti eum in fortitudine tua, ad ha- bitaculum sanctum tuum. Pagninds's Version. • Tunc cecinit Momseh et filii Iirs- raxel canticum istud lehouae, et dixe- runt in hunc moduni, Cantabo lehou^, quia magnificando magnificatusest, equ- um et sessorem eius proiecit in Mare. 2 Fortitudo mea, et laus est lah : fuit enim mihi in salutem : iste Deus meus, propterea tabernaculum faciam ei : iste Deus patris mei, propterea exaltabo eum. 3 lehouuh vir belli, lehouah nomen eius. ■• Currus Parroh et exercitum eius proiecit in Mare, et electi principes eius submersi sunt in Mari Dsuph. s Vora- gines operuerunt eos, descenderunt in profunda tanquam lapis. •■ Dextera tua lehouah, magnificata est fortitudine : dextera tua, 6 lehouah, confregit ini- micum. ' Et in multitudine magnifi- centiae tuse destruxisti inimicos tuos : immisisti iram tuam, deuorauit eos sicut stipulam. 8 j;t spiritu naris tuae coaceruata; sunt aquje, steterunt sicuti aceruus fluenta, coagulatae sunt vera- gines in corde Maris. 9 Dixit inimicus, Persequar, comprehendam, diuidam spo- lia, explebitur eis anima mea, euaginabo gladium meum, perdet eos manus mea. 10 Flauisti vente tuo, et operuit eos Mare, absorpti sunt tanquam plumbum in aquis vehementibus. n Quis sicut tu in diis, 6 lehouah? quis sicut tu, magnificus iu sanctitate, terribilis laudibus, faciens mirabilia ? >2 Extendisti dexteram tuam, deglutiuit eos terra. '3 Duces per misericerdiam tuam populum hunc (piem redemisti, duces in fortitudine tua ad habitaculum sanctitatis tuae. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Latin, the language of the ancient Eomans, derived its name from the small state of Latiiim, of which it was the vernacular language. With the Roman conquests it was carried beyond its originally narrow limits to the utmost boundaries of the then known world, and ultimately it became co-extensive with the Roman empire, in many cases mingling with and remoulding the dialects of the conquered nations. When, with the decline of the Roman power, it ceased to be the medium of colloquial intercourse, it continued to maintain its supremacy throughout Europe, during the whole of the middle ages, as the general language of literature, of philosophy, of legislation, of religion, and of inter-communication between the learned of all countries. From the establishment of the papacy to the present day it has constituted the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church ; and it is still extensively cultivated by every civilised nation of the earth, on account of the treasures contained in the vast repository of its literature. 246 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Mcnster's Version. 1 TvNC cantauit Moses & filij Israel cantieum istud domino, & dicentes dix- erunt : cantabo domino, quoniam tri- umphando magnifice egit : equum & ascensorem eius deiecit in mare. ^ For- titudo mea & laus dominus, factusque est mihi in salutem : iste deus mens, & decorabo eum : deus patri mei, & ex- altabo eum. 3 Dominus uir bellicosus, dominus nomen eius. ■• Quadrigas Pha- raonis & exercitum eius proiecit in mare : & electi duces eius, demersi sunt in mari rubro. ^ Abyssi operueruiit eos, descenderunt in profunditates quasi lapis. 0 Dextra tua domine magnificata est in uirtute : dextera tua domine fre- gitinimicum. ' Etin multitudinemag- nificentiffi tuje, subuertisti insurgentes contra te : misisti furorem tuum, qui absumpsit eos quasi stipulam. s Per flatum narium tuarum, coaceruata; sunt aqua; : steterunt quasi cumulus fluidae aquse : coagulatae sunt abyssi in corde maris, s* Dixit hostis ; persequar, ap- prehendam, diuidam spolia: implebitur ab eis anima mea : euaginabo gladium meum, perdet eos manus mea. '"Flau- isti per uentum tuum, operuit eos mare : demersi sunt quasi plumbum, in aquis uehementibus. " Quis ut tu in dijs domine ? quis sicut tu magnificus in sanctitate, terribilis laudibus, fauiens mirabilia? i^Extendistidexteramtuam, deuorauit eos terra. '3 Duxisti in tua misericordia populum istum, quem re- demisti : duxisti in tua fortitudine ad habitaculum sanctitatis tuse. Leo Juda's Version. 1 Tunc cecinit Moses et filij Israel can- tieum istud Domino, et cecinerunt in hunc modum, Cantabo Domino, quia magnifice magnificentiam suam exeruit, equum et currus eius sublatos in altum deiecit in mare. 2 Dominus est robur et carmen meum, qui fuit seruator meus : iste [inquam dominus] est deus meus, hunc decorabo : deus patris mei, hunc extollam. 3 Dominus uir bella- tor, Dominus nomen eius. ■• Quadrigas Pharaonis et copias eius deiecit in mare, et electi triarij eius demersi sunt in mari carectoso. s Abyssi eos operuerunt, des- cenderunt in profunditates ueluti lapis. 6 Dextera tua 6 Domine, excellent! uirtute eminuit, dextera tua 6 Domine hostem confregit. ' Et in multitudine magnificentise tu^ subuertisti insur- gentes contra te, misisti furorem tuum, qui deuorauit eos tanquam stipulam. 8 In flatu narium tuarum coaceruatfe sunt aquaa, flumina constiterunt ut cumulus, abyssi coagulata; sunt in medio mari. 9 Hostis dixit, Persequar, apprehendam, dividam spolia, imple- bitur eis anima mea : exeram gladium meum, perdet eos manus mea. 'o Uento tuo flauisti, mare eos operuit, demersi sunt ueluti plumbum in aquis uehemen- tibus. 1 1 Quis tui similis in dijs 6 Do- mine? Quis sicut tu magnificus sanc- titate ? formidabilis laudibus, faciens admiranda ? '2Extendente te dexteram tuam deglutiuit eos terra. 13 Duxisti tua bonitate populum istum, quem asse- ruisti, duxisti tua fortitudine ad habi- taculum sanctuarij tui. Castalio's Version. 1 TuM Moses una cum Israelitis car- men hoc louae cecinit. louam canto, qui pro sua pra;stantia et equos, et equites in mare deiecerit. Vires meae, carmenque loua est, qui mihi saluti fuit. 2 llio meus est Deus, quem cele- bro : Deus patrius, quem extollo. 3 loua vir bellicosus, loua inquam qui nomi- natur. * Pharaonis et currus et copias in mare deturbauit, ita ut illius duces lectissimi in marerubrum demersi, * et undis obruti, in fundum tanquam saxu subsederint. 6 Tu ista dextera, 6 loua, decus tibi fortissime peperisti : ista dex- tera loua hostem oppressisti, ' et tua singulari praestantia infestos tuos euer- tisti, laxataque ira tua quasi sti- pulam confecisti. * Ergo ad tuorum narium flatum coaceruatffi sunt aqua; : stetere fluctus in cumulum, inque mari medio undoe concreuerunt. 9 Dixerat hostis : Persequar, assequar, diuidam pra;dam, animum meum ex illis ex- plebo, gladium stringam, illos mea manu peruertam. '"At te spiritu isto flante obruti sunt mari, et plumbi ritu in aquas nobiles demersi. "Quis tibi deorum par est, 6 loua ? quis cum sacro isto decore conferendus ? 6 ter- ribilis, laudabilis, mirifice, '2 qui ex- tensa dextera tua, illis humo absorp- tis, '3 populum hunc a te redemp- tum pro tua dementia abducis, et tua ui in tuum sacrum perducis domi- cilium. II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Latin language originated from tliat of the Pclasgians, an ancient race by whom Greece and Italy were overspread at a very early period of history. This identity of origin accounts for the many instances of similarity which exists between the Greek and Latin languages. In Italy the Pelasgian type was considerably altered by the influence of the numerous petty dialects, chiefly of Celtic origin, anciently spoken in that peninsula; and hence Latin possesses a class of words, and certain peculiarities of grammatical structure, which are not to be found in Greek. On the other hand, Greek has deviated in many respects from the parent stock, where Latin has remained faithful to the original : there are, for instance, a number of Sanscrit words, which in Greek have been altered by the addition of the prefix o, while in Latin they remain to a great degree unchanged ; such as 6Sov<;, in Sanscrit danta, and in Latin dens; ovofia, in Sanscrit narna, and in Latin nomen; and many others. Latin is inferior to Greek in the power of compounding words, so that in translating Greek poetry into Latin, difEculty has been often felt in finding terms to express the picturesque epithets of the Greeks. No language, however, can surpass the Latin in the power of expressing in one word accessory notions combined with the principal idea: this power, the result of numerous inflections, adds greatly to the characteristic energy and conciseness of Latin phraseology. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. We possess no direct evidence as to the time when the Scriptures were first translated into Latin. There is no reason to suppose that a Latin translation would be peculiarly wanted by the large body of Class III.] LATIN. 2-17 JUNIDS AND TbEMELLIDs's VeHSION. ' Tunc canens Mosche et filii Jisraelis cantioum istud Jehovje, loquuti sunt dicendo ; Cantabo Jehuva;, eo quod ad- modum cxcelluit, equum et sessorem ejus dejecit in mare. 2 Kobur meum et carmen Jab, qui fuit milii saluti : hie est Deus fortis meus, cui babitaculum deciirum ponam, Deus patris mei quern exaltabo. 3 Jehova est bellicosissimus, notnen ejus est Jehova. ■• Currus Par- A. . . . ... nonis et copias ejus prcecipitavit in mare ; delectusque praefectorum ejus deinersi sunt in mare algosum. * Abyssi operuerunt eos, descenderunt in pro- funda velut l.ipis. 6 Dextera tua, 6 Je- hova, magnificat se mihi virtute ilia: dextera tua, Jehova, confringis hostem : ' Et mngnitudine excellentias tux sub- vertis insurgentes contra te : furorera tuum immittis, consumit eos tamquam ignis stipuiam. s Quum flatu narium tuarum coacervatae sunt aquEe, consti- terunt velut cumulus tluida : concre- verunt abyssi in intima parte maris : 9 Dixerat hostis, persequar, assequar, dividam pra;dam : explebitur eis anima mea, exseram gladium meum, a.sseret eos in ha;reditatem manus mea. 'Tla- visti vento tuo, operuit eos mare : pro- funda petierunt tamquam plumbum, in aquis validis. " Quis est sicut tu inter fortissimos, Jehova ? quis est sicut tu, magnifieus sanctitate ? reverendus lau- dibus ? mirificus ? >2 Extendisti dex- teram tuam, deglutivit eos terra. >3De- ducis benignitate tua populum quem redemisti : commode ducis robore tuo ad decorum habitaculum sanctltatis tuae. Schmidt's Version. 1 Tdnc cecinit Moses, & filii Jisrael, canticum hoc Jehov.i;, & dixerunt di- cendo ; Cantabo Jehov.3e, quia exalt- ando exaltavit Se : equum & equitem ejus projecit in mare. 2 Fortitudo mea & canticum Jaii, & factus est mihi in salutem : Hie Deus meus, ideo cele- brabo Eum ; Deus patris mei, ideo exaltabo Kum. 3 Jehovah (est) vir belli : Jehovah (est merito) nomen Ejus. * Currus Pharaonis & exercitum ejus projecit in mare; & electi ternari- orum ejus submersi sunt in marl Suph. * Abyssi contexerunt eos : descende- runt in profunditates,sieut lapis, o Dex- tra Tua, Jehov.^h, mayniiica est ro- bore : dextra Tua, Jehovah, confringit hostem. ' Et magnitudine excellentiae Tua; destruis consurgentes contra Te : emittis excandeseentiam Tuam, (quce) comedit eos, sicut stipulam. 8 Et flatu narium Tuarum coacervatffi sunt aqua; ; steterunt sicut cumulus tiuenta; con- gelatge sunt abyssi in corde maris. 9 Dixit inimicus; persequar, assequar, dividam spolium : implebitur eis anima mea : denudabo gladium Meum : ex- pellet eos manus Mea. i" (Sed) spirasti vento Tuo, (turn) contexit eos mare : submersi sunt, sicut plumbum in aquis validis. "Quis sicut Tu, in Diis, Je- hovah ? quis, sicut Tu, magnifieus sanctitate; venerandus laudibus, faciens miraculum ? 12 Extendisti dextram Tuam; absorpsit eos terra. '^Duxistiin misericordia Tua populum eum, {quem) redemisti: deduxisti in fortitudine Tua ad habitaculum sanctitatis Tuae. Dathe's Yehsion. 1 Tunc Moses et Israel itae hoc carmen in honorem Jova; dixere: Jovam cano, nam magna pr;cstitit. Equum et equi- tem in mare dejecit. 2 Jjeum canam ob defensionem mihi praestitam. Saluti mihi fuit. lUe Deus meus, hunc eele- brabo. Deus patrius, hunc laudibus extollam. 3 Jova fuit bellator, is qui Jova nominatur. •< Currus Pharaonis et exercitum ejus in mare projecit, du- ces ejus lectissimi marl Arabia; sunt immersi. * Fluctibus oliruti in fundum tanquam l.ipis subsiderunt. 6 JJextra tua, o Jova, insignem virtutem ostendit, dextra tua, o Jova, hostem prostravit. ' Immensa tua potentia evertisti adver- sarios tuos, ah ardente ira tua consuniti sunt ut stipula. « llalitu tuo coacerva- t£e sunt aqua;, steterunt in cumulum erecti fluctus, in medio mari unda; con- creverunt. 9 Dixit hostis : persequar, assequar, priedam dividam, jam vota mea ex- plebuntur : stringam gladium, manu mea perdentur. 'O Vento tuo flalias, tum mare eos texit, fundum petie- runt ut plumbum in aquis profundis. "Quis tui similis est, o Jova, inter Deos? quis ut tu tanta sanctitate est conspicuus ? Laudibus illustris, qui mira pra'stat! '^Manum tuam exten- debas, tum terra eos absorpsit. '3 Ducis pro benignitate populum, quem tibi vindicasti, ducis eum pro potentia tua ad sedem tuam sanctam. Christians residing at Kome in tlie earliest ages, for Greek was well understood by both the educated and uneducated. Tliis language spread among even the lower classes, from the great influx of strangers into the capital of the civilised earth, with whom Greek was the general language of com- munication, as well as from the vast number of slaves in Rome brought from countries where Greek had obtained some footing: besides this, the near proximity of Eome to the cities of Magna Grascia, to wliich the franchises of the j?/s Latinum had been extended, must have had no small influence. And indeed the fact of St. Paul having written in Greek to the church at Rome, may be taken as at least an indication that Latin was not absolutely required by the Christians in that city. A Latin version had, however, been made some time before the end of the second century. Such a version was used by TertuUian, who criticised it, and condemned some of its renderings. ]\Iany have supposed that there existed originally numerous independent Latin translations; and in proof of this they have turned to passages in Jerome and Augustine, which speak of the multiplicity of translations, and they have also pointed out how diifercntly tlie same texts are read by different Latin Fathers. The statements, however, of Jerome and Augustine may be better understood as relating to wliat versions had become through repeated alterations ; and the variety in citations appears to have arisen partly from the use of such altered versions, and partly from writers having translated passages for themselves. Lachmann especially has given good reasons for supposing that at first there existed but one version in Latin, and that it was made in the north of Africa, in that Roman province of which Carthage was the metropolis. Like most of the other ancient versions, we know not from whose hand 248 INDO-EUKOPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. it sprung; and it does not seem as if much authority was attached to it, otherwise private individuals would hardly have felt themselves at liberty to alter it almost at pleasure. As this version was made from the Greek, it was in the Old Testament based on the LXX., and not on the original Hebrew. Hence it has resulted, that when a version of the Old Testament into Latin had been made from the Hebrew, the older version fell after a time into such oblivion, that only fragments of it have come down to us. In the latter part of the fourth century, the process of continually altering and correcting the Latin copies occasioned great confusion : this was remarked by Jerome, Augustine, and others. The latter of these Fathers speaks of the multipHcity of the versions then current, and, amongst them all, commends one which he calls the Itala. This term has occasioned much discussion, and much mis- apprehension. Some have thought the word Itala to be an error; while others have strangely applied the name of Itala or Italic to all the Latin versions extant prior to the time of Jerome. It is evident, however, that Augustme meant some one version, and that it was one which had been revised, and that the name indicates its connection with the province of Upper Italy (Italic in contrast to Roman), of which Milan (Mediolanum) was the capital. It is well known how closely Augustine was connected with Milan; it might, we believe, be shown, that in his day pains were taken to rerise the Latin copies in that very district. One thing at least is certain, that however common it may be to call the ancient Latin versions indiscriminately " the Old Italic," the name ought to be rejected, as having originated in misconception, and as perpetuating a confusing error. Before we speak of the labours of Jerome for the revision and retranslation of the Latin text, we have to mention what editions have been published of the older translations. In 1588, Flaminio Nobili published at Rome a work which professed to be the ancient Latin version of the Old Testament, made from the Greek : it was, however, always considered doubtful from what sources Nobili had taken the passages, so as to give the Old Testament complete ; and now it is certain that he really in general did nothing but translate into Latin the Sixtine text of the LXX. Sabatier, one of the distinguished French Benedictines, published at Rheims, in 1743-49, a very large collection of fragments of the ancient versions: he drew them from MSS. and citations: the modern Vulgate is placed by the side of the more ancient text, and the various citations of Latin Fathers are given very elaborately in the notes. Besides the collection of Old Testament fragments given by Sabatier, some passages of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Hosea, were found by Dr. Feder, in a WUrzburg Codex Rescriptus; and they were published by Dr. Munter in 1821. Cardinal Mai has also given, in his Spicilegium Romanum, vol. ix. 1843, some fragments of such a version. The term Ante-Hieroni/mian is often used as a general expression for denoting all the versions or revisions made before the labours of Jerome. Of these we possess not a few of the Gospels, and som ; of other parts of the New Testament. Martianay published, in 1695, an old text of St. Matthew's Gospel and of the Epistle of St. James. In 1749 (as has been mentioned), Sabatier published all he could collect of the New Testament. In the same year, Bianchini published at Rome his Evangeliaruni Quadruplex, containing the Latin texts of the Gospels, as found in the Codices Vercellensis, Verouensis, Brixianus, and Corbeiensis. Subjoined there were some Latin texts of parts of Jerome's version. The principal of these was the Codex Forojuliensis. In 1828, Cardinal Mai gave, in his " Collectio Vaticana," vol. iii., an Ante-Hieronymian version of St. Matthew's Gospel, from a MS. which in the other Gospels followed Jerome's version. We have, in the last place, to mention the " Evangelium Palatinum," a purple MS. at Vienna, of which Tischendorf published a magnificent edition in 1847. Besides these Latin texts, there are also others of which we cannot speak with entire certainty, as they accompany a Greek text in the same MS.: they may probably, therefore, be versions which never had a separate circulation. Hearne published in 1715, at Oxford, the Greco-Latin Codex Laudianus of the book of Acts; in 1793, Kipling edited the Codex Beza; of the Gospels and Acts; and, in 1791, Matthaji published the Codex Boernerianus of St. Paul's Epistles, which has an interlineary Latin version: a similar copy of the Four Gospels, Codex Sangallensis, was published in 1836, by Eettig. Class III.] LATIN. 249 We have now to speak of the version of Jerome. Tlie labours of this most learned of the Fathers will be described most clearly by mentioning, in chronological order, the respective versions and revisions which he undertook. His first labour was the correction of the Latin text of the New Testament, beginning with the Four Gospels, which he undertook at the request of Pope Damasus: this was executed about the year 382, after Jerome's return to Rome from the East. He used the old Latin version, then in common use, as a basis ; but as it was incorrect in many ways, and passages in one gospel had been inserted in another, etc., he amended it in accordance with ancient Greek MSS. He feared innovating too much, and thus he did not correct every thing which he thought inaccurate. In his other works, he often mentions renderings and readings which he preferred to those which he allowed to remain in his version. Soon after this revision of the Latin \ew Testament, he corrected the Psalter then in common use at Eome, by amending some of the places in which it was wide of the LXX. text, from which it had been originally translated. This revision obtained the sanction of the church at Rome, and it was widely used at one time in the Latin Church: in this country it was used at Canterbury alone until the Reformation. The Council of Trent, however, rejected this version in favour of the Galilean Psalter, of which we have next to speak; its use was henceforth confined simply to the city of Rome. After the return of Jerome to the East in 384, he employed himself, in his retreat at Bethlehem, in carefully making a recension of the Old Testament, in accordance with the Hexaplar te.xt of the LXX. The Psalter, with which he seems to have begun, obtained a wide use in the Latin Church, under the name of the Gallican Psalter : the Council of Trent adopted it as of authority, as it had then a jilace in the Latin Bibles. Jerome proceeded in his revision of the Old Testament, in accordance with tlie Hexaplar text of the LXX. : the whole of this version, however (except the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecdesiastes, Canticles, and Chronicles), was, as he says in a letter to Augustine, lost hj fraud. Job is the only book of this version which we possess, besides the Psalms, as already stated. But even while Jerome was occupied with the recension according to the LXX., he had com- menced and made considerable progress in a far more important work. With great pains he had acquired a very fair knowledge of Hebrew, and several of his friends were anxious to profit by his superior attainments: at their solicitations he translated book after book of the Old Testament, between the years 385 and 405. This important work was looked on by many as an innovation; loud were the outcries against any departure I'rom the LXX., which was then commonly believed to be possessed of divine authority. It proves that Jerome's strength of purpose must indeed have been great; or else a person so sensitive as to his own reputation for orthodoxy would never have stemmed the opposition that was raised. His energy in acquiring the Hebrew language was very remarkable; he obtained all the information he could from Jewish teachers, and he made diligent use of all the Greek versions then extant. His Latinity, though not classical, is vigorous; indeed Ids version is refined and elegant, when compared with the translation into that language which was current in the days of Tertullian. Jerome's labours were rjradualli/ appreciated ; after a lapse of about two centuries, his version from the Hebrew of all the Old Testament, except the Psalms, and his revision of the New, were adopted pretty generally : tlie Psalms were taken from his version from the LXX. The adoption, however, of Jerome's version occasioned its corruption, by the admixture of the older renderings, and by other mistakes of copyists. The first, reviser of whom we read was the celebrated Englishman, Alcuin, who about the year 802, at the command of Charlemagne, endeavoured to correct the Vulgate, as Jerome's version, as transmitted, was called. It was formerly thought by some, that he revised witli the Hebrew and Greek texts; but it has been shown that this was not his object: he only endeavoured to restore the text as it stood in ancient Latin copies. A noble MS. of Alcuin's recension in now in the British Museum. Other revisions were undertaken by Lanfrano, archbishop of Canterbury (ob. 1089), and others, for the text was continually injured by copyists. After the invention of printing, the first book to which this almost divine art was applied was the 250 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Latin Vulgate. The first edition has no indication of place or date: the earliest which is dated is that of Mayence, 1462. The first printers just followed the copy which they could most conveniently procure. Cardinal Ximenes took some pains to give the text more carefully in the Complutensian Polyglot, 1514-17; and yet farther care was taken in the editions of Robert Stephens, 1528-46; of Hentenius, 1547; and of the Louvain divines in 1573. Meanwhile, in 1546, the Council of Trent had decreed the Latin Vulgate to be " authentic;" and it was considered to be the prerogative of the Popes to issue an authoritative edition. Li 1590 this was done by Sixtus the Fifth, a little before his death. Although he threatened with excommunication any one who should vary from his text, his third successor, Clement the Eighth, in 1592, published a very different te.xt: he professed in this merely to correct the errata of the Sixtine text; but this does not explain the variations. In 1593, another edition was published with some alterations, which, with a few corrections made soon after, is the standard Vulgate of the whole Romish Church. It is not regarded, even by Romanists, as altogether the genuine version of Jerome; and some renderings are palpably corrupt, so as to suit false dogmas. The Benedictine editors of Jerome in 1693, Martianay and Poujet, used MS. authority for printing his biblical versions, as also did the Verona editors, Vallarsi and Mattel, in 1734^2. There are also other MSS. of Jerome's translation extant, of great antiquity and excellence; particularly the Codex Amiatinus at Florence, of which an imperfect collation has been published. It has since been twice collated in the Kew Testament part; and from this and similar sources the version of Jerome might be restored to nearly the condition in which it left his hand. As Jerome's own translation of the Psalms from the Hebrew is not contained in the Vulgate, it has been given, as well as that of the Vulgate, in the Biblia Polyr/lotta Ecclesia and the IlexajAar Psalter, under the name which it usually bears, Psalierium Hebraicum. Although no version but the Vulgate has ever been received as " authentic" by the Romish Church, yet, on account of the many errors and corruptions by which that text is disfigured, several attempts have been made, by Catholics as well as by Protestants, to produce more correct Latin versions. The following is a brief description of these modern translations : — I. The version of Pagninus, containing the Old and New Testaments, was published at Lyons in 1528. This is a very close and servile representation of the original texts, and tlie diction is often obscure and barbarous. Pagninus was a Dominican monk of great learning, and he executed this version under the patronage of the Popes, Leo X., Adrian VI., and Clement VII. His version of the Old Testament was reprinted by Stephens in 1557. II. The revision of the version of Pagninus by Arias Montanus was published in the Antwerp, Paris, and London Polyglots. In this revision the most literal signification of the Hebrew words is given without any reference to the context, and even the number of Latin words is accommodated to that of the Hebrew. The chief use of this revision is therefore that of a grammatical commentary for Hebrew students. In the New Testa- ment, Montanus chiefly made use of the Vulgate, contenting himself with correcting it in a few places according to the Greek. III. The version of Mahenda, a Spanish Dominican, printed at Lyons in 1650, was never regarded with any estimation, on account of its obscure and ungrammatical diction, and it has now completely fallen into oblivion. IV. The version of Cardinal Cajetan comprises only the Old Testament, and was published at Lyons in 1639. Cajetan had no knowledge of Hebrew, but he employed two trans- lators well acquainted with that language, the one a Jew and the other a Christian, to execute the version under his superintendence. This, like the preceding translations, adheres rigidly to the very letter of the text. Class III.] LATIN. 251 V. The version of Houbigaiit, celebrated for the elegance and freedom of its style, was published at Paris in 1753, in a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. This version, which com- prises only the Old Testament, is executed from Father Houbigant's emended Hebrew text. These five modern versions were all produced by Roman Catholics. The following are the principal Latin versions executed by Protestants: — I. The version of Munster was published at Basle in 1534, and again in 1546: it is confined to the Old Testament, and is held in some reputation on account of the clearness of the style, and its strict fidelity to the Hebrew text. This version is preferred by Father Simon and other critics to that of Pagninus and Montanus. II. The version of the Old and New Testaments commenced by Leo Juda and completed by Bibliander, professor of divinity at Zurich, was printed in 1543, and again by Stephens at Paris in 1545. In general accuracy and fidelity this version equals that of Munster; and tlie style, though less literal, is more elegant. III. The version of Custalio or Chatillon was printed at Basle in 1551, with a dedication to Edward VI., king of England. It was reprinted at Basle in 1573, and at Leipsic in 1738. The desitrn of Castalio was to produce a Latin translation of both Testaments in the pure classical language of the ancient Latin writers. IV. The version o£ Junius and TremelUus was published at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1575-1579. It was afterwards corrected by Junius, and on account of its close adlierence to the Hebrew, the Old Testament of this version has been frequently reprinted. The New Testament, translated from the Syriac version by Tremellius, with Beza's translation from the Greek, appeared In a second edition at Geneva In 1590. V. Schmidt's version of the Old and New Testaments was executed with great exactness from the orio-Inal texts, and printed at Strasburg in 1696. Several more recent editions have been issued. VI. The version oi Dathe, professor of Oriental literature at Leipsic, appeared in 1773-1789, and is considered a faithful and elegant translation of the Hebrew text. VII. The version of the Pentateuch by Schott a.n Atque Logos factus est came praeditus, et tentorium fixit (comraoratus est) apud nos [spectavimusque eius gloriam, qualis est gloria filii unigeniti a patre oriundi] plenus gratiae et veritatis. Goeschen's Version. ' In principio erat logos, et logos erat apud deum, et deus erat logos. 2 Hie erat in principio apud deum. 3 Omnia per eum facta sunt; ac sine eo nihil unum factum est, quod factum est. ■• In eo vita erat, ac vita erat lux hominum ; s et lux in tenebris lucet, ac tene- brae eam non comprehenderunt. 6 Fuit homo missus a deo, cui loannis nomen ; ' hie venit ad testimonium, ut de luce testaretur, ut omnes eius causa (auetoritate) crederent * Non erat ille lux, sed ut de luce testaretur. 9 Erat lux ilia vera, qua illustratur omnis homo, in mundum veniens. '" In mundo erat, et mundus per eum factus est, et mundus eum non novit. " In sua venit, et sui non exceperunt eum. '2 Quotcunque autem exceperunt eum, eis, credentibus in eius nomen, facul- tatem dedit ut filii dei fierent ; '3 qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex viri voluntate, sed ex deo nati sunt. '* Et logos caro factus est, et com- moratus est inter nos (et vidimus maiestatera eius, maiestatem ut unigeniti a patre), plenus gratia ac veritate. 254 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. FRENCH. SPECIMEN. FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to U. Au commencement etait la Parole, et la Parole etait avec Dieu, et la Parole etait Dieu. ^ Elle etait au commencement avec Dieu. ^ Toutes choses ont ete faites par elle, et sans elle rien de ce qui a ete fait, n'a ete fait. ^ En elle etait la vie, et la vie etait la lumi^re des hommes. ^ Et la lumi^re luit dans les ten^bres, mais les tenebres ne Tont point comprise. " II Y eut un homme appele Jean, qui fut envoye de Dieu. ' II vint pour rendre temoignage, pour rendrc, dis-je, temoignage a la Lumiere, afin que tous crussent par lui. ^ II n'etait pas la Lumiere, mais il etait envoye pour rendre temoignage a la Lumiere. ^ Cette Lumiere etait la veritable, qui eclaire tout homme venant au monde. ^^ Elle etait au monde, et le monde a ete fait par elle ; mais le monde ne I'a point connue. ^^ II est venu chez soi ; et les siens ne I'ont point requ. ^'^ Mais k tous ceux qui Tont regu, il leur a donne le droit d'etre faits enfans de Dieu, savoir k ceux qui croient en son nom ; ^^Lesquels ne sont point nes de sang, ni de la volonte de la chair, ni de la volonte de I'homme ; mais ils sont nes de Dieu. ^^Et la Parole a ete faite chair; elle a habite parmi nous, et nous avons contemple sa gloire, qui a ete une gloire, comme la gloire du Fils unique du P^re, pleine de grace et de verite. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The FrencK language is predominant throughout France, except (as is elsewhere stated) in part of Brittany and In the Basque districts: German dialects prevail, more or less, in Upper and Lower Rhine, and in some of the other departments along the eastern frontier. The total population of France, in 1856, amounted to 36,039,364. The great majority of the French people belong to the Roman Catholic Church; but certain sects among them, while they adhere to Roman CathoHc doctrines, repudiate the authority of the Pope. Toleration is so freely extended to all parties, that pastors and teachers of every denomination, Jewish as well as Christian, are considered entitled to support from the state. According to the census of 1851, the population of France (then numbering 35,781,627) was divided into 34,931,032 Roman Catholics; 748,332 members of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches; 73,995 Jevirs; 26,328 members of other churches; the rest being returned under the head of "religion unknown." The French language is spoken in parts of Switzerland and in the Channel Islands; and is in frequent use, as a medium of communication, between people of different nations, in almost every country of Europe. In the colonies, however, it is incomparably less diffused than the English. It is extensively spoken in Louisiana and the French Antilles, and particularly in Lower Canada, where a vast majority of the people are of French origin. The primitive habits of the original settlers arc still retained ; and it is said that the French language itself is there preserved precisely in the same state as it existed in the days of Louis XIV. II. — CHARACTERISTICS AND HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE. Three principiil languages, the Aquitainian, the Celtic, and the Belgic, were spoken in Gaul at the time of the Roman invasion of that country. These languages, particularly the Celtic, which was the most widely diffused, commingled with the language of the Roman legions, and formed a new language, which, from the predominance of Roman words and elements, was called the Romance. The stock of words entering into the Romance language was augmented by the addition of numerous Greek words, chiefly sea-terms, borrowed from Marseilles, then a Greek colony. Class III.] FRENCH. 255 In the fifth century, Gaul passed into the hands of Teutonic nations: the Visigoths occupied the south, while the Franks and Burgundians estahlished themselves in the north and east. Ultimately the Franks extended their dominion througliout the whole country; but, being few in number, their language exercised little perceptible influence. The Romance, therefore, still continued to be the language of Gaul; and, about the tenth century, it seems to have diverged into two principal dialects, the langjie cToc, spoken in the south, and the langue cToil or d'oui, spoken in the north. During the thirteenth century, the larajue d'oil became the language of the court and capital of France, and gradually superseded the langue doc. Originally, the differences between the two dialects were few and inconsiderable; but by degrees the lanpue cToil dropped many of its ancient terminations, acquired new and distinctive peculiarities, and finally merged into the language which, from the Franks, the Teutonic conquerors of Gaul, is now denominated the French. Thus the history of the French language proves that it may be regarded as a direct emanation from the Latin; and yet, of all the Neo-Latin languages, it differs the most widely from the parent stock. It has a singular habit of contracting the Latin words which enter into its composition : this it often effects by omitting one of the internal consonants: thus, ligare, in French, is converted into Her, laudare into louer, sudare into siter. On the other hand, it generally lengthens the a of the Latin into at; as in ala, aile — amo, aime — panis, pain — pax, paix, &c. The w of Teutonic nations becomes (/u in French; as in wasp, picpe — ^FiUiam, G;allaume, &c. In point of construction, French is remarkable for its clearness and uniformity; and its idiomatical phrases are particularly concise and expressive: it is hence admirably adapted for conversational and epistolary purposes, and also for commercial and diplomatic negociation. Yet, with all these advantages of structure, it is most difficult to convert the French language into a vehicle of theological ideas; and we are told, that "all trans- lators and editors of the Scriptures in this language have found themselves embarrassed between the choice of a literal version, which makes the language barbarous, and an idiomatical one, which degenerates into paraphrase." III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTORES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Owing, perhaps, to the extreme diflSculty of producing a faithful and satisfactory French version, the attempts that have been made to translate the Scriptures into this language are particularly numerous. The first translation of which we have any definite account is ascribed to the twelfth century; and portions of it, with other ancient writings, were published at Paris, in 1842, by Leroux de Lincy, under the title of " The Four Books of Kings." A translation is extant of all the epistles and gospels of the Latin Missal, executed by De Vignay, at the request of Jane of Burgundy, queen of Philip of Valois, king of France: the MS. is in the library of the Convent of St. Dominic, at Paris. The Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor, which is a popular compendium of scriptural history was translated by Guiars des Mouhns, between the years 1291 and 1294, and several MS. copies are preserved in the Eoyal Library at Paris: this work, which is generally known as " La Bible Ilistoriale," was printed by command of Charles VIII. of France, in 1487. Among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum, is a fine copy of a translation of the Bible as far as the Psalms, executed by Eaoul de Presles, by command of Charles V. of France. All these translations were superseded by a version of the entire Scriptures published at Antwerp, in consecutive portions, between the years 1512 and 1530, by Jaques le Fevre of Estaples, commonly called Jacobus Faber, Stapulensis. Faber translated from the Latin Vulgate, which he has followed so closely that many of his passages appear obscure. This version is the basis of all other French versions, Protestant as well as Catholic, which have since been published: it was reprinted in 1534 and 1541 ; and was revised and published by the divines of Louvain in 1550. The following is a list of the principal translations of the Scriptures into French which have appeared since the publication of Faber's version : — 1535. Olivetan's version of the entire Scriptures, translated from the original texts, and printed 256 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. 1555. 1G41. at Neufchatel, and again, in 1540, at Geneva, with corrections by liis relative, the celebrated reformer, Calvin. The so-called versions of Renat Benoist (1566), of Besse (1608), and of Frizon (1620), are merely editions of this version, with slight altera- tions. Several other revisions have been published; but, of these, by fur the most important is the one familiarly known as the " Geneva Bible." It appeared at Geneva in 1588, after having been corrected by the College of Pastors and Professors of the Reformed Church at Geneva (Beza, Goulart, Jaquemot, Bertram, La Faye, and PLOtan). The individuals engaged in this revision are said to have consulted the rabbinical writers, and the Latin versions of Munster and Tremellius, besides the sacred originals: they succeeded in imparting a greater degree of elegance and precision to the language, and corrected some of the errors of Olivetan. Castalio published a French translation of his own Latin version; but this work scarcely deserves a place in the list of French versions, as it is disfigured by serious errors, and never rose into repute. Castalio is even charged with having invented French words, for the purpose, as he thought, of expressing the full force of the Greek. In 1562, a translation was published, in French, of Diodati's Italian version. A translation of the entire Bible from the Vulgate, executed by Corbin, advocate of the Le Fevre's Version. ' Av commencement estoit la pa- rolle, et la paroUe estoit auec dieu: et la paroUe estoit dieu. ^ Icelle estoit au commencement auoc dieu. 3 Toutes choses ont este faictes par icelle : et sans icelle riens na este faict qui ait este faict. ■• En icelle estoit la vie : et la vie estoit la lu- miere des hommes : ' et la lumiere luyt es tenebres : et les tenebres ne lent point comprinse. ^ Ung homme fut enuoye de dieu : qui estoit nomnie Jehan. ' Lestuy vint en tesmoignage, pour rendre tesmoignage de la lumiere : affin que tous creussent par icelle. * Les- tuy nestoit point la lumiere : mais affin quil rendisse tesmoignage de la lumiere. ^ Lavraye lumiere estoit celle qui enlumine tout homme ve- nant en ce monde. '"Elle estoit au monde, et le monde est faict par elle: et le monde ne la point cong- neue. " Elle est venue es choses que estoient siennes : et les siens ne lent point receue. '^ Mais tous ceulx qui lont receue, elle leur a donne puissance destre fais les filz de dieu, iceulx creans en son nom. "les- quels ne de sangz, ne par voulente de chair, ne par voulente dhomme : mais sont nez de dieu. '■• Et la parolle est faicte chair : et a habite en nous, et auons veu sa gloire, gloire comme de celluy qui est seul ne du pere, plaine de grace ct de verite. Olitetan's Version. ' Atj commencement estoit la pa- rolle, et la parolle estoit auec Dieu : et Dieu estoit la parolle. ^ Icelle estoit au commencement auec Dieu. 3 Toutes choses ont este faictes par icelle : et sans icelle rien na este faict, de ce qui est faict. * En icelle estoit la vie : et la vie estoit la lu- miere des hommes, * et la lumiere luyt es tenebres, et les tenebres ne lont pas comprinse. 6 Ung homme fut enuoye de Dieu, qui auoit nom Jehan. ' Lestuy est venu en tesmoingnage, a ce quil rendist tesmoingnage de la lumiere : affin que tous creussent par icelle. * Lestuy nestoit pas la lumiere, mais affin quil tesmoingnast de la lumiere. 9 Celle estoit la vraye lu- miere qui enlumine tout homme venant au monde. '" Elle estoit au monde : et le monde est faict par elle : et le monde ne la point cong- neue. " Elle est venue es choses qui estoient siennes . et les siens ne lont pas receue. '^ Mais tous ceulx qui lont receue : elle leur a donne puissance destre faictz enfans de Dieu, ascauoir a ceulx qui croyent en son nom: "Lesquelz ne de sang, ne de volunte de chair, ne de vo- lunte dhomme : mais de Dieu sont naiz. '^Et la parolle est faicte chair, et a habite en nous (et auons con- temple sa gloire, gloire comme de celuy, qui est seul nay du pere) pleine de grace et de verite. Geneva Version. ' Av commencement estoit la Pa- role, & la Parole estoit auec Dieu : & icelle Parole estoit Dieu. ^ Elle estoit au commencement auec Dieu. 3 Toutes choses ont este faites par elle : & sans elle rien n'a este fait de ce qui est fait. '' En elle estoit la vie, & la vie estoit la lumiere des hom- mes. * Et la lumiere luit es tenebres, & les tenebres ne Font point com- prise. 5 11 y eut vn homme enuoye de Dieu, qui auoit nom lean. ' Ces- tuy-ci vint pour porter tesmoignage, a ce qu'il rendit tesmoignage de la Lumiere, a fin que tous creussent parluy. * II n'estoit pas la Lumiere, mais estoit pour tesmoigner de la Lumiere. ^ La vraye Lumiere estoit celle qui illumine tout homme venant au monde. '" 11 estoit au monde, & le monde a este fait par luy, & le monde ne I'a point cognu. "II est venu chez soy: & les siens ne Tont point receu. "^ Mais a tous ceux qui I'ont receu, il leur a donne ce droict d'estre faits enfans de Dieu, d scauotr, a ceux qui croyent en son Nom. '^ Lesquels ne sont point nais de sang ne de volonte de la chair, ne de volonte de I'homme : mais sont nais de Dieu. '■• Et ceste Parole a este faite chair, 8c a habite entre nous (& auons contemple sa gloire : gloire, di-ie, comme de I'vnique issu du Pere) plein de grace Sc de verite. Class 111.] FRENCH. 257: lC-19. 1666. Parliament of Paris, and publislied witli tlie approbation of the Faculty of Theology of Poitiers. The modes of expression adopted in this translation are rude and barbarous, and it has long sunk into disrepute. Du Marolles published a New Testament, professedly translated from the original; but, as ho did not understand the Greek language, it is believed that he merely made a translation of Erasmus's Latin Testament, which was drawn immediately from the Greek text. In some places he seems to have conformed to the Vulgate. Father Amelotte published a translation of the New Testament, which is well known to have been executed from the Vulgate, although he pretended that he had consulted Greek MSS. of the highest antiquity. This version is far from being faithful or accurate: he often uses great circumlocution, and in many instances inserts words which are not in the original, without writing them in Italics. De Sact's Veksion. ' Au commencement etoit le Verba, & le Verbe etoit avec Dieu, & le Verbe etoit Dicu. 2 l\ etoit au com- mencement avcc Dieu. ^ Toutes choses ont ete faites par lui : & rien de ce qui a ete fait n'a ete fait sans lui. * Dans lui fetoit la vie, k la vie etoit la lumierc des hommes: * k la lumiere luit dans les tene- bres, &: les tenebres ne I'ont point comprise. ^ 11 y eut un hommo en- voye de Dieu, qui s'appelloit Jean. ' II vint pour servir de temoin, pour rendre temoignage a la lumiere, afin que tous crussent par lui. * 11 n'etoit pas la lumiere : mais il vint ])our rendre temoignage, a celui qui itoit la lumiere. s Cclui-la etoit la vraie lumiere, qui illumine tout liomme venant en ce monde. '" 11 etoit dans le monde, & le monde a ete fait par lui, & le monde ne I'a point connu. " II est venu chez soi, ic les siens ne font point regu. '- Mais il a donne a tous ceux qui I'ont requ, le pouvoir d'etre faits enfans de Dieu, a ceux qui croyent en son nom : '3 qui ne sont point nes du sang, ni de la volonte de la chair, ni de la volonte de I'homme, mais de Dieu mfeme. '^ Et le Verbe a ete fait chair, & il a habite parmi nous : & nous avons vu sa gloire, sa gloire, dis-je, comme du Fils unique du Pcre, etant plein de grace & de veritc. Ostekvald's Veksion. ' La Parole etoit au commencement, la Parole etoit aveo Dieu, et cette Parole etoit Dieu. ^ Elle etoit au commenoemont avec Dieu. ^ Toutes choses ont ete faites par elle, ct rien de ce qui a ete fait, n'a etc fait sans elle. ■* C'est en elle qu'etoit la vie, et la vie etoit la lumiere des hommes. * Et la lumiere luit dans les tenebres, et les tenebres ne font point re^ue. ^ II y eut un homme, appele Jean, qui fut envoyfe de Dieu. ' 11 vint pour etre temoin et pour rendre temoignage de la lumiere, afin que tous crussent par lui. * 11 n'etoit pas lui-meme la lumiere, mais il etoit envoye pour rendre te- moignage a la lumiere. ^ C'etoit la veritable lumiere qui eclaire tous les hommes, en venant au monde. '" Elle etoit dans le monde, et le monde a ete fait par elle ; mais le monde ne la pas eonnue. " II est venu chez soi : et les siens ne font point regu. '^ Mais a tous ceux qui i'ont regu, il leur a donne le droit d'etre faits enfans de Dieu, snro/?-, a ceux qui croient en son nom; "qui ne sont point nes du sang, ni de la volonte de la chair, ni de la volonte de I'homme, mais qtd sont nes de Dieu. •'' Et la Parole a ete faito chair, et a habite parmi nous, et nous avons vu sa gloire, une gloire telle qu'est celle du Fils unique du Pere, pleine de grace ct de verite. Swiss Version. ' Au commencement etait la Pa- role : et la Parole etait aupres de Dieu; et la Parole etait Dieu. 2 Elle etait au commencement aupres de Dieu. 3 Toutes choses ont ete faites par son moyen, et rien de ce qui a ete fait n'a ete fait sans elle. ^ En elle etait la vie, et la vie etait la lu- miere des hommes. ^ Et la lumiere luit dans les tenebres, et les tenebres ne I'ont point re^ue. ^ II y out un homme envoye de Dieu ; son nom etait Jean; ' II vint en temoignage, pour rendre temoignage de la lumi- ere, afin que tous crussent par son moyen. * Lui n'etait pas la lumiere, mais il etait pour rendre temoignage do la lumiere. ^ La veritable lumi- ere qui eclaire tout homme etait ve- nue dans le monde. '" Elle etait dans le monde, et le monde a ete fait par son moyen, et le monde ne I'a pas eonnue. " Elle est venue chez soi, et les siens ne font point regue. '2 Mais, a tous ceux qui I'ont re9ue, elle leur a donne le droit de dovenir enfants de Dieu, a ceux qui croient en son nom, lesquels ont ete en- gendres non du sang, ni de la volonte de la chair, ni de la volonte de I'homme, mais de Dieu. "Et la Parole a ete faite chair, et elle a dresse sa tente parmi nous, pleine de grace et de verite, et nous avons contemple sa gloire, gloire comme du fils unique de la part du Pere. 1667. The celebrated version of the New Testament from the Vulgate, by De Sacy and other Port-RoyaUsts, was printed by the Elzevirs, at Amsterdam, for IMigeot, a bookseller of Mons; whence it is often called the Mons Testament. It appeared under the approbation of Cardinal Noailles, and it is still held in high repute, and has passed through many editions. De Sacy was confessor to the Society of Port Eoyal; he was involved in the persecution raised against that Society by the Jesuits, and was thrown into the Bastille 13 258 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. in 1666. It was here, during his confinement for two years and a half, that he under- took his translation of the Bible. He finished the entire version of both Testaments on the Eve of All Saints, 1668, the day of his liberation from imprisonment. His version has often been condemned by the Jesuits as too favourable to Protestantism, but in France it is generally regarded as " the most perfect version in French, or in any other tongue." De Sacy's character as a translator has been thus drawn: — "In a critical knowledge of the ^sacred text, he may have had many superiors; but none in that exquisite sensibility to the grandeur, the pathos, the superhuman wisdom, and the awful purity of the divine original, without which none can truly apprehend, or accurately render into another idiom, the sense of the inspired writers." 1668. Godeau, bishop of Vence, published at Paris another version of the New Testament from the Vulgate: it is neither a literal translation nor a paraphrase, but partakes of the nature of both. 167 1-1680. Quesnel executed a translation of the New Testament from the Vulgate, taking as a basis that of De Sacy, and appending Moral Reflections, which have been translated and published in English. 1686. A New Testament, wilfully falsified to agree with Roman Catholic dogmas, was published at Bordeaux, by the Jesuits, and was intended for those Protestants who, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, had been compelled, by torture and other means, to embrace the Roman Catholic religion. Nearly the whole of this edition Is supposed to have been destroyed, yet no fewer than nine copies are known to be still in existence in England and Ireland. 1696-1707. Martin revised the Geneva Bible, and rendered it more conformable in point of style to the modern idiom. Martin was a native of Languedoc, and exercised the duties of pastor in that part of France, till he was exiled by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He then settled in Utrecht, as the pastor of the Walloon cliurch in that city; he died in 1721. A revision of Martin's Bible was executed by Pierre Roques, pastor of the French church at Basle: it was published in 1772: other editions have been given elsewhere, and in 1820 this version was again carefully revised at Paris, and afterwards stereotyped at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 1697-1703. The Jesuits Bouhours, Tellier, and Bemier, published another version of the New Testament from the Vulgate; but this version, together with that of Hure (also from the Vulgate, and printed in 1702), has long sunk into oblivion. 1702. Father Simon, the celebrated author of some critical histories of the text and versions of Scripture, made a translation of the New Testament from the Vulgate: it was translated into English by Mr. Webster, in 1730. 1709. The Bible, translated chiefly from the Vulgate, but with corrections from the original Hebrew, and from some of the more ancient versions, was published by Le Gros, at Cologne. It was reprinted at Brussels in 1759, and at Paris in 1819. 1718. A Protestant version of the New Testament, remarkable for its closeness and accuracy, was executed from the original text by Beausobre and L'Enfant, and published at Amsterdam. An English translation of the preliminary dissertation and of the gospel of Matthew, belonging to this version, was printed at Cambridge in 1779. 1724. Ostervald, a pastor of the Lutheran church at Neufchatel, published an edition of the Geneva Bible, with notes: in 1744 he published another edition, with many corrections and emendations. His corrections, it has been observed, " have so far modernised the style, as to render this version far more elegant and idiomatic than that of JIartin ; but it is rather paraphrastical, and not so rigidly conformed to the originals." 1741. A translation of the entire Bible, by Le Cene, was published by his son, a bookseller of Class III.] FRENCH. 259 Amsterdam ; but, on account of its Socinian tendency, it never rose into mucli repute. The same may be said of Le Clerc's version of tlie New Testament, whicli was also published at Amsterdam. 1820-1824. Genoude published a translation of the Bible, executed mainly from the Vulgate, and written in pure and elegant language. This is a Roman Catholic version, and is in every respect conformed to the dogmas of that church. 1822. The Bible Society for the Canton-de-Vaud, after an uninterrupted labour of four years, published a revised edition of 10,000 copies of the entire French Scriptures. The revision was conducted by four clergymen, who availed themselves of the researches of oriental scholars, and of various critical aids that did not exist when Martin (and, after him, Ostervald) revised the old version of OHvetan. ]\Iany errors, however, crept into this version, which were pointed out by Mr. Haldane, and in consequence of these inaccuracies, and of notes appended to it, it was repudiated by the parent Society. 1839. The Lausanne revision of the Scriptures was published by an association of Swiss ministers of the gospel at Lausanne. The object of this revision was partly to accom- modate the obsolete style of older editions to the modern idiom; but many of the emendations partake of the character of a paraphrase. A revision of former versions, so carefully corrected as to be essentially a new version, was published, (the New Testament in 1842 and the Old Testament in 1850), at Paris, by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The Society was induced to undertake this revision chiefly in con- sequence of a statement laid before them in 1835, by which it was shown that no less than four different versions of the Holy Scriptures were used indiscriminately in the Channel Islands; and that at least ten distinct versions were in use among French Protestants, occasioning much confusion, not to say evil, in their churches, schools, and families. Martin's revision was selected by the Society as the basis of the new edition, because it approaches the nearest to the English version. Many other corrected editions and re-publications of the French Bible, several of which were executed, more or less, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, might be here enumerated, did our limits permit. The above list, however, may suffice to indicate the revisions in which the emendations are of sufficient importance to claim for them in any degree the character of new versions. The only texts circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society are those of Martin, Ostervald, and De Sacy; the latter for the use of Roman Catholics. Ostervald's version is in general use among the French Protestants of Switzerland, while the Protestants in the south of France, and those of Holland and Belgium, prefer Martin's revision. The following specimens, illustrating some of the various provincial dialects of France, will be found interesting: — NOEMANDIAN DIALEC T.— 1 SAMUEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 6. FEOM A BOOK ENTITLED, " LES QUATHE IIVEES DES EOIS." Uns bers fu j^, en I'antif pople Deu, e out num Helcana ; fiz fud Jeroboam, le fiz Heliud, le fiz Thair, le fiz Suf ; e fud de Effrata. '^ Muillers out dous, la plus noble fud claraee Anna, e I'altre Phenenna. Phenenna out enfanz plusurs, mais Anna n'en out nul. ^En eel cuntemple, fud une cite Sylo, de part Effraim, que Deu out k sun oes saisie e sacree. Icest lieu seintefied fud li bers Helchana acustumiers fl visiter, pur Deu depreier, oblatiuns faire, e sacrifier as jurs asis e par la lei establiz. A cest lieu servir furent dui pruveire atitele, Ofni Phinees. Fiz furent Hely, ki dune ert evesche et maistre principals. * E k un jur avint que Helchana fist sacrefise, e, sulune lu lei, k sei retint partie, partie dunad ^ sa cumpaignie. ^E a Anne sa muiller, que il tendrement amad, une partie dunad, ki forment ert deshaitee, kar Deu ne li volt encore duner le fruit desired de sun ventre. 260 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. BUEGUNDIAN D I A L E C T.-EUTH, Chap. i. v. 1 to 5. Dan le tam vou c'dtoo de Juge qui gouvanein le peuple jui et ansin qu'ein de lo etoo an plaice, ai vin dan lai Judee ene si tarbe fameigne que cetoo pei qu'antan, et qu'ein liaibitan de Betleam s'an-ali d'airo sai fanne et se deu fi male, clie le Moaibitc por y passai ein peclio de tam. ^ Stu-lai s'aipeloo Elimelai, et sai fanne Noerai. Se fi aivein nom Maalon et Chelion ; Nel etein de Betleam qu'at an Juda. Etan don venun dans le pai de Moaibite el y restire. ^ Elimelai, mairi de Noemi, vin depeii ai raeuri. Noemi resti d'aivo se deu gar9on. ^ Ai priure po lo fanne de fiUe du pai, don I'ene aivoo nora Ruth, et I'autre Orpha. Aipre aivoi vicu diz an aivo lei, ^ Maalon et Chelion meurire to deu ; et Noemi se trovi tote seul, porce quelle aivoo antarri son homme et se deuz anfan. IV. — KESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OP THE FRENCH VERSION. Copies of the French Scriptures, almost too numerous to be within the limits of calculation , have been issued, within the last half-century, by the French and Foreign Bible Society, by the Swiss Societies, and by other Continental Bible Societies, which have originated from the example, and have been assisted by the grants, of the British and Foreign Bible Society. From the Paris depot of the British and Foreign Bible Society, there had been issued, up to the year 1860, a total of 3,695,062 copies of the Scriptures; and nineteen-twentieths of the number had been distributed among the Roman Catholic portion of the population. The result of these extensive distributions, as collected from the details of colporteurs, is a vast accumulation of facts, which could scarcely be comprised within the compass of a single volume; and for which, therefore, we must refer our readers to the pages of the Reports of the British and Foreign, and other Bible Societies. A late report of M. de Pressense, the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in France, is couclied in the following terms:— "The Lord only lAiows what amount of good has been produced by so large a circulation of his holy Word. AVhat we ourselves have witnessed appears to me to be sufTicicnt to convince us that it must be immense. Have not our colporteurs frequently discovered, in localities the very names of which were scarcely known, and even in solitary houses, scattered on heaths and moors, or burled in the midst of forests, individuals who proved themselves to be awakened and converted — true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ — rendered such by the power of the Holy Ghost, Infusing life and vigour into his written word? Have we not before us a sufficient array of facts to assure us that much of the divine seed has not fallen by the wayside, or among thorns and briars? And may we not, without exaggeration, declare, to tlie praise and glory of God, that the work of distributing the Scriptures in France has been carried on with the most visible and the most encouraging success?" More recently, among other gratifying testimony to the progress of the good work from tlie same quarter, we meet with the following: — " One of our colporteurs writes to me respecting difficulties he has to encounter in a certain canton, difficulties of rather an uncommon character. The fact Is, the people will scarcely allow of his going from house to house from the fear of being altogether deprived of his visits ; Indeed they seem almost inclined to keep him as a kind of prisoner. There are in the parishes comprising the district in question, at least a thousand persons, who, in consequence of the visits of the colporteurs, will have nothing further to do with popery. The greater number of these persons belong to the class of agriculturists, who are in easy circumstances, and they have made up their minds to incur sacrifices for the purpose of erecting a Protestant chapel. They already occupy a hired room, situated in the most central position. A pastor residing in the neighbourhood occasionally visits them, and the meetings which he holds are attended by from 200 to 300 persons, who appear to be increasingly growing in their attachment to the Bible." Class III.] SPANISH. 261 S P A N I S PI. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Retna's Version, ' En el principio era la Palabra : y la Palabra era acerca de Dios : y aquella Palabra era Dios.' ^ Esta era en el principio acerca de Dios. ^ Todas las cosas por esta fueron hcchas : y sin ella nada, de lo que es hecho, fue hecho. ■* En ella es- tava la vida, y la vida era la luz de los honibres. ^ Y la luz en las tinie- blas resplandece : mas las tinieblas no la comprehendieron. ^ Fue un hombre embiado de Dios : el qual se llamava Juan. ' Este vino para {Inr testimonio, para testificar de la luz : paraque todos creyessen por el. * El no era la luz, smoj'ue em- hiado paraque diesse testimonio de la luz. 3 Era la verdadera luz, que aliinibra a todo hombre, que viene al mundo. '"En el mundo estava, y el mundo fue hecho por el, y el mundo no lo conocio. " A lo que era suyo, vino. Y los suyos no lo recibieron. '2 Mas a. todos lo.s que lo recibieron, dioles potestad de ser hechos hijos de Dios, a los que creen en su nom- bre. '^ Los quales no son engen- drados de sangres, ni de voluntad do carne, ni de voluntad de varon, mas de Dios. '^ Y aquella palabra fue hecha carne, y habito entre no- sotros : y vimos su gloria, gloria como de unigenito del padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad. Scio's Version. ' En el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo era con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios. '^ Este era en el principio con Dios. 3 Todas las cosas fueron he- chas por el : y nada de lo que fue hecho, se hizo sin el. * En el es- taba la vida, y la vida era la luz de los hombrcs. * Y la luz en las ti- nieblas resplandece ; mas las tinie- blas no la comprehendieron. * Fue un hombre enviado de Dios, que tenia por nombre Juan. ' Este vino en testimonio, para dar testimonio de la luz, para que creyesen todos por el. * No era el la luz, sino para que diese testimonio de la luz. '■' Era la luz verdadera, que alumbra a todo hombre, qui viene a este mundo. '° En el mundo estaba, y el mundo por el fue hecho, y no le conocio el mundo. "A lo suyo vino, y los suyos no le recibie- ron. '2 Mas a quantos le recibie- ron, les dio poder de ser hechos hijos de Dios, a aquellos que creen en su nombre : " Los quales son nacidos no de sangres, ni de voluntad de carne, ni de volun- tad de varon, mas de Dios. '■* Y el Verbo fue hecho carne, y habito entre nosotros : y vimos la glo- ria de el, gloria como de Unige- nito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad. Amat's Version. ' En el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo estaba con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios. ^ El estaba en el princi- pio con Dios. 3 Por el fueron hc- chas todas las cosas : y sin el no se ha hecho cosa alguna de cuantas ban sido hechas. ^ En el estaba la vida, y la vida era la luz de los honi- bres : ^ Y esta luz resplandece en las tinieblas, y las tinieblas no la ban recibido. '' Hubo un hombre enviado dc Dios, que se llamaba Juan. ' Este vino como testigo, para dar testimonio de la luz, a fin de que por medio de el todos crey- esen : 8 No era el la luz, sino en- viado para dar testimonio de la luz. ' Era la luz verdadera, que alumbra a todo hombre que viene a este mundo. '"En el mundo estaba, y el mundo fue por el hecho, y el mundo no le conocio. " Vino a su propia casa, y los suyos no le recibieron. 'sPero a todos los que le recibieron, que son los que creen en su nombre, dioles poder de llegar a ser hijos de Dios : '3 Los cuales no nacen de la sangre, ni de la voluntad de la carne, ni de la voluntad de hombre, sino que nacen de Dios. '' Y el Verbo se hizo carne, y habito en medio de noso- tros : y nosotros hemos visto su glo- ria, gloria como del unigenito del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad. I. GKOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Except in the Basque Provinces, the Spanish language is spoken with remarkably few dialectical variations throughout Spain. In the provinces of Catalonia and Valencia, however, as we shall after- wards have occasion to mention, a peculiar dialect of this language is in common use. According to the census taken in 1857, the population of Spain amounted in that year to 15,850,000. The Spanish language is also spoken in the Philippine Islands, and in other Eastern possessions of the Spanish crown; but it is most widely diffused in America, where it is still spoken by the descendants of those colonists in Mexico and other states which have shaken off the yoke of Spain. The portion of America through which this language is diffused comprises a total area of not much less than 4,000,000 square miles, with a population that is perhaps little short of 20,000,000. But of this vast territory, the only portions now belonging to Spain are tlie islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, which together comprise an area of 45,970 square miles, and about 1,500,000 inhabitants, half of whom are negroes. The national religion of all countries in which the Spanish language is predominant, is Koman Catholicism, 262 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OP THE LANGUAGE. The Spanish language has, in a great measure, been, formed by the commingling of Shemitic and Indo-European elements. The Cantabrian, apparently the most ancient language of the Peninsula, was nearly swept away when the Roman legions took possession of the country ; and, during several centuries, Latin was almost exclusively spoken. The power of the Romans in Spain was eventually superseded by tliat of the Goths, but the Latin language maintained its ground, until it became so changed and corrupted by the influence of the Gothic tongue, that it insensibly merged into a new dialect. During the long supremacy of the Moors in Spain, and the consequent predominance of the Arabic language, this new compound was subjected to further modification by the introduction of Arabic terms. Yet, notwithstanding this slight amalgamation with the Arabic, Spanish has preserved a closer resemblance to the Latin than any of the other Neo-Latin languages. A learned philologist, we are told, had once the curiosity to compute the relative number of Spanish and Latin roots, and, according to his calculation, there are scarcely four hundred roots in Latin which may not be clearly traced in Spanish, while the number of Latin roots which have not passed into French amounts at least to seven hundred. Latin words are, however, subjected by the Spanish idiom to the following orthographical changes. The vowel o is generally changed into we, as in dona (Ital. donna), Sp. duena; cor, Sp. cuer; porta, Sp. puerta : when double consonants occur in Latin words, one is frequently dropped in Spanish ; and i is generally placed before e in the interior of words, as in mandimento, Sp. mandimiento, etc. Spanish is perhaps the only modern Latin dialect in which the sonorousness, the dignity, and the pompous formality of that ancient tongue are fully retained, and it is one of the most beautiful of European languages. Charles V. used to say of the five languages he could speak, that Spanish was intended for intercourse with God; French with men; Italian with ladies; English with birds; and German with horses. Unlike the Latin, however, it is characterised by remarkably strong aspirates, the result, doubtless, of the predominance of the Teutonic and Arabic languages during the process of its formation. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Spain was furnished at a very early period with versions of the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue ; but little is known concerning these translations except that some of them are attributed to the Albigenses, who had found their way into Spain. Several Spanish MSS. are extant, but in many instances no date is afiixed to them, and they seem to possess comparatively little interest. As early as 1478, a version of the Scriptures was published in the Valencian or Catalonian dialect, of which we shall hereafter have occasion to speak. Another class of Spanish translations, executed by and for Jews, and written In the peculiar Spanish dialect used by that people, must be reserved for a separate notice. The first version printed in the pure Castilian idiom was a translation of the New Testament from the original Greek, published at Antwerp in 1543. Enzina, the translator of this work, was by birth a Spaniard, but he had spent part of his life in Germany, in company with ilelanchthon, and had embraced the principles of the Reformation. He dedicated his version to Charles V.; and, on its completion, presented it to that monarch. He was. In consequence, thrown into prison at Brussels, whence, however, he efliected his escape in 1545, and what afterwards befell him Is totally unknown. His translation adheres with tolerable fidelity to the Greek text, and it Is evident that in many Instances he consulted and followed Erasmus. An edition of the New Testament with notes, published by Perez at Venice, in 1556, is said by Le Long to be merely a revision of Enzina's version. Perez also published In 1557, at Venice, a Spanish version of the Psalms from the Hebrew, wliich he dedicated to Mary of Austria, queen of Hungary and Bohemia. The first Spanish version of the entire Bible was executed by Casslodore de Reyna, a Spaniard, who, after devoting twelve years to the preparation of the work, published an edition at Basle in 1569, with the assistance of several ministers of that city. De Reyna is believed to have been a Protestant, Class III.] SPANISH. 263 although several expressions in his preface, introduced doubtless with a view to conciliate the Catholics, might lead us to a contrary supposition. He translated chiefly from the Latin version of Pagninus, which he avowedly preferred to all other versions. He also referred continually to the original texts, and derived some aid from the Judeo- Spanish version printed at Ferrara. A separate edition of the New Testament, with a few slight alterations, was published in 1596, by Cyprian de Valera; and, in 1602, a thorough revision of De Reyna's entire version was printed at Amsterdam. This revision was effected by means of a diligent comparison of the Spanish version with the original texts, and with other translations, particularly with the French version of Geneva. De Valera was fifty years of age when he commenced this revision, and he completed it in his seventieth year: he was zealously attached to the principles of the lleformatlon, and his corrections of De Reyna's text, though not very considerable, add greatly to the accuracy and value of the translation. He resided many years in England, and graduated at both the universities. His New Testament was reprinted in the Nuremberg Polyglot in 1599, and another edition appeared at Amsterdam, in 1625. In the meantime the original edition of De Reyna's version without the corrections of De Valera was re-issued at Frankfort, with a new titlepage, bearing the date ;1622. Another new and revised edition of De Reyna's New Testament was given by Don Sebastian de la Enzina, at Amsterdam, in 1708. No edition either of the Old or New Testament seems to have been printed from 1708 till 1793, when Philipe Scio de San Miguel (generally known as Padre Scio) undertook a version of the entire Scriptures from the Vulgate. The first edition appeared at Valencia, and was adorned with 300 engravings, copied from those executed for the Paris edition of De Sacy, which had been published about four years previously. Scio published a second edition of his version, in nineteen volumes, at Madrid, in 1795-1797; and a third edition, in sixteen volumes, in 1806-1808. These editions were accompanied with the Latin text and a commentary; but an edition of 1500 copies was printed in 1795 at Madrid, without the Vulgate. The total number of copies comprised in these four editions amounted only to 6500, and they were printed in a form so large and expensive as to be inaccessible to any but the wealthy, and few even of the priests were able to purchase them. Another version of the Scriptures from the Vulgate, prepared by Don Felix Torres Amat, bishop of Barcelona, was published with notes at Madrid, 1823-1824, in 2 vols. 4to. This version is more paraphrastic and less faithful than that of Scio, and is not held in much estimation. A corrected edition, prepared with the assistance, and printed under the care, of Seiior Calderon, was published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in 1853. A new version of the entire Scriptures, prepared by about eight of the priests of Mexico, was printed in that country by Ribcra, an enterprising publisher, in 1831-1833. This was the first Bible ever printed in Spanish America. The expenses of publication were defrayed by subscription: the work extends to twenty-five volumes In Spanish 4to., and a folio volume of maps and plates: in addition to the Spanish, it comprises the Latin text, with prefaces to all the books, analyses, expo- sitions, and dissertations. The translation was made from the French version of Vence, and from the Vulgate ; but the sacred originals were also consulted, and the passages In which they differ from the Vulgate are carefully noted. The present diffusion of the Bible in Spain and Spanish America is entirely owing to the efforts of the British and Foreign and other Bible Societies. The first editions of the British and Foreign Bible Society were printed from Enzina's edition of 1708, and were primarily designed for the benefit of the Spanish prisoners of war; but the copies found so rapid a circulation in Spain and in Spanish South America, that other and larger editions of 5000 copies each were issued from time to time, according to the opportunities for distributing them. From the reluctance of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in the early period of its history, to print any Catholic version of the Scriptures, it was long before any other version was issued except that of Enzina. In fact, the Society has always printed the modern translations from the Vulgate rather from necessity than choice, and solely for the sake of the Roman 264 . INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Catholic nations of Europe and America, wlio in some instances have refused to receive oilier versions. At length, in 1820, in consequence of the representations and example of the American Bible Society, an edition of 5000 copies of Father Scio's New Testament was printed in London, followed, in 1821, by an edition of the entire Bible of this version. An edition of the New Testament from Valera's version was completed by the Society in 1858, and the Old Testament from the same version is now in progress. The total number of copies published by the Society in Spain and elsewhere, up to the begin- ning of I8G0, is as follows: — Bibles . . • 74,417 Testaments 254,736 Spanish and Latin Psalms ....... 1,000 Portions of Old and New Testaments .... 59,840 Little can be said as to the result of the distribution of the Spanish version. Spain herself, as vrell as her colonies, is so hermetically sealed, that we are unable to follow up any inquiries as to the effects of tlie circulation of the Scriptures. We must hope that so much seed, though long buried, will one day fructify; and that many in the midst of surrounding darkness have been guided, under the Spirit's teaching, to Him who is the light of life. The printing of Amat's version in Spain, and that in Mexico, seem to prove that the distributions of Bible Societies have awakened a desire to possess tlie Scriptures, so that they cannot be altogether withheld from the people. Further evidence of this is afforded by the fact, referred to in the Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society for 1851, that a stereotype edition of the Scriptures, accompanied by numerous notes and comments, as well as by the Apocrypha, had been brought out in Barcelona a few years previously, in ten volumes. A prospectus, it is also stated, was issued for printing another edition at Madrid, in two thick volumes, under the superintendence of the Archbishop of Toledo. The subjoined extract from a recent Eeport (1856) of the Foreign Translation Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is highly interesting. After noticing the unwonted fre- quency of recent demands for grants of Spanish Bibles, for distribution in various quarters, they proceed to observe: " The fact is, that a somewhat larger amoimt of rehgious liberty having been of late, by law, conceded to the people, Spaii seems now to be awakening, so to speak, from the sleep of ages, and is seeking the light which, it is conscious, can be obtained in all its purity only from the inspired word of God. Hence has arisen an increasing demand for copies of the Holy Scriptures in the Spanish language, with a preference for translations representing, like the Society's version, the sense of the Hebrew and Greek originals, and not according with the Latin Vulgate, like tliose of Scio, and Torres Amat." Attention has been drawn to the works of their ancient Reformers, and, in particular, a desire has been excited among the reading population of Spain to possess the justly celebrated translation of the Bible of Cyprian de Valera, referred to above. With such rigour and perseverance was this edition of the Bible searched for and destroyed by the Inquisition, that copies of it are now rarely met with. "An attempt (continues the Report) was made to reprint it last year in Madrid, but it failed; and certain portions of it have recently been published, with modernised orthography, both in London and in Scotland." But so important did it appear to the Committee to supply the demand which has arisen for this venerable version of the Spanish Scriptures, that they determined at once to undertake the task of revision and re-issue from the press. Tliis work has during some years been steadily advanc- ing. The revised version is now in course of printing at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, under the care- ful superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Lorenzo Lucena, Professor of Spanish in the Taylor Institution, who has throughout modernised the spelling, and, where absolutely necessary, substituted other phrase- ology for those terms and modes of expression which would be unintelligible to ordinary Spanish readers of the present day. In the early part of the present year (1860) it had advanced as far as Isaiah. It is the more gratifying to notice the above, from contrast with the almost hopeless bigotry which Class III.] CATALAN. 265 yet prevails so largely within Spain itsolf. In 1857, an edition of the entire Bihle, and one of the New Testament, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the course of the pre- ceding year, at Madrid, were conipletod ami ready for circulation, when the authorities absolutely inter- dicted their dissemination amongst the people, and even the confiscation of the whole was threatened. Such are the arguments of the Church of Kome ! The Report of the American Bible Society for 1856 makes mention, among their issues of the preceding year, of a Spanish New Testament, recently translated in London, by a learned Spaniard, from the original Greek. The language of this version is described as pure and elegant. CATALAN, OE CATALONIAN. SPECIMEN, EKOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 En lo principi era lo Verb, y lo Verb era ab Deu, y lo Verb era Deu. ^EIl era en lo principi ab Deu. ^ Per ell foren fetas totas las cosas, y sens ell ninguna cosa fou feta de lo que ha estat fet. "* En ell era la vida, y la vida era la Hum dels homes. ^ Y la Hum resplandeix en las tenebras, y las teucbras no la comprengueren. ^ Hi hague un home enviat de Deu ques anomenava Joan. ''Est vingue a servir de testimoni pera testificar de la Hum, a fi de que tots creguessen per medi d'ell. ® No era ell la Hum, sind e?iviat pera donar testimoni de la Hum. ^ Aquell era la verdadera Hum, que iHumina a tot home que ve a est mon. ^° Ell era en lo mon, yl mon ha estat fet per eH, yl mon nol conegue. " Vingud a sa propia casa, yls sens nol reberen. ^^ Mes a tots los quel reberen, que son los que creuhen en son nom, los dona poder de ferse fills de Deu. '^Los quals no ban nat de la sanch, ni de la voluntat de la earn, ni de la voluntat del home, sino de Deu. " Yl Verb fou fet earn, y habita cntre nosaltres, y nosaltres vegerem sa gloria, gloria com del unigenit del Pare, pie de gracia y de veritat. The Catalan is a cognate dialect of the Spanish language, spoken in the province of Catalonia, by a population estimated at upwards of a million and a half. A softer and more harmonious modification of the same dialect prevails in Valencia, among a population of about 1,400,000. In the islands of Majorca, Minorca, and Ivi^a, a corrupt dialect of Catalan is vernacular. The early history of the Catalan dialect is precisely similar to that of the Castilian or modern Spanish; both dialects originated from the mixture of the Latin and Gothic languac^es, but the Catalan has received fewer Arabic words than the Castilian. The Catalan soon became a fixed language, and, as early probably as the twelfth century, a celebrated code of international maritime laws was drawn up in Catalan by the citizens of Barcelona: an abstract of this code is still familiarly known as " the laws of Oleron." Of all living languages, the Catalan is said to bear the nearest resemblance to the idiom of the Troubadours of Southern France. As in the lancjue d'oc, the consonant d is often suppressed in Catalan, when occurring in the middle of words: thus the Latin mandamen is converted into manamen, the Latin recomandar into recomanar; and other peculiarities coexist in the two dialects, proving that the closest connection must, at one period, .have subsisted between them. Ancient Catalan 266 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. was, in fact, but a provincial variety of the Langue d'oc, wliich was diffused tlirouf^h the three powerful states of Toulouse, Guienne, and Barcelona. Two or three Catalan versions of the Bible ("one of which bears the date 1407) are preserved at Paris. One of these WSS. is deposited in the Royal Library, and contains a translation from the Latin of the entire Scriptures, with the prefaces of Jerome; it is beautifully written on fine parchment, and bound in three volumes. In 1478, a version of the Scriptures in the Valencian dialect was printed at Valencia, but no portion of this edition is extant except the last four pages of one of the copies. From the subscription appended to these pages, we learn that the translation was made from the Latin by Boniface Ferrer, assisted by other learned men in the monastery of Porta Coeli; and that, after having been revised by Borrell, a Dominican and inquisitor, it was printed at the expense of Vizlant, a merchant. The date of the translation is unknown, but it was probably executed at the very com- mencement of the fifteenth century, as Ferrer died in 1419. The four pages which have reached our times are preserved in the monastery of Porta Coeli; they were transcribed and printed by Father Civera, in liis work entitled " Varones illustres del Monasterio de Porta Coeli." No further attempts seem to have been made to furnish the Catalans with a version of the Scriptures in their own dialect till the institution of the British and Foreign Bible Society. About the year 1809, two Catalan translations of St. Matthew's Gospel were laid before the committee of that Society, and some inquiries were made as to their respective merits. Ultimately, however, a version of the entire New Testament was prepared at the expense of the Society by Mr. Prat, a native of Catalonia, under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Cheap of Knaresborough. An edition of 1000 copies was printed in London in 1832, under the care of the late Mr. Greenfield, editorial superin- tendent of the Society. A second edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament was published in London in 1835, and a tliird edition of 3000 copies was brought out at Barcelona in 1837, under the care of Lieut. Graydon, R.N., the Society's agent in that city. The total number of copies of the New Testament in the Catalan language, printed by the Society, amounted, at the close of 1859, to 9030. These editions were gladly received by the Catalans, and obtained a speedy circulation. The translation, which was made from the Vulgate conferred with the original text, is accounted accurate and faithful ; and the style in which it is written is idiomatic, clear, and elegant. The Psalms and the Pentateuch have since been translated by Mr. Prat, but have not yet been committed to the press. Class III.] JUDEO-SPANISH. 267 pfii pfratbh pfii ph\\) p6 vn i-fi ii36 -fi T 'pfiD V 'p V7 115 'P 1" ^ : TH ^19 pfiUDf •Uf" Pfi'P l^ ' : PUT'P T nifip '7 1UP"fi 7 PT'D lin'f" 'u fi pfij^ ju * : 'P T nvMn pnuif" P'iv? 'f> pSifi n p\b"o pii l'^ 'p vvibvvv pjuj'j 'j "7 pfiuf" pfii i'6 'p 'fi ii63(i n PT'D ri i'6 -p •6 pvi'fi r6 P'Siipj-f" '13 jij * : pt-u rif> thh jf'Uip'P mi'P 1"? V7 10 '? 1" 'p pfiJT'p pi3 jij nSip 'f> piTPTU niip pif'^ n5ip pn76p t iu'St pfi 7'PTP i"!6 'f> ^ : o'liJ-'pnisf" pt fi pu'Difnp : pf'pjf'7JTipJ'f' PT p'u:^7^flu p6 '6 pu'pfi P'nfi P'i'P jW 'p 7f'7'jf'3 Pif> 1"7 113 'P 7 nSPO p6 POH JO ' : 767'j63 pifi n^m ip pfi p-)ip p i'fi pfi 'p pi3'J JUDEO-SPANISH. SPECIMEN, FEOM EXODUS, Chap. xx. v. 1 to 7. D J "las'? n'pNn onn^n-'^s nx* d\"iSk lan^i : .^Jr'^y onnx n'riSiSt '^'? r^^.}i'';i6' : onny n^aa nnno i wm -m^h) nnna rix3 ^K'^<^ h]iEii2 - ii- • -Jv- - /v -: r "AT • | v».t t w -: i- - - . • IT J- A" : T IT J : vv T J^v-: - : ■ i | vir t non ntj'y"! « j 'N'^b'S n'y3i-':'yi CD^a^'i'jj'-'^y Kjyn x'? ' D : ^'^^^o nac'S!! 'iri^h 12'^^ 3T ■ ^ IT : • ^" : I : \~ . \ -. ^. y -. ,_ »« T : )v~ : < ••• AT - J •.■.• v: /T : .- This language is spoken by the Jews of Turkey, who are the descendants of the Jews formerly settled in the Spanish Peninsula. Their forefathers emigrated to Spain and Portugal at a very early period of history: traditions, both Jewish and Christian, represent them as having arrived there soon after the destruction of the first Temple; and it is very probable that they were settled in the Peninsula before the time of the Pioman Emperors. This section of the Jewish people claims to be the house of David, and though the claim is not to be proved genealogically (for no genealogies have been kept by the Jews since their dispersion), yet it cannot be refuted by any existing data; and that the house of David will be found distinct from the other families at the time of the restitution of Israel appears to be the inference drawn, by many members of that nation, from Zech. xii. 10 — 14. But, be this as it may, it is certain that the Sephardim (Spaniards), as they are still called, consider themselves and are regarded by their brethren as the "aristocracy of tlie dispersed people of Israel." They are distinguished from other Jews, not by any difference of faith or of religious observances, but by a peculiar language, and by diversity of historical associations. They look back with a degree of pride on their glorious sojourn of many centuries in the Peninsula. They were not, even there, exempt from persecution; but their position, social and intellectual, was very different from tliat of their brethren in other lands. Under the Visigoths, the early masters of the Peninsula, they were permitted to rise to opulence; and the Saracens, who afterwards established themselves in that country, overlooked the difference of their religious creeds in the similarity induced by their common Oriental origin, and admitted the Jews to an equality with themselves. Thus protected and favoured, the Jews of Spain co-operated with the Arabs in maintaining the light of literature and science during the darkness of the middle ages; and their names became famous in the scliools of Cordova, Toledo, Barcelona, and Granada. At length, by a merciless mandate of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Jews were forcibly ejected from Spain in 1492, and from Portugal in 1497. There is great discrepancy in the estimates that have been transmitted, concerning the number of tlioso thus violently expelled from tlie land of their adoption. Some authors represent the number of exiled Jews at 800,000, others at 300,000; while a contemporary Spanish statistical account states that the 268 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. number was 27,000. Tlie confusion in these various estimates was, perhaps, occasioned by the return of many of tlie Jews after their expulsion. Some among them, by feigned conversion to Christianity, were permitted to remain; and it has been asserted, on credible authority, that even yet, in Spain, " posts of dignity in the Church, the priesthood, and the cloister, are held by men who in heart are Jews, and who meet in secret, at stated seasons, to mourn over and abjure their outward profession of the Roman faith, and to curse, with fearful imprecations, the memory of Ferdinand and Isabella." While many of the Jews thus remained in the Peninsula, the great majority, preferring their religion to the adopted land of their forefathers, emigrated to Turkey; and, according to recent estimates, it appears that about 800,000 of this people are at the present time dispersed through the cities and towns of that empire. The Spanish and Judeo-Spanish languages are fundamentally the same; but more than three centuries having elapsed since all communication was cut off between the Spaniards and the exiled Jews, some changes, neither few nor inconsiderable, have been introduced into the languages spoken by the two nations; so that they now differ greatly from each other in their respective vocabularies, in their systems of orthography, and in their phraseology. Judeo-Spanish is, in fact, the Spanish of the fifteenth century, moulded in accordance with the Hebrew idiom. It is in daily use among the Jews of Turkey, and is, in fiict, so exclusively employed and understood by them, that in most of their books of devotion, the Hebrew and the corresponding version in Judeo-Spanish are printed in parallel columns. I. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The exiled Jews of Spain and Portugal established a press of great celebrity at Ferrara, whence several important works were issued. But the most famous production of this press is a Spanish version of the Old Testament, said to have been translated from the Hebrew expressly for the Jews, by Edward Pinel. A much earlier translation than this, however, was executed by some learned Jews; and Rabbi David Kimchi is said, though perhaps incorrectly, to have been the principal translator. The Bible of Ferrara was published under the superintendence of Abraham Usque and Yom Tov Athias. It was issued in 1553, in two different forms, which have been wrongly looked upon as different editions. The dedication in the earlier copies is to Dona Gracia Nasi, a Jewish lady of distinction, mother-in-law to Don Joseph Miqucz: in the later ones to Hercules de Este, Duke of Ferrara. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. I'fi cn-fi lUP-f" "^ : vn vi'b i5t>3 i-fi 'f> • vn b-b y^ rrf" i3T'3 i-f" 'b • iSto i'6 wf> vp-pj^p b'b yb : i'fi I'p wb 'p u'fi 'f-ip 'p li -7 T'lbi 'b • b'b -)\p vbxb jiTfiip p6iip vbb pfiTii: ' : i"7 b-b jip vp-pjhp i-f" • Pizvinb 7fi7^ipp*f> ri yb iii ?i '6 ' : vn^^^b pii n nb pi pyb r>T3 pi -f" • Pi'i ci nbovb pvi'f> ]'b * lip \yvvv -)ip iJ'3 'wb ' : ]ivv -53^0 n vn bn •■)3V)b yb vb'zvb -fiip ^ : vivib ?b » ibinypp'b pi 'b ibi p-jf-p m ij 'P : iii pi b'b :^yb u ' : wfip ip ^1P Pniu i6np 'p pi^p "i ^b n wvbwwo ibi b'b ]'b '» : mw 'UDf pf- 'J"3 -p n:ir)^b niu pf- p-)3niifi -p PT7^^r3 iii pi T'yb b'b » : wb pi -7 wj"p6u-i:p'0 pv'iip pii 'b ' fi"iip Pif-p yb m " : w\v b'b vpuip li u 'b • ^yb 'fnp b'b t? wv b'b 'b : nbwb ww IP i'f> I'finp 'p Pii p6 vn b'l pH v^l'b tp t T719 vn p-i : yyyon ii -p Pii pf« pp " : in-3'PT li w : V7 bn iBif'P 'p : yibi n ib'ii\byi n -: : •i-)bp n ibviM n o : nuf'P n mtbi jip u 'p " : n-iVM n7^p bn ribbbii vb n ?^J1f' wip POiif" iP ^b pw3 'b : pnuiiu I'Oi'b nw '6 'nb'^ w'fi 'fiip i3T'3 b'b 'b " : ibi-fi 'b b"vbii n u"i Abraham Usque is said to have printed in the same year (1553), at Ferrara, a separate edition of the Psalms, and, two years afterwards, an edition of the Pentateuch, Mcgilloth (Canticles, Ruth, Class III.] J UDEO-SP ANI SlI. 2G9 Ecclesiastcs, Lamentations, and Esther), and Plaplitoroth, or sections of the Propliets, read by appoint- ment in the synagogues. The Ferrara edition of the Old Testament was reprinted in Amsterdam in 1611, and again at Venice in 1617. In tlie course of the following year, this version was revised and corrected by Jlanasseh ben Israel, and printed in Koman letters, at the same place, in 1630. It was again revised by liabbi Samuel de Cazeres, and, with a new preface, was printed at Amsterdam in 1661. Besides the above, other editions of the Old Testament were published as above, among which, in 1639, was an edition with short explanatory notes, by Jacob Lambrosus; and the following editions of portions of this version are mentioned by Le Long: — Pentateuch and Haphtoroib, Amsterdam, 16-15; Pentateuch, 1695; Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Psalms (with the Hebrew), Sabionetta, 1671. Another edition of the Old Testament, for the benefit of the Spanish Jews, was printed at Vienna, between the years 1813 and 1816, in four volumes 4to.; it contained, in parallel columns, the Hebrew text and the Judeo-Spanish version in rabbinical characters. An edition in Koman characters was likewise published about the same time, at Amsterdam, corresponding in almost every particular with the Vienna edition, of which it is considered a mere transcription. The American Bible Society lias within recent years issued two editions of the Old Testament in Judeo-Spanish, on behalf of the mission established among the Spanish Jews in Turkey. The first of these editions was printed with the Hebrew text in parallel columns, in 1843, at Vienna, under the care of the Rev. J\lr. Schauffler: it consisted of 3000 copies. The second edition left the press in 1850; it was printed, like the former, under the super- vision of Mr. Schauffler. This version is remarkable for the extreme servility with which it follows the Hebrew Idiom; and, as it has long been regarded by the Spanish Jews as the standard of their language, the peculiarity of its style has induced corresponding peculiarities in their customary mode of phraseology, and has perhaps been the main cause of the divergence of their language from that of Spain. A translation of the New Testament Into Judeo-Spanish was imdertaken by the British and Foreign Bible Society, at the suggestion of Dr. Pinkerton; and, in 1823, the Rev. Mr. Leeves, their agent in Turkey, was intrusted with the preparation of the work. Mr. Leeves, with the assistance of some learned Jews to whom Judeo-Spanish was vernacular, drew the translation from the Greek text, consulting at the same time several different versions of the New Testament. After his translation had been subjected to three successive revisions. It was printed, in an edition of 3000 copies, at Corfu, in 1829, under the care of Mr. Lowndes. This version does not appear to have yet passed through a second edition, nor have we any recent information concerning its success. 270 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. C U R A g O A. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. Anto ora koe Hezoes a mira toer e heende nan, eel a soebi oen seroe ; deespuees eel a sienta i soe desipel nan a bini seka dje. ^ I eel a koemisa di papia i di sienja nan di ees manera. ^ Bieenabeentoera ta e pober nan na spiritoe, pasoba reina di Dioos ta di nan. * Bieenabeentoera ta ees nan, koe ta jora, pasoba lo nan bira konsolaa. ^ Bieena- beentoera pasifiko nan, pasoba lo nan erf tera. ^Bieenabeentoera ees nan, koe tien hamber i sedoe di hoestisji, pasoba lo nan no tien hamber i sedoe mas. ^ Bieenabeen- toera ees nan, koa tien mizerikoordia, pasoba lo heende tien mizerikoordia koe nan. * Bieenabeentoera ees nan, koe ta liempi di koerasoon, pasoba lo nan mira Dioos. ^ Bieenabeentoera ees nan, koe ta perkoera paas, pasoba lo nan ta jama joe di Dioos. '" Bieenabeentoera ees nan, koe ta persigido pa motiboe di hoestisji, pasoba reina di Dioos ta di nan. " Bosonan lo ta bieenabeentoerado, koe ta koos nan zoendra i persigi bosonan, i koe ta koos pa mi kausa nan ganja toer soorto di maloe ariba bosonan. '^ Legra bosonan i salta di legria, pasoba bosonan rekompeensa ta grandi deen di Cieloe ; pasoba nan a persigi di ees manera e profeet nan, koe tabata promee koe bosonan. CuRACOA (or Cura9ao) is an island of the Caribbean Sea, belonging to the Dutch. It lies off the north coast of Venezuela, between lat. 12° 3' and 12° 24', and long. 68° 47' and 69° 16'. Its area is about 260 square miles, and its population upwards of 15,000, about half of whom are slaves, and the greater proportion of the remainder free negroes. The soil is unfertile, but the island was formerly of some importance, on account of its contraband trade with the Spanish colonies. The language of the coloured population is a kind of broken Spanish with a Dutch orthography. A translation of part of the New Testament into this language has been effected by the Rev. Mr. Conradi; and a small edition of the Gospel of St. Matthew was printed, in 1846, at the expense of the Netherlands Bible Society. Class III.] PORTUGUESE. 271 PORTUGUESE. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 Almeida's Version. ' No principio era a Pala'\Ta, e a Pala\Ta estava junto de Deus, e a Pala\Ta era Deus. ^ Esta estava no principio junto de Deus. ' For esta forao feitas todas as cousas ; e sem ella se nao fez cousa nenhua do que esta feito. * Nella estava a vida, 6 a vida era a luz dos homes. ' E a luz nas trevas resplandece : Porem as trevas nao a comprehen- derao. ^ Houve hum homem en- viado de Deus, que tinha per nome Joao. ' Este veio por testemunho, pera que desse testemunho da luz, pera que todas por elle cressem. * Nao era elle a luz mas \_era en- riar/o] paraque desse testemunho da luz. ' Este era a luz verdadeira, que a todo homem, que neste mundo vem, alumia. '" No mundo estava, e por elle foi feito o mundo, e o mundo o nao conheceo. " A o seu proprio veio, e os sens o nao rece- berao. '■' Mas a todos quantos o receberao, Ihes deu potestade da serem feitos filhos de Deus [convem a saber] a os que em seu nome crem. "Os quaes nao sao gerados de san- gue, nem da vontade da came, nem da vontade de varao, senao de Deus. '* E aquella Palavra encarnou, e habitou entre nosoutros : E vimos sua gloria, gloria como do unigenito do Pae, cheio de gra^a e de verdade. Pereika's Version. ' No principio era o Verbo, e o Verbo estava em Deos, e o Verbo era Deos. * Elle estava no princi- pio em Deos. ^ Todas as cousas forao feitas por elle ; e nada do que foi feito, foi feito sem elle. * Nelle estava a vida, e a vida era a luz dos homens : ' E a luz resplandece nas trevas, e as trevas nao a compre- henderao. * Houve hum homem enviado por Deos, que se chamava Joao. ' Este veio por testemunha, para dar testemunho da luz, a fim de que todos cressem por meio delle. ' Elle nao era a luz, mas era o que havia de dar testemunho da luz. 8 Este he que era a verdadeira luz, que allumia a todo o homem, que vem a este Mundo. '" Estava no Mundo, e o Mundo foi feito por elle, e o Mundo nao o conheceo. "Veio para o que era seu, e os sens nao o receberao. '^ jyj^s a todos os que o receberao, deo elle poder de se fazerem filhos de Deos, aos que crem no seu Nome : '^ Que nao nascerao do sangue, nem da vontade de carne, nem da vontade do homem, mas que nascerao de Deos. '*E o Verbo se fez carne, e habitou entre nos ; e nos vimos a sua gloria, gloria como de Filho Unigenito do Pai, cheio de gra9a e de verdade. BoYs's Version. ' No principio era o Verbo, e o Verbo estava com Deos, e o Verbo era Deos. ^ Este estava no prin- cipio com Deos. ' Todas as cousas forao feitas por elle : e nem huma so cousa, que foi feita, foi feita sem elle. ■• Nelle estava a vida, e a vida era a luz dos homens ; * E a luz resplandece nas trevas, e as trevas nao a comprehenderao. ^ Houve hum homem enviado de Deos, cujo nome era Joao. ' Este veio por tes- temunho, para que desse teste- munho da luz, para que todas cres- sem por meio della : * Elle nao era a luz : mas para que desse teste- munho da luz. 8 Era a luz verda- deira, a que allumia a todo o ho- mem, vendo a este mundo. "• Es- tava no mundo, e o mundo por elle foi feito, e o mundo nao o conheceo; " Ao seu proprio veio, e os seus pro- prios nao o receberao ; '^ Quantos porem o receberao, a elles Ihes deo poder de se fazerem filhos de Deos, visto que elles criao no seu Nome : " Os quaes nao nascerao de sangue, nem de vontade de carne, nem de vontade de homem, mas sim de Deos. '■• E o Verbo se fez carne e habitou entre nos (e vimos a sua gloria, gloria como do Unige- nito do Pai) cheio de gra9a e de verdade. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The population of Portugal, according to the last official returns (1857), amounts to 3,568,895, but the Portuguese language is diffused far beyond the limits of this small kingdom. In the empire of Brazil, which occupies a great part of South America, and which, as a single country, ranks next in point of extent to the vast empires of Russia and China, Portuguese is the language of government, and is more or less employed by all classes. According to the computation of Balbi, the number of Portuguese, or Filhos de Reino, as they are called in Brazil, is upwards of 900,000, while the total amount of popu- lation in that empire, in 1856, amounted to 7,677,800. Roman Catholicism, in its most bigoted form, is the rehgion of the Portuguese, both in Europe and America. A peculiar dialect of the lan- guage, called Indo- Portuguese, prevails, as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention, in certain parts of India and of the East Indian islands. II. — CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Of all the languages derived from the Latin, the Galician, or old Portuguese, is the oldest which 272 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. cxliibits a formed character. It originated under the same circumstances as the Spanish, and in fact both languages were at first but provincial varieties of the same tongue. Modern Portuguese is the immediate offspring of the Galician, and though it still preserves unequivocal indications of its original connection with the Spanish, it exhibits some distinctive characteristics of its own. It is less guttural, but more nasal, and harsher and more unpleasing in sound than the Spanish ; and it possesses a class of words which cannot be traced in the Spanish vocabulary, but which are supposed to have been drawn from the dialects spoken on the coast of Barbary. The Latin words, which liave been incorporated in this language, have undergone the following transformations: — The letter x, wlien final, is generally changed into 2, as paz, voz, luz, perdiz, from pax, vox, etc. ; pi, when initial, is changed into ch, as plaga, chaga ; the letter r is often substituted for I in the middle of words, as craro for claro, ohrif/ar for obligar; and sometimes the central consonant of Latin words is altogether omitted, as Jiar for filar, aa for ala; cur, dor, for color, dolor. The Portuguese is further characterised by having an infinitive conjugated like other moods of verbs, as well as by possessing a distinct set of words to denote a thrust or cut with a sword or other weapon; an idea which, in most languages, cannot be expressed without circum- locution : thus, cutildda, a cut with a sword ; estocdda, a stab with a sword or dagger ; pancdda, a blow with a stick or club; pedrdda, a blow with a stone. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. It was not till after the close of the seventeenth century, that any attempt was made to produce a Portuguese version of the Scriptures. About that period a translation was made, uirder the auspices of the Dutch government, for the benefit of the Portuguese and their descendants in Java, Ceylon, and other eastern colonies. The translator was John Ferreira d' Almeida, a native of Lisbon, who is supposed to have gone out to the East in the first instance as a lioman Catholic missionary, and to have been afterwards converted to Protestantism. He is thought to have commenced his version at Ceylon, but the place and time of his death are quite uncertain. He translated the whole of the New Testament, and carried the translation of the Old Testament as far as the end of the Prophecies of Ezekiel. The New Testament, after having been revised by Hoynen and De Voeght, was printed at Amsterdam, in 1681, by order of the Dutch East India Company. A second, or revised, edition was printed at Batavia, in 1693, by order of the same body, and at their press. The Gospel of St. Matthew was again printed at Amsterdam, in 1711, and the entire New Testament in the course of the following year. The portion of the Old Testament translated by Almeida was revised after his death by Ziogenbalg, Grundler, Schidtze, and other missionaries, at Tranquebar. The following list (given by Adler) shows the order in which the work was completed. 1719. The Pentateuch, as translated by Almeida, printed at Tranquebar. 1732. The Twelve Minor Prophets, translated by the Tranquebar missionaries, printed at the same place. 1738. The books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Clironicles, Esdras, Nehemiah, and Esther, printed at Tranquebar, as translated by Almeida, but revised and compared with the original text by the missionaries. 1744. The books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastcs, and Canticles, published from Almeida's text, revised and compared with the sacred original, by the missionaries at Tranquebar. 1751. The Four Major Prophets published; the first tlnee of which were translated by Almeida, and the fourth (Daniel) by C. T. Walther, missionary at Tranquebar: the whole revised by the missionaries. These editions were all in quarto. A second edition of the entire Old Testament, in 2 a^oIs.- 16mo., seems to have been brought out at Batavia, in 1748. In this edition a version was given of the books left untranslated by Almeida, by Jacob op) den Akkcr, one of the Dutch ministers at Batavia. Class III] rORTUGUESE. 273 Between the years 1721 and 1757, two revised editions of the Pentateucli and of the Psalms, two revised editions of the New Testament, and one of the Four Gospels, were prin1;ed at Tranquebar and Batavia. Another edition of the Old Testament was printed at Batavia, 1783-1804; and no further editions appear to have been given of this version until it was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. A Catholic Portuguese version of the entire Scriptures, from the Vulgate, was published in 23 vols. 12mo., with annotations, at Lisbon, 1781-1783, by Don Antonio Pereira de Figueiredo, a Portuguese ecclesiastic. Tliis translator possessed great learning, and his writings were so numerous as to fill a catalogue of seventy-six pages. He was brought up among the Jesuits, but afterwards became one of their strongest opponents. He engaged with much ardour in state affairs, and for a time laid aside his religious habit; but he resumed it a few hours before his death. Though adhering to the Church of Rome, he was a bold opposer of the claims of papal authority; and his translation, so far from being a servile imitation of the Vulgate, differs from it in several passages, and follows the Greek. An edition, containing his latest corrections, was commenced at Lisbon in 1794, but was not completed at press till 1819. In this edition the corrections are so numerous, that it may almost be regarded as a new version. A third translation of the Scriptures into Portuguese has been accomplished by the Eev. Thomas Boys, D.D. This version has been brought out at the expense of the Trinitarian Bible Society. Dr. Boys commenced his important labours by making a critical revision of Almeida's version. On account of the difficulty of meeting with adequate literary aid in England, he spent some time at Lisbon, where he obtained the assistance of two learned Portuguese scholars; and he appears to have completed the revision of the Xew Testament, and to have published small editions of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, and of the Psalms. In 1837, however, the Society came to the deter- mination of publishing a new Portuguese translation from the Greek and Hebrew texts, and Dr. Boys was appointed to carry this purpose into execution. He was directed to use Almeida's version as a basis, subject to a careful comparison with the Hebrew text; and to make such alterations in style, orthography, and language, as to render the work intelligible to the Portuguese of the present day. The New Testament, faithfully translated in accordance with these directions, was completed at press in 1843, and the Old Testament in 1847; the printing was carried on in London, as the same neatness and accuracy could not be insured at Lisbon. When the British and Foreign Bible Society undertook the publication of the Portuguese Scrip- turesv for the benefit of the prisoners of war then in England, and for the Portuguese islands and colonies, the version selected, after long and anxious deliberation, was that of Almeida. The reason assigned for this preference was, that it was then the only Protestant version. The Society's editions did not, however, meet with the grateful reception that had been anticipated. Almeida's version has never been much esteemed in Portugal, partly, perhaps, because made by a converted Protestant, and completed by other Protestants at a distance from the parent state; but chiefly because it is an anti- quated version, many of the words being obsolete, and the style not idiomatic. The complaints against this version, which were in consequence laid before the Society, led to the publication, in 1818, of an edition of 5000 New Testaments, printed from Pereira's version. An edition of 5000 entire Bibles, and 5000 additional New Testaments, followed in 1821, Mr. Cavalho correcting the press. Another edition of the New Testament, and some separate books, from Pereira's version, was printed in 1823. But when it was determined that the Apocryphal Books should no longer be printed, the version of Pereira was again subjected to examination. It was divested of all apocryphal matter; and many exceptionable renderings, and such notes as had escaped detection in the former editions, were corrected ; and another revised edition of the whole Bible was given, in 1828, under the care of Messrs. da Costa and Green. The following is the number of copies of the Scriptures, in whole and in part, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society up to December, 1859: — Bibles, 26,160; Testaments. 70,180; Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah, 5,000; St. Luke and Acts, 1,000. la 274 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class HI. A Portuguese New Testament, in 18mo. ; and also a Portuguese and English Testament, in parallel columns, 12rao., were printed by the American Bible Society in 1857; the version used being a translation made in London, from the Greek (it is not stated by whom), and conducted through the press under the supervision of the Rev. A. de Mattos, of Jacksonville, Illinois. These issues are intended to supply the wants of the numerous Portuguese immigrants in the United States, and also the increasing demands made from Brazil. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The tidings of progress from Portugal are by no means generally encouraging. Bigotry has been for centuries the chief characteristic of tlie people, and "apathy is too often the prevailing temper: other hindrances are removed ; but, in the almost total absence of visible results, it is needful that man should learn lessons of dependence, and wait on Him who opens, and no man shuts." There are, however, some symptoms of recent improvement, manifest in an awakening spirit of religious thoughtfulness and inquiry observable in Portuguese society, and of which the following passage, from a Lisbon journal, is one of the most encouraging. " The only true morality is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ: let our children be instructed only by this book, and not by catechisms which have been clearly got up to serve the sinister ends of the priesthood. One of the greatest services which this association" (referring to an association lately formed in Lisbon for the purpose of resisting the progress of Jesuitism) " could render to the nation, is to propagate the Gospel in very cheap editions, so as to come within the reach of everybody's means." It is pleasing to contemplate the picture afforded by the remarkable manifestation of the divine blessing, which has accompanied the perusal of the Portuguese version in Madeira. In 1847, no less than two hundred of the Portuguese inhabitants of that island were awakened to the knowledge of the Lord. Persecution quickly followed; the Bibles and Testaments belonging to the British and Foreign Bible Society, deposited for distribution in the house of Dr. Kalley, were seized by the mob, and publicly destroyed in an auto-da-fe. The converts were compelled to flee in haste from their homes, to seek refuge in Trinidad. Their conduct during their voyage thither is thus graphically described by an eye witness: — " Many of them came on board with nothing but the clothes they had on, and these in tatters, from their wanderings in the Serras. Yet, during the days we sojourned among them in that ark of refuge, not a word of repining readied our ears, except from one or tico unconverted members of large families, who had not yet learned to love the cause for which the rest rejoiced to suffer. The language of all the others was that of joy and thankfulness to Him wlio had called them ' out of darkness into His marvellous light;' and who had now in His mercy delivered them from their enemies on every side, and gathered them together in one family, and into one refuge. Tlie more that was seen of this persecuted flock, in circumstances the most trying, the higher did their Christian principle rise in the estimation of all. Those only who know the general character of the Portuguese can form a just estimate of the total cliange that must have passed on these converts. They had become ' new creatures,' indeed. In the distribution of clothes to the necessitous, it was most gratifying to witness the good feeling shown by all on the occasion, — to see not merely their willingness to share with one another the bounty of their Christian friends, but their eagerness to tell of the wants of others more destitute than themselves. And in no one instance was there an attempt to deceive, by any concealment of what they possessed. The mate and steward both repeatedly remarked, ' that they had riever seen folk love one another as these folk did.' Among the two hundred and eleven passengers of the William, there was one Romanist family, who had long persecuted the converts, and was now seeking a passage to Trinidad as onigrants. Their extreme poverty e.xcited the lively com- passion of those around them. After the converts had each received from the hand of charity their small supply of clothing, some of them came aft to their benefactors on the poop, and begged to know if they might now consider it as their own property, and act accordingly. They were asked the reason of the question, wlicn they said it was their wish to obey their Lord's command — ' Love your enemies, Class III.] IND 0-PORTUGUESE. 275 bless them that curse t/oh, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them lohich despitefully use you and persecute youl They were cheerfully assured that they might, and it was pleasing to see them share their scanty store with their former enemies; thus affording a most beautiful specimen of the spirit by which they were animated. " Their conduct throughout was such that the Romanists openly expressed their wonder and astonishment. They saw those who had little properties (and there were both land and householders in the William's band of Christians) parting with their houses and land, and all they possessed, for the smallest trifle, counting ' all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.' One Portuguese gentleman, talking on the subject, wound up by saying, that ' if he were called upon to choose a religion suddenly, and without further thought, he believed he should fix upon that of these people, because he saw them suffer without complaining.^ "As was their conduct under persecution on shore, so was their conduct afloat. They had chosen Christ, and the only subject of their glorying was the Lord Jesus. They looked not back upon the world, with all its pleasures. From it, and from self, they had been weaned by the Spirit of that God, who had been their friend through evil report, and through good report; who had been more than a brother to them, in sorrow and in joy, by day and by night, at all seasons, and in all circumstances. They knew that He, who had thus watched over them, would not desert them in the land to which they were now being driven, before the persecuting hand of man." IND 0-P OUTUGUESE. ePECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Ne o come90 tinha a Palavra, e a Palavra tinha junto de Deos, e a Palavi-a tinha Deos. ^O mesmo tinha ne o come90 junto de Deos. ^Todas cousas tinha feitas de elle ; e sem elle nao tinha feita ne hua cousa que tinha feita. * Em elle tinha vida ; e a vida tinha o Lume de homens. ^ E o Lume te luze em escuridade ; e a escuridade nunca ja conhece aquel. "Tinha hum homem mandado de Deos, quem seu nome tinha Joa5. ^ O mesmo ja \d por hum testimunho, pera da testimunho de o Lume, que todos de elle pode ere. * Elle nao tinha o Lume, mas tinha mandado pera da testimunho de o Lume. ^ Aquel tinha o Lume verdadeiro, que te alumia per cada hum homem quem te vi ne o mundo. ^^ Elle tinha ne o mundo, e de elle o mundo tinha formado, e o mundo per elle nunca ja conhece. ^^ Elle ja vi per seu mesmo povo, e sens mesmos nunca ja rccebe per elle. ^' Mas per todos quantos quem ja recebe per elle, per ellotros elle ja da poder pera fica OS filhos de Deos, ate, per ellotros quem ja ere em seu nome : ^^ Quem tinha nacido, ncm de sangue, nem de a vontade de a came, nem de a vontade de homem, mas de Deos. ^^ E a Pala\Ta tinha feita carne, e ja mora entre nos, (e nos ja olha sua gloria, a gloria como de o unigenito de o Pai,) enchido de gra^a e verdade. Indo-Portuguese is more or less understood by all classes in the island of Ceylon, and along the whole coast of India; its extreme simplicity of construction and facility of acquirement having 276 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. caused it to be extensively used as a medium of tranic. But tlie people to whom it is vernacular, and who, in Ceylon alone, number more than 50,000, are the descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese, the former rulers of India. The principal cliaracteristic of this language is the omission of the articles, the cases of nouns, inflections of verbs, and most of the expletives which abound in European-Portu- guese. The various relations of words in a sentence are expressed by the aid of auxiliary particles; and these particles are so numerous, that they subserve all the offices of inflections. The words of the language are drawn from Dutch, Portuguese, and Indian sources, and much of the phraseology is moulded in accordance with Sanscrit idioms. On the decline of the Dutch and Portuguese governments in India, the members of these nations were left without any means of religious instruction, except such as was afforded by the Roman Catholic missionaries; and, in consequence, Roman Catholicism became their prevailing form of religion. In 1817, Mr. Newstead, a Wesleyan missionary stationed at Negombo, in Ceylon, commenced a translation of the New Testament for the spiritual benefit of this people. Portions of this transla- tion were read by Mr. Newstead from the pulpit, and were likewise freely lent among sick persons, one of whom is said to have died with the Gospel of St. John beneath his pillow. The people evinced so much interest in the work, that a printed edition was early resolved on; and, in 1819, the version of the Gospel of St. Matthew was published in Ceylon, at the expense of the Colombo Auxiliary Bible Society: and the Psalms followed, in 1821, at the expense of the same Society. Soon afterwards Mr. Newstead completed his translation of the New Testament, and the work was subjected to a searching revision by a committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of three of the missionaries and six of the most intelligent of the Indo- Portuguese. The revision was brought to a close in 1824; and Mr. Newstead undertook a journey to England, to solicit the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the publication of the work. The translation was strongly recommended to the adoption of the committee by the Hon. and Rev. T. J. Twisleton, archdeacon of Ceylon; and, as its value was attested by other competent judges, two editions were printed in London, at the expense of the Society, in 1826, under the personal superintendence of Mr. Newstead. The second edition of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, appeared at Colombo in 1831; and, in the following year, a version of the books of Genesis, Exodus, and part of Leviticus, was pubhshed at the same place, at the expense of the same Society. The Pentateuch and Psalter were printed at Colombo, in 1833, in an edition of 5000 copies; the translation of the entire Old Testament is announced as in progress. Another edition of the Indo-Portuguese New Testament has been more recently contemplated, and was originally designed to be printed in London, under the supervision of ilr. Newstead, the translator, and at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. But Mr. Newstead, after so many years' absence from Ceylon, did not feel sufficient confidence in his knowledge of the language to carry the New Testament through the press; and it was accordingly determined to print only the Gospel of St. Matthew in Loudon, for temporary purpose, while the issue of the entire work should be referred to the missionaries resident in Ceylon, with a view to its being printed at the Mission-press in that island. The Gospel of St. Matthew was finished in 1852, under Mr. Newstead's superintendence. Instructions were at the same time given for an edition of 2000 copies of the entire Testament to be printed at Colombo, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This edition was com- pleted in 1853, under the care of a committee of revision appointed for the purpose. Class III.] ITALIAN. 277 ITALIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. M.i^LEKMi's Version. ' Empee era el veibo : et el verbo era appresso dio : et dio era el verbo. ^ Questo era nel principio appresso dio: ' tutte cose per csso I'atte son: et senza esso fatta e niuna cosa laquale fatta e. ■• In lui era la vita: et la vita era luce de Ihomini: * et la luce ne le tenebre luce: et le tenebre quella non compresero. ^ Fu vno homo mandate da dio : el cui nome era ioanne. ' Questo venne per testimonio perclie egli rendesse testimonianza del lume : acio che tutti per lui credessero : * egli non era la luce : ma acio rendesse tes- timonianza del lume. ^ Era vera luce ; laqual illumina ogni homo veniente in questo mondo. '° Egli era nel mondo, et per lui fatto e el mondo : et el mondo nol cognobe. "venne egli ne la propria citta de iudea : et gli suoi cittadini nol re- ceuettero. '^ Ma tutti quanti collor chel receuettero allor dette potesta de essere facti figlioli da dio a color che credeno nel nome suo: '^liquel non per mixtione de sangui: neper diletto de femina ne per piacere de Ihuomo : ma da dio nasciuti sono. '< Et a tal modo el verbo pieno di gratia : et de vita fatto e carno : et habitoi i noi. Ei habiamo veduto la gloria sua : condecentc gloria del vnigenito col patre. DiODATl's VeESION. ' Nel principio la Parola era, e la Parola era appo Iddio, e la Parola era Dio. ^ Essa era nel principio appo Iddio. ^ Ogni cosa e stata fatta per essa : e senza essa niuna cosa fatta e stata fatta. ■* In lei era la vita, e la vita era la luce degli uomini. * E la luce riluce nelle tenebre, e le tenebre non 1' hanno compresa. ^ Vi fu un' uomo man- date da Dio, il cui nome era Gio- vanni. ' Costui venne per testimo- nianza, afRn di testimoniar della Luce, accioche tutti credessero per lui. 8 Egli fion era la Luce, anzi era mandafo per testimoniar della Luce. ^ Colui, che e la Luce vera, la quale illumina ogni uomo che viene nel mondo, era. '" Era nel mondo, e '1 mondo e stato fatto per esso : ma il mondo non 1' ha conos- ciuto. " Egli e vonuto in casa sua, ed i suoi non 1' hanno ricevuto. '^ Ma, a tutti coloro che 1' hanno ricevuto, i quali credono nel suo Nome, egli ha data quesfa ragione, d' esser fatti figliuoli di Dio : '^ I quali, non di sangue, ne di volonta di carne, ne di volonta d' uomo, ma son natidaDio. '^Ela Parola e stata fatta carne, ed e abitata fra noi, (e noi ab- biam eontemplata la sua gloria: glo- ria, come deir unigenito proceduto dal Padre) piena di grazia, e di verita. Martini's Version. ' Nel principio era il Verbo, e il Verbo era appresso Dio, e il Verbo era Dio. ^ Questo era nel principio appresso Dio. ^ Per mezzo di lui furon fatte le cose tutte : e senza di lui nulla fu fatto di cio, elie e stato fatto. * In lui era la vita, e la vita la lu degli E la luce splende tra le tenebre, e le te- nebre non la hanno ammessa. ^ Vi fu un uomo mandato da Dio, che nomavasi Giovanni. "> Questi venne qual testimone, aifin di render tes- timonianza alia luce, onde per mezzo di lui tutti credessero : ^ Ei non era la luce ; ma era per rendere tes- timonianza alia luce. ' Quegli era la luce vera, che illumini ogni uomo, che viene in questo mondo. '"Egli era nel mondo, e il mondo per lui fu fatto, e il mondo nol conobbe. " Venne nella sua propria casa, e i suoi nol ricevettero. '^ Ma a tutti que', che lo ricevettero, die potere di diventar figliuoli di Dio, a quelli, che credono nel suo nome. '^ I quali non per via di sangue, ne per volonta della carne, ne per volonta d' uomo, ma da Dio sono nati. '*E il Verbo si e fatto carne, e abitd tra noi : e abbiamo veduto la sua gl - ria, gloria come dell' Unigenito del Padre, picno di grazia, e di verita. I.— GEOGEAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Italian language is spoken in Italy, the central peninsula of Southern Europe, by a population which, according to the latest census, amounts to 25,800,000. This fine country has for ages been a prey to the tyranny and superstition of the Popish hierarchy, and tlie frequent political convulsions which it has undergone have been unattended, except in the states of the Sardinian monarchy, by any permanent alleviation of the heavy pressure of its spiritual and intellectual bondage. In Malta, Sicily, and the isles of the Mediterranean, in Barbary, in Egypt, and in different parts of Turkey, the inhabi- tants are better accjuainted with Italian than with any other European language. Italian is also spoken on the south side of the Alps by the Italian Swiss Protestants of the canton Ticino, who number about 120,000 individuals. II. CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. On the decline and fall of the Roman empire, the Latin language, though altered and corrupted, was not destroyed; it perpetuated its existence under new forms, produced by the amalgamation of its ancient elements with the words and idioms of northern nations ; "the active movement of the Germanic 278 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. mind," it has been observed, " operating upon the subject Eoinan population, dissolved, and as it were burst the compact structure, of the Latin tongue." Of the various languages formed by this process (which in different countries was modified by different influences), the Italian is the softest and the most harmonious. In the reception of Latin words it is guided by the truest principles of euphony. Two different consecutive consonants occurring in a Latin word are not, on account of the harshness of their combined sound, allowed to stand in Italian, but, with a very few exceptions, the repetition of the one consonant is substituted for the other; as, for instance, in the Latin words obviare, acto, facto, which in Italian become onviare, atto,fatto. All consonants, which interfere with the established principles of euphony, are totally rejected; hence we find in Italian 7?ore for flore, ^occo for flocco, and many other similar omissions, which tend greatly to conceal from cursory observation the afiinity between Latin and Italian words: and go far to prove that the Italian, as well as other dialects now spoken in Italy, may be remnants of dialects coeval with the Latin as spoken at Rome, and not derived from that language as it is generally supposed. There are several distinct Italian dialects spoken in Lombardy, Naples, and other parts of Italy: the dialect which, by way of preeminence, we call the Italian, is in point of fact the Tuscan: it is not confined to any particular district, but represents pretty well the speech of middle Italy. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The earliest Italian version now known to be in existence is that of Malermi or Malherbi, printed at Venice, 1471. A translation is said to have been made at a still earlier period by Voragine, arch- bishop of Genoa; but although no ]\IS. of this work is now extant, there is every reason to beheve that it was merely a version of Comestor's Historia Scholastica, an abridgment or synopsis of sacred history. Malermi was a Benedictine monk, and afterwards abbot of a monastery of the order of St. Benoit. Twenty-two editions of his version are mentioned by Le Long, nine before a.d. 1500, and the last in 1567. It is a tolerably accurate translation of the Vulgate. Another version, professedly executed from the original texts by Antonio Bruccioli, was published at Venice, 1532: it is well known, how- ever, that this version is little else than a mere translation of the Latin version of Pagninus, which it follows with much servility. In 1579, this version had passed through eleven editions. A revised edition, in which it was rendered conformable to the Vulgate, appeared at Venice in 1538. Another revised and corrected edition was published at Geneva in 1562, for the use of Protestants, but Walchius and others regard this as an entirely new version. We now come to the Italian version executed by Diodati, one of the most important translations of modern times. Diodati was descended from a noble family of Lucca, and in his early youth enjoyed the advantages of the most careful Instruction: his progress in learning was such, that, when only nineteen years of age, he was appointed Professor of Hebrew at Geneva. At the Synod of Dort, in 1619, he gained so much reputation, that he was chosen, with five other divines, to prepare the Bclgic " Confession of Faith." He published his Italian version of the Scriptures at his own expense, and it is said to have occasioned him great pecuniary embarrassment. It is written in the plain Lucchese dialect, and is very intelligible and clear, so that it is peculiarly suitable for circulation among the poorer classes of Italy. The translation was made from the original texts, to which it adheres with great fidelity. An important revised edition appeared in 1641. An Italian version for the use of Roman Catholics was prepared from the Vulgate by Antonio Martini, archbishop of Florence, towards the close of the eighteenth century. The Kew Testament was printed at Turin in 1769, and the Old Testament in 1779 ; the latter appeared during the pontificate of Pius VI., and received his sanction. Both Testaments in the original edition were encumbered with explanatory notes, chiefly taken from the fathers. The version has been repeatedly reprinted with and without the notes, and althouglr it supports the dogmas of the Roman Churcli, and servilely follows the Latin text, yet it has been much admired on account of the elegance of the diction. It is written in the pure Tuscan dialect. Class III.] DACO-KOMANA. 279 Tlie necessity of furnishing supplies of the Itahan Scriptures was first pressed on tlie attention of tl\e British and Foreign Bible Society by the Rev. Mr. Terrot, chaplain at Malta, in 1808; and Diodati's version was selected by the Society for publication. The first edition appeared in 1809, and the success which attended it was considered as justifying the adoption of stereotype; accordingly plates were cast in 1810, from which several large impressions were executed. With a view to an imrestricted circulation, the Society afterwards consented to publish Martini's Roman Catholic version, and an edition of 5000 copies appeared in 1817 at Naples. The total number of copies, in whole or in part, of the Italian Scriptures printed by this Society (up to the close of 1859) amounted to 126,272 Bibles, 264,987 Testaments, 7500 copies of detached portions, and 2000 Italian and Latin Psalters. An edition of 4000 copies of the Italian Testament (Diodati) was printed by the Society, in Rome itself, in 1849; besides other editions at Florence, Pisa, and Lucca. An important service to the cause of revealed truth has been rendered by tlie Foreign Translation Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in a revised edition of Diodati's Italian Bible (in 16mo.) carried through the press under their care in 1854. This edition was throughout carefully corrected by comparison with the original Greek and Hebrew texts, the orthography modernised, and obsolete words and phrases exchanged for those in present use. The addition of marginal references, with chronological and other tables, increased the value of this edition, the New Testament portion of which was speedily exhausted, and has since been reprinted (both in 8vo. and 16mo.) at the University press at Cambridge. Of the results produced by the introduction of the Protestant Scriptures into Italy, little can at present be said. But the political changes of which that country has been the recent seat, and which are yet in course of transaction — consequent upon events which have fixed upon it the attention of the civilised world, and have awakened the warmest sympathies of other nations in behalf of the Italian people — are full of hope and promise for the future. It is only within the Sardinian territories that anything like a free circulation of the Word of God has hitherto been permitted by the authorities: elsewhere, the bigotry of the Romish Church, encouraged by the arm of the secular power, has forbid any attempt at the dissemination of the truth. If the opposition to the introduction into that land of the Protestant Bible has been decided, the success achieved has been not less decided. The liberal distribution of Bibles and Testaments among the Sardinian troops engaged in the Crimea, during the war of 1854-5, was productive of the happiest results. Thousands of these men returned to their native land, bearing with them dearly-prized copies of the Sacred Volume, and their persuasions have induced great numbers of their comrades and friends to obtain the same precious treasure. DACO-ROMANA, OH WALLACHIAN. FOR SPECIMEN OF THIS VEESION, see Plate 5, page 141. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The principalities of Jloldavia and Wallachia, in which this language is spoken, formed part of Ancient Dacia ; and though now nominally included in European Turkey, they form semi-independent states, under the government of native rulers, chosen by the inhabitants, subject to the approval of the Sultan. The inhabitants are descendants of the Dacians, and of the Roman colonists who settled in the country after its subjugation by Trajan. In consequence of their Roman origin, the Wallachians style themselves Rumanjc, and are commonly known to other nations as the Rouman race. They are to be 280 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. found dispersed in several of the adjoining provinces, more especially in that of Transylvania and Bessarabia. They are all of the Greek Church, and in number may amount to 3,000,000. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Although Dacia was one of the last of the provinces annexed to the Roman empire, and although it has since been repeatedly overrun by foreign invaders, yet the language still retains a large number of pure Latin words ; and it is even said that a stranger speaking in Latin can render himself tolerably intelligible to the inhabitants. About half of the Wallachian words have, however, been borrowed from the Greek, the Turkish, and the Sclavonian. The pronunciation is soft, and nearly resembles that of the Italian. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first translation of the Scriptures into Wallachian was made by the Metropolitan Theodotius, by order of Scherban Woivoda, a prince of Wallachia, and the New Testament was printed at Belgrade, In 1648. Prior to that period, the Greek and Sclavonic Scriptures had been in use among the Wallachians. A copy of this New Testament is preserved in the Bodleian Library. The Wallachian Bible was first printed in 1668 at Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia; another edition was published at the same place in 1714, and a third edition appeared at Blaje in Transylvania, in 1795. In 1816, the Russian Bible Society undertook an edition consisting of 5000 copies of the Wallachian New Testament. This supply was greatly needed, for when Dr. Pinkerton visited Moldavia in 1817, he was assured by the exarch that not fifty Bibles were to be found in all the 800 churches belonging to his district. On account of this deplorable scarcity, an edition of 5000 Bibles in this language was commenced at the printing office of the exarch In 1817, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. These editions were joyfully received, and so rapidly circulated, that fresh supplies were soon found to be requisite. In 1834, Poyenar, director of the schools In Wallachia, published at Bucharest 3000 copies of the Gospels for the use of schools, and 3000 additional copies for the priests. In 1838, an edition of 5000 copies of the Wallachian New Testament, printed from a revised and corrected text, furnished by the heads of the Wallachian Church, was published at Bucharest, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Tliis edition was brought out by the permission and at the desire of the bishops of Wallachia, and under the sanction of the prince and governor of the Wallachian principality. Several other editions of the New Testament have, from time to time, been given by this Society to Wallachia: the number of copies of the revised edition thus supplied amounts to 15,000. The Increasing demand for the Sacred Word manifested by the Rouman population within recent years, has led to a determination on the part of the Britlsli and Foreign Bible Society to undertake the translation of the Old Testament Into the Wallachian tongue. This task has been commenced by Professor Arlstias, at Bucharest, and is making satisfictory progress. It had advanced In 1859 as far as Isaiah. As different portions of the work have been successively finished, editions of 2000 have issued from the Bucharest press. An edition of 5000 Wallachian New Testaments, printed in Roman characters, has also been recently completed. It having been affirmed that "hundreds of thousands who speak the Wallachian language, but do not read the Sclavonic character," would gladly receive the Gospel In the Latin type. IV. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. In 1841, accounts were transmitted to the British and Foreign Bible Society of the gi-eat and essential good which had been effected by the distribution of their editions of the New Testament: " Those Individuals belonging to the clergy," it is stated In this report, " as well as other persons who were opposed to its dissemination, and who were desirous to put it down, are now anxious to see the Class III.] PROVENCAL. 281 country inundated, as it were, with tlicsc New Testaments in the vernacular tongue." Later experiences have fully confirmed the impression thus created, and Bucharest has become a highly important centre of missionary operations. The large population of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bulgaria (it is remarked in recent Reports) are quite open to the labours of the Society, and there is on the part of the people a prevailing desire for the Scriptures. The hostility so generally found to prevail when the Greek Church is in the ascendant, does not operate to any material extent amongst the inhabitants of the Danubian provinces. PEOYENCAL, OR EOMAUNT. SPECIMENS, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. ■;;. 6 to U. Lyons MS. * Us horn fo trames do Deu, alqual era noms Johan. ' Aqucst venc en testi- nioni que testimoni clones de lum, que tuit crezesso per lui. * No era el lutz, mais testimoni donct de lum. 3 Era lutz vera, que enlumena tot home venent en aquest mon. '"El men era, el mens es fait per lui, el mens nol conos. "En sas propias cosas vee, e li sei nol recevenbero. "^ Mais cantz que cantz lo receven- bero dec ad els pozestats a esser fait filh dc Dcu ; ad aquals que crezo el nom de lui : '^ Heal no so de sane, ni de volontat de cam, ni de delet de baro, mais de Deu so nat. '■* E la paraula es faita earns, e estec en nos. E vim la gloria de lui, en ai coma gloria du engenrat del paire, pies de gracia e de veritat. Pams MS. (No. 8086). ' Oms fon trames de Dieu local avia nom Johan. ' Aquest venc en tes- timoni que dones testimoni de lum, que tug crezessan per el. ' E non era lus, mas que dones testimoni de lus. 8 Vera lus era, lacal enlumena tot home venent en aquest mont. '" El mont era, el mont fon fach per el, el mont non lo conoc. "En las proprias cauzas venc, e li sieu non lo receupron. '^ Mas quant receu- pron lui, donet ad els poder esser fach filh de Dieu, ad aquestz, que crezon el nom de lui. '^ Lical non son de sane, ni de voluntat de earn, ni de voluntat de baro, mas de Dieu son nat. '^ El filh es faitz cams, et abitet en nos : e nos vim la gloria de lui, coma dun engenrat del paire, pie de gracia e de veritat. Paris MS. (No. 6833). ^ Deus trames un home, qui havia nom Johan. ' E vench en testimoni e pertal que fes testimoni della lum. * Aquell no era lum, mas feya testi- moni della lum. ^ Aquclla era vera lum, laquall illumina tot hom vivent en aquest mon. '" En lo mon era, e all mon per aquell es fet, e al mon no conech aquell. " En les sues propres coses vench, e los sues non raeberan aquell. '^ Mas a tots aquells qu ill raeberan, dona poder que fosen fets fills de Deu, aquells, qui cre- gueran lo nom del ; '^ qui no son nats de sanch, ne per delits de car son nats, ne per volentat d ome. '* E paraula es feta cam, e abita en nos, vahem la gloria daquall, quals gloria qui es un sol amgenrat del para, qui es pie de gracia, e de veritat. Towards the close of the twelfth century, a version of the Scriptures In the language then spoken in Southern France is well known to have been made by Waldo and his disciples. This version was probably intelligible far beyond the limits of France; for, up to the twelfth century, the most intimate connection, amounting nearly to identity of structure, appears to have pervaded the dialects which in the various disjointed portions of the Roman empire, had been formed, almost simultaneously, from the corrupt and decaying elements of the old Latin tongue. A copy of Waldo's version was presented to the pope at the Lateran Council of 1179; but the work was condemned and prohibited by the Council of Toulouse in 1229, on account of its being written in the vernacular language. Many copies were in consequence destroyed, but one copy was safely conveyed to this country: 282 INDO-EUEOPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. it was presented to Morland, Cromwell's ambassador to the Duke of Savoy, and it was deposited by Cromwell in the library of the University of Cambridge. It now appears to be lost; traces, however, of Waldo's text have been discovered by Dr. Gilly, who by an elaborate chain of reasoning demon- strates the probability of this ancient text being exhibited in the six Romaunt versions which have reached our day. One circumstance which among others may be cited in proof of the antiquity of the text contained in these MSS. is, that scriptural quotations occurring in such works as the '■'Nuhle Lesson" and the '■'■Book of Virtues" (known to have been circulated among the Waldenses prior to a.d. 1200) are in literal accordance with the corresponding passages of the Romaunt version. A careful collation of these Romaunt MSS. has established the fact that, although some of the copies appear to have been more accurately revised than the others, they are all transcripts of one version, which seems to have been in use among all the nations to whom the Romance dialects were vernacular. This version was evidently a translation from the Latin, but it is not a servile imitation of the Vulgate, the readings of the old Italic versions having been consulted and occasionally adopted. This version possesses peculiar interest from the fact of its being the first translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular language produced in Europe after the disuse of Latin as the language of common life. The six MSS. in which this ancient and Important version Is supposed to be exhibited are the fbUowing : — I. The Dubhn MS. A. 4., No. 13, contains the New Testament, with the books of Proverbs, Eccleslastes, Canticles, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus. This MS. formerly belonged to Usher, and was presented by Charles 11. to the University of Dublin. It Is written in a dialect which Is less purely Proven9al than that of the Paris and Lyons copies, and which partakes more of the Italian than of the Gallic Romaunt. As it is known to Dublin MS. ' Lo filh era al comenczament, e lo filh era enapres Die, e Die era lo filh. 2 Aiczo era al comenczament enapres Die. ^ Tolas cosas son fai- tas par luy ; e alcuna cosa non es faita sencza luy. ■• 9° q^ie fo ^^^^ en luy era vita, e la vita era lucz de li home. * E la lucz lucit en las tenebras, e las tenebras non cum- preseron ley. ^ Home fo trames de Dio,alqualeranomJQhan. 'Aquest vene en testimoni, qu'el dones tes- timoni de lume, que tuit cresesan par luy. * El non era lucz, mas qu'el dones testimoni de lume. 8 Lucz ei'a vraya, laqual enlumena tot home venent en aquest mont. '"El era al mont, e lo mont fo fait par luy, e lo mont non conoc luy. "El vene en las proprias, e li seo non receopron luy. '■' Mas qual- que qual receopron luy, done a lor poesta esser fait filh de Dio, aquilh liqual creseron al nom de luy: '^Li- qual non son de sang, ni de volunta de carn,ni de deleit de baron, mas son na de Dio. ''' E la parolla fo fayta cam e abite en nos, e nos ve- fTuen la gloria de luy, gloria enayma d'un engenra del paire, plcn de gra- cia e de verita. Grbnoble MS. 1 Lo filh era al comenczament. E lo' filh era enapres dio e dio era lo filh. 2 Aiczo era al comenczament enapres dio. ^ totas cosas son faitas par luy e alcuna cosa non es fayta sencza luy. ■• Czo que fo fayt en luy era vita, e la vita era lucz de li home. ' e la lucz luczic en las te- nebras : e las tenebras non cum- preseron ley. ^ Home fo trames de dio alqual era nom Johan . ' Aquest vene en testimoni, quel dones testi- moni de lume que tuit cresessan par luy. 8 El non era lucz, mas quel dones testimoni de lume. ' Lucz era veraya laqual enlumena tot home venent en aquest mont. '" El era al mont, e lo mont fo fayt par luy, e la mont non conoc luy. " El vene en las proprias: e li seo non receo- pron luy. '2 Mas calsque quals re- ceopron luy, done a lor poesta esser fayt filh de dio, aquilh liqual crco (sic) al nom de luy. " Liqual non son de sane, ni de volonta de cam, ni de deleit dome (sic) mas son na de dio. •''E la parolla fo fayta cam e abite en nos, e nosveguen la glo- ria de luy, gloria enayma dun en- genra del payre, plen de gracia e de verita. Zurich MS. ' Lo filh era al comenczament. E lo filh era enapres Dio. E Dio era lo filh. 2 Aiczo era al comencza- ment enapres Dio. ' Totas cosas son faitas par luy. E alcuna cosa non es faita sencza luy. * "Czo che fo fait en luy era vita, e la vita era lucz de li home. * E la lucz luczit en las tenebras, e las tenebras non cumpreseron ley. ^ Home fo trames de Dio, alqual era nom Johan. ' Aquest vene en testimoni, chel dones testimoni de lume, que tuit cresesan par luy. * El non era lucz, mas quel dones testimoni de lume. 9 Lucz era ■sTaya laqual enlumena tot home venent en aquest mont. "* El era al mont, e lo mont fo fait par luy, e lo mont non conoc luy. " El vene en las proprias, e 11 seo non receopron luy. '^ Mas quanti quanti receopron luy done a lor po- testa esser fait filh de Dio : aquilh liqual creon al nom de luy. '^ Li- qual non son de sane, ni de volunta de cam, ni de deleit de baron, mas son na de Dio. ■''E la parolla fo faita cam, e habite en nos, e nos veguen la gloria de luy, gloria enay- ma d un engenra del paire plen de gracia e de verita. Class III.] TOULOUSE. 283 have been used among the Waldenscs, it is generally called a "Waldensian version. Le Long and others have erroneously described it as an Italian version. II. The Grenoble MS., preserved in the library at Grenoble, contains precisely the same books as the preceding, and is written in the same dialect. It is supposed to belong to the thirteenth century, and has erroneously been called a Spanish version. III. The Zurich MS., C -fj-l, contains the New Testament, and is in the same dialect as the Dublin and Grenoble MSS.: it is believed to have been v?ritten between the years 1350 and 1400. IV. The Lyons MS., Xo. 60, is preserved in the public library at Lyons. It contains the New Testament, a spurious Epistle to the Laodiceans, and about ten pages of scriptural reflections and quotations. The dialect is the same as that of the preceding MSS., but apparently the production of a later period, and the style is replete with Latinisms. V. The Paris MS., No. 8086, contains the New Testament written in a dialect very similar to that which we find in the older poems of the Troubadours. It is preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. VI. The Paris ]\IS., No. 6833, contains the New Testament, and is described by Le Long as '■'■Biblia Catalana, sen veteri Lingua Provinciali." This MS. is also in the Royal Library at Paris. Dr. Gilly, in his edition of the Gospel of St. John from these MSS., published 1848, gives it as his opinion that the Paris MS. No. 8086 is perhaps a transcript of the earliest copy produced by Waldo, and possibly contains passages of earlier partial versions which were afloat before the time of Waldo. The Dublin, Zurich, and Grenoble ]\ISS. display marks of a revised edition of the preceding, being more literal, and adhering more closely to the Latin text than the other codices. TOULOUSE. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. La paraoulo ero al coumens9oment , la paraoulo ero ambe Dious , e aquello paraoulo cro Dious. ■' Ero al coumens9oment ambe Dious. ^ Toutos caousos an estados faitos per ello , e res de 90 qu'a estat fait n'a estat fait sans ello. ^ Accos es en alio qu'ero la bido , c la bido ero la lumiero dc^s homes. ^ E la lumi^ro a luzit dins las tenebros , e las tcnebros nou Tan pas recepiudo. '' Y ajec un home , appelat Jan , que fousquet enbouyat de Dious. ' Benguct per estre temouen , e per randre temoignatge de la lumiero, afi que toutis crejescon per el. ^ N'ero pas el memo la lumiero , mes ero enhouyat per randre temoignatge a la lumiero. ^ Ero la beritablo Imniero qu'esclairo toutis les homes quand l)enen al mounde. -"Ero dins le mounde , e le mounde a estat fait per ello; mes le mounde nou I'a pas counescudo. '^ Es bengut enta el , e les sious nou Tan pas recepiut. ^- Mes a toutis les que Tan recepiut , lour a dounat le dret d'estre fa'its les enfants de Dious , sahe a toutis aquelis que crezen en soun noum ; ^'^ Que nou soun pas nascuts del sang , ni de la boulountat de la car , ni de la boulountat de Thome , mes que soun nascuts de Dious. "E la paraoulo a estado incarnado , e a habitat parmi nous aoutres , pleno de grascio e de beritat ; e aben bist sa glorio , uno glorio talc qu'es la del Fil unique bengut del Pa'ire'. The Provencal or langue doc, the Romance dialect of Southern France, has already been noticed. During the middle ages it occupied as conspicuous a place among the languages of Europe as is held by 284 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. its rival the langue (Toil at the present day, and the few vestiges which yet remain of it arc tlierefore invested with some degree of interest. These vestiges are to be traced in the mountainous parts of Languedoc, where, under the name of the dialect of Toulouse, a corrupt form of the langue (Toe is still spoken by the peasantry. As late as the seventeenth century, and perhaps still more recently, some poems have been occasionally published by native writers in this dialect. Through the influence of education and the press, it is now rapidly yielding its place to the language of modern France; yet it has attracted the attention of the learned, and an attempt has been made to preserve a specimen of this curious relic of past ages before it passes into oblivion. About the year 1820, a translation was made of the Gospel of St. John into this dialect, under the care of a party of French literati ; and the version was pubhshed at Toulouse, under the title of " Le Sent Ebangely de Nostrc Scignour Jesus Christ seloun Sent Jan ; traduit ^n Lengo Toulouzenzo." Y AUD 0 I S. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Ar coumen9amcht fera la Parola ; et la Parola era ensem h. Diou ; et sta Parola ^ra Diou : ^ I 11 ^ra ar coumen9ament ensem a Diou. ^ Tute le cose soun ista faite da ill, et sansa ill ren de 50 que ist^ fait e istk fait. * En ill era la vita, et la vita ^ra lou kiar di hom. ^ E lou kiar luss ent la neuit-scura, mk la neuit-scura Tha pa arcevii. '' L'a-y-e ISTA un hom qu'avia nom Jean, qu'e istk mandk da Diou, '^A 1 e vengii per rende testimouniali, per rende, veui di, testimouniali ar Kiar, per que tui creyessen perque d"el. ^ A 1 era pa lou Kiar, mk a 1 era manda per rende testimouniali ar Kiar. ^ Quel Kiar era lou veritable, que fai kiar a tut hom que ven ar mount. ^°A 1 era ar mount, et lou mount e istk fait da el ; ma lou mount Tha pa counouissii. ^^ A 1 e vengu a so ca ; ct li seui Than pa arcevii ; ^'- Mk k tui quili que Than arcevii, a i ll'ha dounk lou drit d'esse fait meina de Diou ; assave, a quili que cren en so nom ; ^^ Quili eiqui soun pa neissii de sang, ni de la voulenta de la earn, ni de la voulenta de I'hom ; mk i soun neissii de Diou. "E la Parola e istk faita earn, i 11 ha habita entra nou, et nous han ben buca soua gloria, qiie ista una gloria com la gloria dar Fill unic dar Pare, piena de grassia et de verita. The Vaudois dialect, a modification of the old Proven9al language, is spoken on tlie east or Italian side of the Cottian Alps, in the three high valleys of Lucerna, Perosa, and San Martino. These valleys average about twenty-two miles as the greatest length, and eighteen as the greatest breadth, and include a population of about 20,000: since the year 1814, they have been re-annexed to the dominions of the King of Sardinia. The Vaudois, or Waldenses, as they are sometimes called, maintain to this day the pure form of primitive Christianity, to which they stedfastly adhered during the long ages of papal superstition. As a relio'ious body, bearing witness against the corruptions of the Church of Eome, the Waldenses seem to have originated at a very early period in Southern France: in A.D. 1184 they were excom- municated by the pope at the Council of Verona, and soon afterwards they spread themselves in the South of France, the North of Italy, and Germany. The identity of the Vaudois with the Waldenses, has, however, been contested by recent writers. Class III.] VAUDOIS. 285 and a more rigid investigation of historical particulars has led to the supposition, that, " whatever these professors of a purer faitli miglit have had in common, there were certain points on which they differed, and certain local references and relations by which tliey were distinguished from each other." Yet it is certain that the ancient version of the Scriptures, described in a previous memoir, was in use among tliem. Waldo, or Waldensis, who was probably the main agent in producing this translation, was a rich merchant of Lyons. His attention, it is said, was first turned to religious subjects by hearing a troubadour recite, in the streets of Lyons, a poem in favour of voluntary poverty, called, " The Life of Alexis." Waldo invited the troubadour to his house, and was so affected by his conversation (for many of the troubadours were men of deep piety), that he went the next day to the school of Theologv, to seek instruction in the way of salvation. The celebrated master to whom he addressed himself, referred hira to these words of our Lord — " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor." Waldo acted in accordance with the spirit of this exhortation, and a portion of his funds was appropriated to the payment of two priests for translating the Scriptures into the vernacular tongue. This translation was greatly blessed by God to the edification of these early Christians, and supported them in the endurance of many cruel persecutions; in one of which, that of 1686, 11,000 of their number perished, and the survivors, who amounted only to about 3000, were driven from their homes. It was said of these Waldenses by one of their enemies, " They instruct even little girls in the Gospels and Epistles, that they may be brought to embrace their doctrines even from childhood." .... "All, without exception, men and women, small and great, cease not day and night to receive and to give instruction. The labourer who toils during the day, either learns or teaches at night." The descendants of these faithful people, as the Vaudois are generally considered, have not been forgotten in the efforts made within recent years for the general distribution of the Scriptures. In 1830, a specimen of a translation of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John into the dialect now spoken by the Vaudois of Pie Imont, was forwarded by Lieut.-Col. Beckwith to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The translator was the Rev. Mr. Berte, pastor of La Tour. The Society undertook to publish 1000 copies, in parallel columns with Martin's French version, and the edition was carried througl\ the press by Colonel Beckwith and the Eev. T. Sims. In 1832, 600 copies had been distributed among the Vaudois, and another edition was called for. The Society therefore publisiied 2000 copies, the press being corrected by the Rev. T. Sims. The last notice we have received of this version occurs in a letter from Colonel Beckwith, dated 1840, in which he states that the Gospels sent into North Italy are freely circulating among the Protestants. With the progress of education, however, the use of the modern French language is rapidly gaining ground among these valleys. French is the medium of instruction in all the schools, and all the books in general circulation (with the exception of the early literary works) are in that language. French seems to have been first employed as a vehicle of public instruction by those pastors whom the Vaudois obtained from France and Switzerland, when their own ministers were almost all cut off by the plague of 1630: Martin's French version is now more generally read by them than the Vaudois Gospels. The Sardinian govern- ment has of late years accorded perfect tolerance to the Vaudois in the exercise of their pure and simple worship. 286 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. PIEDMONTESE. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 Stj '1 prinsipi a 1 era la Parola, e la Parola a 1 era coun Iddiou ; e sta Parola a 1 era Diou. ^ A 1 era sii '1 prinsipi coun Diou. ^ Ogni cosa a 1 fe staita faita da chila, e sensa chila niente de Ion ch'a 1 ^ stait fait a.\ h stait fait. * Ent chila a 1 era la vita, e la vita a 1 era la luce d'i omini. ^ E la luce a lus ent le tenebre, ma le tenebre a Than nen arcounoussii-la. ^A i ^ sta-ie un om ch'a se ciamava Giouan, ch'a 1 k. stait mandfl da Iddiou. ^ A 1 ^ venii per rendi testimouniansa, per rendi, i tournou di, testimouniansa a la Luce, per die tutti a credeissou sii soua parola. * A 1 era nen chiel la Luce, ma a I era manda per rendi testimouniansa a la Luce. '^ Sta Luce a 1 era la vera, coula ch'a illumina ogni om ch'a ven al mound. ^^ Chila a 1 era al mound, e '1 mound a 1 h. stait fait da chila ; ma '1 mound a I'ha nen counoussu-la. " A 1 6 venii a soua ca ; e i so a Than nen ricevii- lou. ^'Ma a tutti coui ch'a Than ricevu-lou, a 1 ha da-ie '1 drit d' essi fait fieui d' Iddiou; cioi, a coui ch'a credou a so nom ; ^^ I quai a soun nen nassii de sang, ne de la voulountk de la earn, n^ de la voulounta de I'om ; ma a soun nassu da Iddiou. ^* E la Parola a 1 ^ staita faita earn, a 1 ha fait soua abitassioun en mes de noui, e i avouma ben amir^ soua gloria, laqual ale staita una gloria coum la gloria del Fieul unic del Pare, plena dii grassia e de veritk. Piedmont, whicli constitutes the most valuable part of the Sardinian dominions, is an extensive plain, stretching, as its name imports (/Ve di monte), from the foot of the Alps to that of the Apennines. The total number of inhabitants amounted, in 1857, to upwards of 3,000,000. A Romance dialect called Piedmontese is still spoken in Piedmont: it is closely allied to the old Provencjal language of Southern France, but has of late admitted many Italian words. Le Long speaks of a MS. of the New Testament written about the year 1500, and preserved (as above mentioned) at Zurich; but it is probable that this was only a copy made for the use of the Piedmontese from the celebrated Proven9al version of the Waldenses already described. This Piedmontese New Testament was among the list of books prohibited at Rome in 1740, by a decree of the Congregation of the Index of Prohibited Books. In 1831, a translation of the New Testament, faithfully rendered from Martin's French versfon into modern Piedmontese, was forwarded to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by Lieut.-Colonel Beckwith. The translation had been made by the Rev. Mr. Berte, pastor of La Tour, and Mr. Geymet of Lausanne. An edition of 1000 copies, printed in the same form and type as the Vaudois Gospels, was completed by the Society in 1834, and the press was corrected by Lieut.- Colonel Beckwith. In 1837, 2000 copies of the Gospels of St. Luke and St. John were issued by the Society, in parallel columns with the French text. This edition was followed, in 1841, by the publi- cation of a Piedmontese version of the Psalms, executed from Dlodati's Italian version. The edition of the Psalms consisted of 1000 copies, printed in parallel columns with the Italian text. Owing to the interested opposition of the Romish priesthood, these editions did not obtain so rapid a circulation as might have been anticipated; and in 1840 the Society's version of the New Testament was put on the Index of forbidden books at Rome. But within recent years, the policy pursued by the Sardinian government in this regard has been one of tolerance, if not of encouragement. At the present moment the sale of Bibles is great at Turin ; there are shops opened for the purpose simply as a matter of prolit: the higher classes especially have become readers of the Bible. Sardinia, indeed, presents the only bright spot in the whole of Italy, in so far as the circulation of the Word of God is concerned. Class III.] ROMANESE. 287 H 0 M A N E S E, E O M O N S C II, OR UPPER AND LOWER ENGHADINE. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. UPPER ETfGHADINE. LOWER ENGHADINE. ^ In il principi eira il Pled, h '1 Pled eira pro Deis, h '1 Pled eira Dieu. - Quel eira in il principi pro Deis. ^ Ogni chiaussa ais fatta tras quel ; ^ sainza quel ingiina chiaussa fatta nun ais stat fatta. "^ In el eira la vita, h la vita eira la liim dalla glieud. ^ E la liim llischa in las sciirezas, h las sciirezas nun I'haun compraisa. ^ E suo iin horn tramiss da Dieu, il nom dal qual eira Joannes. "^ Quaist venn per testimonianza, ci fin da dar perdiitta dalla Liim, acib chia tuots crajessen tras el. ^El nun eira la Liim, anzi eira tramiss per dar perdiitta dalla Liim. ^ Quel chi ais la vaira Liim, la quala iliiimna ogni crastian chi vain in il muond, ^" Eira in il muond, k '1 muond ais fat tras quel ; mo'l muond nun I'ha cognoschii. ^^El ais gnii in siachasa, h 'Is seis nun I'haun ardsfU. ^'- Mo h tuots quels chi I'haun ardsfii, ils quals crajen in seis Nom, ils ha el dat quaista radschun, d'esser fats iffaunts da Dieu. ^^ lis quals brichia da saung, ne da voluntk da charn, ne da voluntk d'hom, mo sun nads da Dieu. Hg '1 pigfj ais Stat fat charn, ed ha habits taunter nus, [fe nus havain contempla sia gloria, SCO dal unigenit procedli dal Bap] plaina d'gratia, h d'varda. ' Enten I'Antschetta fov' ilg Plaid, ad ilg Plaid fova tier Deus ; ad ilg Plaid era Deus. ^Q,uel fova enten I'Antschetta tiers Deus. ^Tuttas caussas ean fachias tras el ; a fenz' el eis ei faig nagutta, da quci ch'ei faig. * Enten el fova la Vitta, a la Vitta era la Lgisch d'ils Carstiauns. ^ A quella Lgisch dat Clarezia enten la Sciira- dengia, mo las Sciiradengias ilg han bucca cumpilgiau. ^ Ei fov' iin Hum tarmess da Deus ca veva Num Johannes. 'Quel van- git par esser Pardichia, par dar Pardichia da la Lgisch, par ca tuts cartessen tras el. * El era bucca la Lgisch, mo tarmess par dar Pardichia da la Lgisch. ^ Quel ca ei la vera Lgisch, ca dat Clarezia a minchia Carstiaun ca ven ent ilg Mund ; ^" Fova ent ilg Mund, ad ilg Mund ei faigs tras el ; ad ilg Mund ilg ha buc ancunaschieu. "El ei vangeus ent ilg sieu, ad ils ses ilg han bucca prieu si. ^^Mo touts sc'ilg han prieu si, sch'ils ha'l dau pussonza da daventar ufFonts da Deus ; numnadameng a quels ca crein enten sieu num. '^ lis quals ean naschi, bucca da saung ne da la velgia da la earn, ne da la velgia d'ilg Hum; mo da Deus. ^* A quel plaid ei daventaus earn, ad ha avdau tenter nus, a nus vein vieu sia Gliergia : iinna Gliergia sco d'ilg parfnl- nascheu d'ilg Bab, pleins d'grazia, a vardad. The Grisons, anciently part of Rlicetia, constitute the south-eastern angle of Switzerland, and occupy an area of from 2500 to 3000 square miles. The inhabitants amounted in number (in 1849) to 89,840: of this population, about two-fifths are of Germanic and about one-tenth of Italian origin: the Protestants are supposed to number about 62,000 individuals, the remainder being chiefly Roman Catholics. The mountainous parts of this canton are inhabited by the little Romanese nation. The Enghadinc, or valley of the Inn, on the borders of the Tyrol, is inhabited by a section of this people, to whom a Romanese dialect called Churwelsche is vernacular. Tlie other Romanese dialect is called Ladlniche, and is spoken in the valley of the Rhine, on the confines of Italy. Both these dialects are derived form the Latin tongue, and preserve to this day the most striking characteristics of the Romance 288 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. liinguages; and tliey contain among otlier elements, some Etruscan words, which seem to point to a time anterior to the present division of languages for the origin of these dialects. The New Testament was printed in the former of these dialects in 1560, and the whole Bible in 1679. In the latter, the Bible was published in 1719. These editions were all printed in the Orisons, but they were soon exhausted, and as no further impressions were issued, a copy was scarcely attainable at the beginning of the present century. A company of Christians at Basle, therefore, projected an edition for the use of these mountaineers, and under the auspices of the Basle Bible Society, and with the aid of the parent institution, the New Testament in Churwelsche left the press in 1810. But when the poor Ladins heard what a treasure their neighbours on the Tyrolese frontier had got, they expressed a very strong desire to have the same in their dialect. The Bible Societies of London and Basle promptly consented to grant them this boon, and in 1813 an edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament in I.adiniche had left the press. Several subsequent editions of the New and Old Testaments have been issued by the Basle Bible Society in both dialects. The last edition of which we have any particular account was that of 1834, published at the expense of the British and Foreign, the Coire, and the Geneva Bible Societies: it consisted of 2000 copies of the New Testament, and was chiefly designed for a considerable number of shepherds who pass away the summer in the mountains, without the aid of any religious instruction. The Eev. Colany Nee, of Leme, remarked on this occasion, " The Spirit of God has scarcely begun to be heard in a whisper in these mountains; but I have found, generally speaking, that the word of God is esteemed, and frequently read, and that it is in the possession of most of the Protestant families in the canton." We add a specimen of the Enghadine dialect of earlier date (1640); — SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12. In r priacipi eira 1' Pla?d : & 1' Plsed eira tiers Dieu ; & Dieu eira 1' plaed. - Quel eira in principi tiers Dieu. ^ Tuottas chioffes fun fattas traes el : & fainza el eis fat unguotta da que chi eis fat. ^In el eira la vita, & la vita eira la Igilfch de la glieut. ^Et la Lgiisch Igusclia in la fchiirezza, & las fchiirezzas nun 1' haun compraifa. ^ Un hom tramis da Dieu eira, cum nom Joannes. "^ Quel venn per effer perdilta, accid eh' el defs perdiita de la Lgiisch : per chi a tuots craieffen traes el. ^ El nun eira la Lgiisch ma per ch' el rendefs teftimonianza de la Lgiisch : ^ Quel eira la vaira Lgiisch, chi inlgiimna feodiin hom chi vain in 1' muond. ^"^ El eira in 1' muond, & 1' muond eis fat traes el : & 1' muond nun 1' ho cuntfchieu. ^^ El eis gnieu fiin Y fieu, & I's feis nun I'haun prains fii. ^- Mu quaunts chi 1' haun prains fii, ho el do ad els puffaunza da dvanter filgs da Dieu, a quels chi craien in fieu Nom. CLASS III-INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. F. THRACO-ILLYRIAN FAMILY. ALBANIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Ke ■Kspizapa \s , o < Ul f ^ S < = fc- 4? Ifi W ^ V. < O- :« ^ E Z-o ^-P S ^^ "= ^ 2-p *■ t- r w =- i« 2 ul u < Z bO >X JO o, < — *** lii X *** s X *; S QC < W "^ 3 SIM o t- o < ■< ui't- 3« CO . 3 o " 3- ■^ fe- O < Z o z tfS fc- ■o X IS " CZ 3 --^ o Ui X ^ 5Z 3- 3 o fc-cZ o C^J CO "" O O t- z Ul u, Z Q. =^ t- Ul :< U3 v^ 3 " ^ = O Si« 2 4? 3 3st = \£ B 3 S _ z < z o > < -I o 1 z is .a s t ^ 0 O ILQ a 0 s « 2 o , S wa ^ .a ^ * *® » 1 o 2 « .^ rt ti -; o B vo W = K^ ■^ o f ° 5 r* •- 3^ (^ Z >-. s* s- " « ^. 2 S r- ■- » = S 2 .a -SO ■a .^ b \0 "^ «^ 0 4)^ S w . 0« !? . jj o s o E o' E S . E^ '-» re Z J'- ° z :^ ".!£ o -fa ♦ -''•3 -fa 3- u: V3' U3 Z o 2 E- id X o ■fa CJ >Z , : X A Mi •fa 5 f- tf M •■> f- K (4 X «3 X '«3 f- C4 M =< ta — i£ .z; ^ J" tj^ j3 f- u f- S ^ E- M Z f- E- ■» -<'>«>-ta S ^ M •^ i J5 S3" 'Z X = "^ : .^i .X 5 * S ,«^ o f- If re - P re •g O •^ 3 - §oE g § i .-a 0 0 i s (- X S's " r^ ^ rS rS £ •5 0- !^ s s Is s 0 0 a 0 s ?^^* fi b; !^ D, - a IS c S -p X J5 C E B 3 ^ X B V z-' . »o z 0 P (0 ^ X ^» E z re £ 0 u a . J'^ 0 0 0 >-> — s O V X X •»5 o ^ f- •-> •^ ta >x E- Id J 3= E- •J x>+a — 3- 1^ ,; If " c 11 M ca f- •ta ^ ='2 -< . f- rZ o •■X V 3 (4 O •3 < O ta o ■q.^x E < 2 f- <=^ G>-fa < , ° ^ ♦ 'Z C4 c- II- g (,, M af folt prigali geg, bal' gim moe f^ng s^ojimi bsiti, (totij) teai, ftevy njevj we gme'no ge^o; ^^ ^terjj nc je fnre, ani j reulc tH'a, ani 5 wulc muje, ale 5 ©o(ia jl^fojcni fan. i* 21 Sl'orco to tcl'o fcincno geft, a jJteb^real'o meji) nduii, (a wibell fme fl'oivu ge^o, fl'dreu gafojto gebnorojene^o ob Otce,) pine niil'oflj a prowb?. 1. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Bohemia, a country exceeding 20,000 English square miles in area, and situated nearly in the heart of Europe, forms an important section of the Austrian empire. The number of inhabitants amounts to 4,800,000, of whom 3,000,000 are Tchekhes, and speak the Bohemian language: the remaining part of the population is composed principally of Germans. An attempt was made during the last century to abolish the Bohemian language, and German teachers were introduced into all the schools of Bohemia; but a language which, during the long ages of papal superstition, had been used as almost the only- organ of truth, was not permitted to be thus suppressed. A reaction took place in its favour, and of late years Bohemian literature has been sedulously cultivated, although in all society German is tlie language of intercourse, even among those who profess to uphold the Bohemian language. A dialect of this lanfifuage is spoken in Moravia; and about two millions of Slovaks in the north-west of Hungary employ Bohemian as their literary medium, although they speak a distinct dialect. Bohemia has justly been called the cradle of the Reformation: yet it is now one of the strongholds of Roman Catholicism, and the descendants of those who shed their blood in defence of their religious hberty are generally distino-uished by the superstitious zeal with which they adhere to the form of religion forced on them by the swords of the Austrians. II. — characteristics of the language. Bohemian is chiefly distinguished from other Slavic languages by the peculiarity of its pronun- ciation, which however, is not so harsh and disagreeable as that of the Polish. In common with them it possesses a number of sibilants, and in many instances it has imparted a hissing sound to the German, Greek, and Latin words which have entered in great abundance into its vocabulary. About three- Class III.] BOHEMIAN. 301 fourths of the words composing the Polish and Bohemian language are derived from the same roots, but in point of grammatical construction Bohemian approximates most closely to the Eussian, and is a pretty and comparatively easy dialect of the Sclavonic. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The greater part of a Bohemian version of the Scriptures appears to have been extant at the close of the fourteenth century: several translations of tlie Psalms, and a version of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, and of the Sunday Lessons from the Gospels, ascribed to that century, are still preserved in MS. in the libraries of Vienna, Prague, and Oels in Silesia. Ann, queen of Richard II. of England, is well known to have possessed Bibles, Latin, German, and Bohemian. The various books of Scripture were read and circulated in Bohemia, in separate portions, until the time of Husa and Jerome of Prague, the martyrs of the fifteenth century. About the time that Huss began to preach against the evils of the Roman Church, the several portions of Scripture that had been translated into Bohemian were for the first time collected tosether. It is uncertain whether Huss assisted in forming this collection, or whether he caused any portion of the sacred volume to be translated anew. After his martyrdom in 1415, copies of this Bible were greatly multiplied by his followers. Many copies were written by women, and the scriptural knowledge of the Taborite women is noticed by -lEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II.: he remarked that " it was a shame to the Italian priests that many of them had never read the whole of the New Testament, whilst scarcely a woman could be found among the Bohemians (or Taborites) who could not answer any questions respecting either the Old or New Testament." From A.d. 1410 to 1488 (when this Bible was first printed), no less than four different recensions of the entire Scriptures can be distinctly traced, and many more of the New Testament. About thirty-three copies of the whole Bible, and twenty-two of the New Testament, written during this period, are still extant; and of these some are copied from each other, and some appear to have been translated anew, but aU have evidently been e.xecuted from the Vulgate. The edition of this Bohemian Bible published by the United Brethren in 1488 furnishes the first instance on record of the application of the newly-invented art of printing to the multiplication of the Scriptures in a living tongue. From the date of this publication to the year 1804, fourteen editions of this version left the press. Between the years 1579 and 1593, a version of the Scriptures, executed by the United or Moravian Brethren from the original texts, was published in six quarto volumes at Kralitz, in Moravia. Fourteen translators are said to have been engaged on this splendid work, and the whole was published at the expense of the Baron John Zerotimus. Schaftarik has remarked con- cerning this translation, and the notes that accompanied it, " that they contain a great deal of that which, two hundred years later, the learned coryphaei of exegesis exhibited to the world as their own profound discoveries." In addition to the two versions above mentioned, a translation of the entire Scriptures from the Vulgate into Bohemian was published in 1804, by Prochazka and Durich: the New Testament of this version had appeared in 1786. A translation of the Old Testament, executed by Wartowsky from the Hebrew, still exists in MS., but has never been printed. The design of issuing an edition of the Bohemian Bible was entertained by the Berlin Bible Society as early as 1805. The current of political events, however, impeded the progress of the edition, which was not completed till 1807. It consisted of 3000 copies, all of which were put into circulation in little more than twelve months. In 1808, an edition of the Bible, carefully printed from the text of 1593, was edited by Professor Palkovitch, of Hungary, with a list of words that had become obsolete since the translation was made. Owing to the poverty of the country, about 100 copies only got into circulation till 1812, when the stock in hand was purchased for distribution by the Bible Society. Up to the end of 1859, 35,000 copies of the Bible, and 26,000 Testaments, had been published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in this language, exclusive of the many large editions published at Berlin by its aid ; but the results of this extensive distribution have not yet been fully manifested. 302 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Bisliop Fabricius alone was stated to have brought into circulation 7,200 Bibles and 40,000 Testaments, and they appear to have been anxiously sought for, and well received. ' S E R Y I A N. FOE SPECIMEN OF TKE SERVIAN VERSION, see Plate 6, page 201. I. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Servia Proper is a principality nominally dependent upon the Turkish empire, situated on the Danube, south of the Hungarian provinces of Sclavonia and the Banat. In proportion to the region through which the Servian language, in its various dialects, is diffused, Servia itself is but a small territory: it comprises an area of about 25,000 square miles, and u population of about 1,000,000, whereas the total number of individuals by whom (as we shall hereafter have occasion to mention) the Servian language is spoken, amounts at least to 5,000,000. It is vernacular, with some diversity of idiom and pronunciation, in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia, Sclavonia, and part of Croatia. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Servian is more akin to the Eussian and Wendlsh than to the Bohemian and Polish languages. It approximates, however, more closely to the Old Sclavonic than to any modern idiom, and thus appears to corroborate the generally received opinion, that the elder dialect was the vernacular language of the original Sclavonic settlers in Servia, and that Modern Servian Is merely a corruption of it. The Servian chiefly differs from the Old Sclavonic language In the disuse of certain terminations, and In the adoption of many Turkish words. In point of construction, the language has of late years been altered and modified, so as to resemble the Russian. It is rich in vowels, and ffee from the accumulations of consonants, which render the other Sclavonic tongues so harsh to the ear of a foreigner. Its chief characteristic is the softness of its sound. In comparing the various Sclavonic languages, Schaffarik has said, fancifully but truly, " Servian song resembles the tone of the violin ; Old Sclavonic, that of the organ; Polish, that of the guitar. The Old Sclavonic, In its Psalms, sounds like the loud rush of the mountain stream ; the Polish like the bubbling and sparkling of a fountain ; and the Servian, like the quiet murmuring of a streamlet in the valley." It Is the most regular, and perhaps also the most agreeable, of all the Sclavonic dialects. 1 A recent endeavour on the part of the British and Foreign Bible Society to disseminate the Scriptures in the Provinces of the Austrian Empire has resulted in failure, owing to the decisive and bigoted opposition on the part of the ruling powers — prompted here, as elsewhere, by the denunciations of the Eomish ])riesthood. In 1S50 and 1851, the Society's agent at Vienna commenced the printing of several editions, in the Bohemian as well as the German and Hungarian languages. His efforts were crowned with such success, that during the first sis months of his resi- dence, he dispersed 6965 volumes. After a time, however, the depots at Giins, Pesth, and Vienna, were summarily closed by the pohce; and an order made by the government to have all the copies of the Scriptures on hand sent out of the country, was rigorously enforced. Two hundred and four bales, and one hundred and twenty-five cases, con- taining, either bound or in sheets, 58,087 copies of Bibles and Testaments, were accordingly, under the charge of a detachment of gens d'armes, conveyed beyond the frontiers of the Austrian territory, amidst the unavailing tears and sighs of tens of thousands of the people, waiting for and anxious to possess the precious volumes, of which they were so mercUessiy bereft ! Class III] SERVIAN. 803 III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The language of Cyril and Metliodius being more intelligible to the Servians than to any other members of the Sclavonic family, tlie ancient Sclavonic version was, till a comparatively recent period, the only translation of the Scriptures read and circulated among them. A translation of the Octateuch into Servian is said to have been printed in 1493, at Zenta, in Herzegovina, but it is probable that the language of this version approached nearer to the Old Sclavonic than to the modern idiom. The attention of the British and Foreign Bible Society was first drawn to the necessity of furnishing Servia with a version intelligible to the mass of the people by a communication from Mr. Kopitar, of Vienna, addressed in 1815 to the Committee, through the Baron de Sacy, of Paris. A Servian, by name Vuc Stephanovitch, the author of the first Servian grammar and dictionary, having agreed with Mr. Kopitar to prepare the translation, the proposal was referred to Dr. Pinkerton, then at St. Peters- burg; and as it was ascertained, after due inquiry, that Stephanovitch was fully qualified for the work, the Committee resolved to undertake an edition of the New Testament in Servian. The trans- lation was executed from the Old Sclavonic version, compared with the original Greek, and, when completed, was sent to St. Petersburg, whence it was forwarded for revision to the Bessarabiaa Committee. Many alterations were effected In It during the process of revision, and It was not till 1824 that the edition was completed at press. As this translation was written in the common dialect of the people, many objections were raised against It by those who preferred a more elevated style, bearing a stricter conformity to the Old Sclavonic idioms. Soon after the appearance of this version. Professor Stolkovitch, the author of several Russian and Servian works, was appointed by a committee at St. Petersburg to prepare a new translation, designed, in point of diction, to hold a middle course between the forms of speech in common familiar use, and the more ancient and classical phraseology of the language. The Professor took tlie former version as the basis of his work, which, when completed, was printed at St. Petersburg. When a second edition of the New Testament became necessary for Servia, the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society took some pains to ascertain which translation was the more acceptable to the people. On reference to native authorities, it was found that Professor Stoikovltch's version was generally preferred to the other. It was therefore adopted as the text of an edition of 2000 copies, published for the British and Foreign Bible Society at Leipsic, in 1830. Subsequent editions have been issued by the Society, amounting In the total, up to the end of 1858, to 9000 copies. The Old Testament has not yet been translated into Servian. 804 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. CROATIAN, OR DALMATIAN-SERVIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 13. [U. BUDIMB, 1831.] U poesetku bishe ries, i ries bishe kod Boga, i Bog bishe ries. 'Ovabisheupoesetku kod Boga. ^ Svase po njoj ucsinishe, i brez nje ucsinihshe nishta, shtose ucsinih, ■* U njoj bishe xivot, a xivot bishe svitlost Ijudih: ^A svitlost u tminam' sviti, a tmineju ne obajashe. *'Bih csovik poslan od Boga, komu ime bishe Ivan. '^Ovi dojde za svidvesbu, dabi svi virovali ponjemu. *Ne bishe on svitlost, nego dabi svidocsbu ucsinio od svitlosti. ^Bishe svitlost istinita, koja prosvitljuje svakog' csovika dolazecheg' na ovi svit. '"Na svitu bishe, i svitse po njemu ucsinih, a svitga nepoynade. '^ U vlastita dojde, i svoiga ne priraishe. ^" A kolikogodga priraishe, dadeim oblast da budu sinovi Boxji, onim', koi viruju u ime njegovo. ^^ Koi ne od kervih, niti od volje muxa, negosu od Boga rodjeni. The Servian language, as we have already mentioned, is spoken, with a few provincial deviations, in Dalraatia, and in Military or Austrian Croatia, comprising the districts of Carlstadt and Varasdin, which collectively may contain a population of about 1,300,000. The Sclavonic dialects spoken in that part of Europe blend into one another, in many neighbourhoods, and are often not easily distinguishable in their relative purity. The only real line of demarcation between the language of Servia Proper and Dalmatian-Servian, lies in their respective alphabetical systems. The Servians belong, almost without exception, to the Greek Church, and therefore use the Russian modification of the venerable characters in which the Old Sclavonic version is written. The Dalmatians and Croatians, on the other hand, having received instruction in the Christian religion originally from Latin priests, belong, in general, to the Roman Catholic Church, and use the Latin alphabet. The Glagolitic letters (probably so called from the Sclavonic Glagol, a word or verb,) were formerly employed in Dalmatia in writing Old Sclavonic, as well as the modern idiom: they are a clumsy imitation of the Cyrillic alphabet, and, except occasionally for ecclesiastical purposes, have now fallen into disuse. A translation of the Gospels into Dalmatian-Servian, by Bandulovitch, appeared at Venice in 1613, but never obtained much circulation. In 1640, a Jesuit, by name Bartholomew Cassio, had translated the entire Scriptures; but this version was never committed to the press, owing to the opnositlon of the bishops. After the lapse of another century, strenuous efforts were made by Stephen Rosa, a Roman Catholic priest, to furnish the Dalmatians with the Bible in their vernacular language. He executed a new translation of the entire Scriptures, and Immediately on its completion forwarded it to the pope, with a request that it might be used in all the churches of Dalmatia, Instead of the Old Sclavonic version : he urged his suit by arguing, that as the Cyrillic language was an ingredient of the Greek Church, the use of It In sacred things was a species of Greek heresy. The pope referred the subject to the consideration of a committee, appointed by him for the purpose, and In 1754 the translation was formally rejected. At length, in 1832, by the renewed efforts of the Romish Church, and the zealous aid of the deceased primate of Hungary, Cardinal Rudnay, another version of the Scriptures was completed, and was permitted to pass through the press. It was printed in Roman letters, and was at once adopted by the Roman Catholics of Dalmatia and Croatia. This version is a translation from the Vulgate, executed by the Franciscan monk and professor, Katancsich, and rendered conformable in all points to the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. Class 111.] CARNIOLAN. 305 CAENIOLAN. SPECIMEN, FKOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. V'TiM sazhetki je bila Besseda, inu Besseda je bila per Bun;u, inu Bug je bil ta Besseda. Taista je bila v'sazhetlii per Bugu. Vsse rezhi so skusi toisto sturjene : inu pres teiste ni nizh sturgenu, kar je sturgenu. V'nji je blu to shivlenie, inu to shivlenie je blu ena luzh teh ludy. Inu luzh v"temmi sveiti, inu temme je nisso sapopadle. En zhlovik je bil od Buga poslan, katermu je blu jme Joannes. Taisti je pershal k'prizhuvaniu, de bi prizhuval od te luzbi, de bi vssi skusi niegaveruvali. On nybil taluzh,temuzh, de bi on od luzhi prizhuval. Je bila ta prava luzh, katera usakiga zhloveka resveti, kir pride na Icta sveit. Je bil na sveiti, inu ta sveit je skusi niega sturjen, inu ta sveit ga ny sposnal. On je pershal v'svoje lastnine, inu ti niegovi ga nisso gori vseli, kulikur yh pak je niega gori vselu, tem je on dal oblast, de bi Boshji otrozi postali, tem, kateri v'niegovu ime verujejo. Kateri nisso od te kervy, ne od vole tega messa, ne od vole mosha, temuzh so od Buga rojeni. INV TA BESSEDA JE MESSV POSTALA. ( Tiikei se doli poklekne.) Inu je prebivala med nami : Inu my smo nie zhast vidili, eno zhast koker tiga edinurojeniga od Ozheta, polniga gnade, inu resnize. VsAZHETKi je bila besseda, inu Besseda je bila per ]5ugi, inu ta Besseda je bila Bug. Taista je bila vsazhetki per Bugi. Vse rizhy so skusi toisto stur- jene, inu pres teiste nej nishter sturjenu, kar je sturjcnu. V'njej je bil ta leben, inu ta leben je bil Luzh teh Ludy, inu taista Luzh vtemmi svejti, inu temme je neso priele. En Zhlovik je bil od Buga poslan, timu je bilu ime loanncs, taisti je prishal k'prizhovunju, de bi od te Luzhi prizhoval, de bi vsi skusi njcga verovali. On nej bil taista Luzh, temuzh de bi on od te Luzhi prizhoval. Taista je bila ta prava Luzh, katera vse Zhloveke resvejti, kir pridco na leta Svejt. Ona je bila na Svejti, inu ta Svejt je skusi njo sturjen, inu Svejt je nej snal. On je prishal vsvojo lastino, inu ty njegovi ga neso gori vseli : Anipek kulikur je nyh njega gori vsclu, tem je on dal oblast, de mogo biti Boshji otroci, kateri na njegovu Ime verujo, kateri neso od krij, ni od vole tiga messa, ni od yole eniga Mosha, temuzh od Buga rojeni. Inu taista Besseda je Messu postala, inu je prebivala mej nami, inu my smo nje zhast vidili, eno zhast, kakor tiga edinurojeniga Synu od Ozheta, polniga Gnade inu Risnice. Tnis dialect is spoken in the Austrian provinces of Carintliia, Carniola, and Styria. In 1857 tlie population of Carintliia amounted to 332,593; that of Carniola to 457,328; and that of Styria to 1,070,747. Part of this population, hov?ever, is composed of Germans; and Koman Catholicism is the predominant religion. The Carniolan dialect, which bears a strong resemblance to Servian and to Old Sclavonic, has been vernacular in these regions since the fifth century; but it v^as not embodied in a written form till towards the epoch of the Reformation. Truber, a canon and curate of several places in Carniola and Carinthia, and justly styled the apostle of that nation, was the first to write in their dialect. Li the prosecution of his zealous and faithful labours among them, he met with much discouragement and strong opposition, so that at length he was compelled to take refuge with Chrlstoplier, duke of Wurtemburg, who had opened an asylum in his dominions for the persecuted. Here Truber completed the translation of the New Testament into Carniolan, which he had commenced some time previously. He translated from the Latin, German and Italian versions, for he was unacquainted with the original Greek. The first portion of his version, consisting of the Gospel of St. Matthew, appeared at Tubingen in 1555, printed in Roman letters; and the entire New Testament was completed at press in 1557. In the preparation of this version, Truber was assisted by Dalmatin, Sonnegg, and other preachers of the Gospel. A system of orthography, totally different to that adopted by Truber, was introduced by Dalmatin in 1561. The Old Testament was also translated by Dalmatin, and an edition of the entire Scriptures in Carniolan was printed under his direction, with the aid of Melanchthon, in 1584, in parallel columns with the German text. This edition was designed for the Protestants of Carinthia and Carniola, who were then very numerous; but they have been exterminated by the Jesuits, and almost all the copies of this edition appear to have been destroyed. A perfect copy of this version is scarcely known to be in existence, but fragments are still extant. A Carniolan version of the Scriptures, for the use of the Roman Catholics, was executed from the Vulgate, by George J.npcl, and printed at 21 806 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. Lay bach in 1784. The New Testament of this version has been since reprinted. Another Eomanist version is said to have been prepared by Ravnikar, Roman Catholic professor of theology at Lay bach, about the year 1817. SLOVAK I AN. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 12.— [W. Ostmhome, 1832.] ^% SPoiattu boto Sloiro, a ©(oiro toto u SBo^a, o 93o^ tot Sfoivo. ^ jioto toto na $oidtfu u SPata. ^ Stfccfo jTrse nct)o fa jlalo : a fcej nc^o nice^o fa ncftato, co fa flalo. * 3t ncm Sircot bol, a Sireot 6ol ©icetlo Subi : ^ U ©rcctlo nj 3^cni nofldct; eiviti, a !I'mi ^o nco()rnun. ^ SBol Eloreef ^loflani oi S(?ct)n, Jltcre'mu SKeno 6cto ®an. ^ J'on ^'rifSoI na (Siiiebcctirc, obi ©roctiectrco reibal o ©iretle, abi njfeui rccrili ffrjc nc^o. ^ 9lebo( on ©irotfo, nlc aH Sircbcctiro wibot 0 ©reetlc. ^ a?oIo ©tcctlo opraitb'itoc, ^tere ofraccugc fajbet)o ctcu'cfa Jjridjacjaijici^o na tento Sitet. i" 9Ja ©irctc bol, a ©icet jl'rje nctio ucincn gcjl, a ®roctt)o ne^ojnat. " ©o frec£)o rrlaftm'tio ^irifel, a freogi ^o ncprigali. 12 ^tcrifolrecf ate t)o ^jrigali, bal gim moc @ini 9?ojimi tit, tim Jtf)cri rcerd ree Wleno ge^o. The Slovaks, or Slovenes, dwell in the north-west of Hungary, more especially in the counties Trencsin, Thurocz, Arva, Liptau and Sohl. Including their numerous settlements, dispersed all over Hungary, their number may be estimated in round numbers at about 1,800,000. Of these, 1,300,000 are Roman Catholics; the rest are Protestants. They are descendants of the original Sclavonic settlers in Europe, but their language is the only remnant they have preserved of their national existence. In 894 they were conquered by thp Magyars; since then they have dwelt in the same land, and under the same government, as their conquerors, and they still form a component and very important part of the Hungarian nation. Their dialect approximates closely to the Servian, but has been greatly influenced by the Bohemian, which they have adopted as their literary language. It is to the Romanists that the Slovaks are indebted for a version of the Scriptures in their own dialect. A translation of the Bible was made by the Canon G. Palkowic, which was printed in 1831. The Bohemian version had been up to that period the only translation of the Scriptures in general use among these people. BOSNIAN. Bosnia, the most westerly pashalic, or eyalet, of Turkey in Europe, comprises an area which has been variously estimated at from 16,000 to 22,000 square miles, and a population numbering upwards of 1,000,000. This population is composed of Turks, Servians, Croats, Gipsies, Jews, and Armenians; the Bosniaks themselves number but 350,000 individuals. The dialect has been described as a mixture of Sclavonic and Wallachian. In a letter, dated Corfu, 1827, Mr. Lowndes stated that the Austrian consul then at Corfu had given him information of the existence of the Bible in the Bosnian dialect. From the account given by the consul, it would appear that he had seen copies of this version during his residence among the Bosniaks. No copy of this work, however, seems at any period to have reached England. Class III.] BULGARIAN. 307 BULGARIAN. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VEESION, see Plate 6, paqb 291. Bulgaria, anciently called Lower Moesia, formed one of the earliest settlements of the Sclavonians, and derived its present name from the Bulgarians, a warlike Asiatic horde who, in 679, conquered the country, but gradually merged their language and manners in those of the Sclavonian inhabitants. Bulgaria was annexed to the Greek empire by Basilius the Second, in 1018. It recovered its independence in 1186, but was finally conquered by the Turks in 1389, under whose dominion it has ever since continued. Its present population is estimated at not less than 3,000,000, and the Bulgarians are also to be found dispersed through most of the neighbouring provinces. The Bulgarian dialect is the most corrupt, but, at the same time, the easiest to acquire of all the languages of the Sclavonic stem. Of the seven cases which properly belong to these languages, it has retained but two, the nominative and the vocative ; and it has moreover adopted the Albanian and Scandinavian custom of placing articles, or rather pronouns, after nouns. Yet, although in consequence of these changes the Old Sclavonic version became less intelligible to the Bulgarians than to any other Sclavonic nation, it was not till after the commencement of the operations of Bible Societies that any successful etlbrt was made to produce a Bulgarian version of the Scriptures. A translation was commenced in 1820, at the suggestion of Dr. Pinkerton. An archimandrite, named Theodoseos, who had been recommended by the Greek patriarch of Constantinople as the person best qualified for such an undertaking, was appointed to prepare this version, and he completed the translation of the New Testament in 1822. The work was forwarded to St. Petersburg for publication, and the Gospel of St. Matthew left the press in that city during the following year; it was printed in a thin 8vo. volume, in parallel columns with the Sclavonic text. But in the meantime it was discovered that, owing probably to the incompetency of the archimandrite, the translation had been very inaccurately executed. The Petersburg Committee therefore resolved to limit the edition to 2000 copies; but the suspension of the Russian Bible Society occurred shortly afterwards, and even this small edition seems never to have been printed. In 1827, another translation of the New Testament was completed by Sapounoff, with the design of publishing an edition on his own account at the press of the metropolitan of Bucharest. He was able to effect part of his design, in printing the Four Gospels; but by the time they left the press his means were completely exhausted, and, from his inability to print the remainder of his version, the Gospels were circulated separately. Tiiey were received with much favour by the people, and the translation (which had been executed from the Greek, compared with tlie Sclavonic and Wallachian versions), was very generally attested to be faithful and intelligible. Arrangements were therefore made by the British and Foreign Bible Society, through their agent, Mr. Barker, to print an edition of the entire version; but, owing to some difficulty that occurred in the purchase of the work, the project was abandoned, and an entirely new translation was set on foot in 1836, by Mr. Barker. The New Testament was translated and forwarded to Smyrna in 1838, and was completed at press in that city in 1840. The edition consisted of 5000 copies. Other editions have since been issued from the London press, and the total number of copies printed for the Society, up to the close of 1859, amounted to 30,100 Testaments, together with 18,978 copies of the Psalms. Considerable success has already attended the elForts made for the dissemination of Scripture truth among the simple and industrious population of Bulgaria. The recent Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society furnish illustrations of this gratifying fact. In one instance, mention is made of 400 copies of the Psalms having been sent to the fair of Usingiova, and being eageily purchased as 308 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. soon as they were exposed for sale. When first Mr. Barker (the Society's agent) visited the Bulgarian peasantry, some years ago, he found them totally ignorant of the truths of Christianity. The history of Our Saviour was quite new to them, and they took delight in hearing it. They lamented that they could not pray as he did, for they knew not how. They were unacquainted with the Lord's Prayer! The earnest demand for the Inspired Word evinced by the Bulgarian population encouraged the Society to take steps for obtaining a translation of the entire Old Testament into the Bulgarian lan- guage, and this work was completed in 1858. As the work advanced, some of tlie separate books were issued from the American Mission press at Smyrna; and it is proposed to undertake a complete edition of the whole, so soon as the work shall have a preliminary revision, which is now (1860) in progress. WENDISH, UPPER AND LOWEE. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. TJPFEH rtrSATIAN. XOWEE LTJSATIAN. 1 SOBe fvocjatfu % to ^toito, a to ffowo 6ie Ijola S3of)a, a a?ot) bje to ^toito. 2 Jo^amc tiefrtje iv) fpocJAttu ^jota 3?c^a. 3 ®cl;Ufe itieji) fit )3f(ijes tofiame cjiiienc, a tc8 tel^of a= nic^o ncje nitfd^o fcjinenc, fd^tcj cjincne je. 4 9.Be niin fije jiiccnje, a to jiiefuic tjc cjloiuefore fwictto. 5 5t to ^irjclio ^njiccj;cfc^e njc cjicnmofji, a Cjjcmnofj ncjc jo favfclHJaia. 6 Gjtoiecf tje reot 3Sot)a ^o^tnnsj, finenotn 3an. 7 Jon ).ifct;tniijc na ^ii.iietfcnic,fo tv) fitjctfit Jvot tel^o ^U'jctk, fo h)cl)u [cf)ijV) iifrt)c§ \\\d)o TOJcvili. 8 S^onpami) nebje to fiojetto, a(c fo 6i) tcon girjctjxl loot tc^o ptuictfa. 9 Jo ije to ^rarre ^rrjctfo, fotrej fc^itfic^ lubji roptrjccji, fij to fiojeta Jjfdjiutu. 10 iCon bjc na pioiecji, a f lojet je vfc^eS njcl^o fcjinentj, fl ^ivict jct)o ncpofna. 11 9Bon (.ifdjiubje bo te^o ^TOoic^o, o cji freoji jc^o t)o^ri ncfad^u. 12 jlajj ircte ^jat jel^o ^otirje facfcii, tftnt ia n?on moj, fo 6Dci)u *iojc bjjccji h)Ii, totfl bo jc^o nicna ivjerja. 13 Jlij ncjpu ffrreic, ani ficole tft)o cjjcia, ani fioole icnft)o niaja, ale luot So^a fm natobjcni. 14 5t to ^luo fcjini po cjiclo, a t!)blcfci)c teS nami, (a ml) iribjirtjHiS) jc^o fraf ncfi, Jato frafnop te^o jcnicjfcio narobgeiic^o ^^na >oot ©otja,) ))olne nabi) a brawbo. • 1 5Bo fa^ojjcnu iefc^o to fi'oreo, o to Porco feef^'O |)obta 33ot)3a, a *3ot)3 befdjo to p[on:o. 2 Jo fame befd;o reo fartio^jeihi pcbia 3Bot)ga. 3 ®c})iifne recji gu ^jfdiefl to fame ^ujirionc, a tjeS togo f anicijo nejo nij ^ujinonc, joj jinone jo. 4 SBb iioni tefc^c jUiceiie, a to jiiiBene bcfc^o to pirctlo tic^ jloreefotr. 5 % to firctto frocfi^i w'i tei ft^amnofcji, a ta fcljani= nofcj nejo jo ^o^jfc^imelo. 6 S'fi^cf fcffrtjo "•'"' sBo^jfl ^lof loni f'menom So^anncS. 7 Jen ^Jfd^ijo f'fnantjtiru, abii reon rcot logo fitetla fnahil, abii frt;t)tne ^jfdjeS ncgo rcerih. 8 Jen fjami ne6ef(^o to ^rcetlo, ote abii iron fnanil rcot togo fntetla. 9 Jo f itetlo befrtjo to rcerne, fotarej ^uf rcetlio f ajbcgo jloreefa pfd^ibujego bo togo fiucta. 10 aSono befdio reo torn frocf^e, a ten greet Jo <)fc^e8 no t)ujiiioni, ole ten ftoet jo iie^nfna. 1 1 QBon )?Wla bo togo freojogo, a te f reoje logo gorei tierccfecbu. 12 Mail "^"^^^ ^^^ {"fl" 9""^^^ rcofecbu, tint ba mon reoj, aBot)je jefciji ^orboivafd) fotarej bo jogo nieria irere. 13 Jlotorej iieifu f'tfdjite baui^ f'lrobte togo fc^cla, banij f'njoljle jobnogo niu^ja, ale f'So^ga narojone. __ 14 ijlle to floreo l^orborea fdjcfo, a tiibtafcijo reb naS (a mil rcijcdjmii, jogo ffd^afnofcj, ffd^afnofcj ato togo jabno )5erojonego ftjnna loot aSofc^cja) ijolne gnabi a aernofcjt. The Latin term, Venedi, with its corresponding German form, IVenden, originally applied indiscrimi- nately to all the members of the Sclavonic family, has become the specific appellation of a Sclavonic tribe located in Upper and Lower Lusatia. These people, who have preserved their separate nationality in the midst of a Teutonic population, number about 144,000 individuals, of whom 60,000 live under the Saxon, and the remainder under the Prussian dominion; about 10,000 belong to the Roman Catholic, and the rest to the Lutheran Church. Two dialects are predominant among them, of which that of Upper Lusatia bears the strongest resemblance to Bohemian, and that of Class III.] WEN DISH. 809 Lower Lusatia to Polish. In both dialects, the use of the article and various peculiarities of con- struction have been borrowed from the German; yet the characteristics of the original Sclavonic are still so fully retained, that when Dr. Pinkerton was travelling through the country he was enabled, merely by his knowledge of Russian, to comprehend much that was said by the peasantry. The German language is very generally spoken by the wealthier classes, and, in all probability, will eventually supersede the Wendish. Attempts seem to have been made at an early period to translate portions of the Scriptures into Wendish, for, in 1574, a translation of the seven penitential Psalms was published by a pastor of one of the churches. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark were translated into the same language, and printed in 1670, at Budissen, or Bautzen, in Upper Lusatia; and the Epistles to the Eomans and Galatlans were translated and printed in 1694, by Michael Frencehus, or Frenzeln, a native of Cosela, in Lusatia, and Lutheran minister of Postwic. Another translation of the Gospels and Epistles was executed by Paul PrjEtor, Matthaei, and three other translators, and published at Bautzen in 1695, by the express order of the States of Upper Lusatia. In 1703 the Psalms, and in 1706 the entire New Testament, translated by Michael Frenzeln, were printed, the former at Budissen, the latter at Zittau, at the expense of Lady Gersdorf, grandmother of Count Zinzendorf, for gratuitous distribution among the poor. A version of the entire Scriptures, in Upper Wendish, appeared in 1728, at Budissen, translated by four pastors of the Lutheran Church. Eleven years were devoted by these pastors to this translation, which is said strictly to follow the German version of Luther. An amended edition appeared at Budissen in 1742, and a third edition at the same place in 1797. Another version in Upper Wendish was prepared by Swotlie, for the use of Roman Catholics. It still exists in MS., and has never been printed. Only one version of the Scriptures exists in the Lower Wendish dialect. The Xew Testament, translated by Gottlieb Fabricio, or Fabricius, was printed at Kahren, where Fabricius was minister, in 1709. It was a translation from the German, and appeared with the German text. It was reprinted in 1728 and 1775. The first edition of the Old Testament was published separately in 1796, by Fritze. In 1814, in consequence of a letter from Dr. Pinkerton, the British and Foreign Bible Committee agreed to assist the Dresden Society in printing an edition of 3000 copies of the version of 1728, for Upper Lusatia. The edition was completed in 1817, under the care of a printing committee of clergymen. In 1816, at the request of Dr. Pinkerton, a similar edition of 3000 copies was undertaken for Lower Lusatia; but, owing to the want of paper and other causes, the printing was not commenced till 1818. An edition, printed by the Society for the Upper Lusatlans, left the press at Giins in 1849, and consisted of 5000 copies of the New Testament, with the Psalms. A subsequent edition of 5000 copies (New Testament and Psalms) was printed at Berlin in 1857. A further edition of 5000 copies is now (1860) passing through the Berlin press, the translation having previously undergone careful revision at the hands of the Rev. Mr. Teschner. A great Impediment, however, to the free and full distribution of the Scriptures among these people arises from their dislike to the Bible without the Apocrypha, and their indifference to the New Testament when printed alone. 310 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. HUNGARIAN WENDISH. SPECIMEN, EEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Vu zacsetki je bila R^cs, i ta Recs je bila pri Bogi, i Bog je bila ta Recs. ^Eta je bila vu zacsetki pri Bogi. ^Vsza szo po nye vcsinyena i brezi nye je nikaj nej vcsinyeno, stero je vcsinyeno. '' Vu nye je bio 'zitek, i te 'zitek je bio szvetloszt llidi. * I ta szvet- loszt vu kmiczi szveti, i kmicza jo je nej zapopadnola. " Bio je eden cslovek od Boga poszlani, steroga ime je Ivan. '^Ete je prisao na szvedosztvo, ka bi szvedocso od te szvet- loszti, da bi vszi vervali po nyem. ** On je nej bio ta szvetloszt, nego da bi szvedocso od te szvetloszti. ^ Eta je ta isztinszka szvetloszt, stera preszveti vszakoga csloveka pridoc- sega na ete szvet. ^" Na torn szveti je bila, i te szvet je po nye vcsinyeni, i te szvet je nyo nej poznao. "Vu lasztivna szvoja je prisao, i ti lasztivni szo ga nej gori prijali. ^-Ki szo ga pa gori prijali, dao je onim oblaszt, naj szinovje Bo'zi bodo, tim vei'vajocsim vu imeni nyegovom. ^^ Ki szo nej z krvi, niti z vole tela, niti z vole mo'za, nego z Boga porodjeni. ^^ I ta Recs je telo vcsinyena, i prebivala je med nami, (i vidili, szmo nye diko, liki diko jedinorodjene od Ocse) puna miloscse ino isztine. A TECULIAR dialect of the Wcndisli (resembling in some degree the dialect of the Slovaks, and there- fore serving as the connecting link between the languages of the eastern and western Sclavonic stems) is spoken by about 15,000 Protestant Sclavonians in the Szala and other districts of Hungary. The New Testament has been translated for this race by Stephen Kuznico, or Kugmits, an edition of which has been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, together with a version of the Psalms, by the Eev. Mr. Trplan. 4 LETTISH, OR LIYONIAN. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14 (5c-fn^!uinn 6ija tag SBa^rbS, un taS 3Sa^rbS tija Xitt '^tvcca, un ©cenjS 6i}a taS ffia^rbS. ^ 3;ag j,atS ecfa^ihmia Hja »)cc ©cetBa. ^ JBiflag (cetaS irr barritaS jauv to (lofdju : un teS ta ^iifdja nc Ui nc in barribtS, faS in barri^tS. ©effc^ reissa ta bfi£)rci6a tija, un ta bfi^iriba fcija to jitu'cfu gatft^umS. ^ :Ia6 patS gaifdnunS -fpibbcja tumjita, un ■ ta tumfl6a to nc fa«e^me. « SCSeeng jilrcefS tappc fu^ti^tS no 2)cerea, 3a^ni3 rca^rba. ' Sag )fm na^ije pcbj IccjitaS, fa ta§ tce;(ihi botjtu no ta gaifdjuma, U reifi tij^ctu ^aur to. ^ SBi-Hfct) X>m nc Hia tag gaifdjumS, K-t la. tag Icejitu bo^tu no ta gaifdjunia. » Zai fcija tag i^cng gaifljumg, fag (safaule na^fbamg iriffuS jilivefug apffaibro. i" ffiinfc^ Bija ))afaule, un ta ^jafaulc irr banita jaur rcimtu : 6ct ta pafaulc to nc ^jaftnne. " SBiftfil; natijc -faira fwtita, un tec farecji rcittftu nc ugiwJjmc. i^ gg^t jccf njiwtu ugHctjmc, tccni reittfc^ bcrec rcatfag !Dccrca tc^rnccni tapt, teem, tag tij^ ug rei-ssa nja^rbu. i^ jj^g „j „p affinim^ nci no nicofu gritbcfdjanag nci pcl)j fa^ta lui^ra pra^ta, tct tag no Scciva brinimufc^i. " Un tag 5Ba^rbg tappe niccfa, un bfitjnjoia mu^ flarpa, pilng fdjej^Iaflibag un Jjateeitbag, an nictS wiJHW go^bibu rcbfcjam, ta^bu go^bibu, to ta rceeniga vecbrtmiuufcba 5)c^la no ic^ica. I. GEOGKAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The maritime portion of Livonia, bordering on the Baltic, and also part of Courland, are occupied by a small nation to whom this dialect is vernacular. At the beginning of the present century, these people Class III] HUNGARIAN WENDISH. 311 were considered by the Moravian missionaries to be further advanced in civilisation than the Esthonians; and no less than 5000 persons in Livonia were said at that period to be believers, or at least inquirers, in the way of salvation. The number of Letts, or Livonians, is estimated at 740,000. They belong, in general, to the Lutheran Church. • II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DIALECT. The Lettish and Lithuanian are both cognate dialects of the Old Prussian language, now extinct ; but Lettish has admitted many Finnish and German elements, and has lost the simplicity of its ancient grammatical structure. Its orthography is regulated according to the German model; and a system so ill calculated to express the peculiarities of its articulations causes this dialect to appear Intricate and abstruse to foreigners. III. VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. A version of the Gospels in Lettish is ascribed to Elger, a Livonian, who entered the order of the Jesuits in 1607, and published a work entitled " Christian Institutes" in his native dialect; but it does not appear that this version was ever committed to the press. The Livonians are indebted for their version of the Bible to Ernest Gluck, dean of the Lutheran Church in Livonia. He was a native of Saxony, and on his settlement in Livonia he was grieved to find that the people were still destitute of the Scriptures in their vernacular tongue. He therefore applied himself assiduously to the task of producing a translation of the entire Scriptures from the sacred originals; and with this object in view he repaired to Hamburg, there to qualify himself for the undertaking, by studying Hebrew under Edzardi, the celebrated Hebraist. On his return to Livonia in the year 1680, Gliick commenced his version, to which he devoted the chief part of his time during a period of eight years. The New Testament was published in 1685, and the entire Bible in 1689, at Riga. The work was edited, and probably revised, by John Fischer, a German professor of divinity, and general superintendent of Livonia; it was dedicated to Charles XL, who had commanded its publication, and by whom every expense attending it was paid. It is stated, in a preface by the translator or editor, that all efforts to establish schools among the Livonians had proved impracticable, owing to the opposition of the people, until endeavours were made to give them the Scriptures in their native tongue; then, the writer tells us, the grace of God was so manifested among them, that they not only became willing to be taught, but made astonishing progress in the knowledge of the truth. Only 1500 copies of tliis edition were printed; the paper was obtained from France, and a singular incident occurred during the voyage. The vessel in which this paper was deposited was taken by a pirate; but on being informed that the paper was intended for an impression of the Bible, the pirate instantly released the vessel with its cargo, and suffered it to proceed on its voyage. This edition was so soon exhausted, that early in the following century it was found necessary to undertake another. The care of this edition devolved on James Benjamin Fischer, son and successor of John Fischer, the editor of the first edition. The text was diligently revised by five divines, and, on the completion of their labours, an edition of 9000 copies of the entire Bible was printed at Kiinigsberg, in 1739. The New Testament had previously appeared separately at Riga, in 1730. In 1814, another impression of the New Testament, according to the received edition of Fischer, without alterations or additions, was commenced at Mittau, in Courland, where the Courland section of the St. Petersburg Bible Society was established. This edition, which consisted of 15,000 copies, left the press in 1815. In 1824, it appeared from the Report of the Russian Bible Society, that there had been printed by the Society 30,000 New Testaments, and nearly 4000 Bibles, in this dialect. Numerous copies of the Lettish Testament have also,- within a recent period, been distributed in the province by the agency of the American Bible Society. An edition of 20,500 New Testaments in Lettish has subsequently (1854) been printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 812 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Class III. LITHUANIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 11 ♦IJrabjoic tuito '3obi8, (Iiiereo ®unug) ir '3cbiS 6urco ^jrte ©ieieo, Ir DiewaS Buiro 'Bobig. 2 3:a8<3atg Vrabjoj' buiro ipxk ©ierco. » gEifTi baiftai to »atieS bar!)ti \)xa, ir 6e to iiicto niera baryta, fag baryta sjra. ■" Seine I'ltiuo gi)niafli?, ir gi)reafliS iureo pioie|'.)fce jinonu. ^ 3r toji fisicfglje tamfsjtfjc ^iriecjia, 6et tamf'ibe tai ne mmane. 8 iBumo jmoguS Sicu'O fuflnS, 3oii'§ rcarbu, ' XaS (satS atejo lubbimui, apie t\ fn.ncf<;fc^ (ubbrt , tab jie iriffi t)cr ji tiffetu. 8 3i3 nc iurco fioief*)6e, 6ct fab lubbitu a)3ic t(^ gii3iefv6e;.. » ©jiji 6uiro titra giricfoSe, a^jgrciccjanti reiiJuS ^moneS, atciiiancjuS-t ft fwieta . ^ ©ji fcuroo fwicte, ir fivict'3 Dcr to^bartjtaS *)ra ; ir fiBiet'S jog ne pajinno. 'i 3i8 t faTOaj^atcio, ir fauncji jo nc bricnie. i^ sg^j jj^j j^ jjrienic, ticmS baire maM,2>ien}0 leaitaiS ^jnftoti, turrie tif + jo naxt\. " Jlurrie nc if traujo, neij if funo noro, nei} if rcsjro noro, 6et if IDicreo gimme,. i*3r ta3 jobiS l^aftcjo funu ir gijivifiio taxp mufu, ir mc'g matem jo garfcq,,[garti^faip rcicngimrauflo SunauS if Xmo, ^ilnq^ maloneS ir tiefoS.] Lithuania, formerly part of tlie ancient kingdom of Poland, is now chiefly subject to Eussia. Its population, according to the census of 1851, amounts to upwards of 4,000,000. The Lithuanian dialect is now spoken only by the peasantry, Polish being the language of the middle and upper classes. Thus excluded from the influences of refinement and civilization, Lithuanian, which is closely allied to the Old Prussian, has preserved its peculiar structure more faithfully than most of the other languages of its class. It has retained seven cases, three numbers, and three genders; and of all the idioms spoken in Europe, it is acknowledged to approximate the nearest to the Sanscrit. The first translation of the Bible into this dialect was made at the close of the sixteentli century, by John Bretkius, of Bammeln, near Friedland, and pastor of Labiau. He afterwards became pastor of the Lithuanian Church at Konigsberg. He commenced the version in 1579, and completed it in 1590. He did not live to see tlie work committed to the press, but deposited the MS. in the Koyal Library of Konigsberg: the New Testament, with the Psalms, occupying three volumes in 4to.. and the rest of the Old Testament five volumes in folio. The Psalms were corrected and revised by Rhesa, the successor of Bretkius, in concert with other divines; and an edition was published, with Luther's German version, in 1625. The New Testament -rtras printed at Strasburg in 1700, by order of Frederic I., king of Prussia. Another translation of the Bible in this dialect, supposed to have been taken from a Polish version, was executed by Chylinski, a native of Lithuania, and a Lutheran. It was printed in 1660 in London, where the translator died in 1668. All the copies of this edition appear to have been destroyed, with the exception of a fragment without title, proceeding no further than the Psalms. Another edition of Bretkius's version of the New Testament, with the addition of the Psalms, was printed at Konigsberg in 1727, and the Psalms separately, at the same place, in 1728. As it was found, however, that this version was written in the dialect of Upper Lithuania, rather than in that spoken in Prussia, the Prussian king, Frederic William, ordered the Rev. John Jacob Quandt, his first chaplain at Konigsberg, to undertake a new translation of the whole Bible. Mr. Quandt, with the assistance of twelve other clergymen, completed a version of the New Testament and Psalms in 1727, and the entire Bible was completed and printed at Konigsberg in 1735. The translation was made chiefly from Luther's German version, and aid was drawn from Bretkius's version. A second edition of the Bible, with the German text, was published at Konigsberg in 1755. The Psalms had been separately printed in 1728, and the New Testament in 1749. In 1806, information was transmitted to the British and Foreign Bible Society, that although the proviuce of Lithuania possessed 74 churches and 460 schools, the people were almost destitute of the Class III] SAMOGITIAN. 813 Scriptures. An edition of 3000 copies of the Bible was accordingly undertaken by the Society at KonigSberg; but, owing to various delays, it did not leave the press till 1816. In 1824, a new edition of the same appeared, encouraged by the Society; and in 1836, an edition of the New Testament and Psalms, consisting of nearly 5000 copies, was published by the Society at Tilsit. Subsequent editions have appeared at the expense of the Society, which raise tlie total number (up to the close of 1859) to 8000 Old Testaments, and 17,113 New Testaments and Psalms. SAMOGITIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Isz pradzios buwo zodis, o zodis buwo pas Diewa, o Diewu buwo zodis. ^Tay buwo isz pradzios pas Dicwa. ^ Wisi dayktay par ji stojos, o be ano niekas ne stojos, kas tikt stojos. * Jame buwo giwenimas, o giwenimas buwo szwiesibe zmoniu : ^ 0 szwiesibe tamsibese szwicczia o tarasibes jos ne apeme. " Buwo zmogus siunstas nuog Diewo, kurio wardas buwo Jonas. "Tasay atejo ant ludiimo, idant duotu ludiima : ape szwiesibe idant wisi tiketu par an^. * Is nebuwo szwiesibe, bet idant duotu ludiima ape szwiesibe. "Buwo szwiesibe tikra, kuri apszwieczia kiekwieng zmogu ateynanti ant to swieto. '" Buwo ant swieto, ir swietas par ji stojos, o swietas jo nepazino. ^^ Sawump atejo, o sawieji jo ne prijcrae. ^- O kurie tikt prieme ji, dawe jems galibg, idant stotus sanumis Diewo, tiems, kurie tik wardan jo. ^^ Kurie ne isz kraujo, ney isz noro kuno, ney isz noro wiro, bet isz Diewo uzgime. " 0 zodis stojosi kunu, ir giweno tarp musu (ir regejome garbg jo, garbe kaypo wienaycjo nuog Tiewo) piina malones ir tiesos. The Samogitian, which is a dialect of the Lithuanian, is spoken in tlirce districts of Lithuania, namely, Telcha, Schaul, and Rosina. The Samogitians number about 112,000 individuals, and are with few exceptions, of the Roman Catholic persuasion. In 1814, the New Testament had been for the first time translated into this dialect, by Prince Gedroitz, bishop of Samogitia, who designed to print 1000 copies at Wilna at his own expense. The Russian Bible Society agreed to provide 4000 additional copies, and the London Committee paid for the binding. The edition, when completed, was so thankfully received, that, two years afterwards, tlie Parent Society made a grant of £250 in aid of a second edition. It left the press in 1816, and consisted of 5000 copies. A third edition, also consisting of 5000 copies, was printed about the year 1831, by the monks in the monastery of St. Cazerair, at Wilna. The Old Testament has not yet been translated into this dialect. CLASS IV.-DETACHED FAMILIES. A. EUSKARIAN FAMILY. FEENCH BASQUE. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. v. v. 1 to 11.. Hastean Hit9a cen, eta Hitga Jaincoarequin cen, eta Hitz hau Jaincoa cen. ^Hastean Jaincoarequin cen. ^Gau9a guciac eguinic i^an dire hartaz, eta hura gabe deus ezta eguin i^an, eguin direnetaric. * Hartan cen bicia, eta bicia gui9onen arguia cen. ^Eta arguiac arguitcen du ilhumbetan, bainan ilhumbec ez dute errecebitu. ^Bacen guicon bat icena ^uena Joannes; cein baitcen egorria Jaincoaz. ' Ethorri cen lekhucotassunean, bihurceco lekhucotassuna arguiari, amoreagatic guciec sinhex ce9aten hartaz. * Hura ezcen arguia, bainan egorria cen lekhucotassunaren bihurceco arguiari. ^ Argui Jtau eguiazcoa cen, arguitcen duena mundurat ethorcen diren gui90u guciac. ^"Munduan cen, eta mundua eguin i9an da hartaz ; bainan munduac ez du e9agutu. " Bererat ethorri cen, eta bereenec ez dute errecebitu. ^-Bainan errecebitu duten guciei, ernan dei 9ucena Jaincoaren haur eguinei i9aiteco, erran nahi da haren Icenean sinhexten duenei. ^^ Ceinac ez baitire sorthuac odolez, ez haraguiaren borondateaz, ez gui9onaren borondateaz; bainan sorthu dire Jaincoaz. ^* Eta Hit9a eguin i9an da haragui ; egotu da gurequin graciaz eta eguiaz bethea ; eta behondaztu dugu haren loria, Aitaren Seme bakharrari darocan loria be9ala. The Frencli dialect of the Basque language is spoken in the south-western extremity of France, on the frontiers of Spain, by a population of about 120,000 individuals. This district is about sixty miles in length by forty in breadth ; it formerly included the three subdivisions of Labour, Lower Navarre, and Soule, and it is now comprehended in the department of the Lower Pyrenees. In parts of the neighbouring departments of Gers and Upper Pyrenees, Basque is still the language of the peasantry, while French is spoken in the towns. I. — CHARACTERISTICS OP THE LANGUAGE. The Basque is one of the most singular idioms of Europe, and presents, like the Albanian, the Ossete, and the Welsh, etc., the remarkable phenomenon of aboriginal languages preserved in the remote or mountainous districts of more civilized countries, where the tongue of the subsequent conquerors of those lands is generally spoken. The origin of the Basque people, or Euskarlans, is, as one of their writers says, " known of God only." It seems that the Iberi of the East, who dwelt between tlie Black and the Caspian Seas, and the Iberi of the West, who peopled Spain at a very remote period, were once one people, driven east and west by political vicissitudes. There is a degree of similarity between some of the East-lbcrian Class IV.] FRENCH BASQUE. 315 names of cities, rivers, etc., and the same in use among the West- Iberians in Spain. But whether they travelled east or west is a disputed point. The Iberi were said to be the aborigines of the Spanish peninsula; and to have given to it the ancient name Iberia, from the river Iber, Ebro, by them called perhaps Iba'ibero, ' burning or destroying river,' from its property. For this was the name of the small river Tento, between the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir, which Pliny calls Urium fi'om the nature of its waters : be that as it may, a comparative study of tlie Georgian, and of otlier Caucasian idioms, with the Euskarian, might very probably throw additional light on the joint origin of the Eastern and Western Iberi. In some of its characteristics the Basque exhibits remarkable traits of analogy with Mantchou, with Finnish, and with several distinct families of languages spoken in the north of Europe and of Asia. Like them, it has no difference of terminations in nouns and pronouns to mark the variation of gender; and, like them also, it subjoins prepositions and other particles, and even personal and relative pronouns, to nouns and verbs. On the other hand, it differs from them in the abundance of its inflections, and in its use of auxiliary verbs. In its elaborate system of verbal conjugation, Basque approximates closely to the American or polysynthetic class of languages; and it is rather a singular circumstance, that the sound of F is wanting in most American languages and in Basque, and that in both a strong antipathy is manifested to the immediate junction of mute and liquid consonants. Many Sanscrit words exist in Basque; but in the collocation of these words, says Mr. Borrow, the Tartar form is most decidedly observable. These Sanscrit derivatives are usually divested of their initial consonant, and made to commence with a vowel ; for Basque is empliatically a vowel language, employing comparatively but few consonants, and out of every ten words perhaps eight may be said to begin and to end with a vowel. The natural result of this preponderance of vowels is a high degree of softness and melody, in which the Basque is said to exceed even the ItaUan. In point of antiquity, Basque far surpasses most of the languages now spoken in Europe ; it was originally, as already mentioned, the vernacular tongue of the Iberi, a people generally regarded as the earliest settlers in Sp^in; and from them, as Humboldt has clearly proved, the present Euskaldunes, or natives of the Basque provinces, are descended. Basque does not appear to have ever possessed an alphabet proper to itself, and in all books which have been printed in this language Eoman letters are used. II. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The entire New Testament, in Basque, was printed at Eochelle in 1571. It was translated by John de Licarrague, and was dedicated to Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, and brought out at her expense. The dialect in which it is written is that of Lower Navarre. The translator is said to have been a minister of the Reformed Church, and a native of Beam. More than two centuries elapsed before any other edition of the Testament was printed for the Basque people, and soon after the commencement of the present century it was found impossible, notwithstanding the most diligent search, to meet with a single copy among them. A copy of the New Testament of 1571 had, however, been providentially deposited, probably by a French refugee, in the library of the University of Oxford. From this copy the British and Foreign Bible Society printed, in 1825, at Bayonne, 1000 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, under the superintendence of Mr. Pyt, a minister of the Reformed Church in Beam. The Roman Catholic Bishop interposed to prevent the circulation of this edition, and he possessed himself of no less than 800 copies, which he destroyed. Far from being discouraged at this opposition, the British and Foreign Bible Society proceeded with their important work, and, after some delay, a new and well-qualified editor was met with, named Montleza. Under the care of this editor, and the superintendence of friends at Bourdeaux and Bayonne, the text of 1571 was altered in accordance with the modern forms of the language, and so many changes were introduced as virtually to constitute a new version. An edition consisting of 1000 copies of the Four Gospels and Acts, with 1000 separate copies of St. Matthew, and 1000 copies of the entire New Testament, was completed at press in 1829. The distribution of this edition was 816 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. carried on with much activity, and the opposition it encountered had only the effect of drawing the attention of many to the contents of the sacred boolc. A further edition of 1000 Testaments has subsequently been issued by the Society. As to the results produced in these provinces by the circulation of the Basque and French Scriptures, the testimony of the late Mr. Pyt (above mentioned) is remarkable. " In 1821," he said, " I found the people of Beam utter strangers to the doctrine of the Gospel, and consequently to the life of God. I have left it (in 18.30) in a very different condition. It is to the Bible that the change must be attributed. The preaching of the Gospel had little success before the establishment of Bible Societies in Beam; but when they had spread the word of the Lord, — when this word had found its way to each church, and in each church to a goodly number of families, — when they began seriously to think about that which the servants of God were preaching; — there was much inquiry about the truth, and from that time the blessed work proceeded; and it continues to do so still, with the same happy results." The following are specimens of portions of Scripture translated into various dialects of the Basque tongue : — NOV. TEST. AHMOEICUM DIAL. TEECOVIENSI.-HERVE SANT LUCAZ, Chap. xiv. r. 1 to 11. Jesus a antrasun de a sabbat en ti unan ens ar chefo ar Pharisianed, evit quemer he repaz, hac ar reman hounan en observe. - Er memes arazer a voa laquet dirazan un den peini a voa hydropiq. ^ Neuse Jesus a respontas hac a laras d'an doctored ar Yezen ha d'ar Pharisianed, o o'houfen digantei: ha permetet e iac'haat tud de ar sabbat? ^Mes hi a daya^. Neuse en, o quemer he zorn, a iac'haas an den-ze hac he ga9as d'ar guer. ^ Neuse a respontas hac a laras del : Pion ac'hanoc'h, mar deufe, he azen pe he ijen da goneanq en eur punz, n'en em lacfe quet querquent en stad d'he deunan er mez de ar sabbat ? ^ Mes na hallent respond netra dean var quement-se. '' Neuse, o consider! penos ar re a voe bet pedet d'eur banqued, a choaze ar pla9o quentan, a broposas dei ar barabolen-man, en em laret : ^ Pa veet pedet d'an cured, n'en en laquet quet er plag quentan ons tol, gaut aon n'eu em gafe en touez ar re bedet gaut an den iaouanq unan enoraploc'h evidoc'h. ^ Ha na deufe an hini en eus ho pedet o taou da laret dac'h : Reit ho plaf da heman ha na vec'h neuse oblijet da guemer gant mezar pla9 divean. ^^ Mes pa veet pedet da eur lein benac et hac en em laquet er plag divean, evit pa arruo an hini en eusho pedet, da laret dac'h : Ma mignon, savet huellac'h ; ha neuse e vo eur sujet a c'hloar evidoc'h dirac ar re so ous tol guenac'h: "Rac piou-benac en eni sav, a vo humi- liet, ha piou-benac en em humilio, a vo savet. FRENCH BASQUE DIALECT OF LOWER NAVARRE. 1571.-St, JOHN, Chap. i. «. 1 to 10. Hatsean cen Hitza, eta Hitza cen laincoa baithan, eta lainco cen Hitza. ^ Hitz haur cen hatfean laincoa baithan. ^ Gauga guciac Hitz har gaz eguin igan dizade : eta hura gabe deus ezta eguin, eguin denic. ^ Hartan cen vicitzea, eta vicitzea cen gui9onen Arguia. * Eta arguia hunec ilhumbean arguitzen du : eta ilhumbeac hura eztu compre- henditu. ^ Igan da guigon-bat laincoaz igorria, loannes deitzen cenic. 'Haur ethor cedin teftimoniage ekartera Arguiaz tefstifica Ie9an5at, guoiec har9az fmhets Ie9aten9at. ^Etzen hura Arguia, baina ifforri cen Arguiaz teftifica Ie9an9at. ^ Haur cen Argui eguiazcoa, mundura ethor ten den guidon gucia arguitzen dicena. '"Munduan cen, eta raundua harcaz eguin i9an da, eta munduac eztu hura egagutu. Class IV.] FRENCH BASQUE. 817 ST. MATTHEW IN THE DIALECT BASQUE BAS-NAVAEEAIS. St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to G. Yesusek ikhussirik populu han oro, igaran zen mendi baten gainera ; han yarr" zenian, haren dizipuliak hurrandu zitzaizkon ; ^ Eta erakaxten zeyen, erraiten zielarik : ^ Dohaxu dira ezpirituz probe direnak, zeren lieyena da zeruko erresunia. ^ Dohaxu dira ezti direnak, zeren gozatuko dutc hin'a. ^ Dohaxu dira nigar egiten dutenak, zeren konsolatiak izanen dira. ^ Dohaxu dira yustiziaren gossia eta egarria dutenak, zeren assiak izanen baidira. ST. MATTHEW IN THE DIALECT BASQUE SOULETIN. ST. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 6. Saldo handi hoiirac ikhousi zutianian, Jesus igaii zen mcndi batetara, eta jarri zenian, hullantu zeitzon bere dizipuliac. ^ Eta elhia harturic, hasi zeyen eracasten, zioualaric : ^ Dohaxu dira gogaz praube direnac : hagena bei-ta zehetaco crresouma. *Doh;'ixu ezti direnac: liirraren jtibe izanen bei-tira. ° Dohaxu nigarrez daudenac ; hourac izanen bei-tira counsolaturic. •'Dohaxu ounxaren gose eta egarri direnac ; hourac aseric izanen bei-tira. FROM " SAN MATEO, TEADUCIDO AL VASCUENCE, DIELECTO NAVARRO." St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 10. Eta icusiric Jesusec yende ec guciac, igan cen mendi baten gaiiera, eta yarri ondoan, urbildu citzaizcon bere discipuloac. ^ Eta asiric mintzatcen, eracusten cituen, ciolaric : ^ Zori onecoac biotzez pobre direnac, cergatic equena da ceruco errcinua. "* Zori onecoac biotz manso dunac, cergatic izain dire lurrain yabeac. ^ Zori onecoac nigar eguiten dutenac, cergatic izain dire consolatuac. '' Zori onecoac yusticiain, edo gauza sainduen gosea eta egarria dutenac, cergatic equen deseyuac izain dire guciz beteac. '^Zori onecoac misericordiosoac, cergatic yardetsico dute misericordia. *Zori onecoac biotz garbi dunac, cergatic icusico dute Yaungoicoa. ^ Zori onecoac baquezcoac, cergatic izain dire deituac Yaungoicoain umeac. ^^ Zori onecoac yusticia edo gauza ona gatic perscguituac direnac, cergatic equena da ceruco erreinua. 318 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. SPANISH BASQUE. SPECIMEN, FROM St. LUKE, Chap. xv. v. U to 24. '^ GuEYAGO esan zuan ; Guison batec izan cituan semebi. ^- Eta ayetaco chiquienac esan cion bere aitari; Aita, ecarzu tocatcen zaidan haciendaren partea. Eta berac partitu cien hacienda. ^^Eta ez egun asco gueroz juntatu zuan seme chiquienac berea san gustia, eta juan zan, pais urruti batera, eta an ondatu zuan bere arceco gustia, vicio etan viciaz. ^' Eta gustia gastatu zuan ean, etorri zan goce aundi bat paraje artan, eta bera asi zan premia e duquitcen. '^Eta juan zan, eta alderatu zan paraje artaco batengana ; ceiiec bialdu zuan bere baserrira, cerriac gordetcera. ^""Eta deseatcen zuan, bere zabela, cerriac jaten zutenaren asalaquin betetcea: eta etzion iiiorc ematen. ^'^Baho, bereganatu zanean esan zuan : [ Cembait jornalaric daucate nere aitaren echean oguia sobratua, eta ni emen goceac ilcen nago! '^Alchatuco naiz, eta juango naiz nere aitagana, eta esango diot: Aita, pecatu eguin nuen ceruaren contra, eta zure aurrean : ^^ Ezdet mereci zure semea deitua, izatea : eguinazazu zure jornalariac becela. -"Eta alchatu eta juan zan bere aitagana. Eta nola oraindic cegoan urruti, icusi zuan bere aitac, eta muvituzan misericordiara, eta beragana corrica juanaz, botacion besoac lepora, eta lastana emancion. ^^Eta semeac esan cion: Aita pecatu eguindet ceruaren contra eta zure aurrean : ez det mereci zure semea deitua izatea. ^^ Bano aitac esan cien bere morroyai : Ecarri itzazute onera aguro arroparic ederrena, eta janciozute, eta jarriozute eraztuna beatcean, eta onetacoac onetan : ^^ Eta ecarriezazute idisco guicen bat, ilzazute, eta jan zagun, eta celebradaigun banquete bat : ^■* Cergatic nere seme au illazan, eta berriz vicitu da : galduzan, eta arquitua izanduda. Eta asiciran banquetea celebratcen. The three Basque provinces of Spain (Biscay, Guipiiscoa, and Alava; are bounded north by the Bay of Biscay, west and south by Old Castile, and east by France and Navarre. They contained, in 1857, a population of 426,217. Basque is the language of the peasantry, but Spanish is spoken in the towns, and is understood throughout these provinces. The religion, as in the rest of Spain and in tlie French Basque districts, is Roman Catholicism. Spanish Basque also appears to be spoken in the north and ■west of Navarre. It does not differ very materially from French Basque, either in its structure or vocabulary. The BIscayan dialect in particular is distinguished by the natives by the name of Escuara, which simply means vernacular. Many Spanish words have been engrafted on Spanish Basque, and in consequence of these additions, and of other alterations induced by the process of time, the version of 1571 (mentioned in our account of French Basque) is now scarcely intelligible. And although the British and Foreign Bible Society have given to the Basque districts of France an edition of the entire New Testament, yet no portion whatever of the Scriptures appears to have been printed in Spanish Basque until 18.38, when Mr. George Borrow, with the aid of the Society, edited and published an edition of the Gospel according to St. Luke. The translation had been executed by a Basque physician, named Oteiza, and Mr. Borrow had retained the MS. two years in his possession before committing it to the press; during which interval he had sought the advice and opinion of Basque scholars. The translation did not meet with unqualified approbation, yet it seemed impossible at that time to obtain a better. In 18-18 this version of St. Luke was revised and amended by the translator, and printed in a second edition, at the expense of the Society, through their agent, the Rev. Dr. Thomson. The Acts of the Apostles were also translated under the same circumstances, but are not yet printed. CLASS lY.-DETACHED FAMILIES. B. FINNISH FAMILY. FINNISH. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. I to 14. Qltuffl cli 5t ; Ja ilman jltd ci olc mitdn tct)ti), jofa tefits) en. ■• ^dncfa oli (Stdmd, ja (Jldmd oli i^miflen 5BaIfcii3. » 3i, fe 3BaIteu8 ijimcijtiefd ^jaiftaa, jota ei ^mcciS tdftttdnsjt. e g)ti ,„ieg p(j latjetettS) Sumalatba, jonga nimi oli 3ot)anncS. ' ®e tuli fiitd QBalfcubcfla tctiiflamann, ettd faitti ufteifit f)dnan fnuttanfn. ^ e aiijob lifan iJtjin fita fo tucfiotct : rcaHa taiti fute^ 6o tuoStotin, tat le jaffin So nanian nal, reabbi fobn refteb, Sutmelen manan fjabbct, niaggaven almatS ragatoiua ifdirea rdgatemen pafto, dbtjelatS ujlon jaHa juonten atman fltubcn melt, ainat 3utmelefl. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Lapland, the most northerly country of Europe, comprehends under its three general divisions of Russian, Swedish, and Norwegian Lapland, an area of about 150,000 square miles, two-thirds of which belong to Russia, and the rest to Sweden. The population has been loosely estimated at 60,000, of whom 9000 only are Laplanders, the rest being Swedes, Norwegians, and Russians. The Laplanders under the sway of Russia belong to the Greek Church, and those subject to Sweden are professedly Lutherans; but they did not, as a nation, assume the Christian name before the seventeenth century, and In many parts of the country they are said still to retain many of their heathen customs. Class IV.] LAPPONESE. 323 II. — CIIAR.\CTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Laplanders and Finns are said to liavc originally constituted one nation, and the Lapponcse, from its great similarity in structure to tlie Finnish language, affords proof of this fact. Lapponese has been considerably changed by the number of foreign words that have been engrafted on it; for the ignorant Laplanders had no terms of their own expressive of any objects not strictly connected with their uncivilised mode of life. In the Lapponcse version of 1 Tim. iii. 16, not fewer than si.x of the words are of foreign origin, and of these six not fewer than five are Swedish. Several different dialects of Lapponese prevail in Lapland; and it has been found necessary, as will be hereafter mentioned, to prepare a separate version of the Scriptures for the inhabitants of Norwegian Lapland. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN TniS LANGUAGE. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Laplanders were wholly ignorant of letters, and did not possess a single book written in their language. Before the year 1619, Gustavus Adolphus began to establish schools for their instruction, and a primer was published containing, among other things, the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in Lapponese. A manual, containing the Psalms, the Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiasticus, the dominical Gospels and Epistles, with several religious tracts, was published at Stockholm in 1648. The translator and editor was John Jonae Tornaeus, a native of Sweden, and pastor in Tornea. This work was not generally understood, on account of the peculiarity of the dialect in which it was written, and accordingly another manual was compiled by Olaus Stephen Graan, a schoolmaster and pastor in the Umea-Lappmark. This second manual, written in a more generally intelligible dialect, contained extracts from the dominical and festival Gospels and Epistles, and was printed at Stockholm in 1669. It is unknown at what time, or under what circumstances, the New Testament was translated into Lapponese. The first printed edition of which we have any account was published at Stockholm in 1755. A copy of this edition is in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. No further edition appears to have been issued till 1810, when the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society availed themselves of the assistance of the Evangelical Society at Stockholm to print an edition of 5000 copies of the New Testament from the edition of 1755, which was then completely exhausted. The bishop of Tornea undertook to superintend the publication, and it was printed at Hernosand, in 8vo., in 1811. A version of the Bible in Lapponese was published in quarto at the same place, and during the same year; and a copy of tliis work (which does not appear to have been committed a second time to the press) may be seen in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society. With the exception of a quarto edition of the Testament, likewise published in 1811, and some copies of the (iospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, printed at Christiania in 1838, no further editions have appeared. Features of striking interest in reference to the moral and religious condition of the Lapland population have recently manifested themselves. A great religious revival appears to be in progress in that country. " The continual and increasing awakenings in Lapland (wrote Dr. Polvsander to the St. Petersburg Agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1851), particularly in the frontier territories, through which the rivers Tornea and Muonio flow, occupy at present my greatest attention. The Scriptures are still much sought after." In reference to the facilities for introducing into the country a new edition of the New Testament and Psalms in the Lapponian tongue, it has been stated that the local hierarchy would readily further the work. 324 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. QUANIAN, OR NOEWEGIAN LAPLANDISH. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Algost Isei sadne, ja sadne laei Ibmel lut, ja sadne Vl'a ta^tmiSfcfl, cncjc 3iimma[ajt. '< Sliiif fc \bnm faijc libtiaS, nint cUi mcijc fcan, (ninf mcijc naimc tcmma auivuvtiift, fni oino fiintiuu (p o j a) auaniStuft cefafi,) tdiiS armo ninf tiittct. ESTHONIA is a maritime government in the north-west of European Russia, and forms one of the Baltic provinces. It was sold by the Danes to the Teutonic Knights in 1347, was conquered by Sweden in 1561, and annexed to Russia by Peter the Great in 1710. Its area is about 6,870 square miles, and its population amounted in 1851 to 289,800. The lower classes only of this population are, strictly speaking, Esthonians, the wealthier inhabitants being mostly of Danish or German descent. The lan- guage, which exhibits the same characteristics as other Finnish tongues, is spoken in two dialects, the Dorpat and the Rcval Esthonian. The former is spoken in South Esthonia, and the latter prevails in the North. Almost all the Esthonians are of the Lutheran persuasion. They were first put into possession of the oracles of God in the year 1686, when John Fischer, a German professor of divinity and general superintendent of Livonia, published an Esthonian version of the entire New Testament. This translation had been executed by Fischer, at the command of Charles XI. A version of the Old Testament, made by the same translator, aided by Gosekenius, appeared in 4to. in 1689. This was followed in the year 1700 by an edition of the Gospels and Epistles for the festival days of the church. It is uncertain in which dialect these early versions were written, but it is probable that they were understood throughout Esthonia. A version of the New Testament in Dorpat Esthonian was printed at Riga in 1727, in 8vo. Tliis edition was speedily exhausted; and the Dorpat Esthonians being left without further supplies, made use of the Reval Esthonian version of 1739. In 1810, the prosecution of certain inquiries, instituted by the British and Foreign Bible Society, concerning the state of the Scriptures in Russia, led to the discovery that the Esthonians were almost destitute of the Scriptures. Grants in aid of a new edition were voted by the Society; and in 1815, through the exertions of Dr. Paterson, 5000 copies of the Dorpat Esthonian New Testament were completed at press. In 1824 the Russian Bible Society reported that they had printed 8000 copies of the same version. Another edition of the New Testament was undertaken by the Dorpat Bible Society in 1836; and during the same year a version of the Psalms, translated from the Hebrew by the Rev. Ferdinand Meyer, of Carolen, was printed by the aid of the Parent Society: this latter edition consisted of 4500 copies. In a letter received from an Esthonian pastor, dated January, 1850, it is stated that " an edition of the Bible has just been issued at Reval and Dorpat." The work of Scripture distribution is now extensively prosecuted from both of these towns on behalf of the American Bible Society, which has supplied consi Icrable funds for the purpose. An edition of 10,000 Dorpat Esthonian New Testaments was authorised by tlie British and Foreign Bible Society in 1856, the version being first carefully revised by Dr. Kiel: the execution of this work aj'pears, however, to have been hitherto delayed. 330 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. REYAL ESTHONIAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to U. QllgmiSfeS oHi fe ©aniici, [a. fc feanna ofli Sumiiwla jurcS, \a fe ©anna oKi Sunimot. ^ (gcfamnio oOi argmiSffS Suntmala jurcS. * .Reif aSjab en temnia Idbl' tetjtub, ja ilnm tcmniata cV o([c utjtegi te^tnb, mi6 tc^tub on. '' ilennna f«6 crii cflo, ja fc ftto odi innimcete ivalguei, * 3a fe ivalguS paiStig ).iimmcliU'3fcS, ja pinimcbuS ci ivotnub fctba iraC'to. 6 (iifS innimcnnc, Soanneo nimmi, fai 3iimma(aft laffitul?; ' ©cfinnanc tuUi tunniStuofcEJ, ct tcmnia fcfl iratijuc-icfl ^libbi tunnigtania, et fei! tcninia IdbBi ^^ibbib uffma. « Scmnia ej) otnub mitte fe rcatgug, iraib, ct tcnima ^5ibbi tunniS^ tama fejt realjusfefl.) ^ ®e ofli fc tW'ftne roaljuS, fcS realguStat fcif innhnc«fcp, fui ta inaUma ft^fc tuHi. '" Jcmnia otti mnihnaei, ja inaifm on temmo Idbbi tctititb, ja maitui el tunnub tcbba mitte. " :J'cmma tutli omnia ftsfe, ja neeb ommaffcb ei uuHnub tcbba mitte reaSto ; '^ Qtgga ni mitto, fui tcbba reaStoreotfib, ncilc anbis tcmnia mctcivalba Summala lapfifS fail", feg tcmnia nimme ftgfe uffreab, '^ j^c§ c(3 oHc rverrefl, ci li[)t;a taljtmisfcjl, egga nic^i^e ta^^tmiSfcfl, ivaic 3itnimatafl fiinbinub. '•• 3a fe ©anna fai tif)|afS, ja iviittifl fui i:()(;ee maiaS nicic fca§ cClaba (ja mcie ndgcjimc tcnima au fui 3Sfa)t aincfimbinub *l'cia an) tdia armo ja tot. The Eeval dialect of the Estlionian language is spoken in the north of Livonia, including the three adjacent islands of Oesel, Dagden (or Dagoe), and Mohn. In 1811 the Moravian missionaries, who were labourin"- among this people, calculated that 2500 individuals in Eeval Esthonia, and 5000 in the above islands, had been awakened to a sense of the importance of religion. The first edition of the Scriptures in Eeval Esthonian vras printed at Eeval in 1739, in 4to.; it was partly published at the expense of the celebrated Count Zinzendorf A second edition is said to have followed in 1773, and a third in 1790. These two latter editions (if actually published, which seems doubtful) could have comprised no large amount of copies; for in 1810 it was reported that to many of the peasantry in Esthonia the Bible was unknown. In 1815, through the zeal of Dr. Paterson, and the aid afforded by the British and Foreign Bible Society, an edition of 10,000 copies of the New Testament was printed in Eeval Esthonian. The Eussian Bible Society appears to have published 5100 copies of the Old Testament in this version, prior to the year 1824, and some recent editions have been issued at Dorpat. The most extensive aid has, however, been furnished by the American Bible Society, which in 1850 supplied the funds for printing (in Finland), an edition of 20,000 New Testaments in Eeval Esthonian, 10,000 of them having the Psalms appended. This welcome supply was transmitted to the Eeval Bible Society for distribution. The Esthonian Scriptures in both dialects have been particularly blessed to the soldiers of that nation. The sons of the peasantry are frequently drafted into Eussian regiments, and stationed at a great distance from their native land. Here they are obliged to serve twenty-five years, without ever hearino- a Protestant clergyman address them in their native language; and being thus precluded from hearing the Gospel preached, their need of the written Word of God is the more especially urgent. It is said that the joy of these soldiers is unbounded when copies of the Scriptures are distributed among them. They have been known to crowd around the distributor, and to fiill at his knees in token of imfeigned gratitude; and they have even kissed the sacred volume, and invoked blessings on their benefactors. CtASS IV.] MORDVINIAN. 331 TSCHEREMISSIAN. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE TSCHEREMISSIAN VEESION, see Plate 9, page 350. The people by wliom tlils dialect is spoken dwell along the banks of tlie Volga and Kama, in the Russian governments of Kasan and Simbirsk. Tooke says that members of this tribe are also to be found on both sides of the Volga, particularly on the left side, in the government of Nijnii-Novforod. The total number of Tschereniissians has been estimated at 50,000; most of them belong to the Russian Church. In 1819 a translation of part of the Scriptures into Tscheremissian was undertaken by the Russian Bible Society, and twelve translators were employed in the preparation of tlie work. The Gospel of St. Matthew, the first portion completed, left the press in 1820. To ascertain whether the dialect in which it is written could be readily understood by the Tschereniissians, the Archbishop of Kasan collected a number of them together, and caused part of this Gospel to be read aloud to them. When these poor people heard the words of Jesus in their own tongue, " they wept for joy, and were ready to fall down and worship." An edition of the Four Gospels in the same dialect was therefore printed in the following year; and at length 3000 copies of the entire New Testament were carried throutrh the press, under the care of the Kasan Bible Society, Shortly after the completion of this version, a statement was drawn up by various parish ministers respecting the number of heathen who had been led to embrace Christianity from among the Tschere- niissians. One minister mentioned eleven, another thirty-eight, a third mentioned one hundred, and a fourth fifty-two instances of conversion, as having taken place in their respective parishes. And this, it was stated, was accomplished in some instances exclusively, and in others principally, by means of the perusal of the Tscheremissian Gospels. MORDVINIAN, OR MORDUIN. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VEESION, see Plate 9, page 356. TniR dialect of the Finnish is spoken on the banks of the Oka and the Volga, in the governments of Kijnii-Novgorod and Kasan. According to Tooke, members of this tribe are also to be met with in Orenburg. The number of individuals composing this horde is very uncertain : they profess Chris- tianity, but retain many heathenish practices. They were brought before the notice of the Russian Bible Society in 1817, and a translation of the New Testament was undertaken for their benefit. The Four Gospels left the press in 1821, and ultiuiatcly an edition of 3000 copies of the New Testament was printed under the superintendence of the Kasan Bible Society. 332 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. ZIEIAN, OR SIRENIAN. FOR SPECIMEN OF THIS VERSION, see Plate 7, page 338. There is some differnnce of opinion concerning tlie precise geographical limits of the Zirian dialect. It has been said to prevail in the governments of Perm, Tobolsk, and Archangel; but it is undoubtedly the predominant dialect of the district of Oustioug-veliki, in Vologda. The Zirinians were converted to Cliristianity in the fourteenth century, by the preaching of St. Etienne; and there arc some reasons for supposing that the Scriptures and the church books were translated into the Zirian dialect about that period ; but not a single vestige of this translation at present remains. The only portion of the Scriptures now possessed by the Zirians, in their own dialect, consists of the Gospel of St. Matthew; 1400 copies of which were printed for them by the Russian Bible Society in 1823. The translator's name was Sclierzen. WOGULIAN. The Wogulians dwell in the governments of Perm and Tobolsk, in a district between the Tobol, the Beresov, the Obi, and the Uralian ilountains. The Protohiery (Primate) Teletzyn, in concert with the clergy of his diocese, undertook a translation of the Scriptures into Wogulian; and in 1820 the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark were translated and ready for the press. The MS. was submitted to the Tobolsk Bible Committee, by whom it was forwarded to the Russian Bible Society, but it does not appear to have ever been printed ; so that the Wogulians are still unsupplied with any portion of the Scriptures in their own dialect. OSTIACAN, OR OSTJAKIAN. This dialect prevails on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and on the banks of the Obi, Irtish, and Yenesei, from the city of Tomsk (lat. 58° north, long. 83° 20' east) to Obdorsk. It greatly resembles the Mordvinian, and is at the same time so similar to the Wogulian, that it is thought the members of the two tribes must be capable of holding intercourse together. The Ostiaks are accounted one of the most numerous tribes in Siberia. A translation of the Scriptures into their dialect was going forward in 1820, under the care and inspection of Werguno, the active and zealous protohiery or primate at Beresov, and the Gospel of St. Matthew, translated by a learned priest, was forwarded for publication to the Committee of the Russian Bible Society: but it does not appear to have been printed, and we do not hear of the translation of any other portion of the Testament. Class IV.] WOTAGIAN. 333 WOTAGIAN, OH WOTJAKIAN. The Wotagians, or, as they are more commonly called, the Votiaks, or Wotjaks, are a numerous people in the governments of Viatka and Orenburg, and perhaps in that of Vologda; but they chiefly reside in districts on the banks of tlic Viatka, and between that river and the Upper Kama. Dr. Pinkerton estimates their number at 100,000 individuals: they all profess adherence to the Eussian Church, but many among them are still heathens. Lewandowski, a learned Votiak, well acquainted with his native dialect, was the first to undertake a translation of the Scriptures for his countrymen. In 1820 he sent a translation of the first ten chapters of St. Matthew to the Russian Bible Society as a specimen, with an offer to prosecute the translation, if deemed desirable: the committee encouraged him to proceed, and directed him to submit his work to such clergymen as were acquainted with the dialect. The translation appears to have been continued under the care and inspection of the Committee of the Viatka Branch Bible Society; and the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark were completed during the year 182.3. After this translation had been examined by various competent individuals, and subjected to minute and careful revision, the Bishop of Viatka and other clergy affixed their signatures to it, in testimony of its being perfectly intelligible to the tribe for whom it was designed. The other two Gospels were translated shortly afterwards, and an edition, intended to consist of 2000 copies, was ordered by the Russian Bible Society. The first pages of the Gospel of St. Matthew were printed during Advent; and as the first two chapters are publicly read in the Russian Church on Christmas day, the committee forwarded the printed sheets to the clergy of twenty-seven Viatka parishes, with a request that they would read the translation to the people, and thus test its intelligibility. From the accounts subsequently given by the clergy, it appeared that their respective hearers were equally astonished and overjoyed on hearing the Gospel in their own dialect. In one parish many of the Votiaks declared that the version was perfectly intelligible to them, and that they only wished to hear more of it. The people of another parish requested, at the conclusion of the service, that the Gospel in their own language might be read over again to them, which was actually done more than once. On separating they were observed to be engaged in close conversation together on the subject of what they had heard, and many exclaimed, " Inmar badslm 1 Inmar allam 1" The Lord is a great God. This is one of the versions which was left in an unfinished state at the time of the suspension of the Russian Bible Society. The printing, though commenced, does not appear to have been continued even to the completion of a single book. Thus, although a faithful and accredited version of the Four Gospels exists in their language, these people have remained to the present moment destitute of a single printed copy of any portion of the Scriptures in a dialect intelligible to them. CLASS lY.-DETACHED FAMILIES. C. TUNCUSIAN FAMILY. MANTCHOU. FOR SPECIMEN OF THE MANTCHOU VEESION, see Plate 8, page 331. I — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Mantcliou, Mantcliew, or Mandjur language properly belongs to Mantcliooria, an extensive region lying north of Corea and north-east of China Proper, and enclosing an area of 700,000 square miles, with an unknown amount of population. From the year 1644 to the present time (1860), China has been governed by a dynasty of Mantchou princes, and the Mantchou language has consequently been extended to China, while Mantchooria itself has become an integral part of the Chinese empire. All that portion of Mantchooria lying to the north of the river Amoor has within recent years (since 1847) been transferred to the sovereignty of Russia. But although the line of tlie Amoor now marks the frontier between the empires of China and Kussia, tribes of Mantchoos are still found to the northward of the river. The total number of Mantchoos in China barely amounts to a million and a half: yet, notwith- standing their numerical inferiority, and their unpopularity with the Chinese, the entire empire has for upwards of two centuries been subject to their sway; and it is said to be solely owing to their suspicious and unsocial habits that China has been during that lengthened period a sealed country to Europeans. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The elemental principles of tlie iMantchou, Mongolian, Tartar, and Finnish languages, may almost be said to be identical j but their genius and construction differ. In the simplicity of their structure, and in the total absence of all inflection, properly so called, they approach nearer to the monos^'llabic type than any other class of languages. The relations of words in a sentence, in other languages denoted by inflection or by prefixes, are in these languages indicated by the juxtaposition of particles invariably placed after the noun or word to which they refer. A peculiar and very inharmonious stiffness of construction is the natural result of this arrangement. In ]\Iantchou, especially, the collo- cation of words in sentences is restricted within very narrow and rigid rules; and as these rules are extremely arbitrary, a long Mantchou sentence is frequently utterly unintelligible until the last word is reached; so that in point of clearness of construction, even Chinese itself is sometimes superior to IMantchou. But that is owing chiefly to the peculiar mode of conjugation in i\Iantchou, which is to be considered more as a combination of uninflected participles, aflbcted by certain particles, than as inflections of tenses and moods of verbs as we arc accustomed to call them. So that the terms present, future, past, subjunctive, infinitive, etc., are used in IMantchou grammar more in a conventional than in an accurate manner. In consequence of these defects, the Mantchous have little poetry: their most naU VIII. P• evMarTj, ma Topa 6a/i,bHH 60.13a, cYMan> raa 60a- 2 aa Topa. Cnrra 6o./i3a iyMK)pb/i,eHb 5 Topa 6,i,bHfl. Ilopb ^a 0M6a 6o.^i3a, ■' ' /- ' ' OH3bipT> /^a HHMHHb OOJlMaHT>, MHHb 4 6043a. Oht> H^HHM-fc 6oji3a 6opHa3b, 6opHa3b ma 60.13a eio^b 0HHT.3aMa. 5 Ck)^t. m^mioM-b pa cio^mapamb, 6 miomH)ivn> ^a ona xon^aMaHij. Bo.iaa CIIHT. ToppaHTj flHbl loaHHTj fl m.i bl. SPECIMEN OF THE GEORGIAN VERSION, (IN THE CIVIL CMARACIEfij p 353 from lti« Eil-tlon pnntFd HI S Mrnbur^' IBI9. ConsiTtlnp of S' JOHN, f.tiMi I v I to 3, .^jSvyxxso^^f oycw lo^jj-rjj, I 5r)^ 6^4 * SPECIMEN OF THE GEORGIAN VERSION. CiN THE ECCLESIASTICAL CHARACTER/ from tji. Eilli^on pnntail nlMon^ow Iltl6 Consisting of ST J 0 H N, Chap 1. v. I To 6. jj-tintfiSfi-^ 5 S*^ mil^t-t\ih Siili-v %'Ji(i*)? "nil""' '^*9 Ln^TOi/tui for "the BIBLE OF EVERY VAND': utfl BMjxtftf & Sons. PatBrno5trr.Rciw. London. Class IV.] MANTCHOU. 335 eloquent and lofty compositions can never rise beyond a series of dry propositions, in wliicli eacli word and particle has its own proper and unvarying place assigned by rule. At present, however, they have no national literature, all their books being translations from the Chinese. AVith respect to its vocabulary, the ilantchou language has been said to comprehend three classes of words. The first consists of those words which are common to the Mantchou and the Tungusians, and which are chiefiy expressive of simple ideas and objects primarily necessary to existence: these constitute the basis of the language. Among these original words are found a great number of terms wliieh bear remarkable affinity to Latin and Greek words. As, e.g., M. sengge, Lat. sanguis; M. a'isin, gold, Lat. ses, eisen; j\I. akha, Lat. aqua; AL aniga, Lat. annus; I\L toma, Lat. tumulus; M. ilen- ggou, Lat. lingua, etc. ; M. outtou-fouttoti, Gr. ovt(c,tovto}, etc. The second class includes the words which may be traced in the Mongolian, and these are very numerous. The third class comprises terms which have been borrowed from the Chinese, but deprived of their monosyllabic form, and disguised by one or more unmeaning syllables arbitrarily aj)pcnded to them. Besides the above, Mantchou possesses many words relative to the Buddliistic system, borrowed from the Tibetans and Hindoos. The alphabet is syllabic, and, like the Chinese, is written in vertical columns from the top to the bottom of the page. Unlike the Chinese, however, these columns proceed from left to right. III. VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. An imperfect and very unfaithful translation of part of the Scriptures into Mantchou is said to have been executed by some Jesuit missionaries; and in 1818 an abortive attempt towards the pro- duction of a version was made under the sanction of the Governor of Irkutsk. The prosecution of thia important work ultimately devolved upon Lipoffzoff, a learned member of the Eussian Bible Society, who had resided fourteen years at Pekin, by appointment of the Eussian government, with the particular view of studying the Chinese and Mantchou languages. The translation was carried on under the superintendence of Dr. Pinkerton; and in 1822 an edition of 550 copies of the Gospel according to St. ]\Iatthew was printed at St. Petersburg, from types furnished at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. A few copies of this Gospel were despatched to various places, whence it was hoped they could be put into circulation ; and Dr. Gutzlaff met with one of these copies during his first or second visit to China. The greater part of the remainder were destroyed in the awful flood which occurred in St. Petersburg in 1824. The translation of the entire New Testament was soon afterwards completed, and was pronounced to be clear, idiomatic, and faithful; but no further editions were issued till 1834, when pubhc attention was suddenly drawn to the subject by a discovery of a MS. version of almost the whole of the Old Testament, Mr. Swan, of the London Missionary Society, found this MS. at St. Petersburg, whither it had been conveyed but a short time previously from Pekin. Mr. Swan was engaged to copy the whole MS., and his transcript, after undergoing a thorough revision, was forwarded to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The version is considered very satisfactory, and it still awaits publication, for it was deemed desirable in the first place to complete the printing of the New Testament. At this period (1834), when the committee were deliberating as to the best methods of continuing the revision and publication of the New Testament, Mr. George Borrow of Norwich, who possessed some knowledge of Mantchou, offered to undertake the supervision of the work. As he was found to be peculiarly qualified for the task, he was sent to St. Petersburg, where great facilities exist for the acquisition of the Mantchou language. In concert with the translator, he devoted himself to the revision of the entire version. Permission was obtained to print the work at St. Petersburg; and in 1835 an edition of 1000 copies of the New Testament left the press. This edition is beautifully printed, and in general free from typographical errors; but the rendering of the original is sometimes very arbitrary. The whole impression was forwarded to London, to remain under the custody of the British and Foreign Bible Society until an opening be made by Providence for the distribution and circulation of the copies. A few of these copies were distributed in 1843, by Mr. Lay, among the 336 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. Tartars, and copies have subsequently been placed at the disposal of the missionaries engaged in China. It seems probable, indeed, that more extensive efforts in reference to the Mantchou version will ere long be made. It was determined by the Society to print, by way of experiment, a small edition of portions of the New Testament in Mantchou and Chinese, in parallel columns, and a fount of ]\Iantchou type was forwarded to Shang-hae for the purpose. This, however, with others of the Society's stores, was destroyed by the disastrous fire which occurred in 1856. As there is reason to believe that the Scrip- tures printed in sucli a form would be highly useful, the work is now in progress; and St. Mattliew and St. Mark in Mantchou and Chinese have already been pubhslied. " There are many Chinese and Tartars (writes Dr. Medhurst) partially acquainted with both languages, who would be very glad to obtain books printed in this manner, when otherwise they might not give attention to them." TUNGUSIAN PROPER. The Tunguslans, or Tongooses, are a nomadic people, supposed to have originally inhabited the country called Daouria, on the borders of Mongolia and Mantchooria, towards the northern limits of Chinese dominion. But while their brethren, the Mantchoos, extended their conquests soutliward into China Proper, the Tongooses, with their flocks and lierds, wandered towards the north; and tliey are now to be found amidst the vast mountainous regions which extend from Lake Baikal to the Sea of Okhotsk, and likewise further to the northward, in the various countries situated on the Lena, Kolyma, and Tungooska rivers. In number they are supposed, according to the latest Russian autho- rities, to amount to about 52, .500. They are filthy and degraded in their habits, and greatly inferior in physical conformation, and in every other respect, to the Mantchoos. Some few among the Tungooses have been baptized, but tliey are in general grossly ignorant: their religion is a branch of Shamanism, and consists chiefly in the worship of fire, and in a superstitious reverence for amulets. Their language differs both in words and in pronunciation from the Mantchou; it is extremely rude and barbarous, and contains a considerable admixture of Mongolian words. Several efforts have been made, from time to time, for the spiritual enlightenment of tliis widely- dispersed people; but, owing to the numerous petty dialects into which their language is divided, tlie task of translating the Scriptures into a dialect generally intelligible to the whole nation is attended with peculiar difficulty. A version of the sacred volume has been commenced in tlie dialect of the Tschapogires, a Tungusian tribe dwelling along the course of the Toungo-unski, a branch of the Yenesei. In the Report of the Russian Committee, laid before the annual meeting of the Bible Society at St. Petersburg, 1819, this version was mentioned as one of the " new translations" then in progress. No further intelligence on this subject has been since received; and it appears but too probable that, from some cause or other, the Tschapogirian translation has been altogether relinqulslied. PI»aM Hf^ 357 ?> f r * '^ k 2 nit " w £ *'> , rt V n) ^ a) J5 « Ss * > n K in C * fii> n u. (T) yi r f r K 01 >. «*)o^ o) 6) »J C f i- y> •■4 *' S* u) J* r« (« '^ ( » >» "in ?• (11 t IV r a" C f in ^ 01 'n tf» o . y, rtS" n i>)S) IT" O* -. i s ?o -^ <^ ^^§ ^g ^^ ^ ?8 ^8 '£ ^^ >S J '^ Si g £ s 8 ^ A"*> ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ s> ^ -_ -^ "^^ ^ ^-S I ell ^^^ 3 ffi = Co ^ ur £ -g I r^ ^ ^ -e on § e ** in g "s e «^ C C J 12 5 e in G g Q] ai fag 3 ar a a ■= ^ 5l^G g-e ^1 i? 1 " £ 1 "« s 3t f J«,'^€ ® § ^ t a CLASS ly.-DETACHED FAMILIES. D. MONGOLIAN FAMILY. MONGOLIAN PROPER. FOR SPECIMEN OF THIS VEESION, see Plate 11, page 337. Mongolia, tKe vast country wliicli separates Russia from China, has been from time immemorial the domain of the Mongolian race. It was to this race that Attila and Genghis Khan, and the myriads commanded by those mighty warriors, belonged, — men whose rapid conquests are compared by Gibbon to the primitive convulsions of nature which have agitated and altered the surface of the globe. Although Mongolia is now included in the territories of the Chinese empire, the Mongols themselves remain in the same condition as their ancestors in the days of Genghis and Kublai. " The people," says a recent traveller, " live in tents, without any permanent residence. They move from place to place with the changes of the seasons, or when their immense herds of oxen, camels, and horses have exhausted tlic grass around their encampment. To-day presents an animated scene of hundreds of tents, filled with an active population; to-morrow this picturesque scene will be clianged to a dreary and forbidding desert." The ]\Iongols have extended their wanderings into the dominions of Eussia, and some of the many tribes into which they are divided are to be found in the very heart of Siberia. One luncuatre is common to all these tribes, but, as might be expected from its wide geographical diffusion, It is subdivided into a multiplicity of petty dialects. The most prominent characteristics of the Mantchou and Turkish are equally remarkable in this language. It possesses the same Inverted and artificial style of phraseology, and the same grammatical peculiarities. The substantives, however, although like the ^lantchou destitute of terminations indicative of gender, possess a peculiar sign to denote the plural; it consists in the consonant t added to the final vowel, or substituted for k, but Is not often employed. The Mongolian dialect, properly so called, is spoken by some tribes of Lamaists (or worshippers of Buddha, Impersonated In the Grand Lama), north of the desert of Gobi. The alphabet is derived from the Ouigour, and forms the basis of the Mantchou ; it Is written in vertical columns from the top to the bottom of tlie page. Many Tibetan and Sanscrit words exist In Mongolian, which have been Introduced with Lamalsm from Tibet. A translation of the New Testament and Psalter into the language spoken by the Mongol con- querors of China is said to have been made, in the thirteenth century, by John de Monte-Corvino, a Minorite friar, who was sent on a mission to the Tartar potentates, by Pope Nicholas IV., in 1289, (soon after the accession of Timur Khan, or Ching-tsung, to the throne of his grandfather, Kublai Khan), and who resided at the court of the Grand Khan for a period of forty years. Of this work no vestiges remain. The only Mongolian versions of Scripture known to be in existence are those in the Cahnuo and Buriat dialects, which we must now proceed to notice. 338 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. C ALMUC. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VERSION, see Plate 7, page 3r?8. 1. GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The great steppe extending from Sarepta (on the Volga, above Astrakhan) to the Caucasus, is occupied by the Calmucs, a Mongolian tribe, who migrated thither about the beginning of the seventeenth century, from the western borders of Soungaria, in the heart of the Asiatic continent. In 1701, upwards of 15,000 families of this tribe returned to Soungaria with a certain prince who fled from his father, the khan; and in 1770 no less than 60,000 families abandoned their Russian settlements and returned to their native Mongolia. The families who remained in Russia, and who retain their nomadic habits and pagan superstitions, now number about 60,000 individuals. Some baptized members of this nation are settled in a district lying between the Volga and the Kouban, of which Stavropol is the capital; they amount in number to about 10,000, and have for the last century professed adherence to the Russian Church. The dialect of the Calmucs is the Eleuth, or Western Mongolian, generally supposed to be predominant throughout the whole of Western Mongolia as the dialect of the Eleuth tribes, from whom the Calmucs derive their origin. This dialect is softer and more effeminate than Mongolian proper, and in order to express it, the Calmucs have adopted a modified alphabet of the Mongolian, which contains softer sounds than the original one. It is also more elegant; although it must be said of all these vertical writings that they look very beautiful when well executed. The importance of the Calmuc version will be greatly enhanced should it be found applicable to all the Eleuth tribes of Mongolia, as well as to the Russian emigrants; but this point has not yet been ascertained. II. VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The first translation of the Scriptures into this dialect appears to have been attempted about the middle of the last century, when various detached portions of the sacred text were translated at the Moravian settlement of Sarepta. The principal translator was Conrad Neitz, one of the Moravian missionaries, who, by a long residence among the Calmucs of the Don, had acquired an intimate acquaintance with the language, the modes of thinking, and the habits of the people. In 1808, a correspondence was opened between the brethren at Sarepta and the British and Foreign Bible Society, respecting the preparation of a Calmuc version. The portions previously translated were ascertained to be faithful and accurate, but it was deemed requisite to subject them to careful revision, as well as to extend the translation to the whole of the New Testament. The execution of this translation was undertaken by Mr. James Schmidt (afterwards Dr. Schmidt), a member of the Sarepta society. He had resided many years among the Calmucs, and was thoroughly acquainted with their dialect. The •work was aided by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew was completed in 1812; it was not however committed to the press till 1815, when 1000 copies were printed at St. Petersburg. These were speedily circulated; and such were the pleasing accounts received concerning their distribution, that a second edition of 2000 copies was given iu 1817. The idiomatic accuracy of this version of St. Matthew was attested by native authorities, and likewise by Abel Remusat. " In reading, or rather in analysing it (observed that eminent Orientalist), with a view to deduce the grammatical principles which were the objects of my search, I found but very few instances in which its correspondence with the Greek text did not appear to me to be rigidly exact." That this Gospel was perfectly intelligible to the people for whom it was designed is proved Plus VII. 9- 6 s .. ^ u :o :o ^ :o F4 X 5 < S! S i g s < m K •J ■< :o < o b3 o pfl * :o S (4 < :o N X :o «3 M o t-. ^ E a z^ re ." -fa •• X >-. i^ i P^ re E !- -^s :0 OS 2 1^ E XI ^ s E .. E B re a: oS re E X o X ^ E E:| 5 2 J3 B re re '^ :^ re u re re b; B ct e^ E b; fc- u 5 "S- re »; £ i^ hi 3* ^ E ^ S 2 S :o 2 re ^ ^ fc« "^ „ •• '^ S B? • • a 39 1- ^ t^ 2 - E »B " « re ■? ^ IT ft re a; J b; E ^ 2 ^S 3 u s^ «^ 03 tC vf ic C5 » E «; tO ^- « S E g ^ - re -■re £ s t^ re . *^ § E o; O u B SD ^ 5 ^ S S r Class IV.] BURIAT. 339 by the fact tliat tlie Lamaic priests found it necessary to interdict it, apprehending tliat their craft would be in danger, in case the doctrines gained ground among their followers. Notwitlistanding this prohibition, copies were eagerly sought by the Calmucs; and it was found necessary to issue a third edition in a smaller form, that the volumes might be more easily concealed among the stuff of their tents. Some pecuniary aid was received by Dr. Schmidt, the translator, from the emperor of Eussia; and in 1820 the Gospel of St. John was completed and laid before the Kussian Committee. The eagerness of the people to hnow what this Gospel contained was so great, that before it could be carried through the press, it was sent in MS. for their perusal. An edition of 500 copies was printed of this Gospel alone, besides 2000 copies containing the Gospels both of St. Matthew and St. John. In 1822, an edition of the Gospels and the Acts was put to press at St. Petersburg. In a letter bearing the same date, it was stated by Dr. Pinkerton that twenty-two individuals had forsaken their idols, and had joined the Sarepta congregation on the Volga; and at that period there appeared every reason to hope that a still richer harvest would speedily ensue from the seed of the Divine Word diffused among the Calmucs. Concerning the effects which may have been more recently produced by their perusal of the New Testament in their own dialect, we have no means of obtaining intelligence, for the labours of missionaries among this people are now wholly suppressed. BURIAT. FOB SPECIIVIEN OF THIS VERSION, bbe Plate 7, page 338. r. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Buriat Mongolians now dwell near Lake Baikal, in Siberia, where they probably settled at the period of the revolution under Genghis Khan. They form the principal part of the population in the government of Irkutsk, north of the Baikal, and of the provinces of Selinginsk, Oudinsk, and Nerchinsk, eastward of that lake: they are thought to number about 150,000 individuals. The dialect of the Buriats is the same as that of the Khalka tribes of Eastern Mongolia. It differs from the Calmuc chiefly in the interchange of consonants, and is distinguished by its abundance of guttural and nasal sounds. The Buriats also differ from other Mongolians in employing the alphabet of their Mantchou neighbours, instead of the true Mongolian letters. II. — VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS DIALECT. T\nien a translation of the New Testament into Calmuc was projected, it was anticipated that it would be found as intelligible to the Buriats of Siberia and to the other Mongolian tribes, as to the Calmucs themselves; and, under this impression, the Buriats contributed towards defraying the expenses of the version. Wien, however, the Gospel of St. Matthew in Calmuc was completed, it was found that the Buriats were unable to read it; and though they afterwards endeavoured to obtain the key to the Calmuc writing by acquainting themselves with the Mongolian letters, yet it soon became obvious that the differences between the two dialects rendered the preparation of a distinct version for each people absolutely essential. To remove every difficulty. Prince Galitzin, president of the Russian Bible Society, wrote to the Governor of Irkutsk, requesting him to send two learned Buriats to St. Peters- burg, for the purpose of accommodating the Calmuc Gospel to their native dialect, and, in conjunction with Dr. Schmidt, to translate the other parts of the New Testament. Two saisangs, or Buriat nobles, 340 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. accordingly repaired to St. Petersburg, and with the consent of their prince and lama, they engaged in the work of translation: the Divine Word was blessed to their conversion; and, in a letter which they addressed to their chief, they avowed their faith in Jesus. In 1818, an edition of 2000 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, in Buriat, was printed under their care, followed, in 1819, by 2000 copies of the two Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. An edition of 2000 copies of the other two Gospels, with 2539 copies of the Acts, was published in 1822. During the same year . owever, a severe loss was sustained in the death of Badma, one of the Buriat translators, who was called to rest from his labours just as he had translated as far as the middle of the Epistle to the Romans. The remaining portion of the New Testament appears to have been completed under the superintendence ui Dr. Schmidt, and was published about the year 1824, at St. Petersburg. The surviving Buriat noble was afterwards associated with Messrs. Swan, Stallybrass, and Yuille, missionaries at Selinginsk, in the translation of the Old and the revision of the New Testament. The Q Trip aciejti pap itii ki, avii> aoi lwavvT]Q lOi. ^ JIov cra;^a^£r jStp/igyg yKsXdl, to. ki vovpdav ^orovpov aaxaSer jispe, ki ^ETrKTi aviv <7£7r£7ri iXe \\.iav yKETipEXip. ^"0 KEvdoval vovp ^sytX Idl, Ef.ifia rd ki vovpdlv orovpov (Ta^adET pspe. O vovp ^ukk t.8i ki, nov Sovvyiayia yKsXsv ^sp ddEtil vovpXavSipip. '" AovvyiadE Idi, jSe Sovvyia avLvXs yunnXf^uiySLp, ]3e dovvyid dv\ ttCXj.ieSi. " ' O KEvdovvivKiXspe yKsXdl, jSs KEvdovvivKiXEpi dv\ Ka-kovX ^iTjiiEdiXep. J^l^tfta AXXaj^ip oXovXXapi oXovvf.iaya KovSpsmH avXEpiv f^ov^iXecm^E ^spdi ki, avL KcinovX \()ovk kti^iive \f.idv yKETovpEXip' ^^ Ki dvXep fie ve Kavdlv |3£ j^e vec^q dpZ,ov(nvdtv, jSe ve Ipiv Hej^^etiviIev, ^iXXa 'AXXa')(^ddv doyfioviyXapdip. ^ jBe KsXafi T^EaEd oX8uv, ■)(^Ef.i Xovt^ jSs xaKrjKardsv SoXov ikev apcij^ii^dd /.lEKiav rovrdov, (j3£ iri^ dvXv r'L.EXaKivX yKiopdovK ka-kaddv Soyfiovg irtjOir^iK oyovXovv t^eXoXI yKlTTl.) These are, properly speaking, Turkish versions, but printed in Greek and Armenian letters, and accommodated to the dialectic peculiarities which prevail among the Christians of Asia Minor. In 1782, the Psalms, translated into Turkish by Seraphim, metropoHtan of Karamania, were printed in Greek letters; and in 1810 a Turkish version of the Acts and Epistles was printed in the same character at Venice. In consequence of inquiries instituted in 1818, by Dr. Pinkerton, respecting the state of the Christian inhabitants of the ancient Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Phrygia, Pisidia, Cilicia, and Lycaonia, it was ascertained that these poor ignorant and oppressed people are all Greeks or Armenians, acquainted ■with no language but that of their Turkish masters. As they are unable to read or write except in their native characters, the Turkish Bible, from being printed in Turkish letters, is unintelligible to them; and thus the very country in which the glad tidings of great joy were first proclaimed by the Apostles, was virtually destitute of the Scriptures, until editions adapted to the requirements of the inhabitants were issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Society's first edition of the Turkish Testament, in Greek letters, consisting of 3000 copies, was printed in 1826; and further supplies, consisting of 1000 copies of the Acts and Epistles, 3000 copies of the Psalter, and 1000 copies of the books of Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes, were shortly afterwards granted. IMr. Leeves, agent of the Society, subsequently undertook the preparation of a new and revised version, with the view of rendering the style still more conformable to the provincial mode of speaking Turkish which prevails among the Greek Christians of Asia Minor. In this work he was assisted by a native, a young man from Philadelphia, by name Christo Nicolaides, who joined Mr. Leeves, at Corfu, in 1832, and from 316 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. that period to 1839 was uninterruptedly employed in the undertaking. The printing was commenced at Syra, and afterwards transferred to Athens. Subsequent editions have been undertaken by the Society, and the total issues up to the end of 1858 comprehend 5000 Bibles, and 6000 New Testa- ments, besides 7000 copies of particular portions of the Old and New Testaments. SPECIMEN OF THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN VERSION. FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 11. b^0^h8USb [•"'h ^^Uf^'T, -Ur ^kri^J^ \llL'"^c]' ^-cPc?"""* f""f' ' tf^ <^tujusp- iljup fiutli ♦ ilk ^"ij'"[^ luuii-Jl^pfi'L c_iji_ic_ h">h » U^^" tLi,lLt 7-«"f"'^». I na.uiiu ohj'" 'tk'php ftmfi » J^ q-iuputhf_^[i_if. ohnL. uj°blt£uiJiuin[i_x [j^ fjju <^ in uAm l^ko%utkp[i§JJi^ mhp wfl^iP oiuinL. f ^ft oTjnL.li tuinp_ ^ui^J^ujIAjI^u fiinfi t "|/»i_ ^<^uMinirP^k birupb t -fib p^^pjj-w^li ^op-fn-phi- 2_4">"""4'^ h^^'k^ ♦ P"' ^b oimJL ihuubp^uiub biJr ^i''Pb"b b^"'''""i^p » * O^ IL^lUt ^krl""b"b '"kjbi_ b'"b > i^i^b"^ l^^Pjf-inuMl ^opbi-pb^- ik^"'"'k^P- kRJk.fi bib'-''' V'V^^ * ^ U^r^^ ILUL.'h ° b'"b ^fi utbi-l'k"i/'" bki_k^ ^^P uM^^k^b [Li_CJhi^'^'"C-P[Lt' * ^b'-^k"'""" b"'b t '[k inbi-%k-iu oI»ni_L ilutubP'ut"p_ blk oitrinL. ♦ luJUin uifiL-lilrut oT//jj_ u£b[jfk"'b * *T^5"w lttnb'iib%fibikpk (ikijfbt 'Ik ^k^^'b'^b^.gbikp oZnL. q.tutynt-^ kP^Jk'"bikp « WJUiu fb'J)kp 4tb oTf/ii_ q.iuufni-i_ kP-wblkp b"k t ohfiupui ohniJli utuiphui [I'LuAjuAtfuipiu q-nt-ttipkP^ tlkpufb t -pb ll//i"^C?' k'llj^'"l^PP_ Ofunuip . (jlt^p ^fi q-Uiltuitab uwkjbi 'ik P'k^ fiputtnkP'b'^'"k^ '"^jbi_ ^k'f utink'^ [)putuikP'b'i""k^ "'kjbi_, bibf lij^iluf^utiuh uiotrmni^£uip t 4^4" ^^j^ktJf'^P'k^ o^/jnt_ , t^k [ni-P-ip ^k'^ k^Pi^ krihs. bih woinL. oiuspuiq. tiffiauik uui_p,b^ 0£utnL. , i^k ohnL-Ti Akl^ljy'b ^V'>'"'»^ putk^ utonJhi.p u£ltpfi'!Cb^ \Ji"'-L. ^^uyiJ' k.b'nb li^°P"'b'--g » The Armenians are even more numerous in Asia Minor than the Greeks. A Turkish version in their peculiar dialect, and written in their characters, was commenced in 1815 by an Armenian archimandrite, named Seraphim, in concert with another Armenian. An edition of 5000 copies of the Testament was printed at St. Petersburg in 1819: and Mr. Leeves devoted much time and trouble to the preparation of a revised edition. The work was afterwards taken up by the missionaries of the American Board of Missions. In 1841, Mr. Goodell stated that his strength and time had been for several years employed in preparing a translation directly from the original texts. In 1843, the entire Scriptures were completed at press at the expense of the American Society. Subsequent editions of the Armeno-Turkish Scriptures have been printed at the American Mission-press, on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Editions consisting of 2000 New Testaments in 16mo., and the same number in 32mo., were completed in 1858, and an edition of 3000 Bibles is now in progress. The entire number of copies printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, up to the end of 1859, amounts to 5012 Bibles and 16,287 Testaments. Class IV.] KARASS. 317 KARASS, OR TURKISH-TARTAR. SPECIMENS, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. v. v. 1 to 14. Seaman's Version, 1666. ^1 CT^^-" J cr^^^ Li*^-^ i(Al;ljj oUJLcl AS=,y\ id,^._j ClJJ^i Sjy Jjl '^^ " ^ ■*' ^ * i^sAj.j j_jJ1 Jlcjjjul^jl aLl cJyl JUj |_^jli1 * iJjJol lililii ijj\ ijjy\ (ji^j li^^aLLo <_^j1 ■^ >- ^ ^V J) Li-^'^ J^ ^-1^ -> l-S'*^^^ '*-^ c/^-' -> " Brunion's Version, 1813. jJol iJojjjj J_jl (^^ jjtl iJL*J>- |)L1 , — jiLw! jjul ^1 cuv*!^ _j i^^\ yi, j^r^ is'V.^ J-==J jy _j- ' *J\ ^)^;\ ^_s^^ ^'^j.j ^^y {;1j1 ^^ ^.yl_;lj^Jj! ^V . : . /■»- > JjL.«>Cjb (jjbi (__?J;j^ ^^.Xcss^ •— ^^7^ J 15'^J^ liT^'-' ^! c^ J The version of the Scriptures generally denominated tlie Karass, is so called because a town of that name, on the borders of the Caspian, was the place of its publication. It has also been improperly termed the Nogay version, on account of its having been found intelligible to the Nogais, a tribe of Tartars dwelling on the banks of the Kouban and Kouma, in the steppes to the northward of Mount Caucasus. A more correct designation for this version is that of Turkish-Tartar, because it consists 348 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. principally of words tlmt belong in common to the Turks and Tartars. It exhibits the Turkish lan- guage in a comparatively pure state, divested of the circumlocutory forms and foreign words adopted by the Turks of Constantinople, and restored to its pristine simplicity. So far from being written in the colloquial dialect of any particular district, this version corresponds in style and language with such books as are circulated among the Tartars in the south of Russia, and is therefore intelligible to all the different Tartar hordes scattered through that extensive region. The first version of the Scriptures written in this plain, unadorned Turkish style, was that pub- lished at Oxford in 1666, at the joint expense of the philosopher Boyle and of the Levant Company. The translator was Mr. William Seaman, a moderate non-conformist, who had formerly been chaplain to an English ambassador at the Porte. This version was not free from faults, and it partook too much of the Constantinopolitan idiom to be readily understood by the Tartars. It served, however, as the basis of a translation which Mr. Brunton, Scottish missionary at Karass, undertook expressly for the benefit of the Tartar tribes. To avoid the errors into which Seaman had fallen, Jlr. Brunton care- fully examined the original text, and consulted, from time to time, the English, German, and other versions. In 1807 he published an edition of 500 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, in folio, and on blue paper. Never was an edition of any part of the Scriptures carried through the press under more untoward circumstances. The missionaries had difilculty in obtaining the materials requisite for printing, and, owing to the bad construction of their printing-office, their operations were often impeded by the inclemency of the weather; added to this, they were frequently driven, by the predatory incur- sions of the Tchcrkessians, to bury their types in order to secure them. On the completion of this Gospel, the British and Foreign Bible Society sent supplies to Karass to print 5000 copies of the entire Testament. Mr. Brunton only lived to complete the translation, and died while it was being carried through the press. He was so intimately acquainted with the language in which he wrote, and his Ftyle was so pure and idiomatic, that the Tartars looked upon him as a renegade Turk. After his death, the sheets were corrected by Mr. Frazer, and the edition was completed in 1813. This edition obtained so extensive a circulation in the south of Russia, that another edition of 5000 copies was issued two years afterwards at Astrakhan. This was merely a reprint of the Karass edition, with a few emendations introduced by Mr. Dickson, one of the Scottish missionaries. A translation of the Old Testament was undertaken about the same time by Mr. Dickson. The Psalms were completed and published at Astrakhan In 1815, and a second edition of 3000 copies appeared at the same place in 1818. Mr. Dickson afterwards proceeded to render Mr. Brunton's version of the New Testament into a more polished style, and availed himself for this purpose of All Bey's Turkish version, which he compared with the original text, and with the principal modern translations. It does not appear, however, that any portion of this work has been published. RESULT OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Many years have now elapsed since direct intelligence concerning the spiritual state of the Tartar hordes has been obtained in this country. It is gratifying however to know, that when Dr. Henderson and Dr. Paterson visited Karass in 1820, they found that the Turkish-Tartar New Testament was well understood by the natives, and that in consequence of their reading it, their prejudices had in a great measure been softened down, and a general knowledge of the principles of Christianity had been diffused among them. A similar testimony to the value of this version was borne in 1835 by Mr. Galloway, a Scottish missionary employed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in dis- seminating the Scriptures among the Tartars. Class IV.] ORENBURG-TARTAR. 349 O R E ]S[ B U E G-T A R T A H. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. J Jul * *^jj_jj 'y Jr^ cr^ Ls'i^3 Jj^^^jy J;^ ' Vbj^N^^ '^^ii J_^b _;li^.L> ^^IjJu'jlj! ^LjI *js. ^Ijoj'jljl **u^ *i> iJ'^J^ j»^ ''-^ " *jh'^ji'^'^ This version is ■written in the dialect of tlie Kirgliisian-Tartars, and was especially designed for tlie use of members of that nation residing in the Russian government of Orenburg. The dialect is spoken not only in Orenburg, but also in the vast tracts of country extending from the Caspian and Lake of Aral to the frontiers of China. It is the vernacular tongue of two distinct people, namely, of the true or Kara-Kirghis, who inhabit the banks of certain rivers in Southern Siberia, and of the Kazak-Kirghis, the present occupants of the Kirghis Steppe. The latter are divided into three hordes, called the Great horde, Little horde, and Middle horde. The Great horde is reckoned among the tributaries of China, but the dependence is merely nominal. The other hordes, though in some degree subject to Russia, also preserve a sort of independence of their own. According to Russian authorities, the probable number of individuals composing the three hordes is from 2,000,000 to 2,400,000. This version is not an original translation, but merely an accommodation of Mr. Brunton's Karass version to the peculiar idioms and ortliography of the Kirghisian Tartars. Mr. Charles Frazcr, one of the Scottish missionaries at Astrakhan, was employed in the preparation of the work. An edition of 2000 copies of the Gospel of St. ]\Iatthew was printed in 1818, and two years afterwards 5000 copies of the entire Testament were completed at the mission press of Astrakhan, at the expense of the Russian Bible Society. The Kirghisians are all Mohammedans, and, though once a civilised and literary people, are now in a state of semi-barbarism. Since the suspension of the Russian Bible Society there have been few opportunities of ascertaining what results have been wrought among this nation by means of the perusal of their vernacular Scriptures. UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. K A R A I T E-T A E T A P.. SPECIMEN, FROM GENESIS, Chap. i. v. 1 to 8. CS^Jiy) ^^\ ^_5^,^=jj■ i ^ * ^■^y u}^ ^^J ^^^y. ^j^} J j^^=^} 1 ^'^:y '^T ■'^^ir'^jj ^'^ ^^-> ^'^ ^^^"^ -5 ' * ^y^/y u^-l^V sj^y i ^y^y z:^jj ^^^^^j^^ The Karaites, or " Sons of the Text," are a Jewish sect, so called from the Hebrew word Xip, to read ; on account of their reverence for the written law. They are the Protestants of Judaism, and are distinguished from other Jews by their rejection of the oral law, and of all traditionary inter- pretation, and by their exclusive attachment to the Scriptures of the Old Testament as the only infallible source and test of truth. This sect, according to Dr. Henderson and other authorities, was, in all probability, originally the same with that of the Sadducees, one of the sects into which the Jewish nation was divided about two hundred years before the coming of Christ. The erroneous doctrines which were entertained by the Sadducees during the time of our Lord appear to have formed no part of their original creed, and it has been thought that the adoption of these unscriptural tenets, by the disciples of Sadok, gave birth to the Karaim. No statistical accounts have been given recently of the Karaite Jews, but it is certain that they are very few in number as compared with the Jews of the Rabbinical sect. About the middle of the seventeenth century there were 2000 Karaites in Poland, 70 in Constantinople, 1200 in Theodosia, 300 in Cairo, 200 in Damascus, 30 in Jerusalem, 100 in Babylonia, and 600 in Persia. At the present day the Karaites are dispersed through various parts of Russia, in Austria, Turkey, Egypt, Abyssinia, Hindoostan, and Palestine. They are highly esteemed by the nations among whom they dwell on account of their amiable and moral deportment; but by their Rabbinical brethren they are held in utter abhorrence. The Karaites have long been in possession of a Tartar version of the Old Testament. The date and autlior of this ancient document are alike unknown; but we find a quotation from it (consisting of the first three verses of Genesis) in an epistle, dated 1691, written by Gustavus Peringer, and inserted in Tenzel's Monthly Accounts. Further descriptions of this version were subsequently given by Wolfius and others: yet little was known concerning it in Europe until Dr. Pinkerton, when travelling in the Crimea, visited one of the settlements of the Karaites, and purchased a complete copy. The two books of Chronicles do not appear to have been inserted in this version, but it comprises all the other books of the Old Testament. It is written in the Rabbinical character, with the addition of certain points and signs indicative of the pronunciation of Tartar sounds. The headings of the chapters are in Hebrew, and the first and last verses of every book, with the exception of the Minor Class IV.] T S CHU W A S CHI AN. 351 Prophets, are also given in Hebrew. The dialect in which the translation is made was at one time supposed to be the Jagatai, spoken by the Tartars of Bokhara. This hypothesis, however, was unsup- ported by history or experience; and it has since been proved that the Karaite-Tartar (as this dialect is termed) could never have been vernacular or even intelligible to any Tartar nation. The words, indeed, are mostly of Tartar origin, but they are ranged in the exact order of the Hebrew, and the stvlo, construction, grammatical observances, and idioms, are all conformable to the Shemitic type. Tins version is, in diet, so truly Hebrew in its character, that to tho Turks and Tartars it is a sealed book: and even Tartar Jews, if unacquainted with their ancient language, arc unable to read it. Nor is it likely to be of more general service even in BibHcal criticism; for notwithstanding the known attachment of the Karaites to the letter of the sacred text, many of the interpretations in this version are obviously drawn from the Chaldee Targums, and from the renderings in Rabbinical commentaries. On account of this deficiency in point of practical utility, the British and Foreign Bible Society liave printed but a small specimen portion of this version. An edition of 2000 copies of the book of Genesis was published at their e.xi)cnse in 1819, at the mission press of Astrakhan: these copies were sent to various parts of Russia and Tartary; but, not being found available for missionary purposes among any of the Tartar tribes, no further portions of the version have been issued by the Society. An edition of the entire version has been subsequently published by the Jews of South Russia, who defrayed the expense by means of subscriptions collected for the purpose: the work, which is in two volumes, is said to be very inaccurately printed. T SCHU WASCHI AN. FOE SPECIMEN OF THE TSCHUWASCHIAN VERSION, see Plate 8, page 334. The Tschuwaschians inhabit both sides of the Volga in the governments of Kijnii Novgorod, Kasan, and Orenburg. They are also found in Simbirsk and Viatka. Many of them are still idolaters, and olFer sacrifices on a kind of altar called Keremet. The structure of their dialect is essentially Tartar; tlicir mode of declension, and also of conjugation, are very much alike; and three parts of the words are unquestionably derived from that idiom. The rest of the words are chiefly Samoiede and Finnish ; there arc also many words which present a surprising resemblance to the corresponding terms in Coptic. A Bible Society was formed in Simbirsk in 1817, partly for the purpose of furnishing tho Tschuwaschians with the New Testament in their own dialect. In 1818, the Four Gospels were translated from the Sclavonic under the superintendence of the Society; and two years afterwards the entire Testament, after having been collated with the Greek original, was completed at press at Kasan, under the care of the Archbishop of Kasan, to whose diocese the people belong. The edition, which was printed in Russian characters, consisted of 5000 copies, and was issued at the expense of the Russian Bible Society. 352 UGRO-TAllTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. TP. ANS-C AUCASI AN T A R T A E,. SPECIMEN, FllOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. ^''/'j*A'^'4 ^j^ijJjA- ^^^^'>3!J(/^v -^!; r^.*^/isJ ^-*^^ ' ' Jl^^i[? -^/Jij' ^^J^ LV oMO^ t-^' A--^!^ -^^^^ LV* ^ - y»^-^U ^^ J6' ^^' Ay '■-^'^ -^^^ ^^^l.Vi>^^>y^.y^'>:^' ^ A PECULIAR and ratlier corrupt dialect of the Turkish is spoken by the greater part of the Moslem population in Georgia, Shushl, Shirwan, Dorbend, Baku, Karadagh, and North-west Persia. As it is vernacular to numerous tribes in all the Russian provinces beyond the Caucasus, this dialect has been termed, by way of distinction, the Trans-Caucasian. It diifers in many respects from its cognate dialects spoken in Kasan and the Crimea. It has none of the sweetness and dignity of the Turkish; and till reduced to grammatical principles by the German missionaries, did not even hold the rank of a written tongue. The first work written in this dialect was a translation of tlie New Testament by Messrs. Zaremba and Pfander, agents of the Basle Missionary Society. They at first experienced great difliculty in preparing tliis translation; for the Armenians of Shushi, tliough acquainted with the dialect as a colloquial medium, were unable to write it, and the Turks were imwilling to lend any aid to the undertaking. Afterwards, however, an efficient assistant was found in Mirza Ferookh, an Armenian of Shushi, who in early youth had been carried captive into Karadagh, adopted into the family of the khan, and instructed in all tlic learning of Persia. After spending seventeen years at the court of his royal patron, he bethought himself of his parents and his native village, and made his escape thither. He originally joined the missionaries with a view of learning the Russian language; but they employed him in translating this version of the New, and part of the Old Testament, into his native dialect, and the work was blessed to the conversion of his soul. An edition of 1000 copies of the Gospel of St. Mattliew was printed about the year 1836 by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Since that period all direct missionary efforts in the circulation of this version have been suspended by an imperial ukase. CLASS lY.-DETACHED FAMILIES. F. CAUCASIAN FAMILY. GEORGIAN. FOE SPECIMENS OF THIS VERSION, see Plate 8, page 334.. I.— GEOGKAPIIICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Georgia, the country of the ancient Iberi, lies along the southern foot of Mount Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, and comprises an area of 18,000 square miles, and a population estimated at upwards of 500,000. The adjacent tracts of coimtry, sometimes loosely included under the general name of Georgia, are occupied by the Wingrelians, the Imeritians, the Suani, and the Lazians, who all form part of the Georgian race, and speak dialects of that language ; the collective amount of population, including Georgia Proper, is estimated, from the latest date, to exceed 3,000,000. Since the beginning of the present century, Georgia has formed a portion of the Russian empire, and the national religion is the same as that of Russia. IT. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Althougli in the structure of the Georgian language there are several remarkable points of analogy connecting it on the one hand with the languages of the Indo-European class, and on the other with those of Eastern and Central Asia, yet it differs in words and roots from all known languages, and is therefore entitled to be regarded as a peculiar and distinct idiom. Its frequent use of postpositions, and the ease with which certain words can be made to subserve alternately the offices of substantives, adjectives, and adverbs, are points in which it claims affinity with the Turkish or Tartarian stock ; while its multiplicity of inflections, formed for the most part by variations of termination, seems to connect it with the Indo-European class. Indeed it has been brought back to the Sanscrit by Bopp, but not satisfiictorily. It possesses eight distinct cases, formed according to rules that are both simple and uniform; and in abundance of verbal inflections it is surpassed by few languages; for though it lias but two moods, the indicative and the imperative, yet the perfect tense in certain verbs can present itself under seven or eight diflTerent forms, to which the future tense has as many corresponding ones. Moreover, the combination of participles with a dative construction of the object governed, forms a feature of this language, more remarkable than in Armenian, or in any kindred dialect of it. In fact, its forms of verbs are almost innumerable, for nearly every verb has some pecidiarities in conju- gation which can be learnt only by practice. The alphabetical characters used by the Georgians are of two distinct kinds, the one appropriated to civil and the other to ecclesiastical purposes. The first seems to be a combination of various elements, some of which are Indian, but the latter is derived from the Armenian; and, in spite of the political relations between the two nations, comparatively few Armenian words have been engrafted on the classic Georgian language. A greater admixture of such terms, with the addition of Turkish, 24 354 UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. Greek, and other foreign words, serves principally to distinguish the modern language of Georgia from the venerable idiom in which the version of the Scripture is written. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. According to a tradition of the Georgian church, the Scriptures were translated into this language, in the eighth century, by Euphemius, the founder and patron of the Iberian monastery on Mount Athos. It is stated, however, by other authorities, that in the sixth century the Georgians sent young men of talent into Greece to study the Greek language, and that on their return they furnished their countrymen with a translation of the Scriptures and of the liturgical books of the Greek Church. But whoever may have been the translator, it is certain that tlie Georgian version of tlie Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint, and tlie New Testament from Greek MSS. of the Constantino- politan family; and that the entire version was executed at some time between the sixth and the eighth centuries. This version would have been of great value in a critical point of view, had it not been corrupted during the many centuries through which it has passed. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was in particular grossly interpolated, for it was then collated with the Sclavonic version, and portions of the Old Testament, which had been lost during the political troubles of Georgia, were translated anew from the Sclavonic. This revision was carried on at IMoscow, under the superintendence of Georgian princes who had sought refuge in Russia. Prince Arcil was the first to engage in the work, but he died before it was completed, and a new and more careful revision was commenced by Prince Vakuset, who rendered the entire version as conformable as possible to the Sclavonic, and introduced the use of verses in imitation of that text. A printed edition was brought out under his direction, at IMoscow, in 1743, at the expense of his brother, Prince Bacchar; the types were cast in that city, and the correction of the press was committed to four native Georgians. This ■was the first occasion on which the entire Georgian version had been committed to the press; but, a small edition of the New Testament, with the Psalms and Prophets, had been printed a few years previously under the care of Prince Vaktangh, at Tiflis, in Georgia. The Moscow edition formed the text of the New Testament printed by the Moscow Bible Society in 1815, under the superintendence of the Georgian Metropolitan, Ion, and of Archbishop Pafnut, both resident in the Kremlin of Moscow. The edition consisted of 5000 copies, and the types from which it was printed were cast from the very matrices which had been used for the former edition, and which had been providentially preserved during the conflagration of the city at the time of Napoleon's invasion. The Society was induced to issue this edition by information received th-rough Dr. Pinkerton, in 1814, concerning the state of the Greco-Georgian church. At that period there were at least 2000 churches in Georgia, Imeritla, and Mingrelia; and 200 copies of the Bible could not be found amongst them all. In consequence of this scarcity of the Scriptures, the clergy were very ignorant; but the women of Georgia were noted for the zeal with which they devoted themselves to the acquisition of religious knowledge. The tradition that the Georgian nation was first converted to Christianity by the preaching of a Greek virgin, named Ninna, in the fourth century, had much influence on pubhc opinion; and a proper acquaintance with the doctrines of Scripture has always been considered in Georgia an indispensable part of female education. In 1818, the Society printed another edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament : in this edition the civil or common characters were adopted, which were found more generally intelligible to the laity, the former editions having been printed in the sacred or ecclesiastical character, which is almost exclusively used by the clergy. More recent editions of various portions of the Scriptures have been printed at Tiflis and in Eussia, but concerning these editions wc have no particular account. CLASS IV.-DETACHED FAMILIES. C. SAMOIEDE FAMI L Y. S A M 0 I E D E. The term " Samoiede," or " Samoycde," or " Samojcde," is difEcult to interpret. It means properly "eaters of themselves;" but this etymology cannot be good, since those tribes have never been anthropophagi. In some works written in Russian, the Samoyedes are also called " Syrojedes," eaters of raw flesh, an appellation far Ijettcr suited to them than the former. But as Klaproth states, the term " Samoyede" seems to extend far to the eastward in Siberia, and may possibly be of Mongolian orio-in. Be that as it may, under the term " Samoyede," are understood a great number of tribes, occupying a tract of country which ranges from the 40th to the 110th degree of longitude, and reaching as far as along the Yenisei, to the foot of the Altai range. They are a degraded, ignorant race, depending for a precarious subsistence upon fishing and the chase, and slaves to the most abject superstition; scattered in divided groups over a large portion of Siberia, as well as over the Arctic shores of the European continent, their settlements extending almost from the Dvina and the neighbourhood of Archangel to the Lena in East Siberia. They are divided into Western, Eastern, and Southern Samoiedes, and their tongue, or rather tongues and dialects, seems to approximate nearer to the Finnish stock of languages than to any other, as shown by the vocabularies of Samoiede words collected by Pallas and Klaproth. As early as 1819, a proposal emanating from Johannes WernagoflT, of Bcresov, was laid before the Branch Bible Society at Tobolsk, to translate the Scriptures into Samoiede. Nothing more, however, was heard of the undertaking till die year 1824, when, at a meeting of the Eussian Bible Society, a specimen of the first chapter of St. Matthew, in Samoiede, was sent for inspection by Neophitos, bishop of Archangel. This chapter had been read to several Samoiedes, who understood it very well, and several clergymen of the parish of Ischemsk were in consequence employed to continue the trans- lation, under the inspection of Bishop Neophitos. The Committee resolved to encourage the work, in the hope of bringing a people sitting in gross darkness to the saving light of the Gospel; but unhappily the suspension of the Society by an imperial ukase, in 1826, prevented the prosecution of the translation. CLASS IV.-DETACHED FAMILIES. H. DIALECTS OF THE ISLANDS OF EASTERN ASIA, AND OF COREA. JAPANESE. f OR SPECIMEN OF THE JAPANESE A^EESION. see Plate 0, page 356. The Japanese empire consists of four large and many small islands, lying off the eastern shores of tlio Asiatic Continent, between lat. 30° luid 45° N., and long. 128° and 146° E. The Japanese have bivn the pivdominant race in tliis extensive empire from time immemorial, and it is now impossible to ascertain from wliat region they originally emigrated, for in pliysical conformation, religion, and language, they differ from all the neighbouring nations. It has been conjectured that the population of tliis empire, exclusive of its dependencies, amounts to 50,000,000; but our information on tins point, as on every thing connected with tlie interior of Japan, is very imperfect, and otlier estimates rate the population at only half that amount. Tlie primitive religion of the Japanese is called Sin-siit, literally, " doctrine of spirits:" it consists in the adoration of numerous spirits or divinities supposed to preside over all things visible and invisible, and among tlie foremost in the ranks of these false goils are included the progcuitore of the present line of emperors. Tliis ancient form of belief has, however, in a great measure been supei'seded by Buddhism, which is now the prevailing religion in Japan. There arc also many followers of Confucius, who, as in Cliina, devote tlieir sole attention to the affiUrs of this life, without reference to a future state of existence. I. CnAEACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Japanese is a polysyllabic language, and altogether different in structure and idiom frem tiic Chinese. The very org-ans of articulation are dissimilar in the two nations; and such Chinese words as have passed into the Japanese vocabulary are grcatlv altered in pronunciation. Words of Chinese origin arc however very common in Japanese, having been introduced by Chinese colonics, but more particularly by the influence of Chinese literature, upon which all the learning of Japan is based. Yet there are points in which the Japanese coincides with the monosyllabic and Tartarian classes of languages: it has, for instance, no tcrminational distinctions of gender, and the cases of substantives arc denoted by sulfixes; the verbs have regular inflections to denote the diflference of teiuie, but they are invariable witli respect to number and pci-son. In many of its most simple and radical words, Japanese also claims aiUnity with the idioms of Eastern Asia; and several such clement;U terms have been pointed out by Klaproth as common to the Japanese, Mongoli;\n, and Finnish languages. The Chinese characters were formerly used in writing Japanese, but not being found adapted to express the sounds of this language, three different syllabaries were invented by the Japanese, and are now in general use; tliey consist chictly of modified and contracted Chinese characters. Those in principal « »•; ic -C t^ !- ~ JL '" A — ~ l -T .' ' J ^ 2 ^ '^ iii r . = •£. r: i ^ - - ^'-? ^ -i i f >K 'i3 — .-:-- ;2 - .t" j: ^ C (^ ;; • I p" J "" •- "7 ;!; ^ IS r! f" ^ ^* *" ^ **^ i 3- -i }° •^ ; ? .-'"'"':.:: 5 =r - E » '5 ^i-- ss-s ">. ^c't.r^- = X r^ £ i: :3 ^' ^5 r^ = " ■= "X S ^ K u t -3 « - n J r: 1, ^ r- „ ,a " 'O = .^ C 2 K 3 ;^. a- J fO X a^ ^ -C ^ r: 5 -o; ^ r E ^ f« C r i ^ V >r. .?: J5 re f 3. inJ '^^ »«' 2 d i *;^ ^"^ rc ^ ^ J5 '-C '-^.3' -t - -^ 1^1—'"'* - = >- r i 35 "f> „ ^ '^ -r^ ^^ '^ -S 'C 2 SPtCIUCH or TMC . LOOCHOOAN VERSION. THe LORD'S PftAYCK. •-.'-••■1^ >■ r>'P t P*n>t»i;n> ^ ^ -*■ ^ 7 ^^ 'I 1 ^7 Y 0 *7 7 7 X r : ? I" ) f f r — -^ 0 f7 SPCCIUtH OP THt JAPANESE VERSION. ".JOHN Ch.f I . I_5 bj D' eclair PlOir l> 11 /I ■» •I o ^ -> ^ 'I a" ^^ ^ P I ?• ^ ? r3 K »• ?/ V -J* 7 ;^ HZ- ■» ;^ e A h y r?. >{^ 'J' ^ 7 ^» ;^ 'V t X 7.. y o V 7 ?» Class IV.] LOOCHOOAN. 357 use are tlie Katayana, used for scientific works; and the Hiragana, or running hand, used in liglit literature, and in common intercourse. 11 — VEUSION OF THE SCUIl'TUUES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The rigid cxckision of foreigners from J;ipan during the last three centuries, and the suspicious and vigilant spirit of the government, have rendered the translation of the Scriptures into Japanese u matter of almost insuperable difficulty. Dr. Medhurst, agent of the London JMissionary Society in China, applied to the study of the Ja])anese language, and made copies of the dictionaries and other works that were accessible to him, in the hope of qualllylng himself for this arduous undertaking; but the honour of translating the first portion of Scripture into the language of this extensive empire was reserved for the late Dr. Gutzlad". About the year 1835, three sliipvvreckcd Japanese mariners arrived ut JIacao on their voyage homewards, and during the few months that they remained in that city. Dr. GutzlafT availed himself of their aid in translating the Gospel of St. John into their language. Tills translation was printed at Singapore about the year 1839, but it does not appear that oppor- tunities have as yet been afforded for its circulation. Upon the occasion of Dr. GutzlafTs visit to England, however, in 1849, proposals for printing the Scriptures in the Japanese tongue (as well as in other languages of Eastern Asia) were submitted by him to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a small grant was made towards printing a certain portion of the New Testament in Japanese, as a pioneer translation. Since that time the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. John have been printed, according to Dr. GutzlafTs translation. The whole MS. of the New Testament, as translated by him and his associates into Japanese, is at present in this country. The style of Dr. Gutzlaff's version, however, being found inferior and little likely to prove accep- table to tlie better educated in Japan, a new translation was imdertaken by Dr. Bettelheim, missionary to Loo-Choo; and the MS. of the Four Gospels was sent by him to England. It is in Chinese and Japanese, the Japanese being written in the Katagana character. An edition of the Gospel of St. Luke, from Dr. Bettelhelm's version, has been printed at Hong-Kong, under the care of tlie Bishop of Victoria, and at the expense of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This edition is regarded as tentative only, and is issued with tlie view of subjecting it to inquiries as to its accuracy, and its adaptation in style and idiom to the Japanese mind, before proceeding further in tlie important labour of which it forms a commencement. The recent negociation of a treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Japan (1858), in virtue of which the ships of the former power have permission to visit certain ports of this hltlierto secluded empire, may be confidently looked forward to as a means of aid to missionary enterprise. LOOCHOOAN. FOE SPECIMEN OF THIS VEKSION, see Plate 9, page 356. The Loochoo, or Lowchew Islands, are thirty-six in number, and lie about 400 miles eastward of China, nearly midway between Japan and Formosa. The principal island, called Great Loochoo, from which the entire group derives its name, is fifty miles long, and from twelve to fifteen broad, but most of the other islands are of very inferior dimensions. The inhabitants arc of the same race as the Japanese, and speak a dialect of that language. They are now subject to China: their religion is that of Fo or Buddha, and tlieir government is a despotic monarchy. A mission, called the " Loochoo Naval Mission," having for its object tlie conversion of the Loochooans to Christianity, was commenced about the year 1843. Dr. Bettelheim, a medical inis- 358 UGRO-TAllTARIAN LANGUAGES. [Class IV. sionary, was sent, in 1846, by this Society to Loochoo, wlience he has since returned to America. He has translated the Four Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, into Loochooan; and from the similarity of this dialect to Japanese, it is hoped that his translations may be found useful in Japan itself. In addition to contributions from other sources, a grant of fifty pounds was made by the British and Foreign Bible Society towards defraying the expenses of printing Dr. Bettelheim's version of the Gospel of St. Luke and of the Acts. As the Japanese characters arc used in writing Loochooan, and as the casting of type for these characters in England is far more expensive than cutting the blocks in China, it was resolved to have the work printed at Hong Kong. This work, the expenses of which have been mainly defrayed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, has since been accomplished, under the superintendence of the Bishop of Victoria (Hong Kong). The Loochooan version of St. Luke, St. John, Acts, and Romans, was thus completed in 1855. We possess as yet, however, no information concerning its reception among the interesting population for whose use it is designed. ALEUTIAN, on ALIOUT-LI SE YEFF. The Aleutian Islands form a long circular chain, above 1300 miles in length, traversing the North Pacific from Cape Alaska, in America, to the peninsula of Kamtschatka, in Asia, so as almost to unite the two continents. These islands are extremely numerous. They were partially discovered by Behring in 1741; the largest, which still bears his name, is upwards of sixty miles in length, but many of the others are mere rocks. They are much frequented by the Russian Fur Coiripany, and are included in the government of Irkutsk. Most of the inhabitants are idolaters, though many of tliem have been baptized and instructed in the rites of the Greek church. They subsist chiefly on the produce of fishing and the chase; and, to judge from their habits and physical conformation, appear an inter- mediate race between the Mongolians and the North American Indians. Tlieir language is very similar to that of the Esquimaux, especially of the Namolles, an Esquimaux tribe residing on the shore of the north-eastern promontory of Asia. In point of number the Aleutians have been variously estimated at from a few hundreds to six thousand. The Gospel of St. Matthew has been translated for the benefit of these islanders by Priest Joan Veniaminoff, otherwise written John BenjaminofF, by whom the language was first reduced to writing, and a Grammar of it published at St. Petersburg in 1846. He had resided for fifteen years as mis- sionary among this people : the dialect in which the translation is made is that spoken in the island of Oonalashka; but there is no great difference between the idioms of the various islands of this group, any local peculiarity being readily explained by means of marginal notes. The first chapter of St. Luke, and the first two chapters of the Acts, have been translated by the same Russian priest into the dialect spoken in the island of Atkho, or Atcha. The only Aleutian translation which has hitherto been com- mitted to the press is that of the Gospel of St. ilatthcw, which was printed at Moscow, in 1840, in parallel columns with the Russian version. Class IV.] CO RE AN. 359 C 0 R E A N. CoREA is a peninsula of Eastern Asia, separated from Mantchou Tartary by a lofty chain of mountains. Its area, inclusive of the islands near its shores, has been estimated at 80,000 square miles: its amount of population is uncertain, but docs not probably exceed 2,000,000. The government is a despotic monarchy, and tiie country is tributary to China, and perhaps to Japan : the religious systems of Buddha and of Confucius have each their respective adherents. The language, being destitute of inflexions indicative of gender and number, and forming its cases by moans of suffixes, is analogous in its main features to the Tartarian class. It is also strikingly similar to Japanese. j\Iany Chinese virords enter into its composition, for Corea has received its civilisa- tion and its literature from China, and the Chinese language is sedulously cultivated by all ranks as tlie principal learned and literary medium, and the only avenue to political distinction. Composite words are of very frequent occurrence in Corcan, the first syllable consisting of the native word, and the second of the Chinese synonym pronounced in the Corean manner. This arrangement renders the language extremely verbose, but its sounds are by no means disagreeable to the car of a foreigner, the pronunciation being clear, full, and sonorous. In writing, the Coreans use syllabic characters similar in tiieory to the Japanese Katagana system, but suited to the peculiar articulations of their own language. These characters are placed in vertical columns, as in Chinese and Japanese, and when written, they are so grouped together as to form in appearance figures similar in many respects to Chinese characters. In 1832, the shores of Corca were visited by Dr. Gutzlaif, who distributed portions of the Chinese Scriptures among the inhabitants, and caused a copy of the entire Chinese version to be conveyed to the monarch. A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Corean has been effected by a Baptist missionary, and the Psalms have been translated by Dr. Schmidt; but these translations are still in MS., and their critical merits have not been ascertained. There is at present no possibility of introducing the light of Divine truth into Corea: foreigners are zealously excluded from the country, and Europeans are seldom permitted even to land on its shores. It may be expected, however, that the altered political relations between the Chinese government and the various nations of the civilised world, consequent upon recent events, will ere long aSbrd an opening for the entrance of the Word of Truth into this as well as other portions of the vast and hitherto benighted empire of China. CLASS V.-POLYNESIAN, OE MALAYAN. MALAYAN. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. [Calcutta Edition, 1817.] (^l^ijJts-J jbj iA-j i>U- ^^ ^,^ ti^'^j-j Cjb i_X» I— ->^_jl ti;^^.'^'^ «Jw> »-»~j *t'JJl (♦Lj < ?iU ^j L?^^ f j'i"' '^^'^^ * ""^.^ i_s'^ ^y '"^^' ^'^" ^-^-^ (*^ '~-^* A^ jJ^'^'i \J^j^ ^-^.^ fy * ujj J'jO i_^'w cJw>j ^*ujL« fj'j*"-! iiY^r'^^ T-^.. ^^^-^'^ -^ f-r! f r^ *— -V.' ''>^'^' * ^—^^ ijL- J " * j_jO JXt« o'jO- ^a_ LCij il,C t_-^_.l ^^^Jc=-J jj^ LuJ ^b LOJ JLv' ^_jl ^j-' c;%J u^-' ^P '^j^ ^^. J^l^' *>^ b'. " V^ u»^^ uVv" t'- i^J i^« ^b j_^b jlj5- ^juj Li:^;! c:..^^ ( C< " * i— ^ i^\ Ai^O c-jlis ;_s~'''* jjJ^ji^J ^^ CL\i-j ^jljJ-^ c:jU«) t-^oUU^^ cJlw« :(A_j tc^'^ L--C« ^-^l^jUL'b^ *.'JiA-;( — -y^A-i^^b c: — ♦xJ It is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the exact number of individuals composing the restless and enterprising race to which this language is vernacular, but they certainly include several millions. The kingdom of Menangkabou, in the central region of Sumatra, wliere this language, with some little dialectic variation, is still spoken, appears to have been the original country of the Malays; but, impelled by the love of adventure and of trade, they possessed themselves at a very early period of the Malayan peninsula from the fifth degree of north latitude, and then established successive colonies in the districts most favourably situated for commerce throughout the islands of the JIalayan archipelago. In the Malayan peninsula, the Malays, properly so called, are held and consider themselves as quite distinct from the Ortmg leiiau, or aborigines: the latter, indeed, are very diilcrent from them both in appearance and in Class V.] MALAYAN. 361 spcccli. On all tnc soa-coasts of those islands, and on the banks of the navigable rivers, there is but one language of tralHc in which nierchants and traders of all nations transact their business, and that lan- guage is the llalayan, which on that account has been called the lingua franca of the Eastern archi- pelago. This predominance is due not only to the energetic commercial habits of the Malays, but likewise to the peculiar qualities of the language itself It is soft and harmonious in pronunciation, simple and easy in its grammatical system, plain and natural in the construction of sentences. The cases of nouns are denoted by prepositions; distinct words are used to express the singular and the plural number; and gender is ascribed to no inanimate object. There are few if any Malayan sounds which cannot be readily articidated by Europeans; and even in the numerous words which are borrowed from other languages, the Malays smooth and polish down the harsher sounds to the standard of their own organs. JIalayan is a branch of the ancient and widely-extended language of which the fragments are to be found in nearly all the islands of the Pacific. The so-called Polynesian language, which ranges from the South Sea Islands to the East, as far as Madagascar in the West, bears in the Malay tongue the same proportion as Anglo-Saxon does in English; and words borrowed from Sanscrit and from Arabic occupy in it the same relative position as words derived from Greek and Latin do in our own language. It is therefore in many respects almost identical with the dialects of the South Sea islanders, and especially with those of the Malayan archipelago; but it likewise possesses some distinctive character- istics of its own, and a considerable portion of its vocabulary is undoubtedly borrowed from the Sanscrit, through intercourse with India. Arabic has had even more influence than the Sansci'it in the modification of this language; and nearly all the abstract terms, as well as the religious and political theories of the IMalays, are derived from the Koran. The Arabic characters have been principally employed in writing Malayan since the conversion of the ]\Ialays of Sumatra to Islamism, in A.D. 1204. The JMulay language thus written is called hasa jahwi, or mixed tongue. Six sounds which do not exist in Arabic are denoted by means of diacritical points. Eoman letters are also extensively used by the JIalays, especially in some of the Dutch colonies. [OxFoED Edition, 1677.] Pada mouleynja itou adda jang Pattahu, daan Pattahu itou adda pada ALLAH- TALLA, daan Pattahu itou ja ALL AH-TALL A juga. ^ Ini derri pada mouleynja adda pada ALL AH-TALLA. ^Barrang appa sainmoa souda jaddi derri itou juga, daan jangan itou tjadda jaddi appa appa derri itou, jang souda jaddi juga. ''Pada jang ini juga adda hidopan, daan hidopan itou trangnja orang manusscia. *Daan trang itou ja adda bertja ja dallani glap itou, daan glap itou tjadda nienraoungut trang itou juga. ''De sitou jaddi menjuro derri ALLAH-TALLA orang manusscia sa orang, jang nammanja adda Joannes. '' Jang ini datan capada sahitaii agar dia bersaliit derri trang itou, sebab dia sammoa jaddi pitsja ja derri pada djala. ^ Dia bouckan trang itou, tetapi dia souda souro acan, agar dia jaddi bersahit derri trang itou. ^Jang trang benar itou dia, jang dia bri trang acan sagnap orang manusscia, wachtou datan de dunja. '"Dia adda de dunja, daan dimja itou ja souda boat derri pada dia : daan dunja ja tjadda.lvenelnja juga. ''Dia souda datan pada jang ca dia, daan ca dia itou ja tjadda sambotnja. '- Tetapi itou sammoa jang dia sambotnja, itou dia souda bri coassa, menjaddi annac ALLAH-TALLA, [catauwi] itou, jang dia souda pitsja ja dallam nammanja. '^ Jang ca manna ja bouckan jaddi derri dara, lagi derri condati dagging, lagi derri condati lelacki pon tjadda, tetapi jang soiida men- jaddi derri ALLAH-TALLA juga. '* Daan Pattahu itou ja souda jaddi dagging, daan souda doudoc de tenga kita, (daan kita souda caleatan mouljanja, suatu mahamoul ja saperti sabatang cara derri Bappa la) pouno dengan fcrmang daan benarnja. 362 POLYNESIAN, Oil MALAYAN LANGUAGES. [Class V. I. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTUKES IN THIS LANGUAGE. No fewer tlian seven distinct versions of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, exist In this language. The honour of originating and commencing this series of translations belongs to the Dutch, who applied themselves to this important work very shortly after the formation of their East India Company in 1602. The first translation was made by John Van Hasel, a director of that Company, about the beginning of the seventeenth century. When he had completed a version of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, he handed over the MS. to Peter de Carpentier, the general of the Company; and soon after, in 1612, another version of St. Matthew was delivered to the same individual by Albert Cornellsson Ruyl, in order that the two translations might be compared. It was objected to the former that it was too literal, and therefore unidlomatlc; and to Ruyl's, that it was too courtly: ultimately, however, the preference was assigned to the latter. Encouraged by this decision, Euyl devoted himself to the completion of the New Testament; but he only lived to translate as far as the close of the Gospel accordinn- to St. Mark. His MSS. were sent to Holland, and were printed with the Dutch version, at Enkhuyzen, in 1629; and again at Amsterdam, in 1638. Van Hasel, far from being discoura.ced at the preference with which Ruyl's version was regarded, persevered with his own translation, and completed a version of the Four Gospels, of which, however, St. Luke and St. John only have been published. They were printed at Amsterdam in 1646, with the Dutch version. Van Hasel also translated the Psalms, in concert with Justus Heurn, who for fifteen years presided over the Dutch Church in India. Tiie first portion of this version was printed at Amsterdam in 1648, and the entire Psalter appeared at the same place in 1689. Heurn likewise trans- lated the Acts of the Apostles Into Malayan, and revised the Gospels of Van Hasel and Ruyl according to the Greek, or rather, perhaps, conformed them to the Low or Belglc Dutch version of 1637 ; whereas, they had been originally accommodated to the Dutch version executed from Luther's German Bible. This revision was carried on under the sanction of the Dutch Company; and an edition consisting of the Gospels and Acts, with the Dutch version in the margin, was printed at their expense at Amsterdam [Beowee's Translation, 1668.] Pada moulaiija adda jang Cattahan itou, daen jarg Cattahan itou adda decat Alia Thalia, daen jang Cattahan itou adda Alia Thalia. ^ Itoula pada moulanja adda decat Alia Thalia. ^Barang appa samoa souda menjaddi derri itou djouga, daen sin itou tida menjaddi app' appa [derri samoanja] nang souda menjaddi. "* Dallam jang ini adda idoppan, daen idoppan itou adda orang manusia pounja trang. ^ Daen trang itou bertsjaya dallam galap, daen galap tida polo trang itou. ''De sanna adda manusia satou jang jaddi souro derri Alia Thalia, nammanja Joannes. "' Ini-la souda datang pada bri sahittan, agar dia bersaxi derri trang itou, agar orang samoa petsjaya derri pada dia. « Dia ti' adda jang trang itou, hanja dia jaddi menjouro, agar dia bersaxi derri trang itou. ^Ini-la trang jang benar, jang bertrangacan segalla manusia jang datang de dallam dunja. i^Dia adda de dallam dunja, daen dunja souda menjaddi derri pada Dia: daen dunja tida kcnal pada Dia. I'Dia souda datang pada dia pounja orang, daen dia pounja orang tida tarima pada Dia. ^^ Hanja brappa orang soada tarima pada Dia, pada orang itou Dia souda bri coassa pada menjaddi Alia Thalia pounja annac, catauwi pada orang itou jang pet.=ijaya capada Dia pounja namma. ^-^ Jang tida menjaddi derri dara, nen derri da"-ino- pounja candati, nen derri lacki lacki pounja candati, hanja derri Alia Thalia diouo-a. i*Daen jang Cattahan itou souda jaddi daging, daen itou souda doudoc de antara cami, (daen cami souda menantang dia pounja berbesaran, jang adda berbesaran seperti Bappa pounja Annac sa orang sadja) pounou dengan fermang daen benarran. Class V.] MALAYAN. 363 in 1651. Tliis edition appears to liavc been used as the text of anotlier edition of the Gospels and Acts, printed at Oxford in 1677, at the expense of the Hon. Robert Boyle, and under the superintendence of Dr. Hyde, keeper of the Bodleian Library. A second impression of the same work, in every respect similar to the first, was printed at Oxford in 1704, and the copies were sent to the East, to be distributed among the natives to whom the language is vernacular. These, and all the editions above mentioned, were printed in Roman characters. At len^ ''^I'k^ '--^'' * crt4j^ L5^t/ ciej'^ J^ i5^ '~-V.^ ?y ^i}^^ ^.u.>.iL^ i^oljs-J aii' 'oJo ^b bJj Jl\^ ol l::^;! ln^ i^., ^\y^j '" * ^U JJLj t^j^* ^J^ W''^ ^^^J lj;\ cl'^' ^:J^ '^^ t-'^J ^ ^ Civ« " * 1^'^ e/' '-'-^ '^'^ '^''^ u"^-^ =^'"'^ crt'.?' ij\j J,j ^y_ j:,\ju \ ^\^^ c^t/ 366 POLYNESIAN, OR MALAYAN LANGUAGES. [Class V. them rather than freely accepted, and their Mohammedan prejudices had been deemed impregnatlo. In consequence of their increased demand for the " Englishman's Koran," the Calcutta Society published, in 1833, a revised edition of 1000 copies of the Gospels and Acts, and 1500 copies of the entire New Testament, from the edition corrected by Mr. Ilutchings. The printing was carried on at Singapore, under the care of the Rev. Messrs. Thomsen and Burn of the London Missionary Society, by whom such alterations were introduced in the text as a longer and more intimate acquaintance with the lan- guage had rendered desirable. Another version of the New Testament, less literal and more idiomatic than former translations, has been executed by the agents of the London Jlissionary Society and of the American Bible Society, at Singapore. The expenses have been partly defrayed by the British and Foreign Bible Society; editions consisting of 1000 copies in Roman and 1000 in Arabic characters were printed in 1856, under the care of the Rev. B. P. Keasberry, and are now in process of distribution. It now only remains under the head of Malayan Scriptures to notice a version made in a dialect of this language termed " Low Malay." This dialect, sometimes called "Common, or Colloquial j\Ialay," because it is in many districts the general medium of conversation, is spoken more especially in the [Eobinson's Veesion, 1823.] ijj\ JlCo |Usl« (^^/ i^j^* ^'^ ^J u^ ^^'-^ tj}^ 1^ "^ ■— ^' ^^J t.::-^ J^ i-^j^ ♦r'.'V ^'^^ u*^ j-i lt> ol^ i'A-j Lji^J ^^ .^ X « >» * (^'-^u'^ ?;^^ cr^'^ ^^^.^ cJ^M j^Jl Jil^' uJ^ fc— Jlj Class V.] MALAYAN. 367 lower parts of Java, as for instance in Batavia and tlie whole neighbourhood; whereas, the Malayan Proper, or " High JIalay," is spoken in the upper parts of the same island. Dr. Leyden long ago remarked upon the impossibility of forming such a version as would be approved in every JIalay country; at the same time observing, that a version in the idiom of Malacca and Batavia would not be very intelligible to the Malays of Sumatra and otlier islands. The Ecv. Claudius Buchanan also mentioned that the Dutch version of 1758 was not clearly understood by the Malays of Sumatra, and that Thomas Jarrett, Esq., of the Company's civil service, had prepared a translation in the Sumatran idiom at the College of Fort William: the Four Gospels of this version were ready for press as early as 1804, but whether any portion was actually printed docs not appear. In the year 1814, the Java Au.xiliary Bible Society was formed, and one of the first measures contemplated was the translation of the New Testament into Low Malay. Mr. Robinson, a Baptist missionary, was engaged to prepare the work; and, after much delay arising from sickness and local dilTicultics, he completed and printed the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. John. The printing was afterwards transferred to the College at Singapore, and the version appears to have been completed by Dr. Medhurst. An edition of the New Testament left the press in 1833, and some considerable distributions were made by Dr. Medhurst, during a visit to Sourabaya, on the north-east coast of Java, and Samarang. A translation of the Psalms into Low Malay has more recently been made by some Christians at Sourabaya; and an edition of 1000 copies has been printed at Amsterdam, under the care of Professor Vetti, by the Netherlands Bible Society. The edition left the press in 1847, and the copies were forwarded to Sourabaya. II. RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The readiness with which the Malays receive the Scriptures is proved by the numerous editions which have been distributed among them. A few instances of the perusal of the Malayan version having been blessed to the conversion of individuals, are recorded by the missionaries. Ali, a native teacher of the JIalayan language, was led to compare the Bible with the Koran, and the comparison resulted in his rejection of Jlohammedanism. In 1839, he professed his faith in Christianity by receiving the rite of baptism. " The religion of Jesus (he often said) is the only true one given to man, because it changes tJie heart, which the Koran, and the study I have given to it for twenty years, could not produce." It is in the highest degree gratifying to learn that the prospect of missionary efforts among the Malays is becoming even more encouraging now than some years ago, especially in the Dutch possessions. The recent edition of the Malay Scriptures, above referred to, is likely to be speedily exhausted, and the demand for the Word of God is daily increasing. " You are warranted in rejoicing (writes the Rev. J. H. Barnstcin, one of the missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society at Banjermassin, in Borneo, 1852), over the desire manifested here among the Mohammedan Malays to possess the Scrip- tures; and we can in truth assure you that the precious Word of God has already produced much good here. Even though we may as yet be able to reckon only a few isolated individuals who have openly embraced Christianity, we have the gratilication of observing that on the whole many prejudices against the Gospel have been removed, and as the people read and hear the Word of God with feelings very different to those which formerly existed, we have the confident hope that by the blessing and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, it will in time to come increasingly take root and bring forth fruit." .308 POLYNESIAN, OR MALAYAN LANGUAGES. [Class V. FORMOSA N. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Formosa is an island lying off the east coast of China, under the tropic of Cancer, and directly nortli of the Philippines. It is not above 100 miles from the Chinese coast, from which it is separated by the Strait of Formosa, or channel of Fokien, as it is sometimes (from the adjoining province of that name) called. Its length, which is greatest from north to south, includes more than three degrees of latitude, and is not less than 250 English miles; but it is much narrowed towards each extremity, and its breadth at the widest part does not exceed eighty miles. According to the most recent information, the population is about 2,500,000. The Dutch appear to have been the first foreign power who obtained dominion over this island; but they were expelled, and many of them cruelly massacred, in 1661, by a Chinese pirate; and since 1683, Formosa has been subject to China. Tlie natives are of the same race as the Haraforas, or Alforas, of the Moluccas and other islands. Some among them have been partially civilised, and have settled in villages near the Chinese colonies, on the coast opposite to China. Those who have preserved their independence live in a state of perpetual revolt against the Chinese possessors of the island. They dwell eastward of the chain of mountains which divides the island in its whole course from north to south. This district has never been explored, and our knowledge of the people is very imperfect. They have no books, no written language, and apparently no ancient or fixed system of religion. They have no king or supreme ruler, but are governed bv a number of petty chieftains. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Formosa is the most northern point in which a dialect is spoken of that ancient and widely difli'uscd lanfTuafe which pervades the islands of the South Sea. The southernmost boundary of this language is the south of New Zealand, the easternmost is Easter Island, and the western is Madagascar. Tlierc are only fifteen elemental sounds in this language, including all the dialects. Through some peculiarity in their organs of articulation, the people to whom this language is vernacular have rejected all strongly pronounced consonants, especially the sibilant: and have merged the majority of their words into pure vowel sounds. This habit, joined to the rule requiring every syllable to terminate with a vowel, and precluding the coalescence of two consonants, occasions the softness of sound for which all the dialects are remarkable. The grammatical system, like that of the Malayan, is particularly simple. Particles, as in that language, supply the place of inflection. The only real inflection of which a Polynesian verb is capable, is the reduplication of the whole or part of a verb to express repeated action. The " particles of form" \l OHAqXH ICSeil en JjATOII c|)|-. ' eCUBIllBOU AT^'KOni OBOAeiTOTq OTOZ ATiruorq unee.vi jyconi Jjoii ct)HeTAq;yu)ni. * ne nconlj no orenljHTq oroe ntoul) ne HerepoTU)ini opioui iiiBeu oohhot ^jniKocuoc. '° HAqxH Jjen niKocuoc no oroe niKOcuoc Aqycuni OBo.veiToxq oroz unoniKocuoc covtoiK]. " Aq^i eA noTOMorq oroe noroMorq unoryonq eptoor. '^ hh ao oTA'c^onq epujoT Aqb ep^i^yi ncuor eep ^npi nno-rh nHeonA2l' onoqpAu. " hh ere oboaIjou ciioq AH lie OTAo ^Bo.vljen (^OTUJ^ ncAp^ au ne otao oboaIjOu c|)Otu)3 npu)ui ah no A.v\A OTATUACOT eBo.vf>en fj)!". " OToe nic^uci Aqep OTCAp|: oroe Aq,"3Ujni nj^pni nl)HTeii oroe aijiiat enecjtuoT ti(t)pH+ untoor wor^npi nuAVATq iiToxq uneqiun- equoz neuoT iieu iieeuHi. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Coi'TiC derives its name from the town of Koptos in Upper Egypt. It may come possibly from the words Kah-Ptuh, land of Ptah or Plitah, the tutelary god of Egypt; and it was once the vernacular tongue of Egypt, but it has for centuries been superseded by the Arabic, and it is now only cultivated by biblical students, and by a very few of the Coptic priests. The liturgy of the Coptic Church is still read publicly in this venerable language, but it is utterly unintelligible to the majority of the Copts, who are generally unacquainted with any language but the Arabic. These people are descended from the ancient Egyptians, but their race has been mingled with the Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Turkish nations, to whom Egypt has been successively subject; for according to the Divine prediction (Ezek. xxix. 15, and xxx. 13), Egypt has been the '■'■basest of kingdoms" and the prey of foreign powers; and no prince of pure Egyptian lineage has, since the year B.C. 350, swayed the sceptre of the Pharaohs. Under this foreign domination, the population, the resources, and the civilisation of Egypt have (till within a very recent period) gradually decreased. According to Diodorus Siculus, this country, 398 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. in tlie time of the ancient kings, contained a population of 7,000,000. At the beginning of the nine- teenth century the amount of population had dwindled down to 2,500,000, and subsequently, owing to the ravages of the plague, and the long-continued influence of a Turkish system of government, this number had become further diminished to 1,800,000 inhabitants. The most recent estimates, however, make the population of Egypt, at the present time, amount to about 2,500,000. The diminished population of Kgypt in modern as compared with ancient times becomes the more striking when we consider that the present inhabitants of Egypt are chiefly of Arabic or foreign origin, and that the Copts themselves form scarcely onc-fourtccnth part of the motley population now congre- gated on the soil of their ancestors. Their ranks have been thinned by persecution, by frequent inter- marriages with Mohammedan families, and by the secession of many individuals to Islamism; and, according to a recent estimate, they do not now number above 150,000 souls. A few among them have joined the Romish and Greek Churches, but nationally they belong to the Jacobite, Eutychian, or Monophysitc sect. Their distinguishing doctrinal pecuharity is the confounding of the Godhead and manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ, — a heresy which was condemned by the fourth general council (that of Chalcedon) A.D. 451. The Coptic hierarchy is in several respects not dissimilar to the Romish : it consists of a patriarch, or supreme head of the church, and a metropolitan of the Abyssinians, with bishops, archpriests, priests, deacons, and monks. II. — CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGU.VGE. The only language known to have derived its origin from the ancient Egyptian are the three dialects of the Coptic. This circumstance has invested the Coptic with peculiar interest in the eyes of the learned, particularly since the possibility of the ultimate recovery of the lost Egyptian language has been suggested by the ardent philologers who have devoted themselves to the deciphering of the hieroglyphic, hieratic, and enchorial inscriptions. In consequence of this connection with the ancient language of Egypt, it has been found that Coptic may not only be of service in recovering the literary treasures of that country, but also in solving the problem which has recently attracted so much attention concerning the position held by the Egyptian in the scale of languages, and the nature of its affinities with the now isolated Indo-European and Shemitic groups. Coptic would have been extremely valuable as an adjunct in these intricate investigations, had it been subjected to no further mutations from the true Egyptian type than those which the lapse of centuries naturally occasions. But when the successors of Alexander established tliemselves in Alex- andria, the language of the court was diffiised through the country; and, though the Egyptian language did not cease to be spoken, a Greek element was infused into it, many Greek words were adopted, and the Greek alphabet was em])loyed even in writing the native language. Hence part of the Coptic language is essentially Greek, or rather an admixture of old Egyptian and Greek, so intimately blended, and so disguised by orthographical changes, that it is now sometimes dlflicult to resolve the component parts into their original elements. There are, however, words and grammatical principles in Coptic which unquestionably entered into the ancient Egyptian language; and it is remarkable that aiHnities may be traced between these now obsolete forms of speech and corresponding forms existing in languages spoken at the present d.ay in regions far remote from Egypt. Lepsius has shown that the Coptic possesses certain aflinitles with the Indo-European class of languages, and especially as respects its numerals, with the Sanscrit. Benfey and various other scholars have pointed out the relationship between its grammatical structure and that of the Shemitic class. Klaproth has detected a striking resemblance between many Coptic words and the corresponding terms in the Zirian, Mordvinian, Ostjakian, Albanian, and particularly the Tschcre- missian and Tschuwaschian languages: he has also found resemblances between Coptic and Samoiede words, and some instances of afllnlty between Coptic and the languages spoken in the region of the Caucasus. It is remarkable, however, that in addition to these extra- African relations of the Coptic, it lias several points of contact with the African languages, even with those spoken by the negro Class VI.] COPTIC. 399 nations; so that whatever analogy may subsist between it and other groups of languages, it cannot properly be isolated from the African class. There arc tlirec principal dialects in Coptic, viz: — the Memphitic, the Sahidic, and the Bashmuric. The Memphitic, spoken in tlie neighbourhood of Memphis, is the least pure of the three, and contains the largest amount of Greek words. The Sahidic dialect spoken in Upper Egypt, and further from foreign intercourse, is more purely Egyptian, and bears the nearest relationship to the original Egyptian language as we have it in hieroglyphic inscriptions, and in hieratic and demotic MSS. Whereas the Bashmuric dialect, spoken in a portion of the Delta, differs from the otliers cliiefly by certain changes in the vowels and in some of the consonants: it is the softest, and the Sahidic is the roughest of the three dialects. The Coptic alphabet witli which these several dialects are written in JISS. and printed books consists of .32 letters, seven of which are of purely Egyptian origin, to be traced to existing hiero- glyphics, for the purpose of expressing sounds not found in Greek: the rest of the letters are all Greek. Some uncertainty still prevails as to the correct articulation of some of the Egyptian characters in the Coptic alphabet, wliich are pronounced dilTerently by dilFerent individuals, even in Egypt. But in no wise does that hinder the study of the language, whicli is now cultivated with greater earnestness than ever it was, and which bids fair to bring to light greater riches of archaic lore than have yet been discovered. The study of ancient Egyptian through tlie Coptic is daily gaining greater importance; and ere long we may hope to be able to read ancient Egyptian papyri and inscriptions, not with a certain amount of probability only, liable to difference of opinion, as is the case at present, but with actual certainty. The Coptic bears strong affinity to the Shemitic languages, in the pronouns, suffixes, and affixes, especially; and also in some of its radicals. But it has in common with the Georgian, for instance, the use of infixes or particles, whether remnants of pronouns or not, which are inserted in the body of the word. Tlie construction of the Coptic grammar is most regular — almost, it might be said, geome- trical; and as it is a relic of the highest antiquity, it possesses a charm which perhaps no other language has in common with it in its aboriginal stamp. The few following words may give an idea of tlie affinity which the Coptic bears to the ancient Egyptian : — Egijpiian. Coptic English aiur eiul hart aik aeik, aik dedication aua aoou, au glory abh obhe teeth af ab, af flesh am ou, om to eat amenfc ement the west, hades anch onch . to live ani oni stone, etc. Iir. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. Although the Coptic possesses great interest in an etiinological point of view, its importance becomes unspeakably greater when we regard it as the favoured medium in which one of the earliest and most faithful versions of the Scriptures has been transmitted to us. The Old Testament was trans- lated from the Scptuagint, in all probability during the course of the second or third century. Tlie New Testament was drawn immediately from the original Greek, but there is much difference of opinion concerning the period of its execution: by some autliors it is attributed to the third, by some to the fourth, and by otliers to the fifth century. It is recorded of Antonius, who began to lead an ascetic life AD. 271, that he read the Egyptian Scriptures; but whether it was the Coptic or the Sahidic version which he possessed, still remains doubtful. 400 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. The Coptic New Testament, in its general cliaracter, is conformed to the Alexandrine recension. According to Michaelis, some of its readings bear a striking affinity to those of the Latin version, and occasionally to those of the Codex Cantabrigiensis. The quotations of Origen, Eusebius, and Cyril, agree pretty nearly with the corresponding passages in this version. Several Arabic translations have; been executed from the Coptic, and valuable Coptic MSS. are preserved in the Vatican, Paris, Bcrhn, Bodleian, and other libraries. In some of the MSS. of the Gospel according to St. John, the history of the woman taken in adultery is inserted, while in others it is omitted. The disputed passage in 1 John v. 7 is not to be found in any Coptic MS. The project of publishing a printed edition of this version was first entertained by Thomas Marshall : he prepared the Four Gospels for the press, but died before their completion. The work was then undertaken by David Wilkins, or Wilkie, a Prussian, who, at the expense of the University of Oxford, brought out, in 1716, a complete edition of the New Testament, to which he appended a Latin trans- lation. The text of this edition was formed from Bodleian MSS., conferred with MSS. from the Paris and Vatican libraries. In 1829, an edition of 2000 copies of the Coptic Gospels, printed in parallel columns with the Arabic version, was published by the Britisli and Foreign Bible Society. The text had been prepared by the Coptic patriarch at the instance of Mr. Jowett. It was carried through the press under the care of Dr. Tattam of Bedford, in conjunction with Professor Lee. An edition of the New Testament, with emendations drawn from Berlin Codices, was printed by Schwartze, at Leipsic, in 1838. Ten years subsequently, another edition of the New Testament was imdertaken by the same editor; but this later edition is enriched with copious critical and grammatical notes, and the text is chiefly drawn from Berlin MSS. No complete edition of the Coptic Old Testament has yet been published, for several of the books are missing; it is, however, probable that they are not actually lost, and that they may yet be found in some of the cloisters of Egypt. The Pentateuch was published in 1731, in London, by Wilkins, the editor of the New Testament. The twelve Prophetical Books were printed at Oxford, in 1836, under the editorship of Professor Lee and of Dr. Tattam. Fragments of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, (consisting of chap. iv. ver. 22, and chap, v.), and the sixth chapter of the apocryphal book of Baruch, were inserted by Quatrembre in his great work on the Language and Literature of Egypt, published at Paris in 1804. These portions constitute the whole of the Coptic Old Testament hitherto printed, with the exception of the Psalms, of which no less than five editions have appeared. The first two of these editions were publislied at Rome by the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, the one in 1744, the other in 1749: they were designed for the benefit of the Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the Arabic version was therefore printed in parallel columns with the Coptic text. A critical edition of the Psalter was edited in 1837 by Woide and Ideler, and printed at Berlin. Another critical edition appeared at Leipsic in 1844, under the care of Schwartze An edition consisting of 2014 copies of the Coptic Psalter, printed in parallel columns with the Arabic version, has likewise been issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Twelve ilinor Propliets were published with a Latin translation by Dr. Tattam, in 1836. In 1846, the same scholar published the Book of Job, with an English translation. In 1849, Bardelli at Pisa, published the Book of Daniel without a translation; and in 1852, Dr. Tattam pubhshed the " Prophetse Majores," Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, with a Latin version; in 2 vols. 8vo. We must not omit also, a magnificent edition of the whole New Testament, in Eoyal 4to., in Coptic and Arabic, printed with type cast for the purpose, and intended for the Coptic churches of Egypt; published at the expense of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in 1847. There is also another edition of the Pentateuch with critical notes, and published in numbers at Paris, of which the first two or three numbers only have appeared. IV. — RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. This ancient version has been the means of keeping alive the form if not the spirit of Christianity, Class VI.] SAHIDIC. 401 (lurincr a long series of centuries, among a persecuted people surrounded by IMoliammcdan oppressors. The results of recent distribution of the Scriptures have been encouraging. The bigotry of the Copts, and their stern adiierence to the superstitions of their forefathers, appear to be decreasing; yet the power of the priesthood here, as elsewhere, impedes the progress of the Gospel: all free inquiry concerning spiritual things is fettered, and the people are kept in perpetual bondage by their dread of the clergy. Still there are instances of individuals being awakened, by means of the perusal of the Scriptures, to a sense of the fallen condition of their church. Mv. Kruse, long engaged as a missionary at Cairo, speaks, for instance, in a letter dated 1847, of a native Copt who compared the condition of the Coptic Church to the state of things described in 1 Tim. iv., and 2 Tim. iii. He added, " Our head (the patriarch) is sick, and the whole body is spiritually dead." After some lengthened conversation on the abuses of the Coptic Church, the man emphatically said, " We want a man to rise up from among our own people like your Luther, bold enough to stand fast in the faith, and to reform our church." The general condition of the Copts, throughout Egypt, is one of extreme poverty, and they are subjected to great oppressions by their Mohammedan rulers. SAHIDIC. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL. Chap. v. v. 1 to 14. UMHCA MAI lie njyA ne iJuioTAAi. aIc bujk eepAi e eiGAHu. ' uer ijotkoatubhbpa Ae ZH GI.VHU eiSII TCnpOBATIKH. C ^ATUOTTe epOG ULINTeeBpAIOC. Se BHACAIAA. 6pe +ti IICTOA eiS«OC. ^ lieVUKOTK JA IIAI rjtri nUHH^ae IIIIGTytOlie. iIbAAC. ufl flCTAAe. iju fieT^ovtuoT, * ^ uer ijorpujue Ae uuat. e Aqp uaab iauHU iipoune eu neq^cuiie. * urepe Tc Ae uatg pai equKOTK. Aqeiue se AqtocK, nexAq UAq. se CKOTcoy otxai. ' Aqorio^B iiAq iitri nexiyujne. se nsoeic ufil- pcoue uuat seKAC p^Aii nuooT TUiz eqeuosrenecHTeTKOATUBHopA. eocoii Ae aiiok +iiht, ^yApe KeoTA p^opn epoi. e bcok enecHx. ^ nqse Tc iiAq. se tcuovh. iirqei uneKOfAocr. iiruooiye. * atco iJTeriiOT AqorsAi I'ltri npcoue. atoj Aqqi uneqcrAOor> Aquoojye. ue ncABBAToii ne neeoor eruuAT. ^° iiersto ere uuoc ucri iiiovaai uhut AqAo. se ncABBAToii ne. atuj iiecTO iiak aii. e qi uneKcr.voo^. " AqorcojyB Ae fiGPi nptoue eqsco uuoc. se nuT AqTA.vo-oi neruuAT niiT Aqsooc iiai. se qi neKtPAotp. iiruoo^e. '^ ATSiiorq se iiiu ne npcuue. ht Aqsooc iiak. se qirq. firuoo^fie. " nuT Aq.vo Ae iieqcoovii. se niu ne. Tc rAp AqcAerq. epe oruHH^e ?u nuA eTuuAT. '* umnca iiai ic ee epoqeu npne nesAq. se eic 2HHTe akotsai. unpnoTK e piioBe. se uiig neooor o UAi jyione uuok. The Sahidic is a dialect of the Coptic language, and was formerly spoken in Upper Egypt, between Cahira (Cairo) and Assevan (or Assouan). This country was called Said by the Arabs, which is the origin of the term Sahidic. A version of the Scriptures was executed in this dialect, according to some 27 402 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Ci,ass VI. writers in the second, but certai.ily not later tlian the third, century. The Old Testament was trans- lated from the Septuagint, and the New Testament from Greek MSS. The Sahidic New Testament, like the Coptic, conforms in general to the Alexandrine recension, but it possesses several readings peculiar to itself, and in some instances it agrees witli the Latin version. Its striking similarity to the Codex Cantabrigiensis is a f ict often adduced in proof of its high antiquity. Fragments of this version still exist at Rome, Paris, Oxford, Berlin, and Venice, and also in the British Museum. Portions of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John appear to have been printed by Mingarclli in 1785. In 1789, part of the Gospel of St. John was printed at Eome, and also fragments of the Epistles to Timothy, taken from a Greek Coptic MS. in the possession of Cardinal Borgia. But the most complete edition of the Sahidic fragments is that published at the Clarendon press in 1799. This edition, which comprises nearly onc-tliird of the New Testament, was commenced under tlie superintendence of Woide, but he died before the whole was prepared for the press, and the delegates of the Clarendon library employed Dr. Ford, Arabic reader of the University, to complete the work. A Latin version was appended to the Sahidic fragments in this splendid edition, with readings from Greek MSS., learned preliminary dissertations, and other critical apparatus. The Sahidic version is of extreme value to biblical students; it is also of tlie utmost practical utility, the dialect being carefully cultivated for critical investigations of hieratic and other Egyptian MSS. BASHMUEIC. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. it. v. 28 to 34. 29 . . kcju iiTecgTApiA ee.\Hi iVC^H 620TII eTno.Mc. nesec ijijiacuui : se auoini TAA6 Texeu M&c enei.vcoLii iiTAqse ?u)B iiibi iihi eTAieiTor : uh+ nei ne ne xpc. '"' ATI Ae eBAAeW TnOAIC ATCU ATI ^AAAq. ^' IIATSCOUUAC MCq OTrcOOT ll6UMq IJS6 KiequABHTHO eTxtuiJUAC : se epABBi OTiou, ^- iiTAq Ae neseq ueT so otauthi aijak uoT?pH eoTAUC rei iiTATeii eii TeTeiiCAOTii uuac eii, uatxco otii uuac use uequAOHTHC uij »J6TAAHOT : SO iUHt A AARC iiii ijHq eTpeqoTtoii : nexAT imq use uequAOHTHc : se epABBi otuju. neseq mhot use iHc : se TAepH ahak re zi%i\ MTAI . . . The Bashmuric, a sub-dialect of Sahidic, was spoken in Bashmur, a province of the Delta. It appears to have been an intermediate dialect between Coptic and Sahidic, and is remarkable for its almost universal preference for I over r, and like changes in other liquids and aspirates. Fragments of a Bashmuric version of the Scriptures, executed either in the third or fourth century, are still in existence. These agree so closely with the Sahidic version, that it has been doubted whether an original trans- lation was ever made from Greek into Bashmuric, some philologers being of opinion that the version now called Bashmuric is merely an adaptation of the Sahidic version to the dialect of Bashmur. Fragments of the Bashmuric version of St. John's Gospel were discovered by Georgi among the Borgian collection of MSS., and were published at Rome in 1789, with a Latin version and illustrative notes. Other fragments, consisting of parts of the first and fifth chapters of Isaiah, of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Epistles to the Ephesians, to Philemon, and to the Hebrews, and of the Class VI.] BERBER. 403 First Epistle to the Thessalonians, were publlslied by Engelbretli in 1816. The Sahidic MSS., from wliich the text was drawn, belonged to the Borgian collection. The value of this work is greatly enhanced by the insertion of tlic corresponding passages in the Coptic and Sahidic dialects, so that a comparison between the three dialects can be readily made. A literal Latin version is added, with the corresponding Greek text, and notes illustrative of various readings, with critical remarks. BERBER. SPECIMEN, FROM St. LUKE, Chap. vi. v. 27 to 38. •* ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ \ -^ " ^ uW J:^» U^^ S-'^'^ y^ lj-«4>^*Lijl ^jjjl^^j i^Akusjl J.;>X« " * ^^^Jsayl^A-il ^M ^j^aj..il .jj! ■^ " ^ ^ ^ • x- • ' ^ ^ .., ^ ^j jjjl ^^bl ^y\ <-jlyo yl kij (»i*J_;l uJJi ^Lo |JL^1 Jju Jjj^ ^ ^c i^J^J i:,tJ^^l jJ^l ^*X« ^ j^£=JJ J j»X*J!J ^J^Jfl^\ ^lil U-fiU>. ^^j.x^ ^^ ^ k;j ^»*JJ ^_^1 ,^_j^l jjjl ^U ^^ ^^jAfc,! ^^^ (_aj;Aa;l (•Lkxu^j' i-_aLuu.i;l '^ * ^^\i t_Acl ^^1 *^^i i-_c]l ^^ * jJO! ,^1; j I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The whole of the interior of Northern Africa, from the Nile to the Atlantic, including the vast area of the Sahara, is inhabited by the Berbers, a primitive race of people belonging to the same stock as the Ga3tuli, Mauri, and Numida; of antiquity. It is rather remarkable that, notwithstanding the political convulsions and changes to which Northern Africa has been subjected, these representatives of the ancient Libyan race still occupy the soil, and preserve the language, of their ancestors. Even their towns and villages retain the same names as those by which they are distinguished in the writings of Sallu5t and other classical writers; and the very signification of these names is the same in modern Berber as in the Libyan idiom spoken in the days of those writers. The Berbers are divided into several distinct nations, of which the principal are the Amazigh or Berbers of Northern Atlas, the Shellahs, who inhabit the southern part of the same mountain chain, 404 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. the Kabyles of the Algerine and Tunisian Mountains, and the Tuarick tribes of Siwah, Sokna, and the Western Desert. The Tibboos of the Eastern Desert, though darker in complexion tlian the Berbers, are supposed by some to belong to the same race. These nations are all brave and warlike, but un- civilised, and are followers of the false prophet. In point of political government, they are subdivided into a number of petty tribes, each of which, as among the Arabs, is under the command of a sheikh. We possess no precise statistical accounts of this people, but it is certain that they form at least one-half of the entire population of the empire of Morocco. Graberg estimates the Berbers, properly so called, at above 2,000,000, and the Shcllahs at 1,500,000. II. — CIIAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Modern researches liave gone far to prove that the Berber language forms part of Shemitic philo- logy; yet, notwithstanding the Shemitic character of its structure, part of its vocabulary and many of its peculiarities are so decidedly African as to entitle it to a place among this class of languages. It resembles the Coptic in the preponderance which it gives to the letter t as an inflexional element, both initial and final. Its participial system, however, approximates it to the Amharic, and one of its verbal forms has a perfect counterpart in that language, and, according to Gesenius, in Himyaritic. The nouns, observes Professor Newman, freely admit of that substitute for a genitive case which is in Hebrew and Arabic entitled the putting of two nouns into regimen or construction. Some of the oldest nouns even appear to have a real construct form, consisting in the addition of th to the noun itself. The article and demonstrative pronouns are similar to the Hebrew and Arabic; the general principles of euphony, inflection, and radical letters, present the same Shemitic features, and even the sounds of the Berber language are Hebrew. But on the other hand, Berber possesses a large stock of prepositions ot undoubted African origin, and akin to those of the Haussa language; and it further deviates from the true Shemitic type in the vast majority of its elemental words, in its peculiar usage of the participle, in its power of prefixing the fragmentary pronoun to the verb, and in the possession of a double set of affixes to distinguish the gerutlve and accusative cases. Owing to the influence of the Mohammedan religion, which is professed by the tribes of Northern Africa, and taught through the medium of the North African dialect of the Arabic, a large number of Arabic words have found their way into the Berber language. This, however, is as distinct from the Arabic as the Anglo-Saxon element of the English language is from the Latin, French, or Greek words introduced into it by time and custom. The Guanclie language of the Canaries, as appears from ancient inscriptions, was a dialect of the Berber: the nation to whom it was vernacular became extinct, according to Alexander von Humboldt, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Some of the Berber tribes, especially those of the desert, still, employ the ancient Libyan letters of their forefathers; but the Arabic alphabet is now generally used in writing and printing the various dialects of Berber. III. — VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. A translation of the first twelve chapters of the Gospel according to St. Luke into the Algerine- Berber (or Showiah) dialect of the Berber language, spoken by the Kabyle tribes, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1833. The MS., which included the whole of the Four Gospels and the book of Genesis, was purchased by the Society of JMr. Hodgson, American consul at Algiers, for the sum of £150. The translation, which had occupied about two years, had been executed under the superintendence of that gentleman by a Kabyle Berber of the mountains near Algiers, ilr. Green- field, the editorial superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, was engaged in the examination of the work at the time of his lamented decease. The editorship of the small portion of St. Luke's Gospel eventually committed to the press was then transferred to Mr. Hattersley of Leeds. Only 250 copies were printed as specimens, which were sent to individuals competent to form a judg, ment concerning the critical value of the translation. Class VI.l GH ADAMS I. 405 G H A D A M S I. SPECIIMEN, FROM St. MATTHEW, Chap. hi. r. 7 to 17. : LlUJl ,_^l ^^ll.l ^\ j>J^\ ^yft ^^jjJL'Uj ^^jjjuuvjjUJli ^^|j^. ^^'ila ^^1 JljJ ^-i»-=l yLjl l^vi^-; '^r'^J f*:^^!/^ t^ '^'^ ' cJrl)^^ (*^J* (*i;*^' Jlj '*• c;:^^^' *-^^ "^J"^^ L5^ lift'^'l;'^ ^^»*_^^^_ jJu V. •'• ^^* '^ (J:5/iS5~:^ (^J^:! 'j-^' "l^'^ •'• L/^^ Cl^yil «il W'i'^' L5^ '^ Jf~^ IT^- '^^i'- '^'^^ •'• *-^;^-^; Jj 'jj* O- ^^. (j-^l (J_5^ ^|j \^'^JJ^ (j*-^' /. c:j^' j-^u^ J-^XjJI L«pj •^\t \j!Uj!\ : |jjc;l i-J^"l : ^^V.^^ f >^. ""^j^ •'• '^.'■^^'^* ^^j^-^l j^X-1 c/^' t---^5>^' ^j^^^ "^^^bj • '^^^ Up-IU ^^Lj J!;V.^ J--*^ Ljjjjl ^' .'. oj-ujjj^j1 *j1 J;*:^ Gh.\DAMSI is a sub-dialect of Tuarlck, the language of one of the great nations into which the Berber race is divided. Tuarick is the predominant language of the western part of the Sahara, and Ghadamsi is spoken in Ghadamis, an oasis situated at about ten days' journey south-west from Tripoli, in lat. 30° 10' K, and long. 9° 19' E. The number of inhabitants in Ghadamis has been computed at from six to seven thousand. The importance of this oasis, in a geographical and commercial point of view, arises from the four grand roads which diverge from it into the interior of Africa. One of these roads leads direct through the Great Desert to Timbuctoo, where some of the people of Ghadamis are settled. A translation of tlie third chapter of the Gospel according to St. jMatthcw was a few years since made at Ghadamis, under the direction of the late James Richardson, Esq., by a native named Taleb Ben Mousa Ben El-Kasem. A short vocabulary of the language was added by the Taleb, but, unhappily, he got tired of his work before its completion. In fact, Mr. Eichardson remarks, " the extraordinary impatience with which these people do anything of this kind for Christians almost exceeds belief." The MS. was sent from the desert to the British and Foreign Bible Society; it was transcribed by Professor Newman, of University College, who also appended a Latin translation; and a small edition, intended chiefly as a specimen of the language, has been published by order of the Foreign Office. 406 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. HANDING O. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. A KAFFO balu dye, atata konko santo ; asita tumamenna, ala talibolu nata fikanor. ^ A y ada yelle, a wolu nindi, ako ; ^ Menolu-nio be dol)aring, ybarakata ; katuko itolu ta mu Aryena-mansaroti. '' Frigimolu barakata, katuko ysi fonio sotto. ^ Sabbatemolu barakata, katuko ysi dunya keo. "^ Menolu konkota ning mindota ybe lafiring kekuyala, yl)arakata, katuko ysi wolu fandi. '' Menolu-juso be seniaring ybarakata ; katuko ysi Alia dye. * Hinamolu barakata, katuko ysi liino sotto. ^ Barriadingolu barakata ; katuko itolu to mu Alla-dingoluti. ^^ Ybarakata molu ye menu batandi keyuya kamma, katuko itolu ta mu Aryena-mansaroti. ^^ Altolu barakata, ning molu y altolu jelle ning batandi, ni ye kumo jau bey fo altolu kang faniarinto ntela kamma. '^ Wotumo alsi jusula, alsF jusulaba, katuko altolula joro warata Aryenato ; katuko ye kilalu batandi wonyama menolu folota altoluti. Mandingo (or Mandenga), the most important language of modern Negroland, is predominant in many powerful states on both sides of the Gambia. On the east it is conterminous with the Ilaussa und Yariba languages, and on the north it prevails as far as the border of the Great Desert. It is also supposed to extend far into the interior of the continent, and is spoken in Bambouk, and in the late empire of Bambara. It is not possible to estimate the number of individuals to wliom this language is vernacular, for much of the Mandingo territory is scarcely known to Europeans; and owing to the enterprising and commercial character of the race, Mandingoes are to be found in great numbers, located as traders, in regions far distant from their native states. They are to be met with at Sierra Leone, at Cape Mesurado, at most of the places of commerce along the coast, and in the interior as far as the head- quarters of the Kiger; so that there are several dialects of the Mandingo. Some connection Is supposed to exist between the Mandingo and Foulah tribes, but too little is known of the language of the latter to admit of a close comparison being Instituted between it and the Mandingo. Both Mandingoes and Foulahs are as superior in civilisation and intelligence to the other tribes of intertropical Asia, as were the Aztecs and Peruvians to the various tribes of tJie New World; and in point of physical conformation, they form an intermediate class between the negro and the Asiatic type. The Mandingo language has only two numbers, singular and plural. The plural is formed by addinc lu to the singular, tlie last vowel of which is changed into o, if it does not end in that vowel. Thus: — mau.ia, a king; mausolu, kings; imiso, a woman; mu.inlu, women. There Is no distinction of genders; and no cases of declension, properly so called; the inllection of nouns being made by particles or pronouns, in the simple and primitive way we find in languages little cultivated. Thus ala, his, is made tlie sign of the genitive, as it was in EngHsh: thus mausa ala kumo, the king his word; is con- tracted into mausala kumo, the king's word, etc. As tlie Mandingoes have a very imperfect notion of time, the conjugation of their verbs, managed by pronouns and other particles, is nevertheless far from correctly defined. Thus the present does for the past, or rather both tenses are involved in one common aorist, etc. This language is soft, sonorous, rich in vowels, and entirely of African stamp. Tlie Mandingoes are all Mohammedans, and generally pretend to some acquaintance with Arabic, the sacred language of their religion. Many Arabic words have been engrafted on the JIandlngo lancjuafe, while numerous terms, especially those relating to commerce, have been borrowed from various European languages. Copiousness, easy enunciation, and comparative freedom from nasal and Class VI.] J ALL OOF. 407 guttural sounds, arc said to be the characteristics of Mandingo: its nouns for tlie most part end in the vowel o; this termination often conveys an empliatic signification, and is sometimes equivalent in meaning to the definite article. The Eev. Mr. jMacbrair, a "Wesleyan missionary, was the first to undertake the translation of the Scriptures into this widely-extended language. His version of the Gospel according to St. Mattlicw was printed in London under his own superintendence in 1838, by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The edition, which consisted of 500 copies, was placed at the disposal of the Wesleyan ]\lissionary Society: no definite accounts have been transmitted concerning the results of the distribu- tion among the natives. Copies of the Arabic version of the Scriptures have been distributed among the Mohammedan Mandlngoes who visit the west coasts of the African continent for purposes of commerce. J ALL OOF. The Jalloof, or, as it is variously written, the WolofF, Guiloff, or OuoloCT language, is spoken from the Atlantic to Podor, along the south bank of the Senegal from west to east, and from the mouth of that river southward to Cape Verde. In the immediate neighbourhood of Cape Verde it surrounds, and probably isolates, a small tract of country in which the Sereres language is vernacular. The Jalloof also prevails southward of Cape Verde, as far as the regions on the Gambia, in which Mandingo is predominant. The Jalloofs are black, but their features are cast more in the Asiatic than in the African mould. They are active and enterprising, like the Mandlngoes, and in point of civilisation arc superior to most of the tribes of Guinea. Some among them are Moslems, the rest are Pagans. Their language has been considered a branch of the Mandingo family, but it has in fact very few words in common with it; whereas the dialect of Bambara presents a decided affinity with the Mandingo. It is copious, and very expressive, but is now so much mixed with French and Arabic words, in colloquial intercourse with Moorish and European traders, that half of the language, according to Mr. Macbrair, is lost in these foreign additions. But the language itself, in its own purity, as it is spoken in the interior, is free from any great admixture of foreign idioms. The Woloff, or Jalloof, is an extremely soft and sonorous language; simple in construction, and easy to be acquired. Yet at the same time it presents features of combination which one is surprised to find in an idiom spoken by tribes apparently so little civilised. They have two numbers; pronouns in which one may trace the analogy of the Coptic or Shemitlc ones; and the conjugation of their verbs, in which there are no participles, is made, like that of most African languages, by means of particles affixed and of pronouns prefixed to the root. But this root is capable of a great variety of meaning, according to the suffix it receives. Thus, sopd, to love, becomes sopc, to love tenderly; sopante, to love one another; sopou, to love oneself; soph, to cause to love; sopi, to be about to love; sopati, to love again; sopadi, to love but little; sopou, not to love; sopatou, to love no more, etc. This combination is found of course in other languages, but in a less degree than in Woloff. The Jalloof language, as Mungo Park remarked, has long been studied by Europeans engaged in the Senegal trade. The honour of reducing it to writing was reserved for a Quaker lady. A grammar and dictionary were afterwards published by Mr. Dard, a Frenchman at the head of schools in Scne- gambia. Hannah Killiam, who belonged to a Quaker family of Leeds, devoted her time and energies to the instruction and moral elevation of the Jalloof and other negro tribes, and at length sacrificed her 408 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. life in the cause. She compiled a book of reading lessons in Jalloof, among which were introduced some passages from the Scriptures translated by herself. The work, which was printed towards the close of the last century, was found to be perfectly intelligible to the Jalloofs. Dongo Karry, a young Mohammedan native, on hearing a few sentences read, exclaimed, " Ah ! that is Jalloof;" and imme- diately gave the signification of what he' had heard in English, with which he was tolerably conversant. Afterwards, when some passages of Scripture were read to him from the same book, he cried out with emphasis, " Great and good! Great and good!" It is to be hoped that the commencement made by Hannah Kilham, in preparing a translation of the Scriptures for this people, will be followed by the preparation of a complete version: at present the Jalloofs possess no entire portion of the sacred volume in their own language. S U S O 0. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. t. v. 1 to 12. AwA a to moecliee qwbeqwbe toh, a teh gea ma : a nacha to nu fa docliache, acha batulae fa a chong : - A nacha a de rabi, a nacha e tinkga, a nacha falla, ^ Marafangji na moechee be nachang niniche e boniae ma : katukung arriana-mankgania na e be. * Marafangji na e be nachang monnaraa : katukung e fama malenglengde. ^ Marafangji na moechee loachame be : katukung e dunia niachungji kulungma. ** Marafangji na e be, kame ning yeh choh nachang zuchuma fangnia kira ra : katukung d fama rafehde. '' Marafangji na moechee be, niamaniuchung na nachang be : katukung e tina niamania- chungji zotoma. * Marafangji na boniae-fiche-moeche'e be : katukung e Allah tolima. ^Marafangji na e be nachang chari-zahma : katukung e chillima Allah cha die ra. ^"Marafangji na e be, moechee nachang torama fangnia qwbe fe ra: katukung arriana mankgania na e be. •'' Marafangji na wo be, cha moechee wo mayelema, ning cha e wo ramochoma, ning cha e fee niache ki hiring fallama wo chungma dundidundi, ng qwbe fe ra. ^^ Niachaniacha, ning wo boniae docha qwbeqwbe ra : katukung wo bunia qwbe razuchuma arriana e : katukung e duree ramocho na ki ne, nachang nu na wo niara. The Susoo language is spoken on the coast of Senegambia, between the Rio Nunez and the Kissi ; and it may be said to follow the course of the river Scarcles to Timbo, and thence to Kakundy. It agrees with Jlandingo in euphonic principles, and especially in the collocation of words. Thus, the adjective, in Susoo as in IMandingo, must follow the noun, the adverb must stand after the verb, and the postposition after the noun ; the direct object must be placed before, and all indirect objects after the verb, and the same place in a sentence must be assigned to the relative as that which is usually occupied by the demonstrative pronouns. There is no article in Susoo, and no declension of nouns properly so called; gender is expressed by the addition of words equivalent to man and woman, as in most other African languages, and the plural is denoted by the letter i; e.g., shi signifies a goat, and shii, goats; so, rliame, a man, rhamei, men. In 1797 an attempt was made by the Edinburgh I\Iissionary Society to introduce the Scriptures among the Susoos; but their missionary, the Rev. H. Brunton, after enduring great sickness and privation, was compelled to leave the country without effecting a translation of any portion of the Class VI.] BULLOM. 409 sacred volume into tliis language. After liis return to Scotlar^d, he compiled a Susoo grammar, and several elementary works, which have proved useful to other missionaries. The first seven chapters of the Gospel according to St. Mattliew, translated into Susoo by Jlr. Williolm, have been printed by the Cliurch Missionary Society; and the entire Gospel of St. JMatthew, witli some other parts of the Scriptures, have been prepared by the agents of that Society, but are not printed. A translation of the Orders for Morning and Evening Prayer, and the Litany, into the Susoo language, was printed in London, in 18.')8, at the expense of the Christian Knowledge Society. This translation is the work of the Rev. Mr. Duport, a West Indian negro, resident at the mission station of Fallangia, in the Susoo country. Mr. Duport has since translated into Susoo the Catechism and other portions of the Church services, and these versions are in constant use at tlie mission. BULLOM. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. Yeh u ka keli runiah boniu tre, u kon ko kick atook nu chall ka, ahdisciple ah tre ngha hundy ko ko woa : - Jesus yeery nyengh woa nu menghe nglia, nghaleh, ^ Rubah ke ngliana cheli nioneh ke ugbolleh yeo ; upock u foy tre ngho ngha be. "* Rubah ke ngliana tranghellin : peh hun ngha biiel p'eah. ° Rubah ke aniah mljoss : upock u tre ngho ngha be. ^ Rubah ke aniah tre nghana nrick ma ngha re, nu ugljoU ngha seckle eh re halle dyah keleng tre ; peh hun ngha kali yempy dyo, ngha pum. ^ Rubah ke aniah tre nghana cheh bongha nkeleng : peh ngha hun marr. * Rubah ke aniah tre nghana be ugboU u tinkle yeo : ngha hun lehly Foy. ^ Rubah ke ahpom ah tre, peh veal ngha ahpomah Foy. '" Rubah ke aniah tre, lo ngha nghah dyah keleng yeo, nu peh ka nghah dyah bang ko ko ngha : nghana be upock u foy tre. '^ Rubah ke moa, lo aniah tre ngha moa nghah punk, lo ngha toh moa, lo ngha moa kah ilille bang nsele halle halle me. i-Nhvoy, nchangahhvoy: moa be packah bomu ke foy: ke manleh peh ka toh ahprophet ah tre nghana cheh leh moa eboll. BuLLOM, a dialect of the Mandingo language, is spoken around and at the back of Sierra Leone: it prevails in a tract lying between the rivers Scarcies and Timbo, the Kong Mountains, and the Cape Mount River. The Bulloms, like the Susoos, form a part of the J\Lindingo race already described. A translation of the Gospel according to St. Matthew was made into their language by the Eev. G. R. Nyliinder, of the Church ]\Iissionary Society, and an edition was printed by that Society in 1815. No further attempts appear to have been made to furnish the Bulloms with the Scriptures in their own tongue. The Bullom language is neither so soft nor so sonorous as the Woloff or the Mandingo; it has also more nasal or guttural sounds than either of those idioms. Like them, it has two numbers, singular and plural. The latter is formed by prefixing ah, e, 'v, s, and te, to the singular. Thus: lakan, a woman, plural ah lakan, women ; bell, a nut, ebell, nuts, etc. There are no cases, properly so called ; but relation is expressed by ha, ko, halle; c. g. pokan, a man, ah pokan, men, ha ah pohan, of men, halle or ko ah pokan, to men, etc. The pronouns bear little affinity to the Eastern African, or to the Coptic class. The verbs are for the most part roots of one or two syllables; and they all begin with 410 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. consonants. Active verbs are formed by ah, eh, or oh ; e. g. halle veal alt, to call : neuters are made causal by adding e to the verb, e.g. hall'd bin, to lie down; halle hhie, to cause to lie down, etc.; and they are made negative by adding ehn to verbs ending in consonants; as halUihin, to lie down; ball'e binehn, not laid down, etc. There is no inflexion to verbs for singular and plural. They arc both alike. SHEUBHO-BULLOM. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. LUKE'S GOSPEL, Ciixv. x. v. 30 to 37, ^''NoH-POKAN bill ka thowl hink Yerusalem ko Yericho, ni woa ka duck ahyinp^ alilui, wonno woa buss woa cotta woa re, ni ngha keth woa, ni ngha kony, ni leh w-oa tuhn ha wu. ^^ Dya-gbuttul, moinoh bul ka hun nai landeh, ni ych woa ka keh woan, woa chang lill ha re ahtuck. ^^Ni yimbul Livinoh, ych woa ka die ahyina landeh, ni lehly woa ahtuck, woa chang lill lia re ahtuck. ^^ Kerb Samaritanoh bul, keryeh woa ka clie gbeih, ka hun ko lo, woa ka die, ni yeh woa ko keh woa, woa ka bi nlap woan. ^^ Ni ka ko ko woa, ni ka rammel pah woa re, ni ka pirry ahyi unqueih ni moi, ni pch woa kabaloh woa re ahtuck, ni woa ka chi woa kill ahyi ni beck-woa-ntihn. ^^Ni shoh yeh woa chang, woa quih ticoppo titing, ni ka kah nghan ko Bah kill re, ni woa ka hob ko woan, nbeck-woa- ntihn ni bulehng hum pagab chang ngho, yeh yah muny hun, yah bo pagali nioa. ^"^ Ahniah rah ro, ntehnienny ladeh hum woa bo die tenibah ko woan, wonno woa duckoli allying ahluiah re ? ^^ Ni moinoh sabba re woa boh : wonno woa ka tunky nlap ko woa, ni Yesus woa ka boh ko woa : nko ki ngha ken woa ka ngha. The territory of the Sherbro-Bulloms comprises about 5000 square miles, with a line of sea-coast about 120 miles in length, situated between the south bank of the Camaranca Kiver, in lat. 7° 54' X., and the border of Gallinas district, in lat. 7° 2T. This fertile region was voluntarily ceded to the British in 1825. The Sherbro-Bullom dialect is also spoken in the Bananas, a group of very small islands, now a dependency of Sierra Lconc, situated off the south-western extremity of the Sierra Leone peninsula, and between four and five miles distant from the town of Kent. The Bullom and the Sherbro, in all probability, originally formed one language; but so many foreign words and idioms have been introduced in each, that there are now essential differences between them ; and it is said that few Bulloms can understand Sherbro. In the early part of the present century, the book of Genesis, Newton's Hymns, and the Liturgy of the Church of England, were translated into Sherbro by Mr. George Caulker, a native, and formerly headman of the Bananas. Mr. Schon, of the Church IVIissionary Society, has since re-trans- lated part of Genesis, and likewise prepared a translation of part of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. He had the satisfaction of finding that his translations were perfectly intelligible to the people; and therefore, during his visit to England in 1839, he caused part of his work to be printed, which he took back to Africa with a view to further correction. Although so small a portion of the Scriptures has been printed in Sherbro, it would seem that the version, incomplete as it is, has been owned and blessed of God; for the missionaries state, that " no village or town in the whole colony is so free from superstitious practices as arc the Banana islands." Class VI.] YARRIBA. ill YARRIBA, OR YORUBA. SPECIMEN, FROM ROMANS, Chap. hi. v. 19 to 31. '* Nisisiyi awa mo pe ohunkohun ti ofin wi, o wi fu awon ti ow^ li abbe ofin ; ki gbogbo ennu ki ole ipamo, ati ki gbogbo araiye ki ole idi elese niwaju Olorun ^^ Nitori na nipa ise ti ofin, ko si enniti aoda li are niwaju rh : nitori nipa ofin ni imo ese gbe wa. *^ Sugbon nisisiyi ododo Olorun ban lehin ofin, ti anje li eri nipa ofin ati nipa awon woli : ^ Ododo Olorun na nipa igbagbo ti Jesusi Kristi si gbogbo enia ati lara gbogbo awon ti 9 gbagbo : nitori ti kb si iyatt9 : ^ Gbogbo wa li asa ti se, awa si di abukun si ogo Olorun. " Enniti anda li are nipa ore ofe rh nipa idande ti owa lara Kristi Jesusi : ^* Enniti Olorun ti yan telle se etutu nipa igbagbo ni ti ejje r^, lati fi ododo r^ ban nipa ti idariji ese ti o ti koja nino ipamora Olorun ; ^^ Lati fi ododo r^ ban nigba isisiyi : ki ole ise alare, ati oludare enniti 9 gba Jesusi gb9. ^' Nibo ni iyin ha gbe wa ? ati mu u kuro. Nipa ofin wo ? ni ti ise ? Onko : sugb9n nipa ofin igbagb9. ^^ Nitori na awa pari re si pe nipa igbagbo li anda enia li are lehin ise ofin. '^ Obrun awon Jev/ nikansoso ha ni? ki ise ti aw9n Keferi pellu ? beheni, ise ti a\\'on Keferi pellu : ^^ Nje ari i pe Olorun kan ni ti yi odare fu awon akola nipa igbagbo, ati fu aw9n alaik9la nitori igbagbo ^^ Awa nha nso ofin di assan nipa igbagbo bi ? Ki ama ri i : sugb9n, awa nfi idi ofin kalle. The Yoruba country lies on the riglit or west bank of the Niger, from IdJali to Yaouri. The district in which the language is predominant is bounded north by the Nufi and the Haussa country, east by Warree and Benin, and west by Dahomey. The dialects spoken on the coast are called Yebu, while those in the interior are variously styled Eye, Inongo, and Yoruba, but they are all local varieties of one language. The Yoruba tribes possess the characteristics, physical and intellectual, of the negro race. Some among them are Pagans, and others Mohammedans; but they are all, like other negro nations, distinguished by their veneration for charms and amulets, which they flmcy can avert sickness and affliction. Their government is carried on by means of a superstition called Oro, the secrets of whicli are confined to the male sex. Any person who reveals these secrets is punished with death, and the same punishment is inflicted on any woman who may become acquainted with tlicm. Polygamy, as in other negro states, prevails to a great extent, and some of the chieftains have been known to possess two tlwusand wives. The king of tlie country informed Clapperton that he did not know how many wives and children he had, but he was sure that his wives alone, hand to hand, would reach from Katunga, the capital, to Jannali, a distance of considerably more than one hundred miles. The Yoruba language, in grammar and general structure, resembles the Mandingo and Haussa languages. The inflectional elements, however, possess no trace of similarity to those of either lan- guage, although founded on the same principles. The Yarriba accents and intonation are not readily acquired by foreigners. A translation of portions of the New Testament into the Yoruba language was first effected a few years since, by the Rev. Samuel Crowther, a native of the country, and a re-captured negrc-slave, subsequently ordained as a minister of the Church of England. An edition of 500 copies of the Epistle to the Romans was printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1850. The 412 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. gratifying manner in wliicli this version of a part of the inspired Word was welcomed by the native population led the same Society to print, in the following year, further portions of the Yornba Scrip- tures, consisting of 500 copies each of St. Luke's Gospel, the Acts, and the Epistles of St. James and St. Peter. These were at once forwarded to their destination, and experienced a like favourable reception. " The word of God (writes one of the missionaries in 1852) is most eagerly received and read at Abbeokouta, and wherever there is one able to read, many have been blessed by the same." Later testimony is to the same purport. The Rev. H. Townshend, of Abbeokouta, in thanking the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society for copies of the portions of Scripture translated into the Yoniba language, adds, — '• A large portion of them are already in the hands of natives of both sexes, who read, and, I am thankful to say, understand what they read therein." Further portions of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, have since been translated into Yoruba by Mr. Crowther, and have been printed, as fast as completed, at the expense of the British and Forei'^n Bible Society. The demand for the Word of God has, indeed, been so great as to render necessary later editions of the portions first translated into Yoruba, which have been accordingly revised for the purpose. The books of Genesis and Exodus, together with other portions of the Old Testament, including the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, have passed through the press. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John have also been translated into Yoruba by the Rev. T. King, a native Christian minister, and an edition of each has been printed — the latter in 1857. The Gospel of St. Mark has since been completed, and an edition of 1,500 copies issued. Further portions of thj Bible are In progress of translation by Mr. Crowther. H A U S S A. SPECIMEN, FROM St. MATTHEW, Chap. xxv. v. 1 to 13. Saanan kassa Alitshana ta yi kamma biulura'i Gonia, woddonda su ka dauka fitillai nsu, su ka fitta su ngamu da ango. - Biat tsUiki nsu da hangkali, biat tshiki nsu ba su da hangkali ba. ^ Woddanda ba su ba hangkali su ka dauka fitillai nsu ba su dauka da mo'i ba. *Amma masuhangkali su ndauka mo'i tshiki nkoore nsu tare da fitillai nsu. *Da ango )^a dadeh su duka su na gaingedi da kuana. "^ Da sakka dere akayi kuuka ; dubah, ango shi na taffi, fitta ku ishe shi (ku gamu da shi). '' Saanan duka budurai su ka tashi, su ka girda fitillai nsu, * Woddanda ba su da hangkali su ka tshe da masuhangkali, bah mu mo'i nku, dong fitillai mu su na matshi. ^ Amma masuhangkali su ka amsa su ka tshe, ba hakka ba, ba shi issa mu da ku ; taffi ga, raasusayesmva, ku saye na kanku. "^Saanda su nka taffi ga saye, ango ya sakka, woddanda su ka yi shiri su ka taffi tare da shi wuri amire, kofa na rufeh. ^^ Yautshe su nsakka wodda nsu budurai, su nka tshe, Obangissi, Obangissi, bodeh ma mu. '- Amma ya amsa, ya tshe ma su, gaskia, natshe ma ku, ba na san' nku ba. ^'Donghakka ku yi dzaro, dong ba ku sani rana ba,ko lotto, yaushe dah- mutum shi isakka. The Haussa is one of the most widely-extended languages of Western Africa. It commences at Fundah, and, following the course of the river Chadda, Is used at Jacoba, Buzum, Aja, Kerbi, Shcra, and other places. On the east. It is conterminous with the Bornu; and on the west, with the Yoruba Class VI.] TIMMANEE. 413 languages: its extension nortli and west is undetermined. Although spoken by a people of pure negro race, it has grammatical afTmities with the Shemitic languages. Its pronouns and a few of its words are of undoubted Shemitic origin; but it is didicult to trace the etymology of Haussa words, on account of the alterations to which they are subjected in accordance with the euphonic laws of the language. The prepositions are similar to the Berber; and Haussa adjectives, like the Berber, are very few in number, the deficiency being supplied in both languages by means of a perij)hrasis, con- sisting of the relative and verb. In Haussa there is neither definite nor indefinite article. Their place is supplied by personal or demonstrative pronouns. There are two numbers, singular and plural; but the formation of tlie plural is so irregular, that it is diHicult to give special rules for it. The Haussa seems, in this respect, to partake of the multiplicity of Arabic plurals in the so called broken form. Thus, e.g. a'/ki, work, plural a'ikohi; dutshi, stone, plural duasu; saifa, spleen, plural sa'ifqft; etc. As to genders, there are two, masculine and feminine; they are distinguished from each other by certain words prefixed, and by a change of termination, especially in adjectives. There is, strictly speaking, no declension of nouns in Haussa. The cases are expressed by pre- positions, or by the place words occupy in the sentence. Adjectives do not differ in termination from verbs or nouns, and the degrees of comparison are expressed by '^,' to excel, and ' duka,' all, respec- tively. The pronouns are indeclinable, and verbs, as far as the language is known at present, do not seem to express mood, tense, or number, by inflection, but by the addition of letters and particles, and by the aid of the personal pronouns which accompany the verb both in its active and passive form. There are some auxiliary verbs, very irregular in their formation; and the most common form of active verbs is thus conjugated: Pros. Iiia soh, I am loving; Pret. Na soh, I loved; Fut. Ni isoh, I shall love, etc. The Gospel according to St. Matthew was translated into this language prior to the year 1841, by the Rev. Mr. Schon, of the Church Missionary Society. He was aided by the Eev. Samuel Crowther, whose native language is Yoruba, and whose knowdedge of that idiom tended to illustrate obscurities in Haussa. Mr. SehiJn is still prosecuting the translation of the Scriptures, under the auspices of the Church Jlissionary Society. The book of Genesis was first completed, and an edition of 500 copies was printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1857. The book of Exodus has been sub- sequently printed. The Gospel of St. John, and the Acts, have also passed through the press. TIMMANEE. TiMiiANi is a small country on the coast of Western Africa, watered by the Scarcies and the Lower Rokelle, and adjoining Sierra Leone. The language is a Mandingo dialect. A version of the Gospel according to St. Luke in this dialect has been prepared by the Kev. Messrs. Schlenker and Schmid, agents of the Church Missionary Society, but it has not yet been committed to the press. Mr. Schmid has subsequently translated the Epistle to the Romans into the Timmanee language. A small book,, containing extracts from the Scriptures, with Prayers and Hymns for the use of the school at Port Lokkoh, has been printed by the Church Missionary Society; and this, with the translation of St. Matthew's Gospel, executed in 1848 by l\Ir. Schlenker, but not yet printed, comprises all that has hitherto been effected towards bestowing the Scriptures on this negro nation. One cause of the opposition encountered by missionaries in this country is the prevalence of Jlohammcdanism, in the lax profession of which many of the Timmances live. 414 AFllIC AN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. B A S S A. Bassa is spoken in a tract of the sea-coast, about forty miles in length, in lat. 5° N., and long. 10° W.: this district is now included in the flourisliing colony of Liberia. How far the Bassa language extends into the interior of the continent is unknown. The people to whom it is vernacular reside chiefly along the coast, and are now estimated at about 125,000 individuals; their numbers have been greatly diminished by the slave trade. The language is closely allied to the JMandingo, and belongs to the Grebo liimily. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, with the Acts of the Apostles, have been printed in Bassa, at the expense of the Rhenish Missionary Society ; and other portions of the sacred volume, translated by the Rhenish missionaries, are said to be now in a state of preparation for the press. GREBO. SPECIMEN, EKOM St. LUKE, Chap. vi. v. 27 to 36. 2'' Nema lele ahmonli ne, alimu no wenh te nenonh, bah nowane ah nyenhoh, liah nu nyono nyenh ahmonh, hanhka. ^* Bah blcse nyono oh gididi ahmonh, nenh bah bade Nyesoa ko nyono nyinene ahmonh na ah ta. ^^Nenh njk h^ podeo moh de gabwa n^, tede nS, 4be ye : nenh nya ba ha moh nah swenh daro kwa, nah ka n^ ye, ko na kade ah ta ye. ^^ Bah hnyi nyebo biye no ideda moh ; nenh nya ba ha moh nah teble kwa, nah idae na eh te n^ de. ^^ Nenh tine ah ide nyebo boh nu ahmonh ma, kre bah nu no ye. ^^KS,re boh nowane nyono, oh nowane ahmonh, bisida bee ah kae? kare kbiine nyineoh nowane nyono oh nowane no ne, ye. ^^ Nenh bah nu nyono ni ahmonh hanh ka donh, hanh ka, bisida bee ah kae? kare kbune nyineoh ni ne ne ye. ^^ Nenh nyono ah Avore pona, oh di ahmonh peem^, oh donh ka ahmonh he, bah yi teble hie, bisida bee, ah kae ? kdre kbiine nyineoh hie kbune nyineoh ah teble ne, boh mu eh tee yi ah ta. 2' Nema bah nowane ah nyenhoh, bah nu no hanh ka, nenh bah hie teble, ah wore nah ida eh te na de : nenh ah peeda muwa boa, nenh pie bah muwa Hiya ah iru nu ; kare a na woro ko nyono neh ze na, oh ka kbune nyineoh he ma. ^"^ Hede bah po nyebo wore ma na, tine, ah Buo ni wa wore ma na popoe. The Grebo language is predominant in the immediate vicinity of Cape Palmas, and is supposed to extend considerably into the interior: it prevails from Sinou to Bareby, but its precise area is undeter- mined. Tribes of this family are to be met with from Grand Cape JMountain on the north to St. Andrew's on the Ivory Coast. The Grebo people have, in general, less intelligence than their neighbours : they are pagans, but possess no fixed system of idolatry, each individual adopting such notions and practices as accord Vi^ith his own fancy. Their mode of political government is equally anomalous: they have no system of legislation whatever, but live in disorderly masses, without rulers; those who bear the name of chiefs having a mere nominal authority. Class VI.] ACCRA. 415 The Grebo is a connate language with the Vci spoken at Grand Cape Mountain, the Dcy spoken by the former inhabitants of Cape JMcsurado, the dialects of Drewin and St. Andrew's, the Bassa, and tlie Km, all of which are usually included in the Grebo liimily. The Grebo is characterised by many difficult nasal and guttural sounds, by a disproportion of monosyllabic words, and by great deficiency in inflections. It possesses, however, a variety of tenses, whereby the time of an action can be expressed with singular precision. In a negative verbal proposition, the particle of negation takes the tense inflection instead of the verb. Many of the words of this language have no fixed olficc, but are employed indiscriminately as nouns, adjectives, particles, and verbs. The first translation of the Gospel into Grebo was made by the aid of the American Board of ]\lissions: the Gospel according to St. Matthew was printed, and the Acts translated, prior to the year 1840. This edition of St. JIatthew consisted of 1000 copies. In 1848, the Gospel according to St. Luke was translated from the original by the Rev. John Payne, an agent of the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society of America, and an edition was printed at the expense of the American Bible Society. The following portions of Scripture have also been translated and published, at the expense of the American Bible Society, in the Grebo language: — Acts, by the Rev. Theodore Schulz, in 1802;^New York, 1850 Genesis, by the Rev. John Payne, ditto 1850 Acts, by ditto ditto 1851 A C C E A. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 14. Tshutsliii klengkleng lu Wiema lu ia, ni Wiema lu ke Nilngm^ ia, ni Wiema lu dzhi ^liingm^. ^ Lu tshutshli klengkleng lu e ke Nlingma ia. ' Lu fe nj pia, ni h' shj lu a fe-e nako 'ni h' fe. ■* E mli hiekam^ ia, ni liekama lu dzhi gbamej a 1^. ' Ni I^ lu tsliba ie dung mli, ni dung lu enana. ^ E' babumli ake k' tshu nfi kb kcdzh^ NlingmSi nga, h. tshe lu Dzhon. ' E' ba bdase iere, koni e i^ la lu bdase, koni [mcj] pia 'a heiii^ i^ k hewa. * Dzhe lu dzhi \k lu, shi [^ ba] \h lu bdase iere. * No dzhi 1^ an^kua lu 'ni tshoa ha-a [mej] pia 'ni bk-a dzhfeng lu. '" E' i^ dzhe lu mli, m lu fe dzh^ lu, ni dzh^ lu \i lu. " E b^ ludientsh^-e-na nga, ni ludientsh^-e-na her^-e lu. '^ Shi 'mej-a-b^ 'ni here lu [lu], fe hS, [amme] hegbe ake amme 'a fe Niingma bj, 'mej 'ni heiiifea ih e gbei n^ [lu]. '^ Dzhe la, '15 hfewido sumanm, 'lo nii siimama, shi Niingma ni k' fa amme. " Ni k' fe Wiema lu hfewulo, ni e hi wk teng, ni wk nk e he-n^-w6ma lu, ake Tshfe lu bi 'kijme- 'ni-k-fa lu he-nk-woma lu, ke iaka-nake, ke ankkua obo. Accra (or, more properly, Ghah) has been ascertained by recent discoveries to be the spoken language of a trading people on the Gold Coast of Africa numbering from 60,000 to 80,000 soids. The town of Accra, in the immediate neighbourhood of which this dialect is most extensively prevalent, lies on the meridian of Greenwich, in north latitude. Both the British and Dutch governments maintain stations at this place. The Rev. A. Hanson, a native of Accra, translated the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John into 416 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. tins lann-uage; and in 1843 an edition was printed in London by the Britisli and Foreign Bible Society, in Konian letters, with numerous diacritical marks. On his return to Africa the following year, Mr. Hanson took the copies with him for distribution among his countrymen; and he had the satisfaction of finding, not only that the version was thoroughly intelligible to them, but also that they were able (after receiving a little information concerning the system of vowel points he had adopted) to read the printed copies for themselves with ease and pleasure. This edition was received with mucli joy and thankfulness by the native population, and was speedily exhausted. The agents of the Basle Missionary Society have been, and still are, diligently engaged in the same field of labour. The Eev. J. Zimmcr- mann, one of their number, has devoted himself for many years past to the tdsk of rendering the Scrip- tures into the Ghah language, and various portions, as soon as completed by him, have been printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and transmitted to Africa for distribution. The Gospels of St. ]\Iark and St. Luke, with a revised edition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, were araono- the first-fruits of Mr. Zimmermann's labours, and were completed in 1855. Subsequently, the book of Genesis, the Epistles of St. John and St. Jude, the Revelation, and the prophets Isaiah and Daniel; together with (more recently) the Acts, the Epistles from I. Corinthians to 11. Peter, and the book of Exodus, have been completed, and printed at Basle. Much interesting testimony to the good results which have already ensued from the dissemination of the Ghah version of the sacred writings is contained in recent reports of the Bible Society. The Word of God has struck deep root among the people of Accra, and the number of native applicants for baptism is rapidly on the increase. The arrival of the little volume which contained the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John was welcomed, both by young and old, with lively joy, and all were anxious to begin its diligent perusal. F A N T E E. The Fantees are the most powerful people on the Gold Coast, a section of which they occupy. They reside chiefly in the immediate vicinity of Cape Coast, including Dixcove and Anamaboe. In number they amount to between 800,000 and 1,000,000: but they have never been united into one compact political body, their government being in the hands of inferior chiefs, who possess an almost indepen- dent and despotic jurisdiction over limited districts. The Fantees were originally one people with the Ashantees, but many centuries have elapsed since their separation. They are pagans, and very super- stitious, and are still in a state of semi-civilisation. Fantce is a soft and harmonious language, and is closely connected in structure and idiom with all the other languages of Ashantee, except the Accra. It has no article, and no terminational variations to express the distinctions of case. The possessive case is marked cither by the mere collocation of words, or else by affixing an abbreviation of the relative pronoun. The plural is formed by prefixing the syllable im or in to the singular noun. Conjugation is carried on, as in Mandingo, by means of the pronouns, which undergo certain changes to denote the variations of tense, while the verb itself remains unaltered. An introductory work to the Accra and Fantee languages, containing among other things a translation of the Ten Comnjandments, was pubHshed at Copenhagen in 1764, by order of the King of Denmark. Five or six chapters of the Gospel of St. John have been translated into Fantee by the Rev. Mr. Hanson, but they have not yet been committed to the press, and the Fantees are still destitute of printed copies of the Scriptures in their own language. Class Vi.] ASHANTEE. 417 ASHANTEE, OR ODJII. The Ashantce kingdom comprises a considerable portion of the maritime district generally known as the Guinea Coast: including its dependencies, this kingdom extends over 70,000 square miles, and is the area of at least six or seven different languages. The population of Ashantee Proper, according to Bowdich, amounts to 1,000,000, but the entire empire may be said to contain a population of at least 3,000,000. Mohammedanism has made some progress in this country, but the prevailing form of superstition is Feticism, with which many sanguinary and revolting rites are connected. The immolation of human victims is practised on many public occasions; and when the king dies, Ashantee becomes one vast Aceldama. But the inhuman atrocities to which this nation is addicted have of late years been repressed by the efforts of the missioTiaries stationed in this benighted land. The language distinguished as " Ashantee Proper, or Odjii," is spoken in the south of Asdnte (Ashantee), in Fantee, in Akim, in Akwapim, and in Akwam. There are trilling dialectic differences in the language spoken in these several districts; but it may be considered, nevertheless, one and the same with the Akwapim or Odjii, the best cultivated of them all. Dr. Bcecham, who at one time had an intelligent Fantee and two Ashantees residing under his roof, observed that they could all converse together with nearly as much ease as if they had been natives of the same district; and it is said that natives of Ashantee who occasionally visit the coast, and the people in the neighbourhood of Cape Coast Castle, have little difficulty in understanding each other. The sounds of the Odjii language are expressed by 26 letters. It has neither number nor case; and the plural is formed by the addition and alteration of initial syllables: e. g. popa, a palm branch, pi. empopa; ata, turn, pi. enfn, turns; do, stone, pi. abo, stones; ti, head, ati, heads; vurow, a nail, aivurow, nails, etc. In verbs, the conjuiration is formed not by final terminations, as in most European languages, but by initial augments, thus: mi-lio, I go, loo-ko, thou goest, o-ho, he goes, etc. In 1846, the missionaries of the Basle Missionary Society commenced the preparation of a version of the New Testament into Ashantee, and completed the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. The Rev. Mr. Riis, one of the translators, formerly stationed at Acropong (not very distant from Accra), subsequently prepared a grammar and lexicon of the Odjii language, embracing eight dialects. More recently, the Picv. Mr. Christaller (one of the German missionaries stationed at Acropong, but who has been compelled to return to Europe on account of his health) has prosecuted the task of Scripture translation into the Odjii topgue, and as the work progresses, consecutive portions will be printed at Basle imder his superintendence. The portions of the Odjii version already printed comprehend the Four Gospels and the Acts. The translation of the Psalms into Odjii has been commenced by the Rev. F. A. Mader, at present stationed at Acropong. 28 418 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VT. D U A L L A. SPECIMEN, FllOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. Tbe Jisos a enino diimiti, a taabua o moi o molongo. mli ibe a gaino wasi, Ija Ijccoele l)au, ba poiiio iia ino. ^ Ndi, a tauta moluinbu inau, a talea babo, a ona. ^ Batuidi, ba si bwa sise o moleina, ba iiamidi, ebanja ecumbu ya loba ei yabii. ^ Babo ba lebe o niolema, ba namidi, ebanja ba o embabe o milema. ^ I'atu ba pi, ba namidi, ebanja ba o bene itio muindi. " Babo ba bei njai na nyongi, o itesse la inolemn, ba namidi, eljanja ba o ulisabe. '' Batu ba ndedi, ba namidi, ebanja ba o nongo ndedi. ''Babo ba sanga o milema, ba namidi, ebanja ba o ene Loba. ® Batu ba ilattise, ba namidi, ebanja ba o belabe bana ba Loba. ^^ Babo ba tacisabe, o nyulo o itesse la molema, ba namidi ; eljanja ecumbu ya loba ei yabu. ^' Binyo o bei moname, ibe batu ba o silese binyo, ba o tacisabe binyo, ba o bacele binyo o mambu ma bubi inessi, o nyulo am. '- Bwa mon- yenge; bwa monyenge mondene; ebanja boweni banyo, bondeni o loba; nanu ndi, ba tacisino baprofiti, ba seleno o boso banyo. The country in wliicli the Dualla or Dcwalla language is vernacular lies on the western coast of Africa, north, east, and soutli of the Cameroons River, and its area is considered to be under 1000 square miles. The huiguage, liowever, is known in districts which probably cover 5000 square miles. No correct statistical accounts of the Dualla tribes have been yet obtained ; but tlie missionaries state that the number of this people in the immediate vicinity of the mission-station on the Cameroons Eiver amounts to about 30,000. The Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, have been translated into Dualla by the Rev. Alfred Saker, of the Baptist Missionary Society, and an edition of the Gospel of St. Matthew has been printed in Africa. The Scriptural knowledge Imparted to the Duallas, by means of these portions of the Divine word, has been blessed to the spiritual enlightenment of several individuals. In 1849, a member of the Dualla nation, the first fruits of the mission, was baptised in the Klvcr Cameroons, amidst a large assemblage of his countrymen. And, apart from individual instances of conversion, a great change has been wrought in the general character and disposition of the nation. " Their ferocious, demoniacal features (says Mr. Saker) are assuming the softness of children ; and those who a little time since sought my life, are now saying to me, ' What sliall I do to be saved?'" A revised edition of the Gospels, together with the Acts, has been subsequently carried through the press by Mr. Saker, whose account of his labours is In the highest degree interesting. " I have translated (he remarks) every verse afresh of the Scriptures now printing, without any reference to anything previously printed, until each chapter has been completed and then compared." Tlie printing and binding were executed at Cameroons, and by native labour. Upon visiting England In 1855, Mr. Saker presented to the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society a copy of the volume In wlilch these portions of the sacred word are contained, and also of the grammar of the Dualla language whicli he had compiled. These books are well printed and bound. When asked by wliom the work was done, he replied, " By lads belonging to the Mission establislimcnt, themselves the fruit of missionary labour, members of the church, not long ago ignorant barbarians; and who are now not only employed in these useful works, having acquired a knowledge of more trades than printing and book-binding, but go out on the week evenings to the suburbs of Cameroons, and on the Lord's days to the neighbouring villafTes, to preach the Gospel of Christ!" Surely this alone Is a rich reward for the expense and toil bestowed on the mission to Western Africa; and no pious mind can reflect on a fact so striking and inip(n-tant without rejoicing In tlie success of which it Is so signal a proof Class VI.] ISUBU. 419 I SUB U. SPECIMEN, FKOM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, Chap. i. v. 1 to 11. Nggombi ya boso-boso ee Ekwali, e mabe ; ee Ekwali, e mabe na Obasi, ee Ekwali, 0 mabe Obasi. ^ Oo 'ndi a mabe, 'jiggombi ya boso-bo.so na Obasi. ^J\lambu mese, ina mabolabe na mo; si mo, ke lambu, ke loko, di si bolabe. ''Longge, di mabe na mo, dini longge 'ndi, di mabe moenene mo batu. * Mo moenene, mo matana o moititi, 'ndi moititi, mo si mo inggele. '^ 0 mabe motu, dina lai Jon, a malomabe na Obasi. '' Oo motu, a maya na mosunggweri i oba meanggo na mo moenene, batu bese, ba bekane o nyulo ya meanggo miai. ® Momene, a si be mo moenene ; a maya i oba meanggo na ino moenene. '■• Moenene mo 'mbaki, mo mabe mo, a maya o mono monyanggalu, a boli moenene na batu bese. ^'^ A mabe o mono monyanggalu ; mono monyanggalu, mo mabolabe na mo, 'ndi batu ba mono monyanggalu, ba si mo bia. ^^ A maya o yai ekombo, 'ndi lai itumba, di si mo inggele; ^-'Ndi bese, ba ma mo inggele, ba kamanele dina lai, a ma ba bola mosima, ba be bana ba Obasi. ^^ Bano bana, ba si yabe na makia, na iemea la Jij'ulo, na iemea la motu ; ba maj'abe 'ndi na Obasi. ^* 'Ndi ee Ekwali, e matimba nyulo, e maja na iso, (di m'ene bondene boi, bondene, na bo inwana moko mene, a yabe na Sanggo yasu, ) a malonda na mosima na beyala bi 'mbaki. IsuBU is spoken in a small maritime district, called Blmbla, lying at the foot of the Cameroon ^lountalns. Its population Is under 10,000. Around the Cameroon Mountains there are extensive districts, with a scattered population, In which dialects of Isubu and Dualla are spoken. Parts of the Scriptures were translated Into Isubu by the late Rev. Joseph Alerrlck, of the Baptist Missionary Society. This devoted missionary was of African descent, and was educated In the schools of the Baptist Society In Jamaica. He spoke the Isubu language with great precision, and spent the last years of his life among the Isubu tribes. He died in 1849, just as the fruit of his labours was ripening, and when five natives had evinced a desire to be baptised. His labours, however, have been continued by Mr. Saker and his fellow-labourers In the same field, and not without success. The portions of Mr. Merrick's labours which have been printed are the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, the book of Genesis, a portion of the book of Acts, and a series of selections from the Old Testament. These have Issued from the local press of the Baptist missionaries. The two remaining Gospels have been subsequently translated, and 100 copies of the whole Gospels were completed in 1852. 420 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. FERNANDIAN, OR ADIYAH. SPECIMEN, FEOM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. Atshi eem bwala e fieso bohoh o basa ; elj'ilu la itshino, a bataki bai boa bwe ko peria. ^ Atshi e abodo o bweeh bwai, e aba tubairia lalo. ^ Luebwe lue betshu bo tobolo e iteba; ka a bebe takeidu o riata o lobako pwa. * Luebwe luebo beba loididi, ka ba lue hobahah. ^ Luebwe luebo beba bokeu o botu, ka ba na lue ela lele u boba pwe. ''Luebwe luebo beba tshala, a tshila nu bedi a laba lele aina, ka ana bei bahali. ' Luebwe luebo bobo sa lele, ka nabe e lahah lele. ^ Luebwe luebo bokibe eteba e luliyai, ka a nabe elahah a Yehovah. ^Luebwe luebo bala hoaba, ka a nabe ilelo a bola a Yehovah. ^"Luebwe luebo a bobah ba leili hela o bola bo sa lele: ka abe ba pru riata o lobako. '^ Luebwe lueue e bila la bole, la loika, atshi o boli hcla ue, atshi na ohlii a la ba lama a bebe lo o keida bisoi a la ne. '- 'Minabihoh, atshi lobo lobo mabihoh, ka ote ote a lokoo o lubako, ka ale ili hela ali ebi, o alo boso a welo. The island of Fernando Po is situated in tlie Bight of Benin, about twenty miles distant from the continent, between lat. 3° 11' and 3° 47' K, and long. 8° 24' and 8° 56' E. It is about 120 miles in circumference, its greatest length from north to south being rather more than thirty-six miles, and its greatest breadth about thirty-one miles. The inhabitants of this beautiful island number 20,000. The tribe to which they belong is called Adiyah, and this name is often given to their language. They are a timid, inoffensive people, less covetous than the generality of Africans, and remarkable for simplicity and childish good nature. They reside principally on the sides of the mountains of which their island is composed, and generally at a height of from 1000 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea. There are upwards of two hundred villages thus scattered among the mountains, besides fishing villages; and about fifty trading ports, where they carry on a traffic in yams and palm oil. The government is in the hands of headmen, one of whom presides over each village, assisted by a certain number of counsellors selected from the aged and experienced. The religion of the Adiyah is the same as that of their bretlu'en on the opposite shore, consisting in a rude kind of worship rendered to frightful Images, and in veneration for charms and amulets. Fernando Po is a dependency of Spain; and in 1S46 the missionaries labouring in the island were exposed to some persecution from the emissaries of tliat government. Tlie Spanish consul even forbad the use of the Scriptures in the native schools, but was subsequently induced to withdraw the prohi- bition. This seeming tolerance, however, was only of brief duration. Tlie persevering opposition of the Romish priesthood had been awakened by the manifest success which attended the efforts of tlie Protestant missionaries to diffuse a knowledge of the revealed Word, and the result has been, the enforced cessation of these important labours. Tiie missionaries were compelled, in 1858, to withdraw from the island. The Gospel of St. Matthew, printed at the expense of the Baptist jMissionary Society, is the only part of the Fernandian version that lias yet been committed to tlie press. Tlie Gospel of St. Mark has long been translated, but is not printed, and otlier portions are ready for the press. This translation was commenced by Mr. Clarke, and is now being carried on by ilr. Saker, of the Baptist Missionary Society. Class VI.] M PONG WE. 421 M P 0 N G W E. SPECniEN, FROM St. LUKE, Chap. sv. v. 11 to 32. ^' Ne be bull ye, inle onomi omuri are n'anwana anomi avani. '-Ne be bulia onw^ rombe, inle, rera, va iiile mbeiyasika yi be jigo mie. Ne be kere sika ye gore wao avani. '•^Ndo va intyugu yeyaina iraganu, ne be bonga onwa, rombe siki ye agentlaga gw'ilonga ila, ne be inenize siki ye na ebandanie ni jonga alugu; ^^ Gw'anienize yodu via, ne be bia njana nipolu gw'ilongS, nie; ne be jmkilia ye ni bela y^ina. ''^Ne agandiage go doana n'ononii gw'ilonga nieyana nebe tonio ye ne oma mewana go ntyaga go nyezaga ingoa; '" Xe be bele jonia iwumi nye na sinya si nyo n'ingoa; ne be doanc alenga n'oma go pe eza inya. ^^ Ndo gw'awinio ye ne ogu ntl, awni ye, inle, intyuri niia si re na rera si re ni nipemba nyenge ni nyewa yi pagaga, ndo mie piere yi juwa ni njana. ^^ Mi be kumana agundaga gore reri yam, awalinia ye, iide, Rera, mi adendi isaun imbe g'orowa n'awe ke. '^ Ndo mi agekizi felio, inle, onwani wa. Yaiiga mie ga ntyuri yi re we bonga pa mari. '^^ Ne be nongwe agendaga gore rari ye. Ndo gw'avevagi ye bo, be jeno ye no reri ye, ne be jene aye nkcva avulia mango azaugune go mpele we azambe. -' Ne be wulia onwana, inle, Rera! mi adeudi isaun imbe g'orowa na gore we ke, ndo mi agekizi fa felio, inle, onwani wa. -- Ndo be buia reri ye awulinia intyure ye, inle, vagani ngai rabia ka wara ye yo ; ka fele omoro g'omeno we ka fele ntyozyo satanga gw'intyozyo ye ; ^^ Ka vaga onwa. nyare ovami ka jona yo. Ka tiga 'zuwe nya ayena igewa. -^ Kaude onwani warn Avina pc juwi, ka ye fa tongwa; aperi ka fa dengo; be pakilia wao igewa. I. — GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. MpONGWE is the language of a people (heretofore generally known as the Pongos) who for more than two centuries have acted in the character of factors in carrying on a traffic between European traders and the tribes of the interior. Mpongwe towns are built on both banks of the Gaboon, but the princi- pal location of the people is a small tract of country at the mouth of that river, just below the Bight of Biafra, and about twenty miles north of the equator. In number the Mpongwcs do not exceed 6000 or 7000, but their language is spoken at Cape Lopez and St. Catherine, and likewise to some distance in the interior. Altogether the number of individuals who employ the jMpongwe language is supposed to amount to at least 200,000. The ilpongwes are a peaceable and friendly people, and, though still in a state of seini-barbarism, are shrewder and more intelliircnt than most of the nciijhbourins nations. Their frovernment has the form of a monarchy, but the power is vested in popular assemblies. Slavery and polygamy prevail among them, as among other African states. They have no system of religion whatever, no jiriesthood, no religious meetings, no worship or sacrifice to idols; the only sentiment approximating to religious superstition which is dominant among them is a strange feeling of veneration which they cherish towards old earthen jars. II. — CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. This language is closely allied to the Kisuaheli, spoken on the opposite side of the continent, and near the same parallel of latitude. Striking verbal and grammatical affinities connect both these lan- guages with the grand family of languages pervading all Africa south of the equator. On the other hand, no resemblances prevail between Mpongwe and the other languages of the western coast spoken 422 AFRICAN LANGUAGES. [Class VI. north of tlie supposed Monntains of the Moon. In the possession of a part of speech called the definite jironoun, the Mpongwe rcscmhlcs the Polynesian language: this pronoun, frequently emj)loycd in the place of other pronouns, is also used in the formation of the infinitive, and in the inflection of nouns and adjectives; and it likewise occasionally subserves the olficc of prepositions, and of other parts of speech. In respect of verbal inflections, the Mpongwe language is particularly rich and copious. There arc, we are told, five simple conjugations, formed by final changes, which give the verb a frequentative, causative, relative, and indefinite sense. Each of these forms is inflected through all the moods, tenses, and voices: negative and passive forms are also in frequent use; and beyond these are numerous shades of meaning, communicated by auxiliary particles and negative intonations. Mpongwe nouns are divided into four classes, according to the formation of the plural, called declensions, though they have neither gender nor case. The first division contains nouns beginning v?ith one or more consonants, that make their plural by prefixing i or 47'; e. g. nyccre, cow, inynre or sinyare, cows. The second division consists of nouns that form the plural by dropping their initial e; e.g. egara, chest, pi. gari, chests. The third division is that of nouns that change their initial i into a; e.g. iddmhe, sheep, pi. addmhe, sheep. The fourth class comprises nouns that change their Initial 0 into i ox a; e.g. olonda, nut, Honda, nuts; onomi, man, anomi, men. Adjectives form their plural like substantives. Yet the American missionaries stationed in the Mpongwe country were less struck by the remarkable copiousness of tliis language than by its almost unlimited flexibility, its philosophical arrangement, and its complete sub- jection to euphonical principles. " Its expansions, contractions, and inflections," they remarked, " though exceedingly numerous, and having apparently special reference to euphony, are all governed by gram- matical rules, which seem to be well established in the minds of the people, and which enable them to express their ideas with the utmost precision. How a language so soft, so plaintive, so pleasant to the ear, and at the same time so copious and methodical in its inflections, should have originated, or how the people are enabled to retain its multifarious principles so distinctly In their minds, as to express their ideas with almost unvarying precision and uniformity, are points which we do not pretend to settle." Various detached portions of the Scriptures have been translated Into Mpongwe by the missionaries of the American Board of Missions, and several printed editions of these portions have been issued at the expense of that Society. No less than 8000 books In the Mpongwe language (among which, how- ever, were elementary works on Christian instruction as well as Scriptural portions) were printed at the mission-press during the year 1846: the pages of these copies were altogether 155,000 in number. We possess no recent intelligence concerning the progress which the American missionaries may now have made in the translation of the New Testament into Mpongwe. ANOTHER SPECIMEN, FROM St. MATTHEW, Chap. v. v. 1 to 12. Gw'ayeni ye inlaga inyenge, avandi ye go nomba : Gw'aloani ye tu, ongili we w'aneni gore ye. ^ Anlungunli ogwani we, anienja wao, inle : ^ Mongi wi re longele g'orema, wi savinlo ; kande inlonga ny'orowa nyao. "* Mongi re nlambaga, wi savinlo ; kande wi be sindio irema. ^Mongi wi re ikendckende, wi savinlo; kande wi be jiga intye. ^ Mongi wi jaga njanla nl'eshone gdreti, wi savinlo ; kande wi be jora : " Mongi re nkenga, wi savinlo ; kande wi be denga nkenga. ^ Mongi wi re nrircma yi nkerc, wi savinlo ; kande wi be jena Anyambia. ^ Mongi panga amenje, wi savinlo ; kande wi be fwelio, inle, awanla w' Anyambia. ^^ Mongi wi kambizo g'ongwanja w'oreti, wi savinlo ; kande inlonga ny'orowa nyao. " Anuwe savinlo, ja onlaga w'atawa nuwe nl'aganibiza nuwe nli bulia igambi yedu ive gore nuwe mbcrinlaga g'ongwanji warn. ^" Yenani mbia, ka tondani polo ; kaude ipi sani si re sipolo g'orowa : kanie ycna agambizagi wao Iprufit s'alonga. Ci.ASs VL] SECHUANA. 423 S E C II U A N A. SPECIMEN, FROM St. JOHN'S GOSPEL, CnAi>. i. v. 1 to 11. Lehuku le Ic le- mo tsimologofi, mi Lehuku le lo na le I\Iorimo, mi Leluiku e Ic le Morimo. - Ye, le le na le Morimo mo tsimologou. "' Lilo cotle li tsa rilioa ka yeona, mi ga gao rihoa sepe sa tse li rihiloen, ha e si ka yeona. ■* Botselo bo le bo le mo go yeona; mi botselo e le le leseri ya bathu. ° Mi leseri ya phatsima mo hihifi; mi lehilii le si ka ya le cula. '' Gabo gole mouona eo o birioan Yohane, a romiloe ki Moriino. '' Monona eo, o la tla go na raoshupi, go sluipa ga Leseri, gore botlc ba rumele ka eintla ea gague. ^ Ena o la si Leseri ye, mi o la rohoa go shupa ga Leseri. '-' Lesei'i ya amavure, e le le ye, ye le tlaii mo lehatsin, le bonisa mothu moilue le moiiue. '" 0 la le ino lehatsin, mi lehatsi le le rihiloe ki ena, mi leliatsi ga lea ka ya mo itse. " 0 la tla