Full text of "The Bible of every land : a history of the Sacred Scriptures in every language and dialect into which translations have been made : illustrated with specimen portions in native characters, series of alphabets, coloured ethnographical maps, tables, indexes, etc"

THE LIBRARY

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
Toronto

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MULT/E TERRICOLIS LliMCU/.
CCELESTIBUS UNA.

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A HISTORY OF

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES

IN EVERY LANGUAGE AND DIALECT

INTO WHICH TRANSLATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE

ILLUSTRATED WITH

SPECIMEN PORTIONS IN NATIVE CHARACTERS:

Series of QUpfyabets;

COLOURED ETHNOGRAPHICAL MAPS,
TABLES, INDEXES, ETC.

DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

nOAAAI MEN 0NHTOI2 TAOTTAI, MIA A AGANATOISIN.

LONDON:
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS,

15, PATERNOSTER ROW;

WAREHOUSE FOR BIBLES, NEW TESTAMENTS, PEATER BOOKS, LEXICONS, GRAMMARS, CONCORDANCES.
AND PSALTERS, IN ANCIENT AND MODERN LANGUAGES.

\fss\

EMMANUEL

i 23730

TO HIS GRACE
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,

ETC., ETC., ETC., ETC.

MY LOED,

IT is with peculiar pleasure I avail myself of the
permission to dedicate the " BIBLE OF EVEKY LAND" to your Grace.

The high honour of having extensively promoted the general
spread of the Sacred Scriptures belongs in an especial manner to your Grace,
and renders the association of this Work with your Grace s name truly
gratifying.

I rejoice in placing my humble effort in the same great cause
under your Grace s patronage.

My gratitude for this distinguished favour, so kindly bestowed, will
increase my endeavour to attain the highest possible degree of completeness
and accuracy in the prosecution of the Work.

I have the honour to subscribe myself,

MY LOKD,

Your Grace s much obliged

and very humble Servant,

SAMUEL BAGSTER.

15, PATERNOSTER Row, 1848.

CONTENTS.

PACK

PREFATORY REMARKS ... . i x

A Classified List of the Languages into which the Scriptures have been translated

An Alphabetical List of Typographical Specimens

The Plates of Engraved Specimens

An Expository Description of all the Ethnographical Maps xvii

The Comparative Series of Alphabets xx i x

Alphabetical Index to the Memoirs of the Versions ] x i

MAP illustrative of toe MONOSYLLABIC Languages.
Memoirs of Class I. The Chinese Languages 1

MAP. showing th& Extension of the 8HEMITIC Languages
Memoirs of Class II. The Shemitic Languages . 19

MAP illustrative of the MEDO-PERS1AN Family.
Memoirs of Class III. Medo-Persian Family 51

MAP illustrative of the SANSCRIT Family.
Memoirs of Class III. Sanscrit Family 71

MAP of EUROPE, showing the Distribution of the CELTIC, TEUTONIC, GRECO LATIN, THRACO

ILLYRIAN, and SCLAVONIC Families

Memoirs of Class III. Celtic Family 129

Teutonic Family . . . .147

Greco-Latin Family . 189

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Memoirs of Class III. Thraco-Illyrian Family . . 239

Sclavonic Family .... 240

MAP of the FINNO-TARTARIAN PumiJv of Languages

Memoirs of Class IV. Euskarian Family ... 261

Finnish Family 264

Tungusian Family . 277

Mongolian Family . 279

Turkish Family . 282

Caucasian Family . 293

Samoiede Family . 295

Eastern Asian and Corean Languages 296

MAP illustrative of the POLYNESIAN and NEGRITIAN Language*

Memoirs of Class V. Polynesian Languages . 299

MAP showing the Distribution of the Native Languages of AFRICA.

Memoirs of Class VI. African Languages 326

MAP of the Languages of NORTH and SOUTH AMERICA

Memoirs of Class VII. American Languages . 359

Memoirs of Class VIII. Mixed or Patois Languages 394

MAP exhibiting the ancient Diffusion of the HEBREW Languages

Supplementary Memoir of the wide Diffusion of the Hebrew Language (1)

Supplementary Information of the Versions generally (5\
A Classified Table of the Languages of the entire Earth, illustrating the necessity for continued

exertion in the spread of the Scriptures / 10 \

PREFATORY REMARKS.

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 has hitherto, in the form at least of a
complete and unbroken narrative, remained unwritten. The materials for such a work
have, however, been accumulating from century to century ; fragmentary portions of this
history enter into the composition of many profound and learned treatises, while facts
and incidents connected with or illustrative of the subject have been supplied even to
profusion by writers of almost every age, creed, and nation. To collect from all
sources, ancient and modern, the multitudinous details bearing on that history which
above all others involves the temporal and eternal interests of mankind, and thus to
produce a clear and condensed account of the means by which the Scriptures were
transmitted from generation to generation, of the circumstances under which they
have been translated into the predominant languages of every land, and of the
agencies by which copies of the inspired writings in these divers languages have been
multiplied and dispersed among the nations and tribes and kindreds of the earth, is
the object of the present work.

The arrangement of the whole work is in strict conformity with the latest dis
coveries in ethnology ; for, although the one grand object of displaying the history of
the Scriptures has never been departed from in these pages, the origin and condition
of the nations to whom special versions have been vouchsafed, and the distinguishing
characteristics of the languages into which have been transferred the words of Him
who " spake as never man spake," have passed under careful review.

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
order of their mutual affinities, into classes, families, and subdivisions, is exhibited by
means of our Tables of Classification, perhaps the first of the kind compiled in our
language.

The work 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

PREFATOEY REMARKS.

the study of two or three isolated languages to the enlarged consideration of lan
guage in general, and of the laws upon which all languages are constructed. Such
investigations, if laboriously, patiently, and honestly conducted, can lead but to one
result, the affinities by which families and even classes of languages are linked
together being so close and intimate, that the more deeply they are examined, the
more profound becomes the conviction of the truth of the theory respecting 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 maps appertaining to the several sections of the work exhibit the geogra
phical location and extent of each language, and likewise show how far the divine
light of the Holy Scriptures, in the vernacular languages of the natives, shines over
the world.

It has been attempted, also, from the mass of missionary and epistolary evidence
existing, to draw conclusions respecting the effects which may have followed the perusal
of special versions of the Scriptures. All reasonings on this subject, however, even with
the most ample opportunities of forming as far as possible a correct judgment, can at
best be but approximations towards the truth. Known 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 alike be good, is
one of the secret things which belong unto the Lord most High.

The Publishers would fain express their deep obligation, individually, to the
numerous friends who have taken part in the preparation of this laborious work, were
such an enumeration suitable ; but they cannot refrain from recording the particular
value of the aid afforded by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible
Society, the Missionary Societies of this country and of America. They would also
render a becoming tribute to the munificence of the Emperor of Austria, who has been
pleased to supply, for the due completion of this work, the entire series of Native
Alphabets with which it is enriched.

London, 15, Paternoster Row, 1851.

A LIST OF THE LANGUAGES

INTO WHICH THE SCRIPTURES, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, HAVE BEEN

TRANSLATED.

NOTK.THE NAMES OP LANGUAGES IN WHICH VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATED OR PROJECTED, BUT NEVER COMPLETED

OR CIRCULATED, ARE PRINTED IN ITALICS.

CLASS 1.

CLASS in. INDO-EUKOPEAN (CONTINUED).

MONOSYLLABIC.

Chinese Peguese, Talain, or Mon
Burmese Karen

Moultan, Wuch, or Ooch
Punjabee or Sikh

Swedish
Faroese.

Arakanese or Rukheng Munipoora

Dogura or Jumboo
Cashmerian

E. GRECO-LATIN FAMILY.

Siamese Khassee
Laos or Law Tibetan

Nepalese or Khaspoora

T&gt; 1

Ancient Greek
Modern Greek

Cambojan Lepcha.

Jralpa
Kumaon

Latin

namite

Gurwhal or Schreenagur

French
Spanish

CLASS II.

SHEMITIC.

Gujerattee
Mahratta

Portuguese
Italian

Hebrew of the Old Test. Carshun

Kunkuna

Daco-Romana or Wal-

Hebrew of the New Test. Arabic

Rommany or Gipsy

lachian

Samaritan Mogrebin or African
Chaldee Arabic

Tamul or Tamil
Telinga or Teloogoo

Provencal or Romaunt
Vaudois

Syriac Ethiopic

Karnata or Canarese

Piedmontese

Syro-Chaldaic Tigre

Tulu

Romanese or Upper and

Modern Syriac Amharic.

Malayalim

Lower Enghadine

Cingalese

Catalan

CLASS III.

Maldivian

Dialect of Toulouse.

INDO-EUROPEAN.

A. MEDO-PERSIAN Bhojepoora

C. CELTIC FAMILY.

F. THRACO-ILLYRIAN

FAMILY. Hurriana

Welsh

FAMILY.

Persic Bundelcundee

Gaelic

Albanian.

Pushtoo or Affghan Bughelcundee

Irish

G. SCLAVONIC FAMILY.

Belochee or Bulochee Oojein or Oujjuyunee

Manks

Sclavonic

Ancient Armenian Harrotee

Breton or Armorican.

Russ

Modern Armenian Oodeypoora

Lettish or Livonian

Ararat-Armenian Marwar

D. TEUTONIC FAMILY.

Polish

Kurdish Juyapoora

Gothic

Lithuanian

Ossitinian. Shekawutty

Ancient Low Saxon

Samogitian

Bikaneera
B. SANSCRIT FAMILY. Buttaneer

Anglo-Saxon
English

Wendish, Upper
Wendish, Lower

Sanscrit Bengalee

Flemish

Wendish, Hungarian

Pali Magadha

Dutch

Bohemian

Hindustani or Urdu Tirhitiya or Mithili

Alemannic or Old High

Carniolan

Hinduwee Assamese

German

Croatian or Dalmatian-

Bruj or Brij-bhasa Uriya or Orissa

German

Servian

Canoj or Canyacubja Cutchee

Norse or Icelandic

Bulgarian

Kousulu or Koshala Sindhee

Danish

Bosnian.

A LIST OF THE LANGUAGES, ETC.

CLASS

IV.

CLASS

V 1.

UGRO-TARTARIAN.

AFRICAN.

Coptic

Accra

A. EUSKARIAN FAMILY.

D. MONGOLIAN FAMILY.

Sahidic

Fante

French Basque
Spanish Basque or

Mongolian Proper
Calmuc
Buriat.

Bashmuric
Berber
Ghadamsi

Ashantee or Odjii
Dewalla
Isubu

Escuara.

Mandingo

Fernandian

E. TURKISH FAMILY.

Jalloof

Mpongwe

B. FINNISH FAMILY.

Turkish

Susoo

Sechuana

Finnish Proper
Lapponese
Quiinian or Norwegian
Laplandish
Hungarian

Karass or Turkish Tartar
Orenburgh Tartar
Crimean Tartar
Trans-Caucasian Tartar
Tschuwaschian.

Bullom
Sherbro
Yarriba or Yoruba
Haussa
Timmanee
Bassa

Sisuta
Caffre
Namacqua
Galla
Kisuaheli
Kikamba

Karelian

Dorpat Esthonian

F. CAUCASIAN FAMILY.

Grebo

Kinika.

Reval Esthonian

Georgian.

CLASS

VII.

Tscheremissian

Mordvinian or Morduin
Zirian or Sirenian

G. SAMOIEDE FAMILY.

AMERICAN.
Esquimaux Dacota or Sioux

Olonetzian

Samoiede.

Greenlandish

Iowa

Wogulian
Ostiacan or Ostjakian
Wotagian or Wotjakian.

H. DIALECTS OF THE IS
LANDS OF EASTERN ASIA,
AND OF COREA.

Virginian
Massachusett Indian
Mohegan
Delaware

Pawnee
Mexican
Otomi
Terasco

Japanese

Cree

Misteco

C. TUNGUSIAN FAMILY.

Loochooan

Chippeway or Ojibway

Zapoteca

Mantchou

Aleutian

Ottawa

Mayan

Tungusian Proper.

Corean.

Pottawattomie

Mosquito

Micmac

Peruvian or Quichua

Abenaqui

Aimara

CLASS V.

Shawanoe

Guarani

POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN.

Mohawk

Brazilian

Seneca

Karif or Carib

Malay

Tahitian

Cherokee

Arawack.

Low Malay

Rarotonga

Chocktaw

Formosan
Javanese

Marquesan
Tonga

CLASS

VIII.

Dajak

New Zealand or Maori

MIXED OR PATOIS LANGUAGES.

Batta

Malagasse

Maltese

Negro Dialect of

Bima

Samoan

Judeo- Spanish

Surinam

Bugis

Feejeean

Jewish-German

Negro Dialect of

Macassar

New South Wales,

Judeo-Polish

Curacoa

Hawaiian

Aboriginal.

Creolese

Indo-Portuguese.

ALPHABETICAL
LIST OF TYPOGRAPHICAL SPECIMENS.

PAGE

ACCRA . . .342

Adiyah . . 346
Affghan ... 58

Aimara . 389

Albanian . . 239

Alemannic . . 171

Amharic . . 48

Ancient Greek . 189

Anglo-Saxon . . 153

Arabic . . 39

Arawack . . 392
Armenian :

Ancient . . 61

Ararat . .61

Modern . . 61

Assamese plate xi 97

JJASHMURIC . . 330
Basque French . 261
Spanish . 263
Bengalee plate vi 92
Berber . . 331
Bohemian . . 248
Breton . . 145

Bulgarian plate via. 254
Bullom . . .337
Buriat plate vm 280

Burmese plate i 6

CAFFRB . . 351

Calmuc plate vm 279

Canarese plate vi 120

Carniolan . . 252

Carshun . . 44

Cashmerian plate v 102
Catalan or Catalonian 237

Chaldee . . .31

Chinese . . 1

PAGE

Chippeway . . 371

Chocktaw . . 379

Cingalese plate vi 126

Coptic . . . 326

Cree ... 369

Creolese . . . 402

Curacoa . . 404

Cutchee or Catchee . 99

Wallachian plate vi 229

Dacota or Sioux . 381

Dajak . . . 308

Danish . . .180

Delaware . . 368

Dorpat Esthonian . 272

Dualla . . 344

Dutch . . .168

-CJNGLISH I

Wiclif, 1380 . 157

Tyndale, 1534 . 157

Coverdale, 1535 . 157

Matthew, 1537 . 157

Cranmer, 1539 . 158

Taverner, 1549 158

Geneva, 1557 . 158

Bishops , 1568 . 158

Rheims, 1582 . 159

Douay, 1847 . 159

Authorised, 1611 . 159

Blayney, 1769 . 159

Esquimaux . . 359

Esthonian, Dorpat . 272

Reval . 273
Ethiopic ... 45

JD AROESE . . 188

Feejeean . . . 323

Fernandian .
Finnish .
Flemish
French

PAGE

346
264
165
214

Le Frevre s Version 216

Olivetan s 216

Geneva 216

De Sacy s 217

Ostervald s 217

Swiss 217

French Basque . 261

(JTAELIC . . .135
Galla . . . 355
Georgian : plate ix 293

Civil character . 293

Ecclesiastical 293
German :

Luther, Leipsic, 1825 173

Van Ess, Sulbach,
1842 . . 173

Gosner, Munich,

1836 . . 174

Kistemacker,

Munster, 1848 . 174
Ghadamsi . . 333
Gipsy . . . 112
Gothic . . .147
Grebo . . . 341
Greek, Ancient :

Textus Receptus . 189

Griesbach, with va
rious readings . 194

Septuagint . 197
Greek, Modern :

Maximus Calliopoli-
tan s Version, 1638 201

Hilarion s 201

PAGE

Greenlandish, 1799 362

1822 362

Gujerattee plate \ 105

-LlAKARi plate iv 68

Harrotee . . 89
Hawaiian . . 311
Hebrew . .19
New Test., Green
field s Version 25
Society s . 25
Hindustani . . 78
In the Devanigari

character . . 79

In Roman . 80

Hinduwee . . 84

Hungarian . . 269

Wendish 257

ICELANDIC . .177

Indo-Portuguese . 405

Irish :

In Irish character 137

In Roman . 137

Isubu ... 345

Italian :

Malermi s Version 227

Diodati s 227

Martini s 227

JAPANESE plate x 296

Javanese plate xi 307

Jewish-German . 399

Judaeo-Persis . . 57

Judeo-Polish . 400
Judeo- Spanish:

Old Testament, with

Hebrew Original 396

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TYPOGRAPHICAL SPECIMENS.

PAGE

Judeo-Spanish (cont d -} :
New Testament . 397

KARAITE-TARTAR 290
Karass :

Seaman s Version,
1666 . . 287

Brunton s Version,

1813 . . 287
Karelian plate vni 271
Karen, Sgau plate xi 13

Sho or Pwo

plate xi 13

Karif or Carib . 391

Karnata plate vi 120
Katchi plate v 99

Khaspoora . . 103
Khassee plate i 15

In Roman plate in 15
Kunkuna . .110

Kurdish plate iv 68

JJAPPONESE . 267
Latin Versions of the

Old Testament :
Ante-Hieronymian

Version . . 205

Vulgate Version 205

Pagninus s . 205

Munster s . 206

LeoJuda s . 206

Castalio s . 206
Junius and Tremel-

lius s . 207

Schmidt s . 207

Dathe s . 207
Latin Versions of the
New Testament :
Ante-Hieronymian

Version . 211

Erasmus s Version 211

Beza s .211

Castalio s . 212

Schmidt s . 212

Sebastian s . 212

Schott s .213

Goeschen s . 213

Lepcha plate xi 18

Lettish or Livonian 257

Lithuanian
Loochooan

PAGE

. 259

plate x 297

MAHRATTA . 107
Malagasse . . 320
Malayalim

alphabets (xlix) 124
Malayan :

Roman,Oxford, 1677 300
Brower, 1668 301
Arabic, Calcutta,

1817 . . 299
Arabic, Robinson s,

1823 . . 305
Roman, Serampore,

1814 . . 303
Arabic, Singapore,

1831 . . 304

Maldivian

alphabets (1) 128

Maltese, 1829 . 394

1847 . 395

Mandingo . . 334

Manks . . .142

Mantchou plate ix 277

Marathi . . 107

Massachusett . . 366

I Mayan . . 386

j Mexican . . . 283

| Modern Greek . 200

! Mohawk 375

! Mongolian

alphabets (Iv) 279
j Mongrebin, or African

or Moorish Arabic 43
Mordvinian plate x 274
Mosquito . . 387
Moultan or Wuch

alphabets (xliv) 100

rS AMACQUA . . 354
Napalese or Khaspoora 103
New Zealand .318

Norse . . . 177

OJIBWAY . . 370
Old Saxon . . 151
Orenburg-Tartar . 289

Orissa
Otomi

PAGE
plate iv 98

385

plate iv 76

J? AM

Peguese

alphabets (xxxv) 51

Persian . . .51

Piedmontese . 234

Polish . . .246

Portuguese :

Almeida s Version 223
Pereera s 223
Boy s 223

Provencal or Romaunt
Lyons MS. . . 230
Paris MS. [8086] 230
Paris MS. [6833] 230
Dublin MS. . 231
Grenoble MS. . 231
Zurich MS. . 231

Pushtoo . . 58

RAROTONGA . . 314
Reval Esthonian . 273
Romanese or Upper and

Lower Enghadine 235
Rommany . .112
Russian plate vn 244

SAHIDIC

Samaritan
Samoan
Samogitian
Sanscrit .

329

321

260

Dr. Carey s Version 74

Saxon, Old . . 151

Sclavonian plate vn 240

Sechuana . 348

Servian plate vn 250

Siamese . . 10
Sindhee alphabets (xliv) 99

Sioux . . . 381

Sirenian plate vm 274

Sisuta or Sesuto . 350
Spanish :

Reyna s Version . 220

Scio s 220

Amat s 220

Spanish Basque . 263

PAGE

Surinam Negro-
English . . 403
Susoo . . . 336
Swedish . . .185
Syriac, Peshito . 33

Philoxenian 33
Syro-Chaldaic plate n 37

J-AHITIAN . .312

Tamul plate v 113

Telinga plate iv 118
Tibetan plate n 17
Tigre ... 47

Tongan . . . 316
Toulouse . . 238

Trans-Caucasian

Tartar . . 292
Tscheremissian plate x 274
TschuwaschianpZafeix 291
Turkish . . 282
Turkish-Armenian . 286
Turkish-Tartar :

Seaman s Ver. 1666 287

Brunton s 1813 287

Turko-Greek . 285

URDO . 78

Uriya plate iv 98

VAUDOIS . . 232
Virginian . . 365

joZafe VI 229

Welsh :

Salisbury s Version,

1567 . . 129
Dr. W. Morgan s

Version, 1588 . 129
Bishop Parry s Ver
sion, 1620 . 129
Wendish or Sorabic,

Upper and Lower 255
Wendish, Hungarian 257

YARRIBA . . 338
ZIRIAN plate vni 274

FACSIMILE SPECIMENS.

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PLATE III.

SPECIMEN OF THE KHASSEE VERSION IN ROMAN LETTERS,

Consisting of St. Matthew, chap. V. v. 1 to 12.

1 HABA u ioh ih ia ki paitbah, u la km sha u Mm ; haba u la shong ruh, ki la wan ha
u ki synran jong u : 2 u la ang ruh ia la ka shintur, u la hikai ruh ia ki, u da ong,

3 Suk ki ba duk ha ka mynsiim ; na ba jong ki long ka hima ka byneng. 4 Suk ki ba
sngousi ; na ba yn pyntyngen ia ki. 5 Suk ki ba jemnut ; na ba kin ioh ia ka kyndeu.
6 Suk ki ba tyngan bad ba sliang ia ka hok ; naba yn pyndap ia ki. 7 Suk ki ba isnei ;
na ba yn isnei ia ki. 8 Suk ki bakuid ha ca donut ; na ba kin ioh ih ia U Blei. 9 Suk
ki ba pyniasuk ; na ba yn khot ia ki, ki kun U Blei. 10 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 lamlher : 12 Phin kymen, phin sngoubha eh ruh ; naba kumta ki la pynshitom
ia ki Prophet ki ba la mynshiwa jong phi.

ON THE KHASSEE VERSION IN ROMAN LETTERS.

THE system of substituting Roman letters for the native characters of Indian alphabets in printed
editions of the Scriptures and of other books, has of late years been extensively adopted in India ;
and the advantages of this system, especially with reference to the Khassee (which in the former
edition of the New Testament had been printed in Bengalee^ characters, see Specimen, Part 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 Methodist Society at Cherra,
when the first books used in connection with the mission were about to be published, the doctor
thus writes

" Thoroughly 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 sound 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 romanised alphabet, would seem to me to be voluntarily raismg_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 of the Roman alphabet in place of the native
alphabets, which are linked, and associated, and saturated with all that is idolatrous."

1000 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew have been carried through the press by the Calcutta
Bible Society, and the book of Acts has been prepared. 1

Reports 1817, P- 90 ; 1848, p. 84.

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EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

I. MAP OF THE MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES.

THE Monosyllabic languages are spoken exclusively in the south-eastern angle of the continent of Asia : their area is little inferior in
point of extent to the whole of Europe. The various nations by whom these languages are employed all belong to one stock or family,
and are distinguished, in a more or less modified degree, by the Mongolic 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, for instance,
prevails 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 still preserve then- 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 Thibet and the Himalayas.

I. LANGUAGES OF CHINA.

CHINESE is the language of China, an extensive
country, of which the entire surface forms a kind of
natural declivity from the high steppeland of Central
Asia to the shores of the North Pacific. The moun
tain chains which traverse this region are not re-
markahle for extent or altitude, the chief physical
characteristic being the broad water sheds, with 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
sixteen in number) prevail in the different 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.

ANAMITE 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 they 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 China by a people who, before their
annexation to the empire of Anam, formed a separate
and independent nation.

CAMBOJAN is the language of Cambodia, a country
in the south of the peninsula, lying between two
parallel ridges of mountains, and divided into two
nearly equal parts by the river May-kuang or Mekon.
The Cambojans, who are akin to, if not identical
with, the Khomen, are supposed to derive their origin
from a warlike 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

EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

over more than half the peninsula, and are spoken,
with little interruption, in a northerly direction,
from Cambodia on the south to the borders of
Thibet on the north. This wide diffusion 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 Cambojan, Anamite, Siamese, Burmese, Chinese,
and Shyan. 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.

AHOM, an ancient Siamese dialect, is not marked on
the Map, because extinct, or only preserved in the
books of the Assamese priesthood. It is remarkable
that not a single trace of Hindoo influence, either
Buddhistic or Brahministic, can be found in Ahom
literature.

KHAMTI, 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 Thibet.

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 Khamti and Shyan on the
north and south, and with Chinese and Munipoora
on the east and west.

PEGUESE prevails in the Delta of the Irawady, to the
south of the Burmese empire.

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 through 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 the
peninsula. These islands are 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 Aracan, 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 Aracan, on the
frontiers of Munipoor and Cachar.

MUNIPOORA is predominant in Munipoor, a small
kingdom forming part of the northern 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 Munipoora on the east, and 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 (which is a Sanscritic language
nearly allied to Bengali) in the area otherwise exclusively occupied by
Monosyllabic languages has given rise to much conjecture ; but it is now
generally believed that 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 that
country. Upper Assam is still peopled by various tribes speaking Mono
syllabic languages.

III. LANGUAGES OF THIBET AND
THE HIMALAYAS.

LEPCHA 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 Thibet, between the
ninety-fourth and the ninety-seventh degrees of east
longitude.

TIBETAN is spoken by the widely-diffused race of
Bhot, in Thibet, Bootan, Ladakh, and Bultistan or

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.

xix

Little Thibet. 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 language, which approximates in

many respects to that of China, did not indicate their
relationship to the Chinese ; and this affinity, on the
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.

II. MAP OF THE SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.

THE Shemitic languages are remarkably few in number, although (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 Mediterranean
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
Shemitic 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 has been shown in a previous memoir
that the Phoenician, once pre-eminently the language of civilisation, was substantially the same as the ancient Hebrew ; and this con
formity of language between two races of different origin (the Phoenicians 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 Syriac.

Pehlvi, the ancient tongue of Media, a compound probably of Chaldee and Syriac with Zend.

Various Arabic dialects ; Himyaritic, the parent of Ekhkili.

Gheez, or Ethiopic, now superseded by its modern dialects, Tigre and Amharic.

In perfection of physical conformation, the Shemitic race is considered by eminent physiologists to equal, if not surpass, all other
branches of the human family. Yet their characteristics are by no means invariable. The Syrians, who still preserve 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, thereby approximating to the
Negro type. The Jews differ from the nations among whom they are located by a peculiar cast of physiognomy : 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 Arabs ; yet, in common with the Jews, they acknowledge the existence of God. Two people of this race, the Syrians
and Abyssinians, have embraced Christianity 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-
mant, 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
Shemitic languages of Asia and of Abyssinia. The
ancient Himyarites are believed to have been Cushites,
of the race of Ham.

TIGRE, a dialect immediately derived from the ancient
Ethiopic, 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.

EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

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 connect
ing links between Shemitic and 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 Persia. What relation this language may
bear to the idiom of ancient Babylon and Nineveh is
not yet precisely known ; but light is arising 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, is 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
archaic glory will be restored to the sons of Shem.

III. MAP OF THE MEDO-PERSIAN LANGUAGES.

THE Medo-Persian languages form a branch or family of that great class of languages which has been variously denominated by ethnographers
Indo-European, Japhetic, and Iranian or Arian. The first of these appellations indicates the geographical distribution of this class, one of its branches
(the Sanscritic) being vernacular in India, while other of its branches, though connected in origin and in structure with Sanscrit, are predominant
in Europe. The term Japhetic is sometimes applied to the languages of this class, because the nations by whom they are spoken are supposed to be
descendants of Japheth ; and the designation Iranian, or Arian, .refers to their connection with the land of Iran, or Persia, the Ariana of Greek
geographers.

THE area of the Medo-Persian languages includes about one-tenth part of the entire surface of Asia : the countries now comprehended
within this area are Persia, Khorassan, Turcomania, the greater part of Turkestan, Affghanistan, Beloochistan, and Luristan ; also
Kurdistan, Armenia, and a district among the Caucacus 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
circumstances it became the general language of Media is still matter of conjecture. 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 monu
mental 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 Mahomet, the Armenians being the only nation of this stock by whom Christianity has been received.

PERSIC, 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 Persic 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.

BELOCHEE is one of the languages of Beloochistan,
a country situated between Affghanistan and the
Indian Ocean. Many Tajiks, or Persians, reside in
Beloochistan, and hence Persic 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

SANSCRITIC LANGUAGES.

xxi

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 Persic stock ; and it has even been thought
that they were once one people with the Persians.
Like the Jews, however, whom they resemble 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.

IV. MAP OF THE SANSCRITIC LANGUAGES.

LANGUAGES more or less allied to the ancient Sanscrit prevail through the whole of Hindustan. These languages are resolvable into
three distinct divisions.

I The languages which appear to be derived immediately from the Sanscrit, and which are spoken by the Hindoos, properly so
called, in the northern provinces of the peninsula In this division, the three [dead or learned languages of Hindustan, Sanscrit,
Pracrit, and Pali, are included. That the race to whom these Sanscritic idioms are vernacular is connected with the Medo-Persian
nations is evident, from the close similarity between Zend, an ancient Median-Persian language, and the idiom of the Vedas, an archaic
form of Sanscrit, referred by some Sanscrit scholars to the fourteenth or fifteenth century before our era. Another proof of the original
affinity of the Medo-Persian and Brahminical people lies in the fact, that some of the arrow-headed inscriptions in the Persepolitan
language have been deciphered chiefly, if not solely, by the aid of the Sanscrit language. It seems probable that the Hindoo race at
some remote epoch of history, separated from the Medo-Persian stock, and quitted the Iranian plateau for the plains of Hindustan
Their physical conformation appears to confirm this hypothesis, notwithstanding the slight variations from the original type which the
peculiarities of the climate may have induced. With this race originated the two false religions which are now most widely disseminated
through the Eastern world Brahminism and Buddhism.

II. The languages of the Deccan, or southern parts of the peninsula The race to whom these languages are vernacular appear to
have preceded the Hindoos in the occupation of Hindustan. They were, perhaps, driven to the south by the Hindoo invaders, and
were subsequently compelled to submit to the conquerors of the country, and to receive from them their laws, religion, and civilisation
It is well known that the Hindoos subdued the Deccan at a very early period, and the languages of that region still bear the impress of
Hindoo influence. So many Sanscrit words have been engrafted on their vocabularies, that these languages till recently were considered

e merely Sanscritic dialects ; their grammatical structure, however, still maintains the original non-Sanscritic character. The
physical appearance of the nations of the Deccan approximates to the Mongolic, rather than to the Hindoo type ; and their religion
though nominally Brahministic, retains traces of their ancient Pagan superstitions.

Ill The languages of the wild, unconquered tribes of the mountains. It is supposed that these tribes were among the original
inhabitants of the country, and that they sought refuge in their present mountainous abodes with the view of preserving their independ
ence. In language and in physical appearance they present tolerably clear indications of their original community of origin with the
civilised nations of the Deccan. These tribes, though exceedingly interesting and important in an ethnographical point of view, are at
present little known, and their languages are as yet unwritten. Some of their vocables (as those of the Kol, Bhumij, and Kajmahali of
Orissa) have been examined, and several curious instances of affinity have been detected between them and the Mongolian and other
languages of Central Asia.

I. LANGUAGES OF SANSCRITIC
ORIGIN.

HIJNDUWEE, the most general language of the Hindoo
race, prevails in the upper provinces of Hindustan,
and is said to be understood even far beyond these
limits. As is shown in the Map, this language
branches put into a great variety of dialects, namely,
the Canoj or Canyacubja, the Bruj or Brij-Bhasa,

the Kousulu, Bhojepoora, and several others, all of
which, however, are merely provincial varieties of
the original Hinduwee. A distinct language, called
Hindustani, prevails in the towns and villages of the
Hinduwee area, and is spoken by the Mahommedan
section of the population throughout the whole of
Hindustan. It is the result of the intermixture of
Hinduwee with the Persian and Turkish languages
spoken by the Mahommedan conquerors of India.

EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

BENGALEE may be said to be the predominant lan
guage of the province of Bengal, although Hindustani
is spoken in the towns. Two languages, the Tirhi-
tiya or Mithili, and the Maghudha, prevail in the
eastern part of this province. The former nearly
resembles the Bengalee, and the latter is a derivative
of the ancient Pali.

ASSAMESE, the language of Assam, is supposed to
be merely a form of Bengalee, which has superseded
the original monosyllabic language of the Assamese
nation.

URIYA, a dialect very analogous to Bengalee, is spoken
to the south of the province of Bengal, in Orissa.

NEPALESE, or KHASPOORA, is the prevailing
dialect of Nepaul, an independent state to the north
of Bengal, occupying part of the southern declivity
of the Himalayas. This dialect exhibits the phe
nomenon of a Hinduwee element engrafted on a
language of monosyllabic structure. A colony of
Hinduwees is said to have settled in Nepaul at an
early period, and to have commingled with the native
inhabitants. Their descendants are called Parabatiya,
or Parabutties ; and hence the Khaspoora, their
vernacular dialect, is sometimes designated Parbutti,
or Mountain Hinduwee.

PALP A, KUMAON, and GURWHAL are border
dialects, closely allied to Hinduwee, and prevailing
to the north of the Hinduwee area.

CASHMERIAN is the most northerly of Sanscritic
languages, with the exception of the Brahooc, in
Bcloochistan. Cashmere is a mountainous country
north of the Punjab.

DOGURA, or JUMBOO, is an uncultivated dialect
spoken in the hilly country north of the Punjab, but
rather resembling Cashmerian than Punjabee.

PUNJABEE is the language of the Sikhs, the dominant
people of the Punjab : it is said to be derived
immediately from Pracrit, formerly the vernacular
language of this region.

MOULTAN or OOCH, SINDHEE, CUTCHEE, and
GUJERATTEE are languages closely allied to
Hinduwee, and are spoken on the western border
of the area occupied by the Hinduwee dialects.
Moultan is said to be the language to which Rom-
many, the singular dialect of the Gipsies, most
closely approximates.

KUNKUNA, another language nearly resembling Hin
duwee, is spoken in the Concan, a strip of country
bordering on the Indian Ocean.

MAHRATTA may be ranked either with the languages
of Northern India or of the Deccan, for it partakes
of the character of both. The extensive region in
which it is vernacular is bounded on the north by
the Sautpoora Mountains, east by Gundwana, and

west by the maritime district called the Concan.
On the south it is conterminous with the Telinga
and Canarese languages.

II. LANGUAGES OF INDIA OF
NON-SANSCRITIC ORIGIN.

TAMUL, or TAMIL, with its cognate dialects, the
Malayalim and the Tulu, or Tuluvu, occupies the
southern extremity of the peninsula, and a con
siderable portion of the Malabar coast. These lan
guages are sometimes designated the Dravirian, for
Tamul was the language of the ancient kingdom of
Dravira.

TELINGA, or TELOOGOO, a language radically con
nected with Tamul, is spoken through the greater
portion of the Coromandel coast, and extends inland
till it becomes conterminous with Mahratta and
Canarese.

CANARESE occupies an extensive area in the eastern
portion of the Deccan. It is conterminous with its
cognate languages, the Tamil and Telinga on the
east, and with the Tuluvu and Malayalim on the
west and south, while on the north it extends as
far as the Mahratta area.

CINGALESE is spoken in the south of Ceylon, Tamul
being the language of the northern district. Cinga
lese appears to be connected with the languages of
the Deccan rather than with those of Upper India.

MALDIVIAN is spoken in the Maldive Islands, east
ward of Ceylon, and is supposed to be a branch of
Cingalese. The dialect of the Laccadive Islands is
believed to be very similar to the Maldivian.

III. RUDE & UNWRITTEN LANGUAGES
OF NON-SANSCRITIC ORIGIN.

GONDEE, or GOANDEE, is spoken by a barbarous
race in the northern part of the Deccan. The pro
vince of Gondwana is of great extent, stretching from
Orissa on the east to the Mahratta country on the
west, and from Hindustan Proper on the north to
the Telinga country on the south ; but the Gonds
inhabit only the forest and mountain districts of this
region, and the Mahratta language is predominant,
especially in the western part, among the civilised
classes of inhabitants. The Gonds have embraced
Brahminism, but retain their peculiar Pagan rites.
In language, customs, physical conformation, and
mode of life, they resemble the Pulindas (a Sanscrit
term equivalent to barbarian) of Orissa, the Bhils or
Bheels of the Vindhya chain, and the various tribes
of wild mountaineers scattered throughout the penin
sula, but principally found among the mountain
chains of the Deccan.

V. MAP OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES OF EUROPE.

THE Asiatic branches (Sanscritic and Medo-Persian) of the Indo-European class of languages are exhibited in the two preceding Maps.
The present Map comprehends all the languages of this widely-extended class which are spoken in Europe. These languages, while they
all adhere in a greater or less degree to the Medo-Persian and Sanscritic type of grammatical structure, yet possess certain individual
characteristics of their own. Hence it is that they diverge into distinctive groups or families, without however losing the evidences of
their original connection with each other, and with a long-lost and now unknown common parent stem. The families of this class, by
whom Europe is to a great extent divided, are the Celtic, Teutonic, Greco-Latin, Thraco-Illyrian, and Sclavonic. The phenomenon of
the intersection of the area apparently belonging to this class, by languages of the Basque and Finnish families, will hereafter be
explained.

CELTIC. The Celts were the first people of this class
by whom Western Europe was colonised. At the
time of the Romans, we find them the occupants of
Gaul, of the British Isles, of part of Spain and
Germany, and of North Italy. Pannonia, Thrace,
and even Asia Minor were at one period occupied by
them ; and the Cimbri of Denmark are supposed to
have been a Celtic tribe. The time of the first
immigration into Europe is wholly unknown. After
reaching the extreme verge of Western Europe, they
appear in some instances to have partly retraced
their steps to the eastward ; at least, the Celts of
Germany and Italy were considered emigrants from
Gaul. The Celts were compelled by the Romans
to recede from every country in which they had
established themselves, and afterwards they were
more effectually subjugated by the Teutonic tribes.
In the vast majority of instances, they became amal
gamated in language and manners with their con
querors ; and not a single trace of their religion
(Druidism and Bardism) is now to be found, except
in the ruins of their sacred places, as at Stonehenge.
On the continent of Europe, where their language
was once predominant, it has now altogether dis
appeared, except on a small strip of the coast of
Brittany. In the British Isle, however, the Celtic
language is still preserved. The following are the
cognate dialects into which it is now developed :

I. The Welsh or Cymric branch, spoken in

Wales, in part of Brittany, and formerly in

Cornwall.
II. The Gaelic branch, spoken in the Highlands

of Scotland, in Ireland, and in the Isle of

Man.

TEUTONIC. After the Celts, and the Greco-Latins
hereafter to be mentioned, the next great tide of
population which rolled from Asia into Europe was
the Teutonic. The Teutonic tribes, as their language
indicates, were in a special manner connected with
the Medo-Persian race, but the circumstances under
which they separated from the parent stock are
involved in impenetrable obscurity. When they first

appeared upon the page of history, they were mere
barbarians, destitute of the arts of social life ; yet,
even then, the inherent energy of this race was
apparent : the Celtic nations were rapidly displaced by
them, and in the fourth century they achieved no
less a conquest than that of the Roman empire.
Under the name of Franks, Burgundians, Alemans,
and Visigoths in Gaul, of Heruli, Goths, and Longo-
bards in Italy, and of Suevi, Vandals, and Ostrogoths
in Spain, they rendered themselves conspicuous in
the history of the middle ages ; and, unlike their
predecessors, the Celts, they have to the present day
retained their principal territorial possessions in
Europe. In Spain, France, and Italy, indeed, they
became mingled with other races, and merely con
tributed their quota to the formation of the languages
of those countries; but Germany, England, Denmark,
and the Scandinavian peninsula still form the strong
hold of the Teutonic race. A great change, however,
at least in Germany, has taken place since the com
mencement of the historic era in the physical con
formation of this people. The early Germans, as
described by Roman writers, were a fair, xanthous
race, with blue eyes, and light or yellow hair. These
characteristics are still preserved in the Scandinavian
peninsula ; but in Germany itself, the dark or melanic
variety of complexion has now become almost uni
versal. This remarkable change has been attributed
to the alteration produced in the climate of Germany
by the uprooting of its vast forests.

The languages now spoken by the Teutonic race
are referable to two primary divisions :

I. The Teutonic or Germanic, properly so called,
comprising the German, Flemish, Dutch, and
English.

II. The Scandinavian, including Icelandic, Swe
dish, Danish, and Faroese. For a detailed
account of each of these languages, as like
wise of the now extinct Teutonic languages,
Gothic, Alemannic, Old Saxon, and Anglo-
Saxon, the reader may consult pp. 147-188
of this work.

XXIV

EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

GRECO-LATIN. The Greco-Latins appear to have
preceded the Teutonic tribes in the colonisation of
Europe, at least, of the southern parts. The Pe-
lasgic or Hellenic Greeks were probably the first
inhabitants of Greece, especially of the inland parts.
The Lydian and other languages of Lesser Asia, and
perhaps the ancient languages of Macedonia and
Thrace, were allied to this stock. Italy appears to
have been peopled by several different nations ; and
the origin of some of these nations has given rise to
much conjecture. The origin of the Etruscan race,
for instance, is a question of much interest, still
awaiting its solution. The old Italic languages,
comprehending the Latin, Umbrian, Oscan, Siculian,
and some others, were in course of time absorbed in
one language, which, under the name of Latin,
became eventually the predominant language of the
Roman empire. The wide diffusion of the Greek
language at the commencement of our era, and of the
Latin during the middle ages, has been already
mentioned. On the destruction of the Roman empire
by the Teutonic tribes, Latin still continued the
language of the learned ; but the vernacular of the
populace, which probably had previously abounded
in provincialisms, became mixed with the dialects of
the Teutonic invaders ; and thus a new language
was produced, which, from the predominance of the
Roman element, was designated the Romaunt or
Romance. Up to the twelfth century this language,
in its several dialectic varieties, was the prevailing
vernacular language of Europe. In Spain it was
called Catalan ; in South France it was known as
the Languedoc, Provengal or Romanese ; and in
Italy it went by the general name of Romance.
Each of the dialects of this widely-diffused language
was subsequently subjected to further changes, by
the commingling of other elements induced by
political vicissitudes. Thus gradually arose the
Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and the Daco-
Romana or Wallachian languages. It will be seen,
however, in our Map, that the language of the
Troubadours has not wholly disappeared, dialects of
this language still forming the vernacular of the
Vaudois, Piedmontese, and Enghadine nations. For
particular details concerning each of the nations and
languages belonging to this important family, the
reader is referred to pp. 189-236.

THRACO-ILLYRIAN. A people known in history as
the Illyrians, and with whom the Thracians are con
sidered by some historians to have been connected, were

probably the first inhabitants of the eastern shore of
the Adriatic. They are supposed to have been of
kindred origin with the Pelasgi of Greece ; and their
language, though a distinct and peculiar idiom of the
Indo-European stem, bears some affinity to Greek.
This language is still spoken by the Albanians or
Arnauts, the supposed descendants of the Illyrians,
in the ancient Epirus, on the eastern coast of the
Adriatic Sea. A particular account of this language
and people is given in pp. 239, 240.

SCLAVONIC. The origin of the Sclavonic tribes,
and the date of their first appearance in Europe, are
involved in much uncertainty. They are generally
supposed to be descended from the Sarmatae, who
in the time of the Romans occupied a region of
Northern Europe, east of the Vistula, then known
by the name of Sarmatia. Some writers are of
opinion that the Sarmatae derived their descent from
a Scythian tribe ; but in the present state of know
ledge this is a problem which must still remain
unsolved. The writers from whom we obtain the
earliest accounts of the Sclavonic nations, describe
them as differing both from the Scythian and from
the Teutonic tribes. The Sclavoni appear to have
had more elevated conceptions of religion than their
Asiatic neighbours ; for although they worshipped a
multitude of deities, they recognised the existence of
one Supreme Being. On the other hand, unlike the
Germans, they were possessed of the most vicious
characteristics of Orientalists polygamy, tyranny,
and servility. Their physical conformation and their
language, however, connect them with the Indo-
European stock. They now occupy a considerable
section of Europe, extending from the north-eastern
extremity into the very centre of that continent. In
some of the countries of Central Europe, particularly
in Bohemia, nations of this race live intermingled
with Teutonic nations, yet retaining their peculiar
language and customs. The ancient language of
Prussia was a Sclavonic tongue, but it is now com
pletely extinct, having been superseded by the Ger
man. The Old Prussian language, so far at least as
can be judged from its scanty store of literature, was
closely connected with the Lettish and Lithuanian
languages, while in many important respects it
differed from other Sclavonic tongues. By some
writers, these three cognate languages are referred
to a distinct and separate branch of the Indo-Euro
pean stem. For further details concerning the Scla
vonic tongues, see pp. 240-258.

VL MAP OF THE FINNO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES.

AMONa the latest results of ethnological investigations is the discovery that only three distinct classes of languages prevail throughout
the two continents of Europe and Asia. Two of these classes, the Shemitic and the Indo-European, have already passed under review. All
the languages of Europe and of Asia which are not either Shemitic or Indo-European, belong to a third and equally important class,
with which it is thought that even the Scriform or Monosyllabic languages will eventually be proved to be connected. This class, by
some authors designated the Turanian, and by others the Finno-Tartarian stem, is spread over the whole of Northern and Central Asia,
and extends into Northern, Central, and even Western Europe. It includes the Finnish and Samoiede languages in the north ; the
Georgian and other languages of the Caucasus region ; the Turkish, Mongolian, and Tungusian families of Central Asia ; the Japanese,
Loochooan, and Corean in Western Asia ; and the Euskarian or Basque in Western Europe. It is supposed that Europe was first
colonised by nations belonging to this race, and that their descendants, after having been settled in the more fertile regions of that
continent, were driven to the extreme north and west, where we at present find them, by the successive tides of invaders, Celtic,
Pelasgic, Teutonic, and Sclavonic, who subsequently passed from Asia into Europe.

FINNISH. The Finnish languages prevail through a
large portion of the Russian empire, occupying the
northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, and
extending from Lapland and the Baltic, beyond the
Urals, as far as the Yenisei. The origin of the
various tribes and nations by whom these languages
are spoken is unknown, but they appear to have been
established from time immemorial in their present
abodes ; and they are early spoken of in history
under the several appellations of Tschudi, Ougres
or Ugri, and Jotuns. The Hungarians, who furnish
the only instance upon record of a Finnish people
taking a conspicuous place among civilised nations,
are located far from their brethren, in the very heart
of Europe. This isolation from the rest of their race
is the result of the inroads of some Turkish hordes
upon their original country to the south of the
Uralian Mountains. About the ninth century, the
Magyars or Hungarians were driven westward by
these Turkish invaders. In their turn they dis
possessed the Slovaks, a Sclavonian race, of the fertile
plains of Hungary, and they have ever since con
tinued the dominant nation in that country.

SAMOIEDE is the language of an abject, degraded
race, dwelling among the tundras or marshy swamps
of North Siberia, along the inhospitable shores of
the Icy Ocean. The other nations inhabiting the
dreary regions of North Asia to the westward of the
Samoiedes are, as will be seen on the Map, the
lukagires, the Tchukchis, the Koriaks, the Kam-
chatkadales, and the Ainos of the Kuriles, Jesso, and
Sagalien Isle. These nations all speak languages
belonging to the class now under consideration.

GEORGIAN. The Georgian is the predominant lan
guage between Armenia and the Caucasus : the
following languages, closely connected in vocabulary
and structure with the Georgian, are likewise spoken
south of the Caucasus : Mingrelian, Immiretian,
Suanic, and Lazian. These languages, together with
the Abassian, Circassian, Inguschi, and some others

spoken in the heights and valleys of the Caucasus,
were, till very recently, regarded as completely dis
tinct from each other. Recent researches, however,
have brought to light many links of mutual affinity ;
and it has even been proved that, in all these lan
guages, there are points of analogy connecting them
with the Samoiede and Finnish languages on the one
hand, and with the Chinese and Monosyllabic tongues
on the other.

TURKISH. The Turkish nations occupy the western
portion of that vast region, formerly known by the
name of Great Tartary, which lies directly north of
the civilised nations of antiquity, the empires of
Assyria, Persia, India, and China. In the eastern
parts of their wide area, the Turkish tribes still
wander about, as of old, with their flocks and herds ;
but in the empire which they have established in
Europe and in Asia Minor, the Turks, though still
Mahommedan, are a civilised and polished people.

MONGOLIAN. The Mongolian area lies between the
Altai Mountains on the north and China and Tibet
on the south, while on the east it is conterminous
with the Mantchou, and on the west with the Turkish
area. Some of the most fierce and warlike hordes
by which the world has been desolated have issued
from this region ; yet the Mongols still continue a
nation of shepherds.

TUNGUSIAN. The Tungusian and Mantchou lan
guages are spoken by two closely-allied nations to
the north and east of Mongolia. The Tungusians
retain their nomadic, pastoral habits ; but the Mant-
chous, who are the present lords of China, have
adopted the Chinese system of civilisation and re
ligion.

EUSKARIAN. The Euskarian or Basque area, lying
along the shore of the Bay of Biscay, between France
and Spain, is exhibited in Map V. The Euskarians
are now generally believed to have been the first
inhabitants of the Spanish peninsula.

VII. MAP OF 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, Flores, 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.

VIII. MAP OF THE AFRICAN LANGUAGES.

THE peculiarities and affinities of the African languages having been fully discussed in the subjoined memoirs, the Map before us 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 disconnected Shemitic and
Japhetic classes.

II. 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 they are spoken was near the sources of the White Nile. These languages, in their various dialects, prevail throughout the
whole of Africa south of the equator. For a particular description of the languages composing this division, see pp. 347 - 358.

IX. MAP OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGES.

NOTWITHSTANDING the persevering researches, the zeal, and the learning which have of late years been brought to bear upon the lan
guages 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 languages ; and these glossarial differences have led to
the division of the American languages into numerous groups or families, of which the following are 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 hunter 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. 359-
364.

ATHAPASCAN, or CHEPEWYAN, 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 s Bay to the Rocky Mountains : it includes

AMERICAN LANGUAGES.

XXVH

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 Abenaquis, 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 the present distribution
of the several languages is indicated. The Western
Algonquin branch includes the Illinois, Shawanoe,
Black-feet Indian, Shyennc, and some other tribes.
The Bethucks, 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
Southern Iroquois division occupies the country now
called North Carolina, and comprised the Tuscaroras
and several inferior tribes, as the Tuteloes, Notto-
ways, and Meherrins. The Iroquois, though occupy
ing a territory inferior in extent to that of the
Algonquins, have enacted a more conspicuous part
in history ; and at the time of the discovery of
America, they were found greatly to surpass the
Algonquins in military courage, civilisation, and
intelligence. No remarkable difference in physical
conformation appears, however, to exist between
these two races.

SIOUX, or DACOTA, is the third great division of the
American Indians, and comprises the tribes in
habiting 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 Assiniboin, 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 perfectly than
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 relations to each other are in some instances
difficult to be discovered. The languages included
in this group are Natchez (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 westward of the United States, in Oregon,
and in California. The term itself is compounded of
Pawnee and Arrapahoe, the two principal languages
of this division. These languages 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 ctaer languages in Gua
temala.

Pira, and seven others (almost unknown 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 ;

XXV111

EXPOSITORY INDEX TO THE MAPS.

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. 391, 392.

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 to 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. 388-393.

THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND.

THE ALPHABETS.

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 towards 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 known even to the learned in
Europe, and some of them have 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 widely-differing Alphabets in which these Specimens are printed.

Every effort 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 comparative
Tables was about to be relinquished.

It being 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 ventured
to represent to the Imperial Government the difficulty experienced in enriching the
BIBLE OF EVERY LAND with the necessary Alphabets, and solicited permission to
purchase from the Imperial Printing-office the Alphabets 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 of all the types used

throughout the work, together with the powers of each letter, to be prepared and
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 completion
of the BIBLE or EVEKY LAND.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE ALPHABETS

CONTAINED IN THIS APPENDIX.

PAGB

PAGE

Ahom ....

xliii

Greek

lii

Old English .

lii

Albanian ....

liii

Gujerattee

xlv

Orissa

xliii

Amharic

. xxxviii

Anglo Saxon

Hebrew

xxxvi

Pali . . .

xlii

Arabic .

. xxxvii

Eabbinical

. xxxvi

Peguese

XXXV

Hindustani Signs .

xxxvii

Hindustani-Arabic .

xxxvii

Persic

xxxix

- Persian

. xxxvii

Persian-Arabic

xxxvii

- Pushtoo

xxxvii

Irish ....

M!aldivian

- Malayan

. xxxvii

Pushtoo-Arabic

. xxxvii

Moorish

xxxvii

Japanese :

Armenian

Chinese Signs

Ixi, Ixii

Eabbinical Hebrew .

xxxvi

Assamese ....

xliii

Firokana .

. Iviii Ixii

Eussian

liii

Katakana

Ivii

Bengalee ....

xliii

Javanese

Ixiv

Samaritan .

xxxvi

Burmese

. xxxiv

Arabic Signs .

Ixiv

Sanscrit

xli

Sclavonic

liv

Cashmerian

xliv

Karnata

xlviii

Servian .

liii

Chinese

. xxxiii

Siamese

xxxiv

Cingalese ....

Mahratta .

xlvi

Sindhee .

xliv

Ixiii

Malayan

linii

Syriac

xxxvi

Uncial

Ixiii

Arabic Letters

xxxvii

Estrangelo

xxxvi

English ....

Malayalim

xlix

- Old . - .

lii

Maldivian .

Tamul

xlvi

Estrangelo-Syriac

xxxvi

Persian Signs

Telinga . . . .

xlvii

Ethiopic

. xxxviii

Arabic

Tibetan

XXXV

Mantchou

Georgian . .

Ivi

Mo3so-Gothic

Uriya . . .

Ecclesiastical

Ivi

Mongolian .

German

lii

Moorish- Arabic Letters

. xxxvii

Wallachian .

liii

- Old ...

lii

Moultan

xliv

Wuch

xliv

A KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE ALPHABETS.

APPLIES TO THE NUMBERS PLACED OYER THE ROMAN EQUIVALENTS OF THE LETTERS
OF THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES:

Albanian

Burmese

Gujerattee

Mongolian

Eussian

Siamese

Amharic

Coptic

Japanese

Pali

Sclavonic

Tibetan

Arabic

Ethiopia

Javanese

Peguese

Servian

Wallachian

Armenian

Greek

Mantchou

1 . Represents the ordinary acute ( ) accent.

2. Represents the ordinary grave ( v ) accent.

3. and 9. Represent the ordinary circumflex ( A ) accent,

used to lengthen the sound.

4. Represents the cedilla 9.

r Over t, d, n, z signifies the cerebral sound of those letters.
I Over h marks a simple aspiration.

6. Distinguishes guttural sounds.

7. Marks a lengthening of the guttural sound.

r Over m is guttural.
1 Over n is cerebral.
9. and 3. See 3.

10. The French sound ofj.

1 1 . Adds an r sound to I.

12. Marks the French u sound.

13. Marks a combined long and short

14. The ordinary short vowel sign (").
17. Distinguishes palatal n.

Ahom
Assamese

Cashmerian

THE SECOND TABLE

INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETS :

Cingalese

Kamata

Mahratta

Malayalim

Moultan

Orissa

3. and 9. Represent the ordinary circumflex ( A ) accent.

4. Represents the cedilla c.

5. Over , d, n represent the cerebral sounds of those letters.

r Over r a guttural sound.
1 Over I an additional r sound.
5. Over h denotes a simple aspirate.

Sanscrit
Sindhee
Tamul

Telinga

Uriya

Wuch

f Over m is guttural.
L Over n is palatal.
9. See 3.

10. French pronunciation of j.

11. Over I denotes the additional sound of r.

12. Marks the French u sound.

GENERAL RULE. The vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian or German.

c throughout the alphabets is to be pronounced as ch in chaff",

ch is to be pronounced gutturally, as in LocA Lomond.

sch like English sh.

j like English y.

For a full explanation of the Chinese Figures, see Endlichers Chinese Grammar.

CORRECTIONS.

Burmese,

column 1,

line 3,

for i, ie, read

i, ei

Russian,

11.

(a),

(a).

TVT nn cf nil an

.i 0,

iTj-Ull^UiiaJii

Sanscrit,

,, 5,

tu,

tn.

21,

dua,

dna.

Cashmerian,

,, 29,

cu,

cu.

1 3

8 3

Telinga,

20,

1HI,

na.

Persic, column 1, line 11, for s, read As.

,, 1, ,, 13, s, z.

1, 17, dh, ts.

3, 6, dhr, tsr.

Siamese, 1. &gt;&gt; c &gt; &gt; u &gt; "

2, 22, ba, la.

AFTEK the printing of these Alphabets, it was found desirable to re-arrange, in some
measure, the system of notation adopted for the explanation of the sounds of the
various letters. It is hoped that the inconvenience arising from the change of some
of the figures used as references to the Explanatory Tables of sounds will be very slight ;
and that, although it is impossible to convey a precisely accurate representation of the
intonations of foreign speech, enough has been done to render these Alphabets intelligible
and useful.

CLASS L]

ALPHABETS.

[MONOSYLLABIC.

CHINESE RADICALS.
Tf* 110

103

109

116

119

120

- 121

122

128

129

130

214

XXXlll

CLASS I.]

ALPHABETS.

[MONOSYLLABIC.

BURMESE.

SIAMESE.

SLfgattttsg.

fl/ ya

39 a

S5
tha

C5\\

09 a

^ da,

390 1 5

Q O da

rv^

v/^

OJ JJha

iy pra

&lt;$ ) ta

5 *

OO ku

/ "\"*T 1T

9j b v a

-|
U

pa q i,ie

?&gt; J. tha

OO kae

nca

gf g i

^5.
&gt;f dam

,.
^J mu

^ 13

9 u

i ^

Qj mya

V ba

kra

9 u

1 8

OO tha

O 58

-J

7J pa

L "

7j) dham

Q u

(OQ krl

t- mha

(V Pha

Cc G

O75 n

D] r

(U fa

(OO krva

\
39

O
OQ"]

O7D

073 nna

&lt; q) mhu

JT) r

) 1

)^/ pha
jV flia

^ ^.

\JLS i

CY~~)

&gt;. V

Gfb^O o,au

ff\ J1Q

OO tta

^ mhu

j-) pha

@-r *
au

CO thu

Q rae

ta J

34 ma

n i * r n

6 a ^

u ya

/-vQ

rva

OO ththi

To 1 J

[ khu

9 thva

Q rha

4 99 ^ u

(0 la
3 va

^| khya

x-/

r\~~\ 9

^&gt;.

n * u

: h

?J sa

(S khrva

f\Tl

f) ka

&lt;v&gt;, ha

Y du

O gu

^ 1 %^Y" foa

O uam

ddha

tf*^i

J- a

Cj G[ ia

^][ ddyo

Call en

nirVici
iillct

3
^~y l Trrt

I// Ka

f) kl

OD a

l^.

1 f

p] utuil

, 3

/to

v3 na

fl ki

O &lt;

O cum

Is cca

\^ dhri

5 n

c h^ 6

i i

L cha

&lt;s
f)

J( ku

Q G&gt;i a

r^ nti

f) ku

8 cva

O^J

&lt;T\ *

. -

7 1 ku

oo ^y

ndi

J ya
41

i3J sa

("half

OO h Q) J

^ nna

1 ") pause

Ufl&jrf ^Igtt0.

s
Q ta

s jja

|| f whole
j pause

^ &lt;! &lt;. W J 6 &gt;/

CLASS I.]

ALPHABETS.

[MONOSYLLABIC.

PECUESE.

TIBETAN.

"*"&gt; kgg

CD phj bh

3 tha

Eigat

3 thra

TTQ

^ ssd

^ da

X i

^ kva

-5 clu

^S yu

?3 ssku

"V kh, kg

Q m

^ na

\P kya

5 ^ va

^ ra

^ sskya

C n

oo y

^ pa

3 ^

^ dra

^ rkya

^j sskra

^ pha

^J kra

-i dru

^ rgya

S ssga

nochj

Cl ;

zj ba

^ ki-u

-5 nu

15 gy 11

H ssgya

S] kla

^ P

F rna

f -sgyu

T?"

COJ SJ

H ma

f3 kbu

s py a

5 rca

5] ssgra

^ khva

*J pra

I iJ a

S ssgru

OOt,e

-&
J

a zha

^ ka

a phu

5 ma

j-l ssna

B khya

H I hya

x ^ ssna

&lt;

T rta n

OO th, dh

YO s

^5 a a

E, za

P khra

a phyu

5 \ ssnu

^ i da ^g

_.
^ u "3} va

R khru

H phyva

= ? ssta
^ ma

r&gt;

00 L

5 u

^ ja

S gu

^ phru

z $J ssda
q rba *\

O p,b

-7) a

n| ka

3 za

^ gva

^ bu

w rma

? ssdu

^ gya

5 bya

S ssna

ra, a

5&gt; nnya

3 6yu

a byu

ssnu

"^3 "sS

rcva

^Ligatures.

^ ga uj ya

zj bra

^ rva

^snra

^ na

XXJ*Sf\

^ ra

3 6 ru

rla

^j sspa

71 ka

ol f ko

a) la

3] grva

^ Iga

| sspu

m k *

Y)6

cha

5j ska

3] e la

ni 8
S. lna

TJi sspya

5] gssa

|] blu

1 lea

E, ja

^1 ssa

\Pi X * iz

5 tnu

oj ^f ssbra

"TJ

&lt;O ku

R nu

fe, U a ^

&lt;7&gt; ua

^ ha

g mya

K Ita 1 SSma

-8 kl?

T? kai

5 ta

15J

5 cu

f "3TU

^ kla ssmya

33 inss

s chu

5j ^ Msini a

TX ku

"Y;0 kau

JJFijjuteg.

5 cbva

^ JU

r| Iba ^ ssza

^ ^ / yv. p_

&lt;3^ jva

^ ssra

/ -c

-^ Ibu N

"Y"i ku

~i)

12345

^ nu 1

^ Iva S ssla

.gV") ke

Y)6 keu

\S 4} 4. ft o

67 90

^ ava 1

^ lha ^ hva

5 tu ^ ^ ;|

5 shu ^

6Y&gt; ke

^Section. | Pause.

5 tra

1 zlu

^ shva

5 hru

CLASS II.]

ALPHABETS.

[SHEMITIC.

HEBREW.

RABBINICAL

SAMARITAN.

8YRIAC.

ESTRANCELO SYRIAC.

^ r spirit
t lenis

j$ spirit
I lenis

f spirit
3 r L lenis

r/ rr { spMt

^" * l6nis

^ S~) - **^ i^^ M^ ll T?

2 b, bh

^u L ,^^i .it ^.J b

V ~" &lt; ^ &gt; "^i "^ ^ g

1 g, gh

"*T. d

Tt ^ gh

r d

T d, dh

7
P

T d,dh

01 T-

o a W| Q

CfL he

a a

1 w, u

1 &gt;

** ch

* ^- " * ch, hh

* w, u

^ ^w ^. ^ t

f&gt;

/%-

*** j

^ ds

yii. ^A. A ^ 1

L^ t

j. JW.

J^. ^ CL C) k

j ( i

H ch

t t - k, cb

\ \- ii ^ 1

2 1 k, ch

3 1

^ t

fn ui

&gt;o la ifl m

"i Ji i

^. i, j. n

D D m

P D

V ^ a J n

^4 b, ch

,jj Ufl tt U

NA.

J t u

&gt; )

^ V 1* i u

^i P, Ph

ss ^a a s p, f

\ Z

^ in

3 ^

o HL o k

fi P| P, ph

p q

r a

o ^ n o k

*TL r

It f ts

i r

9 i r

Z ^ - X. ^ &gt; sch

1^ s

* *

&gt;-. ^ * &lt;** sch

A V V t,th

V s^

^. 2^ 2s.

3 P,P,

ILirjatures, etc.

Eipturcs.

N \ lamed

fll ts

^ ^. S. Jk u

dfcs.

X y ~\ "\ gg

FflfcicI an& otfjer Signs.

^ k

_ p I spirit
lienis

\ \" gij

, : T -: vt v

UoiBcI Signs.

rOr\ tha

U * sch

^ V f \ t K

.. o i * y

Q O * A J *

a * *

A &gt; t J

A t, th

_ _ S

.*
*

CLASS II.]

ALPHABETS.

[SHEMITIC.

ARABIC.

tt*.

Efrjaturcs.

PERSIAN ARBITRAGES.

Final Media). Initial.

^ bch

*Mihh

s mb

c-J *-^ &lt; i ^ ;

1 I L \ \ i.eji.o,!. 1

g** jchdsch

ss mcb

r ^. ^ &gt;.&gt;.

^ ^ ** J b

c f r Dm

g. mdsch

J , French \\ g

O &lt;JU \ A I. A A J

1 1

&lt;. nh

s* schb

^.c nm

PERSIAN LIGATURES.

*- ^ lscb ^ tdscb

. kjdscb

^nr

^ otSCh -C^ pch &lt;^ ;;; rr;
* r

^ ^^ h ,

^ tch

X kjb

tfl udscli

^^ pr s stsch ^ H.scb

. .

y tr

sL kjcb

&lt;^_ V-,

c^r tia

i&gt; 1 1m

^ ainb

&lt;^ SStSCh S2^ ; S^ j

* ,. ^schtscb * j- stech

jr r lb

^ s h

^C amch

si srtscb -s^j ^-

j&gt; .X ds

J^ tj

^ sdsch

s^ tfb

ss ^- rrttsch &lt;- Itsch sL kjt^cb

i/* -&gt; -^

^ sh

^* ssh

5^ iidsch

s^ h cb ^sC smstch ^eL ntscb

J ^

y sr

3? sscb

s^s jb

^ ^ jtsch sr htsch

&lt;-^ u- - - - -

r^r 3m

-s2.

^ jclscb

^J*^ (J**

rr sh

^ kch

PUSHTOO LETTERS.

, j

C -^ c&gt; ct

C^* L/ 2 ^

.. Ill

r.r jnj,

u * ^ ^ -o* z , db ^ ^

sL Icli

^/* 1^

==^^ .-:_:=..-^; .- ==SS?T_-

_ -

MALAYAN LETTERS.

\o la la L&gt; ^~

i Id ^

& la ^ L&gt;

^- hlidsch

f mm

^ ^1 iam-elif

c c

&lt;^fc &gt;_? A 9

^ /* a c a/o/u

x^ ^^-

Foiricl Bfps.

(i)

L 1 - * .,*

, . , * . J

. .. _ . .

^&gt; J

f,flU S .

. . ^ s-

1 -v

^ X

3 &=& =&gt;\ ^k

098765 4 321

J3 jl C

HINDUSTANI VOWELS.

r i*S

J J 11

& j r h, all J ir (d)

p cx ^x ^ )
&lt;J^ L/

7a t &gt;j J i- j i |

^ ( f , * -

^ " ^T gb

& kb

cf J- -^ ^

L) / &lt; i * J L.

AS- k b ^- k

d-&gt;- &lt; h

. ^

v i ^

^ ^X a^ 1 *{,

J J 33

AJ J

6^ lib

* j& ^ ^ ah

4 A v 4 & h, t

r *

f bh

3 JCL _9 f

/ j *" Y- K

^J&gt; ^ ^ - X%i* J Jt * JLJ ^^ U

&gt;" tb

X X K

XXXV11

CLASS II.]

ALPHABETS.

[SHEMITIC.

ETHIOPIC AND AMHARIC.

U ha

U) sa

4* ka

**l cha

Tl ka

H za

* ^ dja

ft pa

T Pa

lh hu

Ifr su

*k ku

J- chu

Tb ku

IP ZU

rt dju

ft* pu

T P

y. hi

TH.

"^ chi

U ki

H. zi

?y ,

A. dji

ft. ^

T; Pi

V ha

in 3

fka

j[ cha

V\ ka

H ^

X dja

ft pa

J Pa

11 3

y he

in "*

^ ^s
T "it, che

dje

ft&gt; pe

T Pe

7 J he

^UJ se

^&gt; k. i^ che

"ft ke

H, ze

j? dge

ft pe

T re

ir ho

^P so

*f*

/ cho

n k .

r zo

. vy

ft PO

T po

A la

5 na

"Yl cha

7 ga

ft tza

IDiptfjontjs.

A* iu

* TO

Oln

5&gt; nu

!&gt; chu

TP ju

7* gu

ft. tzu

4* kua

A, *

A ri

$ ni

"^ chi

*"K Ji

^ 6i

ft, tzi

^ kui

A i

*" ra

f 1 na

-I jl cha

T-P

I ja

? ga

$\ tza

J kua

A, i

/D re

a&gt;c

TC j

n
L

A&gt; tze

* kue

A i

^n b

*j ne

M i^| che

[H 1 je

*l ge

iV tze

4*"" kue

A i"

Ci ro

n i)o

f no

"^ cho

: T"* Jo /go ft tzo

Jo chua

1-tha -T

"f^ chui

rtv

1 s thu "^ S nu

(D, wu

fTV

\J* ZU

^ chua

fh. i

ft.

r t thi "? ^

R. Ji flX ti ^ zi

"2&gt; chue

*h iu

, s

l sa

^ tha P T

$* ja ^\ ta " za

Jv chue

3 3

rh&gt; he

ft, se

r t the i

*K we K je

"b 9, Yl kua

i\\ he

h se

^ the "?

(D 1 we

6 ze

TKkui

fh ho

f- tho P

/D ^

r jo

fn t o

(P zo

MX kua

&lt;J&gt; ma

&gt; H scha

T7\ a
tja

]fj| tscha

^. Id

Xk*ue

Yl - kue

&lt;7&gt; mu

!&gt; schu

*E tju A-

O u

A du

YTp tschu

^C fu

rto J 1 ?

CAl |I gclli

4i tji A,

^ di

; nx tsch ^

^ fi 7 gua

&lt;3} ma PI sch *

* ? tja ^

Oj| a

P ci a TTf tscha

4 fa "^

CF^ me

Ft sche

^ tje

ft.

C^L

.ft dS

TTt, tsche 4, fe ^ gua

#3 me

II sche

^ tje ft

^ de

*?* tsche

4^ fe ^ gue

(Ji mo

* pi scho

* ^ tgo

fJ o

^ do

|Ti tscho

A. H

/ gue

new form for re. to divide the words from each other. JJ to divide the sentences. T used only in the Bible.

* These characters are peculiar to the Amharic.

XXXV1U

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUROPEAN.

PERSIC.

( i II a, e, i, o, u

Efgaturcs.

_ ^ ^ 4 x b

1 1 ba

^f stsch

^ lr

7 shro

&gt; bd

C sb 1

^ lj

^ bkk

"r " ? v tt 7*

rr bk

yX sr

[j, U la

j. ^i**^, &gt;.

&gt;r bm
yy. br

x^X" schr
y^ a

Ll l.ma
[J 1m

^ ph ir
y^z- thr

A ^ I 7 7. I 8 **

&gt; pd

&gt; dbr

J in

/ ap

A f 2 tsch

/^ s pr

^ tr

/{ y

A * " ^ b

rr ^

^1* sr

^t ma

k ^ 7, fib

j/ p- h

ib- sb

&gt; ms

&gt; gbj

* )

* * sr

^ ab

A nd

* &gt;

? as

f"f^ ^b

^? p ghr

y^ - ghjr

f s y

&gt; V s

t, sb&gt;

^s? b r

&gt;* nm

v sb

^J Tl J

^s *^ " **~- ^

pkk

^ -&gt; ./ -

J
: tb

^ cbr
^ ndsch

^f-
| b)

^ ^ ^ ^ ,3S

c/ c/

&gt;/ ft

[ ba

J^ * " J&gt; to

&gt; fm

4 bnd

/ ndb

J2. k- y & y

v tb

j *

&gt;i bsd

/* nhr

Is- Iff *&gt; &

yV tr

/ kr

_&gt; .to

v- nmr

& & a, i, o, u

&gt;" tm

* km

-&gt; -hp

-*" hM

/ &lt; gh

^^ tb

(J kj

-\ jd

y. ^ r

J W

& v ba

- jb

4 J" 1

^ b b

; i s :

& kk

,J bib

^-^*^

-x ^ b p

/ ^-XX ^^ .^

N B

Ji plh

4^^-

i C ^~\i ) * J W Jj

C/ L/ kl

(J* (J" U *

rf . " - r -

^ b r
^ b m

e b b
^ b j

v rok
/ km

O kj

ff ^/f smr
/ sdb
y&lt;-y&lt;- tmr

^ -m
^ cbdscb
^ h dsch
4- stscbb

} ) vr, u

&gt; cbm

J Ib

jp gbb

^&gt; k -

"~ v* t ** h,t

U- sa

jJ Id

% cbdscb

jp gbj

-&lt;- ^t* ^r- u

^f sdscb

J Ip

& cbr

^ pb r

XXX IX

CLASS III.j

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUROPEAN .

]u fit /n ch

Jit

.!/f mg

n "

ARMENIAN.

s- *

a, v

(|) ^ &lt;/J p (hard)

k(hard)

()

Italic,

8 (Soft)

till

dsh

(&gt; J &gt; b, j

V*- Q.-V

&lt;I&gt; [&gt; (bard)

sch

P ^ k (bard)

ligatures,

mcb

lomts.

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUBOPEAN.

SANSCRIT.

cca
*

cna

era
cva
chma

chva

jna
jra

nja

una

ttsa

tpa
i
tma

tya

tsha

*
tsa

thma
tliya

5 5

dda

^ ddha

dbha

5 5

dhna

dhma

dliya

tta
ttra
ttva

tu
tna

tva
th

dr
dga

dgya

dgra

dgha

dghra

dda

ddra

ddva

2;" ddhna

^J ddhya

H dua

^ dba

2~ dbra

^ dbha

^J dbhya

^ dbhra

^f dma

^?T dya

JfJ drya

3) dva

?J dvya

5* dvi-a

^i dh

y dhna

y dhra

y dhva

nta

ntr

ntrya

ntva

nua

nra

pta

pna

pra

pla

pva

pvya

phraa

bra

bhra
m

mna
mra
mla
mva

T r

xli

Ilia
Ila

1 *
j

cla

shta

ehtya

t
shtha

shthya

shna

6r
sra

sla
b

hna

hraa
hya
lira
hrya

hla
hva
hvya

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUROPEAN.

gha

cha

fil jha

9M na

6 ta.

I tha

|| dha

tha

PALI.

O O dha

pha

bha

O va

kya

cya

jjha

ttha

tva

ddha

dva

nta

ndha

J. nna

bba

bha

mba

mbu

yya

division

xlii

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[iNDO-EtJHOPEAN.

BENGALEE.

AHOM OR ASSAMESE.

URIYA OR ORISSA.

\3f a

O na

Tt &gt;M 3

.2. 5

y^o

\JO Phj bh

2j a

\ &
1j ta

^T T 1 a

6 ta

if i

JL 5

/) tha

Zlt I

O tha

S &gt; 3

. &

yO kh, gh

"\9 m

T^T T

o da

*/^ ^^

fv o

&gt;&gt;1

&lt;

\S da

-X JJ

o dha

et 5

V na

V n

uo y

&lt;) ^

dha

^ 5

^) ta

o| na

rtl v
^1 ^

vv "~T~

$ tha

V%~k

-/p

9* r

Jn^ cflj j

^^b r

6 ta

? da

&lt;. "5~

*fj CC e

^f dha

EJ tha

4 t ai

T na

&gt;Y

3. G- e

^ da

*f pa

"-3

1 o

^5" pha

\&gt;1 t,d

\3 b

o. ai

(&gt; r^ au

._.

*~? 3

N ba

U L

71 na

&lt;JJ ka

v^ bha

JlJ kha

^ ma

TOO tn &gt; dh

V\^ 8

I3G G~l au ^

^f gha

TI ya

^ ra

IT n

& m

8P Pna

"" na

"^T la

i r

f&gt; ca
"ES cha

"*t c a
T sa

T^ a

^ ka

&lt;^ bha

Vv Ja

3T sha

&1 kha

Fl ma

"3* Jha

^ ha

?! ga

| ya

Hfgaturts.

iLigattircs,

&lt;3 gha

^ ra

"Q 3 kta

&4 pra

/ Y^) ko
L

g&gt; na

^ la

3J* kra

15" bhra

38&gt; ksha
?t gna

7 -ya
^b -ra

[ ka

ro b ko

cha

$1 ca

$3 jna

iflS s
o^ nca

^ r-
& ru

y^f ki

Tn b ku

S j.

[

iJ3 8 .
ox. nja

^&lt; -la

( jha

^ t

&T lla

Y^? ki

yj?

\3 na

3" ha

&lt;3 tra

21 era

T^" dda

^H cva

Z5T dru

*o shta

^ ku

yv^ kau

Hirjattircs.

M" dhva

"^ shna

Off

3? kra ;)

"M" -na

^3 sta

^ ntu

^ stha

^ k "

yvpT kau

1 ksha

^ ntha

T sma

: j

g stha

V. i

^ ndha

* / yv) ke

Yn b keu

S chi Q.

9 shta

3J nma

3f stra

q" nva

s
o- m

^f flj mbha

^ pta

1 pause

/ rV

yW koi

2j thi ^ ^ pause

xliii

CLASS HI.]

ALPHABETS

[iNDO-ElTBOPEAN.

SINDHEE.

MOULTAN OR WUCH.

CASHMERIAN.

T!) a

ff a

(9 dha

*5T a

TIT Jba

^^ 8

O I

^5 a

FT na

U ta

- o *

O tha

i. ka

*^ na

*i da

3 kha

"3 ^r n

T? dha

i\ g a

W pa

T ^ u

xl na

Vj gha

J ta

"% ca

5 ka

"q" tha

^5 cha

^M pha

13! 1

3S la

7i \

37 i

Ol J a

y ~j

"Q" dha

&lt;t* jha

kha

x&lt;/, ^ a

t 1 " e

sr na

^ na

^ . ai

IT P a

3 ta

OL J

"|T o

Zo ^ a

f ^\ ma

"P*" au

7 ba

6 j 5

\\ ga

TT bha

v da

j \.

.v 5

SI ya

1 h

&gt;l ma

** na

* **

-25 ta

&lt;S ca

^ ka

ZT ya

^M tha

"Pf kha

T ra

^ ra

^ da
(5 dha

TT
\1|- gha

FT la
^ va

&gt;" na

*f) la

w ca

31 J

JT ca

wr sha

TT cha

^J S3

4* pha

&lt;1 va

TIT J

^T ha

TO ha

\f" da

"*! bha

ILfgattircs.

/ *l aia

V\ 5

^\ kya

"U" pra

JJC na

T^ ya

^ cu

H? mpa

2. ra

5 ha

"^ jya

^ rja

12 la

^f tma

jg^ cu

O va

^^ tra

^ tu

Iff sma

"2f tha

\M sa

ij ncu

"^ sva

"^ La

^ nu

"g&gt; hya

*2&gt;) tra

% pause

. / vowel
\ \ omitted

xliv

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUKOPEAN.

2/U

N
2/1

&gt; an

kha

gha

cha

Ui
rt

tha

dha

na
ta

1 tha
^ da
{, dha
f{ na
H

M P ha
b{ ba

/H bhu

"H
^t

GUJERATTEE.

khi

ghu

chi
chu

chu

Eujatureg.

~3U

jhi

til

thu

di
du

dhi

dhu

llfl -

rfl

fltt

thu

dhu

phu
M

bhi

bhu

xlv

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUKOPEAN.

MAHRATTA.

tff

tha

da
dha

tha

dha

pha

bha
ma

sha

TAMUL.

t/D

rr.

5
LJ

LD
LU

g&gt;p

C5VT
_/V5

ka, ga

J ca,ja ;
sha

ta, da

pa, ba i

sha

11
la

BF-

rf*

ja
na

ki
ku

tu
tu

rf
rP

yi
yu

113

rha

rhi

rhi
rhu

rhu

xlvi

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUBOPEAN.

3 :

SD &gt;

5
I h

^ ka
2J kha

oco gha

cha

jha

tha

dha

na
ta
tha

dha

pha

bha

TE LI N G A.

sha

pause

go ku

ksha

gha

gnu

QXXT 5 g

co na

jha
jhi

ttu

tra

ddu

ddha

dha

ohu

S -

8 "

d3~ va

sbta

xlvii

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUROPEAN.

&&amp;gt;
d-

T I

S3 i

&&amp;gt;

CO o

kha

jha

tha

dha

tta

K A R N AT A.

sha

4 &

ksha

xlviii

ttu

tte

tra

dri

nna

pra

bhu

mma

sha

&&amp;gt; shta

(?) 1

sign of
duplication

3 1

T * 1,1

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUEOPEAN.

M ALAY ALI M.

05*2) a

6*3) na

Eftjaturcs.

_ R S

5 ta, da

c8j ku

S tu

(kO-^ bra

^3 Ha

tha

*g ku

g. bhu

^d Hu

L, ^

COO da

^) kr

(ZTTn tta

( bhu

-J -va

0(00^ i

&lt;*& dha

cQ^Jj KKU

^^ ttu

bhr

^T VU

ei u

6&lt;"O na

(^Q kku

CZT2) tma

(3 bhra

o? vr

^ "

&lt;W ta, da

Qs) kra

O tra

Q mu

^3 wa

oo 5

LD tha

^ kla

&lt;. tra

^) CU

^ r

&lt;3 da

^S^ ksha

fl^X) tsa

@ mr

i
C/QU cca

CO dha

c?3 ksa

(20) mma

&lt;^5&gt; era

6YD, y

Del

^ gu

320
dr

TO mla

r/?s 44
OQ cca

o 1 pa, ba

&gt; gr

^- ddha

^ -ya

o^ shta

0-0 pha

C/3 gda

S) dya.

COJ tm

&lt;^ shtha

G^l ai

6^ ba

OD gna

Oft n

% yka

S^ shpa

O o

&lt;3 bha

(C/) gra

O3 nu

"TTOJ ykka

CT^ S 3 U

oa o

Q) ma

(2;g| ghra

05) nr 6

^OTSJ ykku

OT^ sta

"0 au

CQ&gt; ya

89s nka

CYB) nta

% yta

&lt;P n 9) stu

&lt;*}_ 6 3

^*- -^

(D ra

g3 nku

^^ ntu

^. ytu

rron stha

B 8,

N. V^Ll

&lt;&gt; ka, ga

^ la

3 nna

(Q5&gt; ntra

&gt; yma

^^ sma

6U kha

^-1 va

4 cu

OS nda

^ J

^[^P sra

o A cc ha

CYXx) ndha

(ni ^

00 ga

C/9 ca

rro

r WU

CTVj SSU

-J gha

c^ sha

9^ ecu

COO nna

03 Da

CTO sa

%{, Jja

O2J nma

flB ru

^ s-ha

oj / ca J a
L sha

-1^ ha

8
8 8

OOJ nva

(@ ru

^ hu

-2-P cha

ft la

G^WQ nuu

oj pu

^ r SS a

&lt;05 hu

&lt;iO jjr

CO 19

~ ja

^ PU

0D rtha

\ n

fcJ~D jha

O rha

ttu

a -r^ pta

(So

ou-. nil

gyn) nka

O- i nna

p i

SS Ua

JlfJUtES.

SHf ntu

ad PP a

^O Ikku

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xlix

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[iNDO-EtTKOPE AN .

CINGALESE.

MALDIVIAN.

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PERSIAN SIGNS.

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Uotoel Points.

&lt; &lt;C ///&gt;&lt; 5 5&gt;

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUROPEAN.

IRISH.

MCESO-GOTHIC. ANGLO-SAXON.

ENGLISH.

$0. 1.

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Koman.

Italic.

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ClASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUEOPEAN.

GERMAN.

LD ENGLISH.

CREEK.

utra&rrg.

Common.

A a a

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CLASS III.]

.ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUBOPEAN.

ALBANIAN.

RUSSIAN, SERVIAN AND WALLACHIAN.

Ho. I.

$0. 2.

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Italic.

(& A a

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IA Ut ia

liii

CLASS III.]

ALPHABETS.

[INDO-EUBOPE AN .

SCLAVONIC.

tVtttt.

to Sclavonic, $0. 1.

to Scla&onfc, 0o. 2.

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CLASS IV.]

ALPHABETS.

[UGRO-TARTARIAK.

MANTCHOU.

MONGOLIAN.

t ^ "* ^J

3 ^ ^ ~ "

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ALPHABETS.

[UGRO-TARTABIAN.

GEORGIAN.

&{frtt

(Scclesiasttcal.

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27* i

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n tsch

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qp eg

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c/ ^"

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[p sha

^ qwn

J* ih i

*A? ""

4 ep

&lt;J1D thkh

uV- r

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Ivi

CLASS IV.]

ALPHABETS.

[UGBO-TARTARIAN.

JAPANESE. - KATAKANA CHARACTER.

jl na

&gt;r

ISoubltnK
Signs.

"^ iu, i-i

. ra

) domo

7 n

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^ 1

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Conjunctions

ytv

]

^ ;

ana

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MA flYtttYff

* zo

y ku

(, za

-r

mama

iVtcvUtull

I-

Signs.

v*&gt;

tsu

rJ U

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1 f 1

^^^^

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^ j

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glii

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ma

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A. mina

SJsca in tfjc
^[ino
^Language.

dzi

-3

^ mia

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Ivii

CLASS IV.]

ALPHABETS.

[UGRO-TARTARIAN.

Iviii

CLASS IV.]

ALPHABETS.

[UGRO-TARTAEIAN.

^
*5&gt;

&gt;^&gt;

&lt;

-4

&lt;

JAPANESE. - FIROKANA CHARACTER.

&lt;*&gt;

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ff J

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^ 1

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r-yu

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1
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t
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O point

lix

ALPHABETS.

[UGEO-TAKTAKIAN.

JAPANESE.- FIROKANA CHARACTER.

Htgatures.

rosi

kan

]

uzi

1^&gt; mezi

r dzusi

fasi

kajesi

12 J

Id 1

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basi

kavasi

1:1

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A si

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nazi

masi

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ft.

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14-*

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vZ^

r resi

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rasi

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f mesi

wosi

tsudzu

busi

R- nzi

Dottftling Signs

* &lt;

&lt; &lt; 4

&lt;* 4

CLASS IV.]

ALPHABETS.

[UGRO-TAKTARIAN.

JAPANESE. - FIROKANA CHARACTER.

Cfjimsc Si 15113.

itsi

nitsi

M kage

nari

j& tamon

^ niozi

rio

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*&gt;&gt; *

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ima

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js taro

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fil

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kawa

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a 1 1)

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nin

hsiii

A \

2^ tama

Ixi

CLASS IV. ]

ALPHABETS.

[UGKC-TARTAKIAN.

yama

mata

tnato

matsu

&gt;fu

~ futa

JAPANESE.- FIROKANA CHARACTER.

(Cfjincse Sitjns.

kokoro

koto

yemon

CLASS V.]

ALPHABETS.

[POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN.

MALAYA/I.

COPTIC.

Uncial.

A a \ Th th ^

A. A a P p r A a

A Tl tl ^

B B b,v

B b,v

Cc s

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uu i t

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T i,y

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t

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Accents. uj o

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2 h

01 dl c^ Nj nj *** M 1^1 ein

fl\ i&gt; hh
tU o

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i i

Ixiii

CLASS V.]

ALPHABETS.

[POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN.

JAVANESE.

3Lirjatutg.

3 -i-lk a

ISTi ta

01 Q. i

(3J1 sa
O va

Jin ha .[1

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in ^ Q

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ran

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win ka & O)

VSJDlx

Knijn

(in O V^ ^ ^J

Capital ilcttcrg.

ARABIC SIGNS.

aim na xs\

olh &lt;ui 4_J ok cinn

HW jja

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ff.

M ta

dttsuteg.

QRfk -]

aan ga

onn^ 6@jc.anji(^ajuio

12 34567890

Ixiv

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMOIES.

PAGE

.A.BENAQTJI . . . 374

Bima .

309

JLJACO-EOMANA Or Wftl-

German, Old High or Ale-

Accra .... 342

Bohemian

248

lachian ... 229

manic .... 171

Adiyah or Fernandian . 346

Bosnian .

253

Dacota or Sioux . . 381

Ghadamsi ... 333

Affghan or Pushtoo . 58

Brazilian and Guarani .

390

Dajak .... 308

Ghee z or Ethiopic . . 45

African or Moorish Arabic,

Breton or Armorican

145

Dalmatian-Servian or

Gipsy or Eommany . Ill

or Mongrebin . . 43

Bruj or Brij-bhasa

Croatian . . . 251

Gothic . . . .147

Aimara . . . 389

Bughelcundee .

Danish .... 180

Grebo 341

Albanian ... 239

Bugis and Macassar

310

Delaware ... 368

Greek, Ancient . . .189

Alemannic or Old High

Bulgarian ....

254

Dialect, Negro, of Curacao 404

- Modern . . 201

German . . .171

Bullom ....

337

Negro, of Surinam 403

Greenlandish . . . 362

Aleutian or Aliout-Liseyeff 297

Bulochee or Belochee

Dialects, Bengalee . . 96

Guarani and Brazilian . 390

Amharic .... 48

Bundelcundee .

Cognate, Siamese 12

Gujerattee .... 105

Anamite ... 12

Buriat ....

280

Hinduwee . 87

Gurwhal or Schreenagur 104

Ancient Armenian . . 61

Burmese

India, Central 89

- Greek . . 189

Buttaneer or Virat .

Dogura or Jumboo . . 102

-LlAEEOTEE ... 90

Anglo Saxon . . .153

Dorpat Esthonian . 272

Haussa .... 339

Arabic .... 39

CAFFBE or Kaffir .

351

Dualla or Dewalla . . 344

Hawaiian . . . .311

- Moorish or African,

Calmuc ....

279

Dutch .... 168

Hebrew Old Testament 19

or Mongrebin . . 43

Cambojan

New Testament 25

Arakanese or Eukheng . 6

Canarese or Karnata

120

-CJNG-HADINE, Upper and

Memoir descrip

Ararat, Armenian . 65

Canoj or Canyacubja .

Lower, or Eomanese . 235

tive of . Supplement (1)

Arawack . . . .392

Carib or Karif .

391

English .... 157

Hindustani or Urdu . 78

Armenian, Ancient . 61

Carniolan

252

Escuara or Spanish Basque 263

Hinduwee ... 84

Ararat . . 65

Carshun ....

Esquimaux . . . 359

Dialects . 87

Modern . 66

Cashmerian .

102

Esthonian, Dorpat . 272

Hungarian or Magyar . 269

Armorican or Breton . 145

Catalan or Catalonian

237

Eeval . . 273

Wendish . 257

Ashantee or Odjii . . 343

Catchee or Cutchee

Ethiopic or Ghee z . 45

Hurriana . . . .88

Assamese .... 97

Central India Dialects

Australian, New S. Wales 324

Chaldee . .

JJ ANTEE . . . .343

JLCELANDIC or Norse . 177

Aztec or Mexican . . 383

Cherokee ....

378

Faroese . . . . 188

India, Central, Dialects of 89

Chinese ....

Feejeean . . . .323

Indian, New England . 365

XXASHMtTRIC . . . 330

Chippeway or Ojibway .

371

Fernandian or Adiyah . 346

Indo-Portuguese . . 405

Basque, French . . 261

Chocktaw

379

Finnish . . . .264

Iowa .... 382

Spanish or Escuara 263

Cingalese ....

126

Flemish .... 165

Irish 137

Bassa . . . .340

Coptic ....

326

French . . . .214

Isubu .... 345

Batta .... 310

Corean ....

298

- Basque . . 261

Italian . . . .227

Belochee or Bulochee . 60

Cree ....

369

Formosan . . . .306

Bengalee .... 92

Creolese ....

402

JALLOOF ... 335

Dialects . . 96

Croatian or Dalmatian-

GTAELIC ... 135

Japanese .... 296

Berber .... 331

Servian

251

Galla 355

Javanese . . . 307

Bhojepoora ... 88

Curacao Negro Dialect .

404

Georgian ... 293

Jewish-German . . 399

Bikaneera ... 91

Cutchee or Catchee

German . . . .173

Judseo-Arabic . . 42

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMOIRS.

JudffiO-Persic
Judeo-Polish
Judeo-Spanish .
Jumboo or Dogura
Juyapoora

PAGE

57
400
396
102

JVAFME or Caffre . 351
Karaite-Tartar . . .290

Karass or Turkish-Tartar 287

Karelian . . 271
Karen, Karayn, or Karieng 13

Karif or Carib . . 391

Karnata or Canarese . 120

Khaspoora or Nepalese 103

Khassee .... 15

Kikamba .... 358

Kinika .... 358

Kisuaheli .... 357

Kousulu or Koshala . 88

Kumaon .... 104

Kunkuna ... 110

Kurdish . . . , 68

JJAOS or Law . . 12

Lapponese .... 267

Latin .... 205

Lepcha .... 18

Lettish or Livonian . 257

Lithuanian . . - 259

Loochooan . . . 297
Low Malay . . .304

JM.ACASSAE and Bugis . 310

Magadha or Magudha . 96

Magyar or Hungarian . 269

Mahratta or Marathi . 107

Malagasse . . . 320

Malay, Low . . .304

Malayalim ... 124

Malayan . . . .299

Maldivian ... 128

Maltese . . . .394

Mandingo ... 334

Manks . . . -142

Mantchou . . 277

Maori or New Zealand . 318

Marathi or Mahratta . 107

Marquesan . . 315

Marwar .... 90

Massachusett . . .366

Mayan ....
Mexican or Aztec
Micmac ....
Misteco .
Mithili or Tirhitiya
Modern Armenian .

- Greek

- Syriac .
Mohawk ....
Mohegan .

Mon, Talain, or Peguese
Mongolian Proper
Mongrebin, or African or

Moorish Arabic .
Mordvinian or Morduin
Mosquito

Moultan, Wuch, or Ooch
Mpongwe
Munipoora

PAGE

386

383

373

385

201

375

366

279

274
387
100
347
14

NAMACQTJA ... 354

Nepalese or Khaspoora . 103

Negro Dialect of Curacoa 404

Dialect of Surinam 403

New England Indian . 365

New S. Wales Australian 324

New Zealand or Maori . 318

Norse or Icelandic . 177
Norwegian Laplandish

or Quiinian . . 268

ODJII or Ashantee . 343

Ojibway or Chippeway . 371

Old Saxon ... 151
Olonetzian . . -275

Oodeypoora ... 90

Oojein or Oujjuyunee . 90

Orenburgh-Tartar . . 289

Orissa or Uriya . . 98

Ossitinian ... 70

Ostiacan or Ostjakian . 275

Otomi .... 385
Ottawa . . . .373

Oujjuyunee or Oojein . 90

PALI 76

Palpa .... 104

Pawnee .... 382
Peguese, Talain, or Mon

Persic .... 51

PAGE

Peruvian or Quichua . 388

Piedmontese . . . 234

Polish .... 246

Portuguese . . .223

Pottawattomie . . 373

Provencal or Romaunt . 230

Punjabee or Sikh . . 100

Pushtoo or Affghan . . 58

QTTANIAN or Norwegian

Laplandish . . 268
Quichua or Peruvian . 388

HAROTONGA . . .314

Reval Esthonian . . 273

Romaunt or Provencal . 230
Romanese or Upper and

Lower Enghadine . 235

Rommany or Gipsy . .111

Rukheng or Arakanese 6

Russian .... 244

SAHIDIC . . .329
Samaritan ... 28
Samoan .... 321
Samogitian . . 260
Samoiede . . -295
Sanscrit .... 71
Saxon, Anglo . . .153
- Old . . . 151
Schreenagur or Gurwhal 104
Sclavonic . . . .240
Sechuana . . 348
Seneca .... 377
Servian .... 250
Sesuto or Sisuta . . 350
Shawanoe . . 374
Shekawutty ... 91
Sherbro-Bullom . . 337
Siamese . . .10

Cognate Dialects 12

Sikh or Punjabee . . 100
Sioux or Decota . 381
Sindhee .... 99
Sirenian or Zirian . . 274
Sisuta or Sesuto . . 350
Slovakian .... 253
Spanish .... 220

- Basque or Escuara 263
Surinam, Negro Dialect of 403

PAGE

Susoo . . . . . 336
Swedish .... 185
Syriac .... 33

in Hebrew characters 36

Modern . . 37
Syro-Chaldaic ... 37

J.AHITIAN . . . 312

Talain, Mon, or Peguese 9
Tamul or Tamil . . 113
Telinga or Teloogoo . 118
Terasco . . . .385
Tibetan .... 17

Tigre 47

Timmanee . . . 340
Tirhitiya or Mithili . 96
Tongan .... 316
Toulouse . . . .238
Trans-Caucasian Tartar 292
Tscheremissian . . . 274
Tschuwaschian . . 291
TuluorTuluvu . . 123
Tungusian Proper . 278
Turco-Greek and Turkish-
Armenian . . . 285
Turkish .... 282
Tartar or Karass 287

U PPER and Lower Engha
dine or Romanese . 235
Upper and Lower Wendish 255
Urdu or Hindustani . 78
Uriya or Orissa . . 98

VATJDOIS .
Virat or Buttaneer
Virginian

232
91
365

W ALLACHIAN or Daco-

Romana . . .229
Welsh .... 129
Wendish, Hungarian . 257
Upper and Lower 255
Wogulian ... 275
Wotagian or Wotjakian . 276
Wuch, Ooch, or Moultan 100

YAEEIBA or Yoruba . 338

^APOTECA
Zirian or Sirenian .

385
274

THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND.

CLASS L MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES.

CLASS II SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.

CLASS III. INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.

CLASS IV. UGRO-TARTARIAN LANGUAGES.

CLASS Y. POLYNESIAN OR MALAYAN LANGUAGES.

CLASS VI. AFRICAN LANGUAGES.

CLASS VII. AMERICAN LANGUAGES.

CLASS VIII. MIXED OR PATOIS LANGUAGES.

THE LORD S PRAYER

IN CHINESE,

From Adelung s Mithridates, revised by Dr. Pfizmaier.

|TT liiung

&T lliu

(S ye

B J

s ngo

g tshy

pb ^ sa i

P&lt;5 ya

Ijrij hien

^ J mien

/H yum

-: teng

^)( tsching

/^ ming

7^ tien

pP T men

T--

^ fu

Tyjij" liang

!^p. vang

-Yj" liing

fcl kien

/gj tsche

Ilini ^ a *

^c ngo

rN u ^

W-"

S^ sliing

t^T kun

it ch, y

yP mien

/Q* kin

&gt;

-3f. teng

7) nai

^j tche

S ngo

El Je

^ JU

j^j kue

3t*

jj&lt;5 kieu

5Ln.

j g| tchay

l-iii yu

1/1^ y

pjfr lin

&lt;JA ngo

S ngo

^p-

^X n S

7^ tien

&gt;.

-^ teng

Sc *

SI -

Ijjf] yuen

THE LORD S PRAYER

IN CHINESE CRASS WRITING,

From Adelung s Mithridates, revised toy Dr. Pfizmaier.

tchhi

\5&gt; ngt)

^ yen

Y?c so

^ ming

ft*

^ yao

C2D jin

V */ VP

c?^ yeu

?| f .

^ tang

^ tschi

ft-

^~J&gt; ngb

-3.

vS thsing

j^S thsing

^ n 6

rj^&gt; w t i

3^f kiun

f&lt;J&gt; pel

^/{ sche

^^ kitin

^? kiun

^tf kiun

&lt;^? tschi

[f~ fu

j^ mi

te-

^/I sche

^&lt;P schin

/H; tsai

^JC hoe

A, Jin

^p^ mein

Q- Ji

tij tan g

H *.

^ tsing

^7 ni

&lt;3~^ yeu

^yV

p ^ tsfeng

x/^i Wei
&lt;/o?

ID/ tsching

/ thien

yj? thsing

( ^ kiun

^ tschi

/ thien

v Hng

^y tsche

11-

/J7-J kuo

j^x schi

"^ thi

^ tang

^ci kiun

THE BIBLE OF EYERY LAND.

CLASS I.-MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES.

CHINESE.

SPECIMEN OF THE CHINESE VEKSION. ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, CHAP. i. . 1 to 13.

PROM DB. MORRISON S TRANSLATION ISSUED FROM THE ANGLO-CHINESE COLLEGE,

IN 21 VOLUMES, IN 1823.

4fi.

i * m

Hfc *

=9J A
PiVi /V

^o Z

A #s E ro

75^

flg

ffij Z,

w
i

ffi)

&J V ^ Ufc H * A f Bff

-ffi.

75 ifff ^ a

ON THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

GEOGRAPHICAL ^EXTENT, AND STATISTICS. The Chinese empire, including within its area about
a third of the Asiatic continent, 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
1,348,870 square miles. According to the last census, taken in 1825, China proper, exclusive of the
colonies, has a population of 352,866,012; but this estimate is considered by recent authorities rather
to under-rate the number of inhabitants. It is generally admitted that there are about 288 inhabitants
to every square mile in China, which is somewhat more crowded than in England. 1 W r,oo ^rmoQn/lo

Hence thousands

Martin, Vol. I. p. 447. Abdeel s China Introd. p. 19.

2 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

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.

CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The language used by this vast population exhibits
certain affinities with some of the idioms of Central Asia, yet is distinguished by some remarkable
characteristics peculiar to itself.

The first grand 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 30,000 distinct characters. Most of these, however, arc 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. The Chinese characters have been sometimes
compared to the hieroglyphics of Egypt. The resemblance, however, must not be extended too far,
as Chinese writing was never confined to a priestly caste, and is moreover a more artificial and inge
nious system of ideographic combinations. There are 214 original characters or roots, into some of
which every one of these 30,000 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 lexicographic arrangement of
each compound character.

The written symbols of the Chinese may be divided into four kinds. The first class comprehends
those which appear to have been originally mere rude pictorial representations of visible objects,
although in process of time the original resemblance has been almost lost ; as e. g. the symbols for a
field W , a man /| , a horse S*, , a sheep j .

The second class consists of symbols of complex ideas, which were formed by an ingenious com
bination of those more elementary symbols which they already possessed; as e. g. the character ^|] le,
is made up of two elementary characters, that for grain on the left, and that for a knife or sickle on
the right. The entire symbol thus compounded has the general meaning of gain or profit ; an idea
taken from reaping the fruit of the soil.

A third class comprises those symbols which we may suppose would be required by their national
progress in civilisation, and the necessity for an increase of terms for expressing their continually
enlarging number of ideas. These may be termed phonetic characters (inasmuch as a portion of the
character affords a help or guide to its spoken sound), in which there is a slight analogy to our
alphabetic system of compounding words. The existence of this class of symbols proves that the
present elaborate and extensive system of Chinese written words is the result of gradual additions
and successive invention. 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 monosyllabic 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 effect a new written symbol, of
which one part influences the sound, and the other the sense.

Thus, to take the example of ^|j le, profit, which was employed for illustrating the principle of
the second class of symbols; 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,

MONO-SYLLABIC LANGUAGES.] CHINESE.

meaning a pear-tree. They simply took the character ^|] profit, having the sound of le, and adding
the radical character ^ muh, wood, they formed a new combination, ^ 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 ^|J le, with the radical, having the sense of disease, a new character is virtually
formed jjjj 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 ^|] with the radical bearing the meaning
of heart, the whole forming a new symbol ^)J le, hatred, of which the upper part gives the sound, and
the lower influences the sense. And on the same principle, there are in all ten phonetic derivatives
from the same primitive ^|J le, all having the same sound of le, but having different meanings
according to the radical character with which le is combined.

The fourth class comprises those symbols which may be considered of arbitrary formation, and
are found, in no inconsiderable number, uninfluenced by any principle of classification in their origin.

We now proceed to notice some of the peculiarities of the spoken language. The absence of an
alphabet has deprived the Chinese of an important means of preserving a uniformity _ of spoken
language through 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 twenty-tivo, 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 22
would convey the same idea but have a different sound in each language of Europe. The dialect of
the capital, commonly called the mandarin or court dialect, is used as the medium of intercourse
between the government officers and the literati in all parts of the country, to obviate the inconve
nience of the local dialects.

The great difficulty of the spoken language consists in the fact already adverted to, the mono
syllabic nature of Chinese words. Two great difficulties are connected with this, viz. the system of
tones, and the redundancy of the colloquial style. There are less than 400 monosyllabic sounds of
which the Chinese organs of speech are susceptible; and these have to be divided among 30,000
written characters. By means of intonations of voice each monosyllable is capable of considerable
variations which respectively influence the meaning. But with all these contrivances of varied tone, a
large number of ideas will be expressed by the same sound and the same tone. No difficulty is pro
duced 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 com
position. A well known Protestant Missionary, now labouring in China, has been known 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 composition when
read aloud to a person who has not the writing itself before him, will be apparent to every one, unless,
in reading it aloud, an additional number of sounds are employed for each character to prevent con
fusion. 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, for instance, the character for father and that for axe are both pro
nounced foo. In speaking they employ foo-tsin (a father-relative), and foo-tow (an axe-head).^

When it is borne in mind that the Chinese aim at great brevity and conciseness in their written
compositions, and that breach of the rules of literary taste is a great offence in the estimate of Chinese
scholars, it will easily be seen that it requires no common skill and industry in 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.

CHINESE VERSIONS OF SACRED SCRIPTURE. It has been related, though upon disputed
authority, that in the Chinese province of Shense, in 1625, a curious monument was discovered, bearing

4 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

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 the Emperor : the result, it is said,
was highly favourable, for the Emperor commanded Fam-hiven-lim, the prime minister, ^one of the
most learned of Chinese scholars, to translate the sacred books brought by Olopen. 1 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 efforts were made by them towards the production
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 this purpose
Joannes Lassar, who was an Armenian Christian but a native of China ; and in 1807 a copy of Matthew
in Chinese, translated and beautifully written by Lassar, was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury for
the Lambeth Library. 2 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. 3
It had been printed from wooden blocks, cut by the 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, 4 under the liberal patronage of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Each
sheet of this version was subjected, by the indefatigable 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 Missionary Societv. Prior
to 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
the Acts, and all the Epistles of St. Paul, with the exception of that to the Hebrews, of which 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 New 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 Newcome 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 historical 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. 5

At the anniversary of the Bible Society in 1824, Dr. Morrison presented the sacred volume at the
meetino-, and Mr. Butterworth related the following incident : " It is now many years ago, that in visiting

ClSJvOU. tllC y^JU-lli.; llltlJLL VVllOit \J VVClOj J.J. .7? v**-\s ^ J O

it, but 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, under 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 Chinese

1 Townley s Illustrations, Vol. I. p. 240. But see Beansobre Histoire a Miss. Reg. for 1841, p. 135.

du Manichee, ch. 14. 4 Eighth Mem. of Translations of the Seramp. Missionaries, p. 24.

2 Owen s Hist. Vol. li. p. 467. 6 Home s Introduction to the Holy Scriptures, Vol. V. p. 135.

MONO-SYLLABIC LANGUAGES.] CHINESE. 5

Scriptures. About the year 1836, a revised edition of the New Testament was produced by the joint
labours of Messrs. Medhurst, GutzlafF, Bridgman, and J. E. Morrison. But this work, although in
idiomatic correctness a great improvement on preceding versions, has been considered by some as
loose and paraphrastic. Leang Afa said that it was a collection of phrases from different classic
authors, thrown together to express the meaning of the Sacred Scriptures.

In comparing the version of Dr. Marshman with that of Drs. Morrison and Milne it is difficult to
determine which possesses the highest value. Dr. Morrison, says Kemusat, is less literal, but more
Chinese ; and in the construction of his phrases he does not so habitually conform to the Greek or
English idiom. Dr. Marshman adheres scrupulously to the very letter of the text, but there is a great
degree of constraint, and a foreign air in his style. There are excellences in both which could scarcely
have been expected in first translations; and the possession of two independent versions of the Scriptures
in so widely diffused a language as the Chinese is a matter of deep thankfulness, as upon their basis a
more accurate and idiomatic translation will some day be elaborated. Messrs. Medhurst and Gutzlaff
have been long intent upon this work; but notwithstanding their strenuous and laborious efforts, a
standard version of the Chinese Scriptures, acceptable to all sects and parties, is still a desideratum,
and, in concert with the other Protestant missionaries in China, they are now engaged in revising
and retranslating the sacred volume. 1

To forward the multiplication of copies of the Chinese Scriptures, the British and Foreign Bible
Society in 1847, granted 1000 towards a cylinder Printing Press, and an additional quantity of
Chinese type, and also towards defraying the expense of sending assistance from this country for print
ing the Scriptures in China. The printer who has gone out is a man peculiarly qualified for this
particular service. About four years ago, employed as he was in useful secular pursuits, he com
menced the study of the Chinese characters ; and with scarcely more than two hours a day, _ without
the help of a teacher, and with a very limited number of books, he has acquired the power of
reading Chinese.

INCREASED OPENINGS FOR THE DIFFUSION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. The recent war
between Britain and China was terminated by the treaty of Nanking, in August, 1842; by the terms
of which most important facilities have been gained for the work of Christian missionaries. Missionary
labourers are now enabled to reside in five important and populous cities, spread over 1000 miles of
coast, to which natives from the remotest provinces of the empire continually resort. At each of these
cities, except the city of Canton, to which foreign intercourse was formerly limited, and where a strong
anti-European feeling has been excited by the insolent intolerance of the old system, the missionaries
make visits for twenty or thirty miles into the surrounding country, and experience a friendly recep
tion from all classes of the native population. Further insight into the customs and character of the
people by recent missionary travellers 2 has proved that there is very little religious bigotry amongst
the Chinese ; 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 amongst the people. Except the worship of the spirits of ancestors,
there is no form of superstition universally and strongly enthroned in the affections of learned and
unlearned. The imperial government are evincing a more liberal policy towards foreign nations,
and a more tolerant disposition towards their Christian subjects and Missionary teachers. An edict
of universal religious toleration made its appearance in the beginning of 1845, to mitigate the rigorous
severity of former penal laws, and to beckon onward the Christian church to a more vigorous assault
on the powers of pagan darkness in China.

i See Forty-third Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, 2 See an Exploratory Visit to the Consular Cities of China, by the

p. cix, and Forty-fourth Report of ditto, p. ci. Rev. George Smith, M.A.

6 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

About fifty Protestant missionaries are now engaged in preaching or in distributing the Chinese
Scriptures in the five cities of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, and in the British
settlement of Hong Kong. The greater part of the missionaries, however, have not as yet attained an
extensive acquaintance with the language. The senior missionaries, who are able to preach fluently
and intelligibly, easily attract numerous assemblies of attentive hearers, and in a few cases conversions
have followed. The converts are generally from the lower classes at the present time, but a few cases
have occurred in which native scholars have been admitted to Christian baptism.

Present appearances lead us to the belief that with the increase of labourers, the increased diffusion
of the Holy Scriptures, and more earnest prayer for the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the work, we
shall speedily see Christian churches raised in China, and the gospel producing its blessed results
among this benighted though highly civilised race of mankind. 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.

BURMESE,

INCLUDING ITS COGNATE DIALECT ARAKANESE.

(For SPECIMEN of the Burmese Version, by Dr. Judson, see Plate I.)

EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Burman 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, it is generally
supposed to comprise an extent of territory about equal to double the area of the British Isles.
According to Crawfurd, the total amount of population in Burmah and Ava amounts to about
4,000,000, but this number appears to comprise no fewer than eighteen different tribes and nations.
The Burmans constitute the bulk of the population in the British provinces of Martaban, Ye, Tavoy,
and Mcrgui or Tenasserim, which include an area of 32,800 square miles, and a population of
112,405 persons. Throughout these provinces Burmese is the language of the court, of official pro
ceedings, and of general conversation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 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 auditor 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 parlance for boiled rice is ta-men ; but a priest s boiled
rice must be distinguished as soone. 1 These distinctions add precision to the language, but greatly
augment the difficulties of its acquirement. It has been conjectured that the Burmese language was
originally merely a dialect of the Chinese, 2 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 pertaining 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 ortho
graphical changes, and pronounced as if each syllable were a distinct word ; this circumstance, together

i Chinese Repository, Vol. II. p. 504. 2 Felix Carey s Burman Grammar, Preface p. 7.

MONO-SYLLABIC LANGUAGES.] BURMESE. 7

with the frequent recurrence of guttural, sibilant, and nasal sounds, renders the language monotonous and
unmusical to the ear of a stranger. 1 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 formidable length as to remind us of the polysynthetic
dialects of America. As many^ words have two, three, or even ten significations with the same ortho
graphy, this manner of connecting words is of important service in removing ambiguity. 2 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. 3 In this
peculiarity the Burmese language resembles the Siamese. 4 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 com
position 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. Re
petitions of the same turn and expression are rather affected 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." 5 Although the Burmese language can boast of numerous literary pro
ductions, it was comparatively little known to Europeans until the establishment of the Baptist Mission
at Rangoon.

ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. The Burmese Alphabet is derived from the Sanscrit, through the
Pali, the Sacred language of the empire. It consists of ten vowels and thirty-two consonants. In
point of form, it surpasses all the alphabets of Western Asia in simplicity, and most nearly resembles
the alphabets of Canara, Telinga, and Ceylon. Although the sounds in some cases are different, the
same system of classification prevails as in the alphabets of Hindoostan. The first twenty-five con
sonants 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. The cerebrals in Burmese are pro
nounced like the dentals. Of the consonants, not included in the above classes, five are called liquids,
one is termed an aspirate, and another though pronounced t/t, is properly a sibilant. 6 Vowels,
when they enter into combination with consonants, are represented by certain abbreviated forms, called
symbols, placed before or after, above or below, the consonant. Four of the consonants also combine
under symbolic forms with other consonants, and thus the compound consonants are formed. These
various combinations, with their respective sounds, require to be carefully committed to memory,
which adds considerably to the difficulty of learning to read the language. The accents offer a still
further impediment, as words which are the same in orthography, vary greatly in signification accord
ing to the accent they receive. The light accent is denoted by the sign () placed under the letter ;
the heavy accent by (g) placed after the letter. Two small parallel lines ( || ) are used to separate
sentences, and sometimes the clauses of sentences.

VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. Three MS. translations of small portions of Scripture were
made by Roman Catholic missionaries prior to 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 mission
aries 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 three
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. w r as 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. 7 In
1815, 2000 copies of the Gospel of St. Matthew, by Messrs. Chater and Carey, were printed at

1 Crawfurd s Embassy to the Court of Ava, Vol. II. Asiatic Researches, Vol. X. p. 233.

2 Chinese Repository for 1834. 6 Judson s Gram. Notices, 6. See also Latter s Burmese Gram.

3 Judson s Gram. Notices of the Burmese, p. 31. 7 Periodical Account of Baptists, IV. p. 32.
4 See Low s Siamese Grammar, p. 21.

8 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

Serampore; but this is a very imperfect translation, and is said to be quite unintelligible to the Bur-
mans. 1 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 sufficient 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 government. 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 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 trans
lation, 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 particular and thorough
that we get on very slowly, not more than ten verses a day, though he is with me from nine in the
morning till sunset." 2 During the Burmese war in 1825, Mr. Hough repaired to Serampore with
various books of Scripture revised and prepared for the press ; and under his superintendence 21,500
copies of different portions of the New Testament were there printed. Never, in 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 imprisonments, and
sufferings of Mr. Hough and Mr. Wade at Rangoon, and of Dr. Judson and Dr. Price at Ava, at the
close of the Burmese war, 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 Gospel, inasmuch as many territories by this war were placed under
British protection. The first complete version of the Burmese New Testament was issued from the
press in December, 1832. 3 The edition consisted of 3000 copies, and was printed under the patron
age 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. 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 the 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 com
mended 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 Burmah with songs of
praises to our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ."

RESULTS OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS VERSION. The fruits of the Rangoon 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 passage in one direction, it forces its way
in another. 4 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, inhabited by the Mughs, a people of Aracan,
who at the close of the last century had from political causes migrated from their own country, and
placed themselves under British protection. Their language, which is sometimes called the Rukheng,
varies only from Burmese in pronunciation, and a few provincial forms; and is in fact merely the oldest
dialect of the Burmese language. 5 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 them ; 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. 6 The American Baptists have since written portions of the New Testament in the
Arakanese, or proper dialect of this interesting people ; 7 but the Burmese Scriptures are likewise fully

1 Baptist Magazine, Vol. X. p. 57. , 5 Chinese Repository, Vol. II. p. 505.

2 Missionary Register for 1832, p. 32. Annual Report of Baptists for 1819, ? 19-

3 Chinese Repository, Vol. II. p. 440. 7 Home s Introd. Vol. V. p. 135.
&lt; Periodical Accounts of Baptists, VI. p. 112.

MONO-SYLLABIC LANGUAGES.] BURMESE. 9

intelligible, and much prized among them. We have an account of the first convert in Burmah from
the pen of Mrs. Judson. She says," A few days ago I was reading with him (the first Burman
convert) Christ s sermon on the Mount. 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 ! When Burmans make
offerings at the Pagodas they make a great noise with drums and musical instruments, that others may
see how good they are ; but this religion makes the mind fear God ; it makes it of its own accord
fear _ sin. " Although Burmah at one time presented to Dr. Judson and the first Missionaries a
continued scene of discouragement, yet it afterwards 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. We 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. ; &lt; 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." 2 Dr. Judson s subsequent account
of the character of the Burmans is equally hopeful. They are, he 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 wrap it up carefully, . deposit
it in a fold of _the waistcloth or turban, carry it home to their village, and, when a leisure cvenino-
occurs, the family lamp is produced, the man, his wife and relations gather round, and the contents
of the new writing Deceive a full discussion. Instances have not been wanting of the blessing of God
having followed this careful study of His word. Mr. 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. Mr. Kincaid followed the
lad home, and was surprised to find in the object of his visit an old man full of faith and hope in
Christ, though he had had no other teacher than John s Gospel and a tract, called The View, accom
panied by the Holy Spirit. He said that he had loved Christ for about two years, and his language,
Mr. Kincaid relates, was that of a man acquainted with his own heart. 3 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 Eangoon that told him about the Eternal God
who made all things, and about Christ who died to open a way for the forgiveness of sins. He said
the more he thought of this, 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. 4 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.

PEGUESE, MON OR TALAIN.

THE Peguese language is still spoken in Pegu, a country which occupies all the sea-coast and the mouths of the rivers of the Burinan
empire : it comprises an area of 22,640 square miles, with a population of 48.000. 5 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 are now the slaves of both empires. The Peguese language is supposed to be more 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. Since their conquest of the country, the Burmans have done their utmost to extirpate the language, and to render
their own predominant, but they have not as yet succeeded. A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and of St. John 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. 6 A translation of the whole New Testament, by Mr. Haswell, is now in the press at Maulmein, but it is hoped that a
specimen will be obtained in time for insertion in this work. The edition is of 3,000 copies.

i Account of the American Baptist Mission to Burmah, by 4 Baptist Missionary Register, 1834

- PP M- p P; ! V 5 M Culloch s Geographical Dictionary.

If 5H X? ?I7 Res ste T f r I 832 PP- 177, 1/-8. 6 Chinese Repository, Vol. II. 504.

Baptist Missionary Register for January, 1836. r Missionary Register for 1848, p. 1 18.

SIAMESE.

SPECIMEN OF THE SIAMESE VEKSION. ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, CHAP. i. . 1 to 13.

ON THE SIAMESE LANGUAGE AND VEKSIONS.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Siam is the largest of the three empires com
prised in the Eastern peninsula of India. The Bay of Bengal, the Burman Empire and the British
province of Tenasserim form its Western boundary. Its area, according to Crawlurd, is 1 W,000
square miles, but according to Berghaus it includes nearly 290,000 square miles. Its amount pi
population has been estimated at from 2,790,500 to 3,000,000 souls; but the number of Siamese m
Biam is thought not to exceed 1,260,000, the remainder of the inhabitants being chiefly natives
of Laos, Pegu, Cambodia, Malacca, China, and Hindoostan. The Siamese language is, strictly
speaking, confined to Siam proper, which forms but one province of the Siamese Empire 1 he other
provinces are, a large portion of Laos or the Shan country, a considerable section of Cambodia, a
portion of Pegu or the Mon country, and the peninsula of Malacca, from the head c
to latitude 7 North. 1

CHARACTERISTICS or THE LANGUAGE. The language of the Siamese is sometimes called Thay
or Tai, and in their own tongue they assume this name as their proper national appellation.

i Hamilton s East India Gazetteer in voce.

MONO-SYLLABIC LANGUAGES.] SIAMESE. \\

Siamese language possesses considerable affinity with some of the provincial dialects of China, more
especially the Mandarin or Court dialect, from which many of its radical words and numerals are
obviously borrowed. 1 Several fundamental terms, appertaining to Malay, are also found in Siamese
which has hence been regarded as the connecting link between the Chinese and Malay languages. The
delicate intonations of the Chinese exist in Siamese, and it is more strongly accented than any other
language of Lido-China. The political institutions of Siam, in point of despotism and tyranny, are
akin to those of Burmah, and have had great effect 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 flatterv are very numerous and varied. The words which sub
serve the office of pronouns are hence particularly numerous, and attention to the rules regulating
their distinctive _ use is ^so rigidly exacted from all classes, that the misapplication of a single pro
nominal is considered indecorous and disrespectful. 2 The alphabet, though formed on the model
of the Pali and Devanagari characters, possesses several original elements, whence it has been con
jectured 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 word as a sort of pivot on which the vowel points are arranged, forming,
as it were, the body of each of the simple vowels. There are sixteen 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. 3 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 nominative almost invariably precedes the verb, and verbs
and prepositions precede the cases which they govern. 4 No orthographical changes whatever mark
the variations of number, case, or person, but prefixes and affixes are in constant use. The language
has^ been represented as copious ; yet it rather, says Crawfurd, 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. 5

SIAMESE VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 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 translating 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. 6 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. GutzlafT 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. 7 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. 8 The work of revision was continued
by Mr. 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 Messrs. Gutzlaff and Tomlin in 1834. Mr. Robinson, another 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

1 Leyden in Asiatic Researches, Vol. X. 5 Crawford s Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochinchina, p. 335.

2 Low s Grammar of the. T hai. 6 Judson s Account of the American Baptist Mission to Burmah, p. 128.

3 Low s Grammar of the T hai. 7 Thirtieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ixxviii.
* Calcutta Christian Observer, Vol. VII. s Missionary Register for 1833, p. 32.

12 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

grant in 1843 from the American Baptist Bible Society. In 1846, Mr. Jones completed the transla
tion and publication of the entire New Testament in Siamese. 1

KESULTS or 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 hindrance from king, nobility 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 are more importunate in begging for books than the priests,
and this too in public, 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 the 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 practical 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 Pah books,
that a certain religion of the West would vanquish Buddhism; but upon the breaking out of the fate
war 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 organised system by which idolatry is supported : the pagodas are the schools of earning
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." 4 It has been ascertained that the great
maiority 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,
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 b

COGNATE DIALECTS.

IT is worthy of observation, that Siamese is properly only one dialect of an ancient and wide! y ^ e f ed la j^ t ee
the other dialects are the Laos, Khamti (almost identical with the ancient Ahom), and Shyan. Little has been done in these three
dlLcts towards the translation of ScripLe. The Laos people are described by Dr. Bradley as being - a pecuhar ^e -^ for
the Gospel harvest, Several applied to him for books written with their own characters ; they said they could jead oiamese book*
stammeringly, but their own with ease. A Laos man pleaded with Dr. Bradley not to forget him and his people, JJ *J fam
them speedily with a version of the holy books in their own dialect. Although the Laos has been described by most travellers as a

SySct^t from the Siamese"* yet such is the similarity between the two dialects that Captain Low states fron &gt; 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)
Sughout North Laot The L P aos dialect has, however, an alphabet exclusively appropriated to it, which is more allied to the

Peguese or Mon than to the Siamese alphabet.

CAMBOJAN.

THE Camboian language is spoken in Cambodia, once an independent and powerful state, but now divided between Siam and the_
empireTf Anam. Th? 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 discon inued it.
Throughout the other provinces of the empire of Anam, a monosyllabic language denommated the Anamite or Anamitic is spoken,
in which, however, no translation of the Scriptures exists.

Chinese Repository, Vol. I. p.

KA11EN, KARAYN OR KARIENG.

(A SPECIMEN of this Version will be given in a future Part of the Work.)

EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Kareens, Karenes, or Carcians, are a wild and simple people,
scattered over all parts of the Burman territories, and of the British provinces of Tenasserim : they
are also found in the Western portions of Siam, and northward among the Shyans. 1 Their residences
are in the jungles and among the mountains, 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.

CHARACTERISTICS 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. 2 It has five tones, some of which appear
different from those of any other monosyllabic tongue. The Karen language is remarkably harmoni
ous, 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 Mason, 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 affirms that the alphabetical powers of the Karen alphabet are of Arabic or Hebrew origin. 3
This fact, together with the personal appearance and physical peculiarities of this singular people,
and a series 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.

VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. The Missionaries were induced to
undertake a version of the New Testament in Karen 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 Savoy, one of the missionary stations, by great numbers of the Karens, and had
ample opportunities of proclaiming the Gospel to them. Among the most interesting of his
visitors was a native chief, who appeared particularly anxious for instruction in the way of righteous
ness. " 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." 4 The translation of the entire New Testament 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 Savoy, under the
superintendence of Mr. Bennett. Mr. Mason has since translated the Psalms into Karen, including
both the Sgau and Sho dialects of that language.

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." 5 In 1839, when the Karens had no books, few living teachers, and only
a MS. copy of Matthew, they were gathered together in considerable numbers from all parts by the

1 Malcom s Travels in S. E. Asia, Vol. II. p. 228. 4 Calcutta Christian Observer for 1833, p. 522.

2 Calcutta Christian Observer for 1833, p. 520. 5 Asiatic Journal for 1844, p. 282.
Calcutta Christian Observer for 1836, p. 111.

14 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

sound of the Gospel, and settling down in a district about two days journey from Savoy, 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 Matthew concerning 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 con
tinued 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." 1

MUNIPOORA.

(A SPECIMEN of this Version will be given if possible in a future Part of the Work.)

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. Munipoora is the language of Munipoor, a small independent king
dom, 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 Cassay, and geographers have distinguished it
sometimes by one and sometimes by another name. It is not much above sixty miles in length, and
lies somewhere between lat. 24 and 25 North, 2 and long. 93 and 96 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 zone of mountains and hills, inhabited by various tribes subject
to Munipoor. 3 The amount of population is probably about 70,000 : 4 Pemberton, however, estimates
it at only 20,000. Brahminism was imposed on the people little more than half a century ago, by
command of the Eajah, but it is by no means firmly rooted.

CHARACTERISTICS or THE LANGUAGE. It appears from their language and physical peculiari
ties, that the Muniporeans are the descendants of some Mongol or Chinese colony. Like most mono
syllabic languages, Munipoora is inartificial in structure, and uninflected. It has a close affinity with
Khassee.

VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. A version of the New Testament was undertaken by Dr. Carey in
1814: he procured some learned natives from Munipoor, and superintended their labours. This trans
lation 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.

RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Little is known concerning the
effect produced on the Muniporeans by the perusal of Scripture, for they have as yet no mis
sionary among them.

Malcom s Travels in S. E. Asia, Vol. I. p. 37. s Pemberton s Report of the Eastern Frontier, p. 21.

- Calcutta Christian Observer for 1834, p. 263. Malcom s Travels in S. E. Asia, Vol. II. p. 244.

KHASSEE.

(For SPECIMEN of this Version in the Bengalee Character, see Plate I.)
(For a SPECIMEN of this Version in the Roman Character, see Plate III.)

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 independence, but they are under the supervision of a British
agent for Cossyah affairs. l The Cossyahs inhabit a ridge of hills extending from Silhet (a town on
the easternmost extremity of Bengal, latitude 25) to within a hundred leagues of China. This
region averages from 4000 to 5000 feet above the level of the sea, and is about 70 miles long by 50
wide; it comprises 3500 square miles; it is bounded on the South by the plain of Silhet, North by
the valley of Assam, East by Kachar, and West by the Garrow hills. 2 The amount of population
has never been correctly ascertained. 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, and their altars may well bear the inscrip
tion, " to the unknown God: " the country is the extreme limit of the predominance of the Brahminicai
sect to the eastward, for beyond these hills Buddhism is almost universal.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. This language is uninflected and simple in grammatical
construction ; and although strictly monosyllabic, 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 adoption
of this alphabet is merely owing to their frequent intercourse with Silhet, for their language bears
internal marks of having been at some distant period allied with the Chinese ; this is evidenced by the
personal pronoun, and by the frequent recurrence of the sounds ming, eng, ung, etc. as in Chinese.

VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. A lady was honoured by God to be the main instrument in
preparing the first version of 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. 3 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 sealed book, for no opportunity occurred of distributing it among the
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. 4 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
Roman 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 ottered 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

1 Malcom s Travels in S. E. Asia, Vol. II. p. 245. 3 Missionary Register for 1833, p. 307.

2 Calcutta Christian Observer for 1846. 4 Periodical Accounts of Baptists, No. X.

16 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

persons, 1 through the medium of the Auxiliary Society at Calcutta. Since then a translation has
been made of the Acts of the Apostles, and other portions will follow by the instrumentality of the
missionaries engaged on the above station.

EESULTS or THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Some very interesting accounts have
been received of the recent progress of Divine truth among these people. Mr. Lish, their first mis
sionary, was welcomed joyfully; they laughed heartily when they heard him speak in their own
language ; but when he began to open to them the truths of Scripture, they were so forcibly
impressed that they exclaimed that "he was a God, and they but cows and goats." 2 When the
mission was re-established by Mr. Jones, a chief from a village which 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 established, 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 English is universal. Some of the natives have been led to abandon their super
stitions, and to embrace Christianity. Since their baptism they have endured much persecution from
their relatives, and in the most trying circumstances have manifested strength of principle worthy of
an apostolic age.

One of the missionaries writes thus: "I have received the Gospel of St. Matthew from Cal
cutta, 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, tenderness of con
science, and 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 are all very good. Even the same verse says something
new whenever I look into it." 3

1 British and Foreign Bible Society s Report for 1846, p. Ixxxv. Report of the Calvinistic Methodist Missionary Society for 1846 and

2 Periodical Accounts of Baptists, No. X. 1847. Also " Y Drysorfu," for April and May 1848.

TIBETAN.

(For a SPECIMEN of Tibetan Character, see Plate II.)

EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The vast and mountainous tract of country in which the Tibetan
language is spoken lies directly north of Hindoostan, from which it is separated by the Himalayan
mountains. Its eastern frontiers border on China ; to the west, it extends as far as Cashmeer, Afghani
stan, and Turkistan, while 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, Thibet has
hitherto been almost inaccessible to foreigners, our knowledge of the country is in consequence ex
tremely limited, and no correct estimate appears to have been ever formed of its area or population. 1

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Tibetan is sometimes called Bhotanta or Boutan,
because spoken in the country of Boutan as well as in the adjacent regions of Thibet; it is supposed by
some to be a link between the Monosyllabic and Shemitic classes. In the Mithridates, Adelung un
hesitatingly 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 likewise compound and polysyllabic words. Some of the very fundamental words of the lan
guage, 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. 2 If compared with English, the words
of a Tibetan phrase will be found to stand exactly in a reverse order. The sentence "in 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. 3 The language is rendered difficult by the numerous impersonal verbal expressions;
the general mode of conjugating verbs is by prefixing or affixing certain letters, which are, however,
most frequently silent : 4 but the grammatical forms are in general few, vague, and seldom used. The
alphabetical character is evidently borrowed from the Devanagari, and is written from left to right.
There are thirty consonants divided into eight classes, and four vowel signs. There are likewise com
pound consonants, representing sounds not strictly occurring in their alphabet. 5 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 articulation of words, they add materially to the
labour of reading and writing the language.

VERSION OP THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. An attempt was made by the Church
Missionary Society, in 1816, to furnish the inhabitants of this vast region with a version of the Scrip
tures in their own language, but unhappily this important undertaking ultimately proved abortive.
Mr. Schroeter, a Missionary of that Society, after having devoted himself with much stedfastness and
success to the acquisition of the language, was cut off by death at the very moment that he was pro
ceeding to the translation of the Scriptures. Mr. Le Eoche, 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. 6 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

1 M Culloch s Geog. Dictionary, in voce. 4 Calcutta Christian Observer for 1840, p. 733.

2 Remusat s Recherches sur les langues Tartares, p. 368. 5 Schrreter s Bhotanta Dictionary.

3 Csoma de KorOs, pp. 106115. Long s Hand Book of Bengal Missions, p. 237.

18 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS I.

some Roman Missionary, and collected and arranged by Schrreter, 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.
Dr. Haeberlin, an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, after journeying through
Thibet 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. 1 Dr. Hasberlin states as the result of his observations and
inquiries in Thibet, that " as far as the Tibetan language is spoken, and the Lamas have any sway, so
far literature exercises an important influence upon the people. If there were a version of the Scrip
tures," 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 an
opportunity, and it is to be hoped profit by it, to be made acquainted with the things that pertain
to their salvation." 2

LEPCH A.

THE Lepcha language is spoken by the Lepchas, the undoubted aborigines of the mountain forests near Darjeeling. 3 The district
they occupy is perhaps about 120 miles in length, from N.W. to S.E., extending along the south face of the Himalayan mountains,
until 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 Darjeeling, has com
menced 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. It is hoped that a specimen of this version may be obtained for insertion in the present edition
of this work.

1 Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcv. 3 Forty-third Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xc.

2 Calcutta Christian Observer for 1840, p. 640.

; ff I

CLASS II.-SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.

HEBREW.

SPECIMEN OF THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT SCEIPTURES.
EXODUS, CHAP. xx. v. 1 to 17.

*\m yfihx nirr rpiN 2 D t*twh rfoa D^TP^J nt* crrfa* "I3T1

nj^n-K 1 ? 4 !,j?"^ DV W D ?^ ^ TO"**!? tc 7?^
-xh 5 : tfS nnfiD i Di3a -IBM rrofc p3 n^w Syfib i b

-AT ) VVT T f; -:i- &lt;

^K rw ^N ^

| : ;: T : -IT J-

D iW non nw 6 :

6nS

:&gt; T :

Div :ro?fir3 n^i niyn d^ nw 9 ti^S ni^ n DVTIN nbr 8

- - &lt; - - - - - -

nin^

12 D :

:rTn S 13 D :^ [nl fprtf JTJ n P^ n ?D T P?1^.
N 1 ? 17 D npj0 TJ JUJ3 n^n-^S 16 D :^iri S 15 D :t|gjj|i & 1 * D

x 1 ? D

THIS Specimen portion exhibits the twofold use of the Hebrew accents. The one series is employed when the Decalogue 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 are also used
in this twofold manner in Deuteronomy, where the Decalogue is repeated.

ON THE HEBREW OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES AND LANGUAGE.

PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. 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 may be inferred from various passages of Sacred History that the Canaanites
or aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan conversed freely in Hebrew or some closely allied dialect with
Abraham, and, many years subsequently, with the tribes of Israel under Joshua. Thus, the spies, for
instance, sent by Joshua to survey the country, had no recourse to the aid of an interpreter in their
intercourse with Rahab and others. Moreover the Canaanitish names of places and persons, both in

20 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

the time of Abraham and in that of Joshua, are pure Hebrew terms ; Melchisedec^Abimelech, Salem,
Jericho, and in fact all names recorded in Scripture of persons, cities, and towns, in Canaan might be
cited as examples. (See Joshua, chapters 15 to 22). That the Canaanites formed part and portion of the
people known in profane history by the name of Phoenicians, has been clearly proved by the ethno
graphical researches of Gesenius 1 and other German scholars ; and in the Septuagint, the words Phoenicians
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 was the vernacular of the
Phoenicians, and that it was therefore the idiom of Tyre, of Sidon, of Carthage, and of all the numerous
colonies established by that enterprising people. We may thus trace the use of Hebrew as a vernacular
tono-ue, or as a medium of communication 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 diffused 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 ; 2
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 are 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 are 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 Carlo ; 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
wanderino- Jew had preceded them there by many a long year. When the Portuguese settled m 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
population 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 too-other in eighteen synagogues. Yemen counts 200,000 ; the Turkish empire 200,000,
of which Constantinople 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. Cracovic, 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." 3

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Whether Hebrew was or was not the primeval
toivuc of the human race has been the subject of much discussion, and is a question which, with our
present means of knowledge, it is impossible satisfactorily to resolve. Certain it is, however, that the
Hebrew lan^ua^e 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
co-union actions and occurrences of life are numerous and varied. Among these synonymes 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
fust 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. 4 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 evidenced by comparing t

H orGaussen 1843:

4 Davidsol ,, s Lcctures Oll Biblical Criticism, p. 265.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] HEBREW. 21

books of the Pentateuch with those of the later prophets : the latter difler from the former only by
the disuse of a few words, which in the course of centuries had become obsolete, and by the intro
duction of sundry terms which had been engrafted on the language by intercourse 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 its cognate dialects. The fundamental structure of these dialects bears the
impress, if we may so speak, of premeditation and design. Unlike all other idioms, the roots or
elementary words are dissyllable and triliteral ; 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 pur
pose 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, IP? expresses a simple fact " he learned," but *J6 denotes an additional circum
stance, viz. : that he learned diligently : so ll" 5 } he spake, by the simple change of a vowel sign ("9" 1 !)
comes to denote the thing spoken, that is, a word. Besides the vowels, a certain set of consonants
set aside for this office, and hence called Servilcs, are sometimes used in modifying the meaning of the
roots. With respect to the alphabetical system of the Hebrews, it has generally been the custom to
attribute the introduction of the square character to Ezra. It has lately, however, been shown that
the square characters had no existence till probably two or three centuries after the Christian era.
Kopp (in his Bilder und Schriften der Vorzeit} traces the gradual formation of these characters from
the inscriptions on the bricks at Babylon, down through 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. 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. l

HISTORY OF THE HEBREAV 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 multiplica
tion 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 different parts of Scripture as documents
well known to his countrymen, (see Dan. 9); Ezra when he went up from Babylon to Jerusalem was
I 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. (Xeh. 8. 1). The completion of the Canon of the Old Testament
is referred to about the time of the completion of the Second Temple ; and there can be no doubt
but that the inspired men who lived at that period, namely Malachi, the last of the Old Testament
prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, and Nehemiah, 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 in 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

1 See Professor Stuart in Biblical Repository for 1832.

22 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

at different 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, that when in an
ancient exemplar 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 scrupulously 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 carefully
collected into one book all the grammatical and critical remarks on the 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
emphatically styled it " the hedge of the law," for it contains a multitude of the most minute calcula
tions 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 exemplars from which all other
copies were made. These eight copies were

1. The Codex of Hillel, an ancient MS. no longer in existence, but it was seen at Toledo in the
twelfth century by the Rabbi Kimchi ; Rabbi Zacuti who lived about the end of the fifteenth century
declared that part of the MS. had been sold and sent to Africa. This copy contained the vowel points
invented by the Masorites.

2. The Babylonian Codex, supposed to contain the text as revised under the care of Rabbi 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 Academy above mentioned 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
the 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 MSS. 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 the 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 MSS. 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. 1

Of the Hebrew MSS. now known to be in existence, the most ancient 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 familiarly known as the Codex Carlsruhensis :
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 three 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 the
twelfth century; we have about fifty MSS. written in the thirteenth century, eighty in the fourteenth,
and 110 in the fifteenth. 2 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 the 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

i Home s Introduction, Vol. II. - Davidson s Lectures on Biblical Criticism.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] HEBREW. 23

twenty-two inches wide. It only contains part of the Pentateuch, Leviticus and a portion of Deu
teronomy are wanted. 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
the compilers of the Masora. The division into chapters 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 the synagogue, a division still retained by the Jews in the rolls of
the Pentateuch.

PRINTED EDITIONS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE. The first portion of the Hebrew Scriptures
committed to the press was the Psalter, with the Commentary 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 Luther 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 three 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 MSS. were consulted), and the second edition of Bombcrg s Bible. 2 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 system, 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 Minister, 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 those of Buxtorf : he published an 8vo. edition at Basle in 1619, and his great Rabbinical
Bible (so called because accompanied by the Masora 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 uniformity 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 MSS. 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
been 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,
and one MS. was said to be 900 years old. 3 So highly were the labours of Athias appreciated, that

1 Butler s Horse Biblicse, p. 150. s Bishop Marsh s Lectures on the Criticism and Interpretation of

- Davidson s Lectures on Biblical Criticism. the Bible.

24 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

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 Hooght 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 MSS. of Scripture that were known to be yet extant. To defray the expense of so
important an undertaking, 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. Kenni
cott 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 Oxford, with various readings collected
from Hebrew and Samaritan MSS., from printed editions, and from the quotations of the Bible occur
ring in the works of ancient rabbinical writings, and especially in the Talmud, of which the text belongs
to the third century. An important supplement to this great work was published by M. de Rossi at
Parma, 1784 87, consisting of additional readings from Hebrew MSS. and other sources. De Eossi
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 the Pentateuch, others to the Prophets, while others comprise but a single book.
It is a remarkable fact, and a proof of the continued interposition of Divine Providence, that after all
the laborious researches that have been made among MSS. belonging 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 the 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 orthography or mere diction of the text, subserve the double
purpose of aiding in the grammatical elucidation of certain difficult 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 encumbered the first editions have been removed
by Hahn and later editors, and it now forms our Textus 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 immediately 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 1828 ; and special
eyidxr^ps 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.

HEBREW, AS A TRANSLATION.

SPECIMEN OF THE HEBREW VEESION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,

BY MR. WILLIAM GREENFIELD, AND OF THE VERSION EXECUTED FOR THE SOCIETY FOR
PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

2 nn

GREENFIELD S VERSION.

nn nairn * irnn nn r

n;n

nj n;a San : DT
B rvn riS -inx Da CJK

TV I -

4 nix vn D w nni * vn D^n ia

5 atfnni * *rn ^na item

! T :

6 n$? mSs? BN w : Sap

7 T^ tfa tfin j pnv
: ITS Sa WON* }$&

nri

* n^a

SOCIETY S VERSION.

n;n la^ini wn n;n
rrn ^n tD^Nn n^n

nai n^ x

T T T I "

vn a^nni

T T T T

nnW?a *6 ir^

^n oSiya

niaaa

ink

n;n
niaa-n

waina

nan

- *

vn ia 4

ON THE HEBREW VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.

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

26 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

his Gospel in Hebrew. l 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 version, for the language in
which it was written was not the Syro-Chaldaic 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 either 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 Hebrew was made by Joannes Baptista Jonas, 2
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 Propa
ganda 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 quiescents
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 William Robertson; but
the greater part of this edition was consumed in the fire of London, 1666, so that_ copies are now
rarely to be met with. Another edition, but in 12mo., 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 faithful 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. 3 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, how
ever, 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 laid before the Jews Society Com
mittee, 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, there-

i Dr. Davidson s Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. I., con- * A MS. of the four Gospels in Hebrew, written by Mr. Yeates,
tains a full discussion of the interesting question. in 1805, is now in the British Museum, No. 11,659 of the

- Simon s Critical History of Versions, p. 1/5. additional MSS.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] HEBREW, AS A TRANSLATION. 27

fore, they confided their version, requesting from him a critique upon it, and suggestions as to alterations.
Gesenius went carefully through the work as far as the Acts, and likewise through the book of Kevelation,
when his numerous engagements compelled him to resign the task. The 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 this valuable
revision to the public, and it therefore remained some time in MS. At this very period the publisher
of the Modern Polyglot Bible (Mr. Bagster) requiring a Hebrew version of the New Testament for
the Polyglot, applied to the Society for the Conversion of the 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. l In 1839 the Society issued an edition of 5000 copies of another version, executed
by the Rev. Dr. M Caul, Rev. M. S. Alexander, Rev. J. C. Reichardt, and Mr. S. Hoga. This work,
a specimen of which accompanies this memoir, was afterwards stereotyped, and is the version now
circulated by the Society.

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 perusal of the Hebrew New Testament. 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 Travancore 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 shaken, 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 the 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 sealed his testimony with his blood.

i Mr. Greenfield informed Mr. Bagster, that he never engaged in the important work of this translation without previous supplication for

Divine assistance and guidance.

SAMARITAN.

SPECIMEN OF THE SAMARITAN VERSION FKOM WALTON S POLYGLOT.

EXODUS, CHAP. xx. v. 1 to 17.

i^ZA- ttxm nri&A- * : ^m xl - xzlte - snrZta Za A/TT mraZA- ZZa? * *
* Zv snrtotv iaaraZA- az srrrcrrr A-Z *

A-Z *

A-Z * : sv^A-Z v&lt;\Z;a

* . nt/f.^1 snrvnm Zv? jarrrA-ArrrZA Zv? iaofta Zv t^sA- s?v
?a*** AITT ZS-^A A-Z *

* * * **" A-Z

* iSA ^ a^9? * 5(AA- * ^nrSV Zii * 39 * ^9VA * A-Z

AW? snriat"* AHT ttznt ^sv ^jrrria?nr A^^ A-Z^ *

Arrr 3t3rrr a^s &a Zv ^vora^ ^ta^frra ^^A-? ^9^ za * AHT? smr Arm:
^a^A-nr Zrrr^sZ aiaA- AHT? imA. Am * ^P^A- * * : : 3t"*&lt;^p? ^ A3 1 " istnr

A-Z * : ^ttA A-Z * * ZWA A-Z * : aZ * a^nr * a^ZA- : srarrre ^V^A- Zv
AAA- ^^J^A A-Z? av9^ Anra ^^a^ A A-Z * * \ps ?^v^ av\9 Tfrr-^A A-Z *

ON THE SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH AND SAMAEITAN VERSION.

PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. The Hebrew language (in which the Samaritan Penta
teuch is written) was predominant, as we have shown (pp. 19, 20) in many countries of antiquity. It
has long ceased to be the vernacular of Samaria, the inhabitants 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 obtained extension 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, now
called Nablous or Naplosa, a corruption of the Greek word Neapolis, the new city. The houses
occupied by them arc said not to be above fifty or sixty in number ; the total amount of inhabitants
has not been exactly ascertained, but in 1824 there were only about sixty among them who paid the
capitation tax. They still go up three times a year to Mount Gerizim to worship, but from fear of
the Turks they offer sacrifices privately in their own city.

LANGUAGES or SAMARIA. 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 Phoenician, * 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 coins, of which the series probably commences about 150 years
before Christ, were struck by Simon, Jonathan, and other members of the Maccabean dynasty.

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 Sepharvaim, and

1 Sec Bayer s De Nummis Hebrseo-Samaritanis.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] SAMARITAN. 29

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 Aramaean 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. l

HISTORY or THE HEBR^O- SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. The date, copyist, and orio-in of
this transcript of the Hebrew Pentateuch are involved in inextricable mystery, yet after all the dis
cussions 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 characters 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 the Samaritan differs from the Hebrew text, it agrees with the Septuagint, 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 Roman Catholic
Martyrology ; but in the Latin Vulgate, the computation of the Hebrew text has been adopted. 2
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 to the integrity of the
Hebrew text. That the same facts and the same doctrines should be transmitted in almost precisely
the same words from generation to generation by nations, between whom the most rooted antipathy
and rivalry existed (as was notably the case between the Samaritans and the Jews), is a strong argu
ment in proof of the authenticity of the books ascribed to Moses ; the purity of the text handed
down to us through 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 effected the purchase of a complete copy, which was bought
by De Sancy (afterwards Bishop of St. Maloes), and sent by him in 1623 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 Dieu seems to have been lost. At various times other copies
of the Samaritan Pentateuch have been since received in Europe, and there arc in all about seventeen
which have been critically examined ; of these, six are in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and one in
the Cotton 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

1 Fisk in Missionary Herald for 1824, p. 310. - Butler s Horse Biblicw, p. 34.

30 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

copyist determining 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 own copies, and Fisk says that the Kohen or Priest showed him a MS. which they

Setended had been written by Abishua, great grandson of Aaron, thirteen years after the death of
oses : 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.

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
formerly belonged to Usher ; and so correct is this edition that a Samaritan Priest whom Maundrell
visited at Naplosa, esteemed this Samaritan text equally with a MS. of his own, which he could not
be prevailed to part with at any price. Fisk when in Samaria saw a relic of the very copy of the
Polyglot mentioned by Maundrcll. Various readings collated from the Samaritan MSS. were given
by Dr. Kennicott in his edition of the Hebrew Scriptures as mentioned page 24: and in 1790,
Dr. Blayney published at Oxford the Samaritan Pentateuch from the text of the London Polyglot, in
square Hebrew characters ; and the variations of the Samaritan text have likewise been published by
Mr. Bagster.

HISTORY OF THE SAMARITAN VERSION. Three versions, of which two only are now extant,
have been made of the Samaritan Pentateuch. The first version was made from the Hebraso- Samari
tan 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 highest 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 agree
ment, unless we adopt the supposition that it fell into the hands of Onkelos, and that it was inter
polated by him. It has been printed in the Paris and London Polyglots, and in 1682, Cellarius
published extracts from it with Latin annotations and a translation. Copious extracts are also given
in Ullmann s Institutiones Lingua? Samaritanse.

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, 2 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 differs from the Hebrew text. Several MSS. of this version still exist in Libanus,
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.

1 Maundrell s Journey, p. 83, edit. 1810. 2 Davidson s Lectures on Biblical Criticism.

CHALDEE.

SPECIMEN OF THE TABGUM OF ONKELOS FROM WALTON S POLYGLOT.

EXODUS, CHAP. xx. v. I to 17.

rvap onyon x? ijnpsM H tjn ;. MM 2 : no o Mn NDja-^3 rv

rv 3t M HM :
&gt; MO IM. 10 : ^T?
u

9na ^jsM-nii ^3M;n 151 ta^Bi Knagn p vn! 3 ^na fa-^y nxynf MOV? mi pnn H-^a-n^
*Q3na TVJDOT^ w : 3^3311 M^ 15 : ^?D J 14 &$ ^9i?n-^ 13 : ^ 3n; \n^M ^i M^IM^ *pov |W-nH
sipact 7. ^! a ion.1 anini FI^OMI. nnnyi ^n nnM n^prin M^ ^35 nra n\nnn M^W :X^T Nn-nnp

ON THE CHALDEE LANGUAGE AND TARGUMS.

THE Aramean or Syrian language appears from the earliest times to have been divided into two
grand branches, namely, the West Aramean or Syriac, which was the dialect spoken to the West in Syria
and Mesopotamia, and the East Aramean, generally denominated the Chaldee, which was spoken to
the East, in Babylonia, Assyria, and Chaldea. But this division of the Aramean language into two
branches is rather geographical than philological, for with the exception perhaps of a few words
peculiar to each dialect, and some slight variations in the vowels and the position of certain accents,
no difference whatever, either in grammatical structure or lexicography can be detected between Syriac
and Chaldee. Michaelis, indeed, has remarked, that the Chaldee of Daniel becomes Syriac if read by a
German or Polish Jew. The chief, and perhaps the only material 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, Chaldea is supposed to have been almost, if not quite, identical with Hebrew, and to have
acquired subsequently the peculiarities of a distinct dialect. However this might have been, the
dialect spoken in Chaldea was the original language of the Abrahamidce, for Abraham was called from
" Ur of the Chaldees," (Gen. 11. 31). Isaac and his family spoke Hebrew, which was the language
of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned, and Hebrew continued 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 after
wards 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 this may have been, it is certain that at
least as early as the Christian era, written expositions of Scripture in the Chaldee dialect were in
circulation among the Jews. The name of Targums, from a quadriliteral root signifying an explana
tion 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

32 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

have been the grandfather of Gamaliel, Paul s instructor. 1 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 ; 2 it is esteemed of much
service in biblical criticism from the fact of its being supported, in passages where it differs 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 Uzziel 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 diffuse 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 appearance 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 Penta
teuch, and generally follows the rabbinical interpretations, hence it is of no use in criticism. The
Jerusalem Targum is also upon the Pentateuch, but is in a very mutilated state, whole verses being
wanting, and others transposed : it repeats the fables 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. The Targum of Joseph the Blind on the Hagiographa is also
written in very corrupt Chaldee, 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 Cam
bridge, and published at Amsterdam in 1715. Beck had previously 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 Scripture, and in denoting
the mode in which they made use of idioms, phrases, and peculiar forms of speech, considerable light
is derived from the Targums in the study both of the Old and of the New Testaments.

Davidson s Lectures on Biblical Criticism. - Hamilton s Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, p. 189.

SYRIAC.

SPECIMEN OF THE PESHITO VERSION, AND OF THE PHILOXENIAN VERSION.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

PESHITO VEKSIOK.

ocno . JK^&gt; Jbcn
JcnJ^Jo . JcnJ^s LQL^ Jbcn &lt;-cn

9 9 -.__

,;ji Jocn wcnoZ^J Jjcn . JiO^is ocn Jbcn

:^o . Jbcn cn^J^ ^o . JcfC^
. Jbcn JL2J, cn^s . Jbcnj pz&gt; *!.bcn Ji
6cno . JL-A-LX.
cn3&gt;J )J

PHIZOXENIAN VEKSION.

JAA^O . JAA^D JOOI 010A-J

001 . ^.010, s \ oo . ^,

ON THE SYRIAC LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

GEOGRAPHICAL PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. The Syriac, also called the Aramaean
language, from Aram the Hebrew 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 supplanted it as the vernacular of Syria and
Mesopotamia, and it is now only spoken by a few obscure tribes in two or 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. They dwell partly within the British territories, and

34 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

partly in Cochin and Travancore, two states on the Malabar coast, forming the southern extremity of
Hindoostan, and tributary to the British. In number they amount to 100,000; and although they
have suffered severe persecutions from the Roman Catholics, especially from the Inquisition at Goa,
they still possess a regular hierarchy and retain fifty-five of their ancient churches. They were con
verted to Christianity about the middle of the fifth century 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 continued the vernacular of the country.

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 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 elucidation 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 the 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, have the peculiarity of being mostly monosyllabic, in triliteral roots the vowel being placed
under the second letter, so as to form but one syllable. 1 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 duplication of the positive. Pronouns are generally expressed by certain
particles called affixes, placed at the end of nouns, verbs, or other particles, and with which they are
so incorporated as to form but one word. 2 The system of conjugation is conducted upon the same
plan as the Hebrew. Verbs expressing modification of a primary idea are connected in conjugation,
and are considered to form collectively one entire and perfect verb. In Syriac there are eight forms or
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 charac
ter, 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 Uncial. Another mode of writing Syriac peculiar to a sect in Syria called
Christians of St. John, is the Zamian ; the consonants 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 Ethiopic and Sanscrit.

SYRIAC VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. Several very ancient Syriac versions are still extant, and
are of considerable service in the elucidation of difficult passages of Scripture, because in time, place,
and modes of thinking, the translators were closely approximated to the inspired writers. 3 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 Puest of the Samari
tans, and to the Apostle Thaddeus. Ephrem, the Syrian, who wrote in the middle of the fourth
century of the Christian 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 Testament 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

1 Phillips s Syriac Grammar, p. 49. 3 Hug s Introduction, Vol. I.

2 Phillips s Syriac Grammar, p. 40.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] SYR I AC. 35

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., many of the readings agree with the quotations from the Testament in the writings of the
earlier fathers of the Church. 1 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 Kevelation 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 Mardm 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
MSS. : 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 literality, is the Philoxenian version, so called from having been executed
under the auspices of Philoxenus, Bishop of Hierapolis in Syria, by Polycarp, A.D. 488 518. The
Philoxenian 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 Karkaphensian, 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 Monophysite 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 Philoxenian or Harclean, is found among the fragments of this
version. 2 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.

When Dr. Buchanan in 1806 visited the Syrian Christians in India, he found several important
MSS. of great antiquity which he brought with him 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 the sheets of the Syriac Testament in his hands. A short time prior to his decease, he was
walking with a friend in the churchward 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 consola
tion 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

1 Hug s Introduction, Vol. I. 2 Davidson s Lectures on Biblical Criticism, p. 66.

36 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

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 under 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.

EESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OP THIS VERSION. Two grand 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 Haute Dauphine and the valleys of Piedmont, to the pure
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 the present of no little value." The boon conferred upon the Syrian Churches in the multiplica
tion 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 Scriptures has been manifested, by
the substitution 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 Cabalistic Jews of Poland,
Constantinople, and the East. It was published in 1837 by the London Society for the Conversion of the Jews. The Syriac
Peshito had previously appeared in Hebrew characters in the fifth part of the Antwerp Polyglot. Before, however, the printing of
the Antwerp Polyglot, Immanuel Tremellius 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 obtainable except at Vienna. De la Boderie and
others have used Hebrew letters in their editions.

SYRO-CHALDAIC;

AND MODERN SYRIAC.

(For a SPECIMEN of the Syro-Chaldaic Version in the Estrangelo Character, see Plate II.)

PEOPLE FOE WHOM THIS EDITION is DESIGNED. The Syriac language is written in Nestorian
characters, by a professedly Christian people, of whom some are entrenched among the 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 Chaldeans 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, each headed by a bishop, 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 they subsequently suffered from the Mahommedans, they were driven
to_ their present impregnable abodes. Their religious tenets are more uncorrupted 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 anti-christian custom of cursing
the Pope regularly every day, his grandfather, grandmother, and grandchildren.

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 Estrangelo, 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 books written or printed in the Nestorian character with ease and
pleasure. J The dialect at present commonly spoken among the Nestorians is a very corrupted form of
their ancient Syriac : it abounds in contractions, 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 con
verse together, although the dialect spoken by the Jews is a barbarised form of Hebrew, altogether
distinct from the vernacular of the Nestorians.

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 dunng 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. Platt, Esq. and those passages in which the MSS. were deficient were supplied
from the _ Syriac version ; for Mr. Platt 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.

i Biblical Repository, Vol. II.

38 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

The types were cast for the purpose by Mr. Watts, and the edition left the press in 1829. This, how
ever, was not the first time that Syriac had been printed in Nestorian characters, for a Syriac liturgical
work called Missale Chaldaicum, containing the selections from the Gospels and Epistles read on
Sundays and Festivals, was published in these characters in 1767 at Kome, accompanied by an interpre
tation 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: 1
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. It
does not appear that any portion of this version has yet been committed to the press.

RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Dr. Wolff of the London Society for
the Conversion of the Jews, travelled in 1826 among the Nestorian churches, and had frequent interviews
with the priests and people. He found them, as they themselves admitted, in a wild and uncivilised
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 what
ever, 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 Curds,
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 expecta
tions 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, the 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 heavenly truth is rapidly
pervading the mass of the 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 hidden the light so long."

Report of Foreign Translation Committee of Christian Knowledge Society for 1844, p. 83 ; and see Report of the same Committee for 1845, p. 41 .

A ft ABI C.

SPECIMEN OF THE AKABIC VERSION,

AS PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY IN 1825. QUARTO.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

jj&gt; &lt;d!]j &lt;d!! Jc^ ^ iuKJlj aUKU
J *U N *^UN j *UJ1j *UN ^ ^ * W K U

^LJl jfl i^ll JUN jyN ^ *jj& V^ J; j^\ &gt;b ^. (J *AW fl!

4 jJW! Ijjb J
JJ! Uli *

ON THE AEABIC LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

PREDOMINANCE OP 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, in
Egyp* m 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 Tartarv, over 70 degrees of latitude." l 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 the 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."

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 (the 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. 2 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.
Mahomet 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. The language is rich both in lexicography and in grammatical forms.
It has a complete, though simple, system of declension ; a stock of augmentatives and diminutives ;

1 M Culloch s Geographical Dictionary. 2 Butler s Horae Biblicte.

40 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

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 form of the plural which seems
to appertain almost exclusively to the Arabic and Ethiopic languages, and which is called the plural
of paucity. 1 There is one article (al or el) answering in many respects to pur 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 fatter, 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 all these dialects the inflexions of case, the passive form of the verb, and the dual,
have more or less disappeared. Words and phrases from other languages have also in many cases been
introduced. The Moorish Arabs have adopted a negative form peculiar to French and its dialects ;
the phrase il ne vient pas is, in Occidental Arabic, ma yegychi (ma answering to ne, and chi to pas). 2
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 Mahomet a style of writing was adopted by the tribe of Koreish called the Cuphic, from
the town of Cufa in Irak, in which it originated. It is evidently derived from the Estrangelo Synac
alphabet. In this character, which is clumsy and inelegant, consisting mostly of straight strokes,
Mahomet 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 Mahomet. 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.

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

Mahomet ; and this fact serves to account for the deep knowledge of Scripture displayed by the false

prophet. The most ancient of the MSS. that are known in Europe seem to have been executed

soon after the conquest 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 Rome in 1591, the translation is 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 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 baadias

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 Onkelos, 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

i See Encyclopedia Metropolitana. " Journal Asiatique for 1829.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] ARABIC. 41

and Erpcnian 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 MS. 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 page 30. 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 VIII, at the earnest request of several oriental prelates.
Scrgius Eisius, the Maronite Bishop of Damascus, was appointed, in conjunction with other learned
men, to collate the 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 sufficiently conformable to the Vulgate. An important edition of the Psalms in Arabic was
published in London, 1725, by the Society for Promoting Chiistian 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. ^Twp copies are preserved at Cambridge. A great part of the edition was sent
to Eussia, for distribution in the surrounding Mahommedan countries. 1 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 the 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
chiefly 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 pub
lished in 1671 by the Propaganda Fide: this was followed in 1822 by an edition of the Old Testament
from the same text, published under the care 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 Eev. William Jowett during his travels in
Syria : he^ employed a learned priest of Jerusalem to commence a translation from the original Greek,
on the basis 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. 2 The need of an improved translation of the Arabic Scriptures,
so long and so _ deeply felt by the Eastern Churches, has at length been met by the Christian Knowledge
Society. Their agent, the Eev. 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
Mahommedans ; the Polyglot chiefly for its presumptuous impiety in adopting the phraseology of the
Koran, and for its inequality of style, and the Propaganda for its vulgarity and inelegancy of language." 3
In 1839 the preparation of a new Arabic version was commenced, by the direction of the Society,
under the superintendence of the Eev. C. Schlienz. The translation was executed by Mr. Fares, one of
the most learned Arabic scholars of the East, at Malta. He translated from the sacred originals, but
with constant recourse to numerous valuable MSS. collected for the purpose at the expense of the
Society. The proofs were sent for correction to scholars of eminence in London and the East. Finally,
the work was brought to London, and is now being completed under the supervision of Dr. Lee,
assisted by Dr. Mill and^Mr Cureton. A version of the New Testament in modern Arabic was printed
at Calcutta in 1816, designed principally for the learned and fastidious Mahommedans in all parts of
the world, who, it was thought, might have been repelled from the study of Scripture by the anti
quated style of former versions. This translation was made by a learned Arabian scholar, the unhappy

2 pL 1 ^ ,. ,!!, 8 V - l J P 5g % 3 Report of Foreign Translation Committee of Christian Knowledge

Researches in Syria and Palestine, p. 409. Society for 1838, p. 120 ; also the Report for 1839, pp. 158, 159

42 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

Sabat, under the supervision of the Rev. S. M. Thomason. The lamented Henry Marty n was deeply
interested in Sabat, and the production of his version; but he did not live to see its completion. A
second edition was printed in London in 1825, under the care of Professor Lee ; and a third in
Calcutta, by the Eev. 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.

RESULTS or THE PROPAGATION or THE ARABIC VERSION. Wherever the Arabic language
prevails, there Mahommedanism 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." 1 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. 2 " I have seen (said the Rev. Mr. 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 Mahomet." 3 " 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." 4 In
Egypt, also, the Arabic Scriptures sent by the British and Foreign Bible Society were received with
equal readiness, as is attested by the Rev. W. Jowett, in his account of his Mission thither, dated 181 9. 5
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 Mahommedans are coming to me,
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 Mahommedan relating the 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." 6

Abdallah, an Arabian of noble birth, was converted from Islamism by the simple perusal
of the Bible. When 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, king of Bokhara." Abdallah was offered his life if he would abjure Christ, but he
refused. Then one of his hands was cut off, 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-ARABIC ; 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. 7

1 Eleventh Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society. See Sixteenth Report, pp. 170175.

2 Thirty-first Report. 6 Forty-second Report.

3 Thirty-fourth Report. Forty-third Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 91 ;
&lt; Thirty-third Report. and Forty-fourth Report, p. 05.

MONGREBIN, AFRICAN OR MOORISH ARABIC.

SPECIMEN OF THE MONGREBIN VERSION, AND OF THE ORDINARY ARABIC SCRIPTURES, AS PUBLISHED BY

THE BIBLE SOCIETY. GENESIS, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 8.

MOORISH ARABIC.

ARABIC.

All! Jlij *

&lt;dJ1 J*c, * Ul, UN

ON THE MONGREBIN LANGUAGE AND VERSION.

AN attempt has very recently been made to produce a translation of the 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. The Empire of
Morocco alone is said, by Jackson, to contain 14,000,000 inhabitants, while others estimate the population only at 5,000,000;
Dr. Thomson, writing in 1847, states that ten millions may be near the truth. Add to Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, and
also vast regions to the South of Morocco, and the whole amount of population to be reached by this dialect may perhaps be
estimated at from twenty to thirty millions. These millions of inhabitants are principally Moors ; they are Mahommedans, and
Dr. Thomson (the Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society) says, that so far as the work of distributing the Scriptures is
concerned, they are not inaccessible.

After some difficulty arising from the religious scruples of the people, Dr. Thomson has succeeded in obtaining a translation of
a portion of the Koran into the vernacular dialect of Barbary ; the work was executed with much reluctance and hesitation by a
Moor, and under the express condition that the fact of his having rendered this assistance should be kept secret from his country
men. 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 the 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 the entire
Book from the Hebrew, into African Arabic. 1 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.

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.

CAESHUN.

SPECIMEN OF THIS EDITION OF THE ARABIC SCRIPTURES AS PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN

BIBLE SOCIETY. ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

ocn

v )Lr&gt; en

_o Jcn

rnv^Vl^

U J J

cnjJcnJkJfcs JL^. Jcn

. *m). U^S ?QJ

cruacoj .
ocn A

cno^-^o ^.-Ss )bjL2s .
^ y&gt; JJo \ ^* ^JO pen rm\o . cnvi m

jy ^ - J cruflXaSso . CTL^S ^o JcOxo

cnL")LDO J^cnl. JLD

ohAH\&gt; ^-io JJo /&gt; *N

ON THE CARSHUN; OR, ARABIC VERSION IN SYRIAC CHARACTERS.

THE Carshun, or Arabic in Syriac characters, is used (chiefly by members of the Syrian Churches) in Mesopotamia as far as Bagdad,
in Mount 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, is about one million. A diglot edition of the New Testament, in which the Syriac Peshito
and the Carshun from the Arabic text of Erpenius, 1 were ranged in parallel columns, was published in 1703 at Rome, at the press
of the College de Propaganda Fide, for the use of the Maronite 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 Quatremere 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, had left the press
in 1828. 2

1 Hug s Introduction, Vol. I. p. 435.

- Twenty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 29.

ETHIOPIC. ,

SPECIMEN OF THE ETHIOPIC VEKSION,

PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY IN 1830.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. r. 1 to 14.

= n^A- : P
1= : TPl : &lt;DH V}flA.lHli :

::&lt;DUA :
I* : ou
: : (DAA.IM1 :

: (D&gt;A.Ml-rt : ^-TCDVia.) :: (DA
: (D-A-R :

: i : (D
: AOA.1 :

ON THE ETHIOPIC OR GHEEZ LANGUAGE AND VERSION.

GEOGRAPHICAL PREDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. Ethiopia is called by the Abyssinians
Lisana Gheez or language of the kingdom, 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 language of the capital and the court, while
Ethiopia 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
300,000 English square miles ; it stretches from 9 to 15 40 north latitude, and from 36 east longi
tude to the Red Sea. Its probable amount of population has been estimated, though with little
certainty, at 4,500,000.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The dialect of the Himyarite Arabs the
of Ptolemy, still spoken under the name of Ekhkili 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 discovered in South Arabia, by Lieutenant Wellsted and
others. The Ethiopic possesses all the characteristics of a genuine Shemitic tongue. It has ten con
jugations 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 of the remainder in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. The Eunuch of Candace
reading the prophet Isaiah seems to establish this affinity of the Ethiopic with the Hebrew. Ludolf,

46 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

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 ano
malous;" 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 in the European
mode, from left to right. There are twenty-six consonants and seven vowel sounds ; but the vowels
instead of being denoted, as in Hebrew and Arabic, by points above and below the lines, are indicated
as in Sanscrit by changes in the form of consonants; so that a single letter in Ethiopic and Sanscrit
is equivalent to an entire syllable.

ETHIOPIC VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. A very ancient Ethiopic version of the entire Scrip
tures mentioned by Chrysostom in his second homily on John, 1 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 depend
ence, still subsisting, of the Church of Abyssinia on that of Egypt. In this version the books of
the Old Testament appear to have been mainly translated from the Septuagint ; in the Gospels,
the translator seems to have availed himself of various MSS., 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 unhappily 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 Eome 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 Ludolph, the
celebrated Ethiopic scholar. In 1548 the New Testament in Ethiopic was printed for the first time
at Rome, by some Abyssinian Priests. This edition, afterwards reprinted in the London Polyglot, is
very inaccurate ; the 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 Edin
burgh Bible Society, from the Rev. George Paxton of Edinburgh, concerning 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 fiom India by Dr. Buchanan,
and deposited at Cambridge. This was found in 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 MSS., Mr. Thomas Pell Platt visited Paris in 1822, and collated the
valuable MSS. belonging to the Royal Society, 2 and in 1826, the Four Gospels were completed under
his editorial care. They were printed from a fount of types cast at the expense of the Bible Society,
from the matrices which had been presented by Ludolph 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. Platt, was, as he himself informs us, first to prepare a correct
copy from a MS. of undoubted value, leaving considerable space between the lines ; other MSS. 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 a curious apocryphal
writing called the Book of Enoch, which has been found in no other Church ; its date and origin are
unknown, it is by some supposed to be the book quoted in Jude 14, and although it has no claim

1 Micheelis, Vol. I. p. 602. 2 T. P. Platt s Catalogue of the Ethiopic Biblical MSS., p. 4.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] T I G R, E . 47

whatever to be placed among the Books of Scripture, it has excited much interest on account of its
great antiquity. 1

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 multiplication of the Ethiopic 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 arms unto God."

T I G R E.

SPECIMEN OF THE TIGRE VERSION, BY MR. PEARCE, COPIED FROM THE APPENDIX TO A CATALOGUE OF
ETHIOPIC BIBLICAL MSS., BY THOMAS PELL PLATT, ESQ.. ST. MARK, CHAP. ix. 9 to 15.

Wer enter worred horn ker el ambar, hu mucker horn inder hi negger er sevvi zer
reiyer horn negger, shar el Wod der sevvi tennessar ker el mote. 10 Wer haz horn zer
negger ov wost horn enter tiock hadda mis hadda munte marlet el tennessar ker el mote.
1 Wer tiock hu horn, Ber negger munte zer bel el sarfe tar Elias mussea fellermer. 12 Wer
hu mellash wer negger horn, Elias be ack zer mussea fellermer wer hu melless coulu
negger f iccar, wor comha zer ter sarf ov el Wod der sevvi ender hu carl buze er neo-o-er

?D o

wer sedded hu be yelhem yeavila. l3 Mai ane zer bel kar, Elias be Ack artou f artehu,
wer gewer horn zer delleyea ov hum com zu ter sarf ov hum. 14 Wer shar enter mussea
ov ariot hum, hu reiyer avviea mergavier cubhe horn, wer el sarfctart enter tiock mis horn.
5 Wer shar shar coulu souart, shar enter reiyer horn ler hum ter gurrem horn, wer weiyer
ov hum ignersar f idnersar hum.

t A term synonymous, or differing in orthography.

ON THE TIGRE VERSION.

IN connection with the Ethiopic version of Scripture, that in Tigre requires consideration, for Tigre is little else than vulgar
Ethiopic. The province of Tigre is the most important of the three divisions (Tigre, Amhara, and Showa) of Abyssinia. It
lies directly west of Amhara, from which it is separated by the Tacazze, one of the larger branches of the Nile. It has the
form of an irregular trapezium, and comprises about four degrees of latitude, and so 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 most
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. 2 He translated Mark and John ; but as,
owing to his restless habits, he had never acquired skill in writing the Ethiopic character, he was consequently obliged to write his
translation in Roman characters. The orthography he regulated by his ear, spelling every word according to the sound, just as he
would have done in English. 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 Luke was translated by Mr. 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 Ethiopic Scriptures, and their translation was afterwards revised and corrected by the Missionaries from
the Greek original.

1 See the English translation of this book by Dr. Laurence, Oxford, 1838. 2 Missionary Register for 1819, p. 366.

AMH ARIC.

SPECIMEN OF THE AMHAKIC VERSION,

PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY IN 1842.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. I to 14.

" U-A- : flCjff : ITl
U-A- ::

: f|ao-go :

: : "^C^ : -nC*n : ?\

: U-A- : P

:: (Dg : O)ir*P :

U-A- : Tl : flA^lT : | t l"i : ra&gt; : P ^ lH^ fl^C : ^ : JSlft : HlJ^ " Hfl

^,p90|. ::TnK9" : CDT1 : J?^A- : YlA"^ : d.^.R-g
VIC : n : Yl&gt;u a lH.^ nfh.C - TCDAK, :: ^A9 : ^"^ : ITl
9 : API :

GEOGRAPHICAL PKEDOMINANCE OF THE LANGUAGE. Amharic is properly only the vernacular
dialect of Amhara, a division or kingdom of Abyssinia lying west of ^the Tacazze, 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 pre
dominates 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.

CHARACTERISTICS or 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 alphabet is used in writing Amharic, but seven additional
consonants have been adopted to represent the compound Amharic consonants.

AMHARIC VERSION OF SCRIPTURE. The earliest attempts to translate portions of Scripture
into Amharic were made by the Romish 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 Mark was translated by Mr. Pearce, under the superinten
dence 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.

SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.] A M H A R I C .

After many fruitless inquiries for a person competent to aid him in the acquisition of the language,
he was providentially directed to an old man named Abu Kumi, 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 who had penetrated the most remote
regions of Asia; the instructor of Bruce and of Sir William Jones." Abu Kumi was well qualified
for the work of translation by his acquaintance with Arabic, Greek, Persian, and several other lan
guages besides his own. He executed his version under the immediate direction of M. Asselin- twice
a week, dunng 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, difficult, 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. Asselin declared that he had often occasion to
admire the patience of his aged companion. But when they came to the Epistles of Paul, Abu Rumi s
zeal began to cool, the difficulty of the task frightened him, he wanted to set off for Jerusalem, and it was
only by dint of time, care, and sacrifices, that M. Asselin convinced him of the necessity of not leaving
toe work imperfect. 1 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 M. Asselin to the British and Foreign
Bible Society. The Rev. Mr. Jowett was employed by the Society in carrying on the negociation
and in 1820 he undertook a journey from Malta to Cairo to effect the purchase. The purchase money
.1250. _ Ihe 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
) ail the languages 01 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. Platt, and in 1829 the entire Amharic
lestament 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. Platt carefully compared Abu
Kumi s edition &gt;W ith the original Greek and Hebrew, and inserted such corrections as seemed indis
pensably 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.

m RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. There are more impediments to the
saving influence of the Scriptures in this nominally Christian land, than in many idolatrous countries
Ihe 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 witchcraft. The life of Mr. 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
i 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
unwilling to confess the absurdity of their opinions when confronted with the light of Scriptural truth.
I hey invariably bow to the authority of Scripture. On one occasion, 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 on 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 retire into a wilderness which was
inhabited only by wild beasts. There I lived many months upon roots, taking only iust 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, I
d a number of stripes every day on my body, the source of my sins, tiU it was covered all over

1 See M. Asselin s Letters t o Committee of Bible Society.

THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS II.

with putrifying wounds. This, he added, has ruined my health; but I console myself with the idea
Tat I lave dinl all this for God s sake." When Mr. Gobat told him that all those self-inflicted
suffering vet the result of ignorance and pride, and therefore smful-and that it was altogether
Se to find true relief by means of any expedient of that kind-he trembled for fear ; but when
i saL from the Epistles of Paul and other parts of Scripture were repeated to him which
S he ift of God the oor

he afterwards said o ^^^^^ e j have been go ing aboutffor some time, exhorting
prpleTuteTt^ Bu nCl wiU read^Gospel, and seekjor fhe way of salvation in the Word
of God There are many other instances of the readiness with which the Abyssimans receive the
testimony of Scripture. Mr. Gobat, by whom the foregoing narrative is recorded, says that when he
^fS to Sute copies of the vernacular Scriptures among the people they evinced little

es re toTeceive 4em, being afraid of being deceived. By placing some copies for distribution in the
hands of SeTrie to, these suspicions were removed, and people immediately came, earnestly requesting
to be furnished with the Word of God. If," continues Mr. Gobat, I had had some thousands of
New Sments, I could have distributed them to eager readers I know some instances where

Sons havTgiven all their property in order to purchase a copy of the New Testament: one man
So had T two g oxen gave them for a copy of the Four Gospels; and another man gave four oxen in
exchange for the Four Gospels."

CLASS IIL-INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.

A. MEDO-PERSIAN FAMILY.

PERSIAN.

SPECIMEN OF THE PERSIC VERSION,

BY HENRY MARTYN, 8vo.
PUBLISHED BY THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCDZTY IN 1846.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

L5*

ON THE PERSIC LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The kingdom of Iran or Persia Proper lies between 39 and 26
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 Eraser 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. Of these tribes some are of Persian and others of Turkish,
Mongolian, AfFghan, and Arabic origin; the languages spoken in Persia are therefore as numerous as
the races by whom it is peopled. Turkish is predominant in the northern and western provinces,

52 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

although the natives are likewise acquainted with Persic. 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
Persic, form the main population of Fars, and of almost all the towns of Persia^ Bu the Persian
language is predominant far beyond the regions of Persia Proper. In India it is spoken at all the
Mahommedan courts; and it is, or was till very recently, the language adopted by the British Govern
ment in all judicial proceedings throughout Hindoostan. It is the vernacular language _ of the ancient
Transoxiana and indeed of the whole of Turkistan, now subject to the Usbec Tartars; in this country
the Tauiiks possess four independent governments in which pure Persic is spoken. _ Generally speak-
inn- however, the Tauiiks do not dwell together in corporate societies like other nations, but disperse
themselves over the regions adjacent to their native land, and adopt the dress and customs of the
dominant race in the countries in which they sojourn. They are said to be scattered as far as Thibet,
and to have been met with in Chinese Turkistan. In Afghanistan they have been calculated by
Elphinstone to number 1,500,000, and the Cohistan of Caubul is occupied almost solely by them.
The reli-ion of the Taujiks is Mahommedanism ; but Soofeeism or free thinking, a species f infidelity
akin to tie rationalism of Germany, is extremely prevalent among them. There are also about 2 30C
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. These Guebres or Parsees of India now form one oi
the most valuable classes of the subjects of Britain; 1 their ancestors are believed to have fled thither
when Persia fell under the Mahommedan yoke, and the books and sacred fire which they brough
them are still religiously preserved.

CHARACTERISTICS or THE LANGUAGE. The origin of the Persic language dates from the
invasion of the Arabs in the seventh century. Prior to that period various idioms prevailed through
out the Persian empire, of which the principal were the Pehlvi, the Farsi or Parsi and he 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 Persic was gradually formed during the long
dominion of the Saracens in Persia, by admixture of the Parsi and Deri element s with the ^guage of
the conquerors. But the primitive type of the whole Persian family is undoubtedly ^ Zend an-
ffuacre belonging to the same stem as the Sanscrit. Concerning the period during which this ancient
tongue was vernacular, history is silent ; but it appears to have been the language of Zoroaster and c
theMagi, and to have been once predominant in the west of India among the worshippers of the Sum
Modern Persic, although greatly adulterated with other languages, still retain* abundant evidence of
its descent from the Zend" The numerous and important points of affinity which united the Zend
with the Sanscrit, are not all obliterated in Persic. AU the Indian words which occur in Persic are,
however, characterised by their abbreviated form, and it is rare in this language to meet with an un-
mutilated Sanscrit term/for the final letters are generally cut off, and words of two syllable reducec
To one. 2 The Persic, 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 Agnate dialects
s based upon the Persic. Of the 12,000 radical words composing the Persian language, 4 000 are
found with more or less change in the Germanic dialects, and a striking conformity prevails even in the
inflections of these language! The termination of the infinitive of _ verbs in the Persic is ten and
den the en of the German^and the of the Greek. The termination of the plural m Persic for
men and animated beings is the syllable ,, corresponding with the plural termination n of ^German.
Comparatives are formed in Persic as in German by the addition of the syllable ter or er ; fox ^msta
the Persian adjective signifying good, in the comparative forms hhter, m German lesser, and in Enghsfa
tetter. The pronouns aid numerals in German and in Persic are also etymologically connected. With
respect to the&gt;rsonal terminations of the verbs, the Persic sometimes follows the German sometimes
the Sanscrit, and sometimes the Greek or Latin forms The future tense ^^^^^fT
the aid of an auxiliary, and the passive is formed according to the same analogy, by placing the ^ pas
participle of the active verb before the different tenses and modes of an auxiliary 4
L Persic with the other members of the great Indo-European class of languages **^^*
in the particles of composition. The Persian a represents the Greek privative a; and Jon Hammer
has not hesitated to say that this same particle also occasionally corresponds in meaning witJ

s Nouveau Journal Asiatique, Vol. XII., pp. 27, 28.

1 Martin s British Colonies, Vol. I. p. 443. Ihraheem s Grammar of the Persian Language, p. 48.

2 Schlegel, Langue et Philosophic ties Indiens, pp. 2123.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] PERSIC. 53

particles a-rro and eVt, and the German an, ab and auf. The Persian ba, he says, is the German bey
and English by. The particle pes in Persic he considers equivalent to post in Latin, and the Persian
negative particles ne and me^ equivalent to the Latin ne and the Greek /AT). Persic 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 com
pounded 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 combinations 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. 1
The great beauty of the Persian language consists in its extreme simplicity; its style of phrase
ology ^ is natural and easy, and capable of being reduced to few rules. In this simplicity of construc
tion^ in harmony of sound, in facility of versification, and in consequent adaptation for poetry, the
Persian resembles the Italian. 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 in 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. 2 Another
prominent feature of the Persian language is its intimate admixture with Arabic words and idioms.
Turkish words also occur in Persic, but scarcely a line or sentence is to be met with free from some
words either purely Arabic, or of Arabic origin. 3 The peculiar forms of the plural called broken,
imperfect, or irregular plurals, which characterise the Arabic and Ethiopia languages, are borrowed by
the Persic; and Arabic syntax is sedulously studied by all who desire to write the Persian language
with correctness.

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 inscrip
tions, the language in which they are written being an ancient and long extinct idiom closely con
nected 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; for instance, the th of the Arabs is pronounced like
5 in Persia, 4 just as the Polish Jews pronounce n: these eight letters are nevertheless retained in Per
sian writings, and are useful in showing the derivation of words, for they are seldom or never found in
any word not purely Arabic.

VERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 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. 5 Christianity was early established in Persia, for Constantino the Great wrote to Sapor,
king of that country, in behalf of the Christian churches 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 Syriac, but
it follows the Hebrew pretty closely. It was first printed at Constantinople in 1546, accompanied
with the Hebrew text, the Chaldee Targum of Onkelos, and the Arabic version of Saadias Gaon. 6

1 Sir William Jones s Grammar of the Persian Language, p. 102. Sir William Jones s Grammar of the Persian Language, p. 24.

iseley s Persian Miscellanies, Introduction, p. xxi. s Chrysos. Horn. II. in Johan. and Theod. IV. 555.

* ibraheem s Grammar of the Persian Language, p. 241. G Waltoni Prol. xvi. 7, 9.

54 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

The only other portion of Persian Scriptures contained in the London Polyglot consists of the four
Gospels, supposed to have been written at Caffa, 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 Komish 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. 1 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 altogether, and appealed to the Syro- Persian text
in the formation of their own. 2 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. 3 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 pro
curing 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 Mullahs, 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
Mahommedan 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. 4 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 produced. If this story be true, 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 Rev. Henry Martyn, who remarked that he did not wonder at the Emperor s
contempt of it.

As the style in which 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 superinten
dence of Colonel Colebrooke, and printed at Calcutta in 1804. 5 Our accounts of this work are very
meagre, and it never seems to have obtained much circulation. In 1812 the Rev. L. Sebastiani had
advanced nearly to the end of the Epistles, in a translation of the New Testament from the Greek, 6
and during the same year 1000 copies of the 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 Dina-
pore, in the East Indies, under the superintendence of the Rev. Henry Martyn. The translators were
Sabat and Mirza Fitrut: the former had previously been employed in this 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, that he might there obtain the means of producing a clear
and idiomatic version. In 1811 he reached Shiraz, the seat of Persian literature, and remained there
nearlv 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,
Jaffier Ali Khan, a Persian noble, pitched a tent for him 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 Persic idiom. By
the Persians themselves this work has been designated " a masterpiece of perfection ;" and while other

1 Hug s Introduction, Vol. I. p. 349.

2 Hug s Introduction, Vol. I. p. 350.
s Le Lon Biblioth. Sacra, Vol. I. p

Hug s Introduction, Vol. I. p. 350. 3 Marsn s History or iransiauons, p. //.

Le Long, Biblioth. Sacra, Vol. I. p. 133. 6 Eighth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 13.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] PERSIC. 55

Oriental versions have been superseded by more accurate translations, the Persic and Hindoostanee
Testaments of this accomplished scholar are at this day in higher repute than ever. 1 On the accom
plishment 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 home
wards at Tocat, a commercial emporium of Asiatic Turkey, in 1812. 2 Copies of the work which had
caused the sacrifice of his valuable life were deposited with 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. Petersburgh, Sir Gore Ouseley met
with Prince Galitzin, and it was suggested that the Prince, who was the head of the Eussian Bible
Society, should cause an edition of Martyn s Testament to be printed at St. Petersburgh, for circula
tion in the provinces of Western Persia. The impression was completed in less than six months, and
consisted of 5000 copies. 3 In 1813 a communication was received by the Corresponding Committee
at Calcutta from Meer Seid Ali, the learned native employed by the Rev. Henry Martyn at Shiraz, in
which, 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 the MS., that no risk might be incurred in the trans
mission of so great a treasure, and then to forward the MS. to Calcutta, whither he was invited him
self for the purpose of superintending the publication. 4 The Psalter and New Testament passed
through the 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 published in
London in 1827. This Testament was reprinted in London in 1837, and an edition of 3000 copies
was printed at Edinburgh in 1847, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 5
in order to accompany an edition of the Old Testament, which, as we shall presently have occa
sion to mention, was then passing through the press in that city. Of all these editions of
Martyn s Testament, the most incorrect seems to have been that printed at St. Petersburgh 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 Astrachan, 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 Astrachan 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 his 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. 6 In 1826 the Committee
of the British and Foreign Bible Society made arrangements with the Scottish Missionary Society for
the services of Mr. Glen at Astrachan, in making a translation of the poetical and prophetical books of
the Old Testament. In the meanwhile, Mirza Jaffier had been engaged by the same Society to pro
duce a version of the historical books of the Old Testament at St. Petersburgh, 7 under the eye of
Dr. Pinkcrton, and according to specific directions sent out for the purpose by Dr. Lee. The only
portion of Mirza JafEer 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, 8 and another edition appeared in 1836. The entire Old Testament, trans
lated 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. 9

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. 10 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

&gt; Missionary Register for 1822, p. 45. e Henderson s Biblical Researches in Russia, pp. 429, 430.

Iistory of the British and F. Bible Society, Vol. II. p. 265. Twenty-third Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xlviii.

Uwen s History of the British and F. Bible Society, Vol. IJ. p. 41. 8 Twenty-seventh Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 9;.

sventh Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 38. 9 Missionary Register for 1847, P- "2.

torty-third Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ixxxviii. "&gt; Twentieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. lii.

THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

by the British and Foreign Bible Society for the sum of 100 in 1833. This version had been ex
ecuted 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 for 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 difficult 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. 1 In 1834 an edition of this book was published
by the Society under the care of Mr. 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 pre
ferable to the former system of Arabic type printing. 2 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.

KESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VEESION. The work of distributing the Scrip
tures 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. 3 The Scriptures 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 dis
cussed, 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
Mahomed Rameh, a man of great learning and high moral endowments ; he had, it was said, been
educated as a Mollah, but had never officiated, and led a life of retirement. The writer _obtained an
interview with him, in which Mahomed avowed himself a Christian, 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 Mollahs as well as the rabble. He was a beardless
youth, and evidently enfeebled Avith 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 conversation 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 Mahomed 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." 3 The Persian
Scriptures have been likewise distributed in the countries adjacent to Persia, where, as has been above
stated, vast numbers of people speaking the Persian language are dispersed. The following instance
of the blessing of God on this version occurred in Hindoostan in 1844; the narrator is the Rev. A.
Sternbcrg of Arrah. " I am thankful to tell you, he writes, of a Hindu who two months ago was
baptized by me, having teen brought to a thorough conviction of the truth of our religion only by
reading, by himself, a Persian New Testament which he had got at Cuttak some months previous. He
was a Kai th, and was well acquainted with the common creed of Mahomedans and its errors before he
became acquainted with Christianity. In the commencement of the year 1844, he undertook a
pilgrimage to Ja^ganath ; on his return he received a Persian New Testament from a Missionary
preaching in a Bazar Chapel at Cuttak; 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 his Mahomedan pre
judices 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

1 Twenty- ninth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Iviii. 3 Southgate s Narrative of a Tour in Persia, &c. Vol. I. p. 141.

2 Thirty-seventh Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ixiv.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] JUD2EO-PERSIC. 57

a thorough change of sentiment, that he was and is to me, who was very far from expecting to see a
Hindu 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. " l

JUD^E 0-PER SIC.

SPECIMEN OF THE PERSIC VERSION IN HEBREW LETTERS, AS PRINTED IN LONDON IN 1847, 8vo.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. I to 14.

11 j^ani 2 : TO ana nab \M TO ara in nata JNI nab nro TT "713
wi PJ T n yn it TJm i&? iwa IN n&KD o PJ mi 3 : 111 ana in Nirox
: TO NDJX "wen rwn xi to nx n IK TT * : n&rc iui riDN me* iwa ro

M 7 : TO aw &?aDx ro ni&? nixnDis &ra iM TK
is* ntDNDia nan n^ ;K n inn TIJ t x ^ ^^^^ n^ JN xn
JN ii n^ TO max roSs TO^ ^^n ii5
11 \xm n^ NI DD in nD ^
j ^xmi n^^ ins IK ntDND o |n^ TO
1x1 niip NI |K^K ^i^nsins i^r 2 tcn^isTi

i^nr 3 na-nw ;xa^ ^aox^ n^ I:TO }w iwi
:TO xib TK ii^a n^Sn TOJ ^KDM pnN D 1 ) ^aoi
a xi ix ^m nsi^ ixip xa ;x^a 11 m& DD
: TO ^DXII ^xnina TX is 1 ) TO us n:Na nnow na TO

ON THE JUD^EO-PERSIC LANGUAGE AND VERSION.

NEARLY 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 Rev. Mr. Pfander, when in connection with the Basle Missionary Society, made application for
means to print the Persian Scriptures in Hebrew characters for the benefit of these Jews ; but he was soon afterwards removed from
Shushi, 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. Haeberlin 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 Martyn 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. Hneberlin
laid the version before the Calcutta Committee, and they agreed to refer the means of printing it to the consideration of the Parent
Society. 2 Their application was promptly met by a request on the part of the latter Society to print an edition of 2000 New Testa
ments 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 that lamented Missionary rendered this plan abortive ; and in 1845 the Bombay Auxiliary
Society transmitted to London MS. copies of the Judaeo-Persic Gospels, of which an edition of 1000 copies was completed in London
in 1847, 3 under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Wilson of Bombay.

1 Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, pp. c, ci. 3 Forty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcv.

2 Thirty-seventh Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ixiii.

PUSHTOO.

SPECIMEN OF THE AFFGHAN VERSION,

AS PRINTED AT SERAMPORE IN 1819, 8vo.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. I to 14.

^ juh&gt;jaj

. j j
s3 (X* aj

ON THE PUSHTOO OR AFFGHAN LANGUAGE AND VERSION.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Affghans, a warlike and semibarbarous
nation, inhabit Afghanistan, a mountainous territory lying directly south of Hindoo Coosh. They
call themselves Pushtaneh, whence, by a corruption of the word, they are styled by the Indians
Patans. Their language is termed Pushtoo. They received the designation of Affghans from the
Persians, by which name alone they are known in Europe. According to Elphinstone, the number of
Affghans residing in Affghanistan, and within the limits of the ancient kingdom of Caubul, amounts to
4,300,000. In Affghanistan itself, he remarks, there is scarcely any part in which the whole popula
tion is Affghan, the mixture is composed of Tajiks in the west, and of Hindkees in the east. 1 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 they now dwell. Their religion is the Mahommedan, but
they belong to the sect of Soonnee, who recognize the first three Caliphs as the lawful successors of
Mahomet.

CHARACTERISTICS OF 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 peculi-

i Elphinstone s Cabul, Vol. I. p. 403.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] PUSHTOO. 59

arities of the Shemitic dialects, but, on the contrary, forms an important link in the great Indo-
European chain of languages. Many of the words are Persian, and some of the roots can be traced
distinctly from the Zend and Pehlvi dialects, while others again are from some unknown source.
Mr. Elpninstone compared an Affghan vocabulary, consisting of 218 words, with the correlative terms
in Persian, Zend, Pehlvi, Sanscrit, Hindoostanee, 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 remain
ing 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 Hindoostanee words, are to be accounted for by the con
nection, we have elsewhere noticed, which originally subsisted between the Zend and Sanscrit lan
guages. Most of the terms relative to science, government, and religion, have been engrafted on the
Pushtoo language from the Arabic, through the 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. Although Pushtoo is said not to be unpleasing to those
who are accustomed to the rough sounds of Oriental tongues, it is decidedly harsh and unpolished, 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 in
dicate 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.

VERSION OF THE 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 Matthew and 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. l The Missionaries then proceeded with the translation of the Old Testament into
Pushtoo, and in 1832 an edition, consisting of 1000 copies of the historical books of the Old Testa
ment, was in the press. 2 The rest of the Old Testament is in course of preparation. Little encourage
ment, however, has as yet been afforded to Christian efforts in this particular sphere of labour, for
although some copies of the Pushtoo New Testament have been distributed, and testimonies received
from several natives as to the clearness and intelligibility of the style in which it is written, yet no
general distribution of any portion of Scripture among the Affghans has ever yet been accomplished,
the fierce and warlike character of the people having hitherto formed a bar to missionary labours
among them.

1 Ninth Memoir concerning the Serampore Translations, p. 3. 2 Tenth Memoir concerning the Serampore Translations, p. 6l .

BELOOCHEE.

(A SPECIMEN of this Version will be given, if possible, in a future Part of the Work.)

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Beloochistan, the country of the Beloochees, lies
between Afghanistan 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 chiefly peopled by the Brahooes, a people who speak a
dialect of Sanscrit origin, resembling that of the Punjab. In religion the Beloochees are Mahomme-
dans, of the sect of Omar. In number they are conjectured to amount to about a million, but Mr.
Elph instone considers this too low an estimate; and it is supposed that the entire population of Beloo-
chistan, including the Juts, Tajiks, Dehwars, and other tribes who dwell among the Beloochees, would
together amount to nearly two millions.

CHARACTERISTICS or THE LANGUAGE. The structure and idioms of the Beloochee language
and above half of its words are Persic, and notwithstanding the corrupt and unaccountable pro
nunciation of the Beloochees, Lieutenant Pottinger was at length enabled, by his knowledge of Persian,
to understand every sentence in Beloochee. The knguage possesses no literature, and, if we except a
translation of part of the Scriptures, it may be said to be unwritten.

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 trans
ferred to the care of the Serampore Missionaries, who availed themselves of the aid of the learned
natives previously employed by Dr. Leyden. 1 As it is stated that these natives were thoroughly
acquainted with the Persian and Hindostanee languages, we may infer that they made the translation
direct from the Persian Gospels and Hindostanee 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 translation has ever been advanced beyond the book of the 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. 2 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 designed.

i Eleventh Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 32. * Tenth Memoir concerning the Translations at Serampore, p. 61.

ARMENIAN, NO. I.

COMPARATIVE SPECIMEN OF THE ARMENIAN VERSIONS.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 8.

NO. I.
ANCIENT ARMENIAN.

L-. fLLuVll t^p UITL-

uta~ U. tfi or -p filulili *
{jut fcp [ju

ItnJutL. krjU- L. uin^uttn
Itnput hnU. IL. ntfiltf np
trnfL.lt * \jnifutL.

tfp t L- /fk-u/lipli
If ft jnju JutprL.l^utu G* 1 -

injult ft fuutL-utpfi utltfL.
jnL.uutL.np Ijrp f IL. ptutL.utp

s rnu

JJi

*Uiflu

NO. III.
MODERN ARMENIAN.

krjuiL. f

ulini] -p t
i/luprj.nq in

[uiuL_u*pfiJ/

fnL.uutL.np

HL. pjutL.utpp^

(J -^

uuiftfL.Jp trnutL.

NO. II.
ARARAT ARMENIAN.

Juiult
i*U

, uiji_ q/i

aft

t np tnL.unL.fi ^utt/utp
np utifuTjrfiPn_ ut^

fLL
\b-l^u

Jutp

p j

L.unL.lt

p.utVu
Jouiu

l?p L. fiutltlt \J^uutnL.ut&-
tfp * I/"* ulfpnp.nL.ifu

\J^u ui n L.\f nj i/ouiu Ifp t

(^i^-Ir frltflinputJinJ tftuiL. t
U- utnUtliq Itnputli fiu/ffi n*

\jnputlint] Ifkuiliitu l^-p t
IL. ffh-utligu t/utprL-L^utltq injuu
fcp * t* L l n j u ^ t pJUtL.ut^

pnL.ifu IHJ 1 * *P uiutifiu LL.
piUtL-Utpli ffiifutqutL. linputli t
[j filt i/utprL. rutL. \J^u_
MttnL.utirutltfiq nL.
unput utlint-ltu
\f^[i) * U"- L

^uttfutp tfl

t np
np

^utJutp tl
.Pit unputunu ^utL.utuiutlt t

inL.unju

ON THE ANCIENT ARMENIAN LANGUAGE AND VERSION.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Armenia is the spot in which the three great
powers of the East, the Russian, the Turkish, and the Persian, are brought into direct approximation,
and it is now politically divided between them. Having been the theatre of many contests, its
boundaries have varied at different epochs; but it may be said to extend from the river Kur on the
north to the mountains of Kurdistan on the south, and from Diarbekir in the west to the Caspian on
the east. The total number of the Armenian nation is estimated by Mr. Conder at 2,000,000, and by
some authors at 3,000,000, but in their own country 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

62 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

Canton, and from St. Petersburgh to almost every part of Africa. In Constantinople and its
adjacent villages there are computed to be 200,000 Armenians, and an equal number in the Russian
and Persian provinces. They are emphatically the merchants of the East, and a large proportion of
the trade, foreign and internal, of Turkey, Southern Russia, Persia, India, and of other countries, is
conducted 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 Hindoostan vies with that of the English. About one
hundred thousand Armenians have joined the Romish Church, and are ruled by their own archbishops.

CHARACTERISTICS or 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 lan
guages, and even in the Finnish 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 Armenian verbs is, for instance, formed by
means of the syllables, tzitz, stzyes, stze, where the characteristic sound of the Greek and Sanscrit
future is distinctly recognized. On the other hand, some Armenian participles in al resemble the par
ticiples of the Sclavonic languages, and Schlegel has pointed out other analogies in inflection between
this family and the Armenian. 1 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 auxiliary is required. In its system of grammatical inflections, this language pre
sents 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 k, for instance, the pro
fessor 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.

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 lan
guage. About the beginning of that century, Miesrob, a learned Armenian, invented a set of charac
ters 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 f 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.

VERSION 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
Miesrob, preserved in the Royal Library of Paris, and the 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 alpha-

i See Schlegel, Recherches sur la Langue et la Philosophic des Indiens.

INDO-ETJBOPEAN LANGUAGES.] ARMENIAN. 63

bet), 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 translation 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. 1 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 Septuagint Bible and the Greek New Testament, for the use of the
translators. ^ On receiving this welcome gilt, Isaac and Miesrob, who had already produced two differ
ent 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 completed, if we may take the word of Bar Hebraus, Miesrob and
Isaac modified it according to the Syriac: on this subject, however, there are differences of opinion. 2
That it often agrees remarkably with the Syriac is certain; it appears as if the previous labours of the
translators had some effect on the existing version. A rescension 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 Roman Catholic Church, and is charged with having introduced corrupt readings from the Latin
Vulgate. But this statement is now very generally regarded as incorrect.

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 jieard in Europe; 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 Eridan, 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 1698. In these editions the bishop is accused, and
apparently with justice, of having 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 accom
panied 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 prophecy of Habakkuk alone appears to have been published. 3 In 1789 the New Testament
was printed at Venice, under the editorship of Zohrab, a learned Armenian divine, from MS. autho
rities; 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 fourteenth 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 expunged, 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 the St. Petersburgh Bible Society for the use of the
Armenians, who, to the number of 50,000, were settled in the South of Russia; every sheet of this

i Moses Chor. Hist. Arm. 1. iii. c. 54. j Clement, Biblioth. Curieuse, vol. 3. p. 443.

Hug s Introduction to the New Testament, vol. 1. p. 396.

64 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

edition was examined by Joannes, the Armenian archbishop at Astracan. A previous edition of the
Scriptures had been published 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 Kev. Henry Leeves, with the concurrence of the Armenian patriarch. 1
The copies were sent to Tocat, 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. Editions of the ancient Armenian, printed in parallel
columns with the modern Armenian versions, will be mentioned hereafter. The Old Testament in
ancient Armenian being made not from the Hebrew text, but from the Greek version of the LXX,
has never been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

KESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. Although the ancient Armenian Scrip
tures 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
that this version will soon become more generally understood, and more highly appreciated, than here
tofore. Dr. D wight 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." 2 And equally gratifying is the statement of the American Missionaries 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 everywhere, and in preparing the
people to receive and maintain the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Scriptures as the rule of faith and
practice. This is the testimony of Armenians themselves." 3

1 Twentieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. "0. 3 Forty-third Report of British and Foreign Bible Society p. Ixxxvii.

2 Missionary Register for 1836, p. 80.

ARMENIAN, NO. II.

ON THE ARARAT OR EASTERN ARMENIAN LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

(For SPECIMEN of the Ararat Dialect, see page 61.)

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Ararat Armenian is
the idiom now spoken m the whole of Armenia except the Pashalik of Erzeroom, and derives its name
ie venerable mountain which occupies the centre of the country, forming, as it were, the nucleus
ic adjacent table land In the Hebrew Scriptures the whole kingdom of Armenia is called Ararat-
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 m the Georgian provinces, and by the thousands of Armenians who are dispersed between
the 8 fc 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 the purity of the ancien
Armenian tongue than the dialect of Constantinople, but it is adulterated with Persian words.

VERSION OF SCRIPTURE IN THIS DIALECT. -No books appear to have been printed "in this
lalcct prior to the efforts made by the German Missionaries at Shushi to supply the Armenians with
the Scriptures m an intelligible form. In 1829 the Rev. Mr. Dittrich was authorised bv the British
t oreign Bible Society to prepare a version of the Gospel of Matthew in this dialect. He was aided

with ?!?, T- ^n Cm p n i FieStS 1^ succccdcd s wcl1 with the undertaking that, in accordance
with the advice of Dr. Pmkerton, their agent in Russia, the Committee of the British and Foreign
He Society requested him to proceed with the translation of the whole Testament. An edition of
copies of this version was ordered to be printed at Shushi, but owing to some difficulties which
arose in carrying the work through the press, the printing was transferred to Moscow. In 1835 th&lt;
/f^ZT 8 m P leted and th e copies forwarded to Shushi for distribution. A second edition,
to consist of 3000 copies, was^soon found to be necessary, and was ordered by the British and Foreig-n
ible Society. In the meantime the missionaries had been proceeding (with the encouragement of the

Ssh HHl T/ S C1 7^V n ^ tnmSlati n f , tllC Psalter fr m "brew; but this^vork was not
published till the year 1844, when it was printed in parallel columns with the ancient Armenian Thi
edition was so much sought after and valued by the Armenians, that the Rev. Messrs. Dwi-ht and
.omes, American missionaries, applied to the British and Foreign Bible Committee for authority to
print an edition of the New Testament with the Ararat and ancieSt Armenian in parallel columns and
according to the last reports they were preparing to print the edition at Constantinople.

RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF Tms 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 page 67.

SSS S3 SSS gffi SSS; l\ g; Forty - third Report of the British and ** bie 80^, P . ^.

AEMENIAN, NO. III.

ON THE MODERN CONSTANTINOPLE OR WESTERN ARMENIAN LANGUAGE

AND VERSIONS.

(For SPECIMEN of the Modern Armenian Version, see page 61.)

GEOGKAPHICAL EXTENT AND CHAKACTEBISTICS OP THE LANGUAGE. The present verna
cular of the Armenians is distinguished from their ancient language by numerous local peculiarities and
corruptions, varying more or less in every country in which 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 they 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 m the Pashalik o
Erzeroom. Its distinctive features consist in the frequent adoption of Turkish words, and in general
conformity to the rules of Turkish syntax. The words of the ancient language are retained m both
dialects of modem 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 unedu
cated Armenian of the present day is unable to comprehend even the general purport of a work writ en
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 1S 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
of writing. 1

VERSION or THE SCHIPTUKES IN THIS DIALECT. -The first attempt on record to produce a
version of Scripture in modern Armenian was made by the British and Foreign Bib e Society. T
subiect was brought before the Committee by Professor Kieffer, who mentioned ha Di - Zc hrab

The
an

sumect was Drougni ueiore tut; ^u . i. t&gt;

Armenian from Constantinople, the learned editor of the ancient Armenian Scriptures, was at Pans
and well qualified to undertake the translation. During the same year (1821) Dr.Rnkerton pa ed
through Paris in his way to St. Petersburgh, and obtained from Dr. Zohrab as a specimen, a translation
of theSennon on the Mount. This specimen was printed at St. Petersburgh and sent for inspection to
various parts of Turkey. 2 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 thev said wL 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. Martin, an Armenian scholar and an edition of
1000 copies, printed in parallel columns with the ancient Armenian was published at Paris in 1
at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was afterwards objected to this vers on
that, having been made directly from the ancient Armenian, it was not perfectly conformable to the
Greek, andthat, owing probably to Dr. Zohrab s prolonged absence from his ^ve f y , the Btjle was
not exactly in accordance with the idiomatic peculiarities of the modern tongue. 3 In 1837 a fount o
Armenian type was forwarded to the American Missionaries at Smyrna and a revised edition of thi
version of the New Testament was commenced at the expense of the 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 Testament was issued^ 5 ^ s ^^^
great demand, and were put into circulation as soon as they left the binder s hands. Mr Adger then
S oposed to publish an edition of this New Testament in parallel columns with the ancient version rn
order that the suspicions of the Armenians might be removed as to the possibility of the Scriptures
havin been vitiated in the modern translation: 6 the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible

i Klanroth in Encvclopedie des Gens du Monde. r

* N neteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bihle Society, p. xxii. Thirty-eighth Report .of ^^^ -^^S^ Society P :

3 Missionary Herald of American Board of Missions, vol. 33. p. 304. Thirty-ninth Report of the

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] ARMENIAN. 67

Society have resolved to carry this proposal into execution. In the meantime, by the aid of the
American Bible Society, the missionaries in Smyrna are proceeding 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 Mr. Goodell into Modern Armenian. In 1847 the
missionaries contemplated commencing the printing of the Pentateuch. 1

EESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION or THIS VERSION. The versions of Scripture in both the
dialects of modern Armenian have received the manifest blessing of God, in a degree almost unprece
dented 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 Scriptures 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 what
ever occasion they had had to doubt about the truth of Christianity, from what they were seeino-
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 language, 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." 2 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 com
menced 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 desig
nated) 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 Nicomcdia, a congregation of Protes
tant 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. 3 After enduring many similar out
rages 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 appeal to the Turkish Government. Their application
met with success, and their freedom from the oppressive jurisdiction of their patriarch is now fully
recognised. " An officer 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 affairs 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 hand of the Lord, and He turneth it withersoever He
will." 4 ^ In Constantinople alone there are now no less than three hundred Protestant Armenians, of
whom eighty-five are communicants; and from the most recent accounts it appears, that by the blessing
of God on the diligent perusal of his word, numbers of the Armenian nation are in various countries
being daily added to the Church of Christ.

Forty- third Report of the British and For. Bible Society, p. Ixxxiv. 3 Forty-third Report of the British and For. Bible Society, p. Ixxxv.

2 Forty-first Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. cvii. Forty-fourth Report of the British and For. Bible Society, p. Ixxx.

KURDISH.

(For SPECIMEN of the Kurdish Version, see Plate IV.)

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Kurdistan, the land of the Kurds, or Koords, is a
mountainous region south-east of Armenia, extending about 300 miles in length by 150 in breadth,
and forming a kind of descent from the high table land of Persia to the low alluvial plains of Mesopo
tamia. It is thought by Kennell and others to be the country mentioned under the name of Kir in
2 Kings 16. 9, Isaiah 22. 6, and in Amos 1. 5 and 9. 7. The Kurds are the descendants of the
Carduchi, who are said by Xenophon to have given him so much trouble during his retreat with the
ten thousand Greeks through the mountainous passes of Kurdistan. The Kurds afterwards became
again conspicuous in history under the name of Parthians; and Crassus, the Koman general, was slain
with 20,000 of his troops in an expedition against them, B. c. 53. Saladin, the opponent of Eichard
Coeur do Lion in the Crusades, was a Kurd by birth. Notwithstanding all these historical reminis
cences, the Kurds are comparatively little known in Europe. From the time of Xenophon they have
retained their wild and warlike habits ; and though the northern part of their country, as far as lat. 35,
is nominally subject to Turkey, and the southern portion to Persia, yet they virtually maintain their
independence to this day. They arc divided into numerous tribes, supposed to number altogether
about 800,000 individuals. Some of these tribes have settled in the province of Luristan in Persia,
and other hordes have wandered westward, as far as the pashaliks of Aleppo and Damascus. 1 The
Kurds are also in possession of a portion of the mountainous region of Khorassan in Persia, whither,
according to Morier, 4000 Kurdish families were transplanted by Shah Ismael, for the protection of Persia
against the incursions of the neighbouring Turkomans. The Yezides, 2 a singular religious sect, who
are commonly supposed to worship the Devil, are Kurds, and speak a dialect of the Kurdish language:
they inhabit different parts of Kurdistan, the hills of Sinjar near the river Chabur, and the plains round
Nisibin and Orfu to the west of Mosul ; and they are also found in Arabia among the native tribes.
With the exception of this remarkable people, the Kurds in general profess Mahommedanism ; but
considerable numbers of them are Nestorian and Chaldean Christians.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The Kurdish is in all probability a remnant of the Old
Farsi or Parsi language, and notwithstanding the harshness of its sounds, it bears much resemblance to
modern Persian. The Kev. H. Southgate relates that this similarity is great, that he could often under
stand something of the conversation of the Kurds by the great number of Persian words he heard in it.
Like most dialects used merely for oral communication through a large extent of territory, the language
of the Kurds, having no literature or written standard of appeal, undergoes very considerable alterations
and modifications in different places by intermixture with the languages of neighbouring nations.
Thus the Kurds who dwell in the Ottoman empire have adopted many Turkish words, while corrupted
Syriac words have crept into the dialects of the tribes who live in the vicinity, or have embraced
the religion, of the Nestorian Christians.

VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. A proposal to obtain a version of Scrip
ture in Kurdish for the benefit of this ignorant and semibarbarous people, was brought before the Com
mittee of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1822, by the Rev. Henry Leeves. He experienced
some difficulty in meeting with a person competent to undertake the translation, but at length the
preparation of the version was entrusted to Bishop Schevris at Tebriz. The bishop accomplished a
portion of this translation in the midst of discouragement and even of personal risk; 3 and in 1827,

i Ritter, Erdkunde von Asien, ix. 629. 3 Twenty-third Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 75.

- Forbes Visit to the Sinjar Hills, in Journal of Geographical Society, vol. 9. p. 409.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] KURDISH. gg

Mr. Lecves announced to the Committee that he had received from Tebriz the Four Gospels and the
Apocalypse in Kurdish, written in Arabic characters. This MS. was subsequently forwarded by
Mr. Leeves to the Committee. In 1829, the missionaries at Shushi offered their services in correcting,
revising, printing, and distributing the portion of Scripture which had been translated into Kurdish at
the expense of the Bible Society; and in 1832, the Committee in consequence forwarded the Four
Gospels to Shushi, and authorised the engagement of a competent Kurdish teacher as an assistant in
the work of revisal. In order to ascertain the critical value of this version of the Gospels, the Shushi
missionaries prosecuted the most laborious enquiries at Tebriz; and in furtherance of the same obiect
the Rev. Messrs. Hornle and Schneider undertook a journey into Kurdistan. The result of these
investigations has been to prove that the version is not intelligible to the Kurds. The dialect in which
the version is written is called the Hakkari, and is spoken in a district of the same name near the
Turkish government of Wan ; but the Kurdish language branches out into so many dialects, that it is
by no means easy to decide which of the almost endless variety would be most likely to prove an
intelligible medium in communicating the divine truths of Christianity to the whole Kurdish nation.

OSSITINIAN.

(A SPECIMEN of this Version will be given, if possible, in a future Part of the Work.)

GEOGKAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. The Ossetes inhabit the central part of Caucasus,
north of Georgia. In conjunction with several Circassian, Abassian, and other tribes, they occupy the
whole of the hill country (called Kabardah and Little Abassia or Abazia) between the Upper Kouban
and Lesghistan to the summits of the Caucasus. They are unquestionably a Median colony : Klaproth
supposes them to be the Sarmato-Medians of the Ancient, and the Alani or Ases of the Middle, Ages.
Accordino- to Dr. Henderson, this tribe numbers about 16,000 individuals, 1 but this appears to be too low
an estimate. A mission was established among them in 1752 by the Kussian priests, with the view
of converting them from heathenism, and in 1821 upwards of 30,000 Ossetes had joined the Greek
Church.

CHARACTERISTICS or THE LANGUAGE. The language of the Ossetes unquestionably belongs
to the Indo-European stem. In a vocabulary of 800 Ossitinian words, one tenth have been traced to
one or other of the Indo-European languages. The system of conjugation has some resemblance to
that of the Persian and Armenian ; 2 the tenses arc numerous and varied, but auxiliaries are likewise
employed. The pronunciation of the Ossitinian greatly resembles that of the low German and
Sclavonic dialects ; the English sound th (Greek 6} occurs in it. The language is rendered harsh by
the frequent concurrence of guttural letters and hissing consonants, such as AM, dts, dtch, etc. 3 Yet
this harshness is modified by the influence of certain laws of euphony, which require some of the con
sonants to be softened when brought in contact with others of a different order. In Ossitinian there
are six cases; the plural is formed by adding te, thi, or ton, to the nominative of the singular; and
adjectives are formed from substantives by the addition of the syllables thi and ghin^ at the end of
the word. This language is very rich in prepositions and postpositions, and has four different modes
of negation.

VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE. At the period that so many of the
Ossetes were joined to the Greek Church, Mr. Jalgusidse, an Ossitinian nobleman, who held an official
appointment under the Russian Government, being anxious to provide his countrymen _ with a version
of the Scriptures in their own tongue, proposed to the Committee of the Russian Bible Society to
prepare a translation of the Gospels in the Ossitinian dialect. Mr. Jalgusidse s services were accepted
by the Committee, and a correspondence was entered into with the Exarch of _ Georgia, whose co
operation in so important an undertaking was considered desirable. The version was commenced
without delay by Mr. Jalgusidse, but he confined it to the Gospels, which he translated chiefly from
Armenian. His production was submitted to the inspection of competent persons, and after having
been carefully compared with the original under the immediate superintendence of the Archbishop
Jonas, it was presented for examination to the Synod. Its publication was strongly recommended by
the Synod, and the Committee of the Russian Bible Society resolved, in consequence, to print an
edition of 2000 copies at Moscow, under the inspection of the Branch Committee of that city. 4 The
work was ordered to be put to press in 1824, but from the suspension of the Russian Bible Society,
no further intelligence has been received concerning it, and it is doubtful whether it was ever printed.
The Ossitiniaiis are therefore, in all probability, still unprovided with a version of any part of Scripture
in their own language.

Rpsparohps in Russia n 517 3 Klaproth, Voyage en Mont Caucase, p. 449.

lS^Sd s^iesTvS . K P 203. Twenty-first Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 95.

2 ourn

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S.AKGUACESS

: : -)-::. .l :\ - -.;

LIST OF THE MISSIONARY STATIONS OF INDIA,

ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE DIOCESES, AND ALPHABETICALLY.

KEY TO THE REFERENCE LETTERS.

A. Church Missionary Society.

I. Welsh Calvinistic Missions.

B. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

J. Irish Presbyterian Missionary Society.

C. London Missionary Society.

K. American Board of Missions.

D. Wesleyan Missionary Society.

L. American Baptist Missionary Society.

E. Baptist Missionary Society.

M. American Episcopal Missionary Society.

F. General Baptist Missions.

N. American Presbyterian Missionary Society.

G. Church of Scotland Missions.

O. German Missionary Societies.

H. Free Church of Scotland Missions. F. Jamaica Presbyterian Mission.

Lat. Long.

HINDOOSTAN.

DIOCESE OF MADRAS.

f A.B.C.D.E

43 Madras . . .-{ u T r v

13 5

8o2i

DIOCESE OF CALCUTTA.

L 11. i. ij. iv

1 Calcutta , . . ^

f A. B. C. E.
v a

22 3 8

8829

Tinnevelly District.

2 Benares . . . A. C. E. H.

3 Chunar . . . ]
4 Agra . . . J A *"

25 J 7

25 6
27 ii

83 i
82 51
78 5

44 Palamcottah
45 Sathankoollam
46 Kadatchapooram
47 Meignanapooram .

8 43
8 43
8 43
8 43

77 45
77 45
77 45
77 45

5 Krishnaghur

23 25

88 37

48 Suviseshapooram

8 43

77 45

Krislmaghur

49 Dohnavoor .

8 43

77 45

C hupra

50 Nulloor

8 43

77 45

Solo

^A.

51 Pavoor .

8 43

77 45

Rottenpore
Joghinda

52 Surrendei

77 45

Kabastanga

53 Paneivadali .

8 43

77 45

6 Burdwan

A. C.

23 15

87 54

54 Panneivilei

8 43

77 45

7 Jaunpore

8^ A T

8 Gorruckpore .

25 43
26 45

O4 ~j- !

83 19

55 Cottvam

9 35

76 35

9 Meerut

,A.

28 58

77 44

56 Palkm .

10 Kotghur .

3 1 17

77 26

57 Mavelicare

9 H

76 37

11 Simla

3i 5

77 8

58 Allepie

9 16

76 29

12 Howra .

B. E.

22 3 8

88 29

59 Trichoor

13 Barripore .

22 23

88 32

60 Masulipatam . .J

16 10

81 13

14 Cawnpore

26 29

80 21

61 Coml)aconum . B. C.

10 56

79 26

15 Nerbudda .

&gt;B.

62 Negapatam . . B. D.

10 46

79 54

16 Tallygunge

22 30

88 30

63 Madura . . B. K.

9 55

78 ii

17 Tamlook .

22 18

87 58

64 Cariandagoody .

18 Berhampore .

24 4

88 20

65 Chindadripett

20 Mirzapore

25 8

82 31

66 Chittoor and Vellore .

12 55

79 U

21 Allahabad .

E. N.

25 24

81 49

67 Christianagram

22 Chittagong . . ~

22 21

9 1 55

68 Coleroon District

23 Cutwa .

69 Edeyenkoody

24 Burisohl .

70 Nazareth .

25 Dacca

23 44

90 29

71 Poonamallee .

&gt;B.

26 Delhi

28 40

77 1 6

72 Puthukotei & Ramnad

27 Dinagepore

&gt;E.

25 3 5

88 45

73 Sawyerpooram .

28 Jessore .

74 Secunderabad

17 26

78 30

29 Monghir .

25 27

86 29

75 Tanjore

10 48

79 H

30 Muttra .

76 Vepery

13 5

80 21

31 Patna

25 3 6

85 15

77 Vediarpuram

32 Serampore

22 45

88 26

78 Trichinopoly .

10 49

78 49

33 Soory
34 Cuttack . ~

20 25

85 50

79 Bangalore . . 1 r n
80 Mysore . . J

12 57

12 17

77 38
76 43

35 Ganjam

19 20

85 10

81 Vizagapatam . .^|

17 40

83 29

36 Pooree .

J 9 47

85 52

82 Chicacole

18 14

84 i

37 Midnapore .

22 27

87 20

83 Cuddapah . . |

14 28

78 52

38 Futtehghur . .

27 22

79 35

84 Belgaum . i ^

15 5i

74 37

39 Loodiana .

N
N.

30 54

75 55

85 Bellary .

15 7

76 58

40 Sabathoo

86 Salem .

11 39

78 ii

41 Saharunpore

29 58

77 34

87 Coimbatoor

ii i

77 o

42 Cherrapoonjee

88 Nagercoil

MISSIONARY STATIONS OF INDIA.

Lat.

Long.

Lat

Long

89 Neyoor

126 Baddagame . .")

6 U 6

80 24

90 Quilon .

853

764o

127 Nellore . . 1

9 20

80 35

91 Trevandrum

8 29

77 i

128 Chundicully . . f A-

92 Manargoodv .

129 Copay. . . J

93 Goobbee .

130 Matura . . . B. D. E.

- -g

80 39

94 Coonghul

131 Caltura . . B. D.

6 38

80 i

95 Nellore .

14 28

80 3

132 Putlam . B.

7 ^9

80 4

96 Mangalore

. ~"

12 52

74 53

133 Newra Ellia. . B. E.

6 50

T
80 51

97 Darwhar .

134 Mahara, &c. . . B.

98 Fort Moolky .

74 50

135 Colombo . . D. E.

6 &lt;Q

70 ee

99 Honore

136 Jaffna, &c.

i&gt; /
9 37

I 7 JJ

80 10

100 Hoobly.

137 Point Pedro

9 46

80 14

101 Bettigherry

138 Trincomalee .

8 33

8l 20

102 Catery .

139 Batticaloa .

J J

7 43

8 1 48

103 Malagamoodra .

"0.

140 Negombo

7 17

79 5 6

104 Tranquebar .

I I

79 55

141 Seedua

105 Mayaveram

142 Galkisse

106 Rajarnundry .

Si 5

143 Morotto

107 Ootakamund

II 24

76 47

144 Pantura .

6 48

7Q *;8

108 Tellicherry .

ii 45

75 32

145 Galle, &c. . .

T w

6 3

80 17

109 Cananore .

75 26

146 1 1 an walla . ."I

110 Calicut .

11 15

75 50

147 Pittoompy . . i-E.

110* Berhampore

19 17

85 i

148 Khottighawatta J

149 Toomboovilla . ~"

DIOCESE OF BOMBAY.

150 Weilgamina

Ill Bombay .

A. B. G. K.
II.

18 56

72 51

151 Gonawelle .
152 Byamville

112 Nassuck

73 5 1

153 Hendella .

113 Jooneer .

19 16

74 o .

154 Kalingoda

114 Astagaum

155 Ratnapoora .

115 Ahmedabad

B. C. H.

72 36

156 Matelle .

116 Baroda

B. H.

22 17

73 15

157 Galalowa

117 Poonah .

B. C. H.

18 30

73 5 6

158 Ambetanne

118 Malcolm-Peth

159 Gahalaya .

119 Ahmednuggur .

-K.

74 49

160 Utuan Khandy

120 Seroor .

161 Plantation Mission

121 Rajkot

162 Tillipally

122 Gogo .

163 Batticotta .

123 Surat

21 12

72 53

164 Oodooville

165 Panditeripo .

CEYLON.

166 Manepy .

167 Varany

124 Cotta

]

A. E.

6 53

80 3

168 Chavagacherry

125 Kandy .

7 19

80 47

169 Oodoopitty .

ALPHABETICAL LIST.

Agra .... 4
Ahmedabad . . 115
Ahmednuggur . . 119

Chittagong . . 22
Chittoor and Vellore . 66
Christianagram . . 67

Hendella . . . 153
Honore .... 99
Hooblv ... 100

Muttra ... 30
Mysore .... SO
Nagercoil ... 88

Rajkot ... 121
Ratnapoora . . . lr,5
Sabathoo ... 40

Allahabad ... 21

Chuna

r .... 3

Howra .... 12

Nassuck . . . 112

Saharunpore . , 41

Allepie .... 58

Chund

cullv . . 128

Jaffna, &c. . . . 136

Nazareth ... 70

Salem ... 86

Ambetanne . . 158
Astagaum . . .114
Baddagame . . . 126

Coira jatoor ... 87
Coleroon District . 68
Colombo ... 135

Jaunpore ... 7
Jegsore .... 28
Joonere ... 113

Negapatam . . 62
Negombo . . .140
Nellore .... 95

Sathankoollam . . 45
Sawyerpooram . . 73
Secunderabad . . 74

Bangalore ... 79

Combi

iconum . . 61

Kadatcbapooram . . 46

Nellore ... 127

Seedua ... 141

Baroda ... 116

Coong

ml ... 94

Kalingoda . . . 154

Nerbudda ... 15

Serampore ... 32

Barripore . . .13

Copay

129

Kandv . . . .125

Newra Ellia . . .133

Seroor ... 120

Batticaloa . . . 139

Cotta

. 124

Kotghur ... 10

Nevoor ... 89

Simla .... 11

Batticotta ... 163

Cottya

m ... 55

Kottighawatta . . 148

Nulloor .... 50

Soorv ... 33

Belgaum ... 84

Cudda

pah ... a?

Krishnaghur . . 5

Oodoopitty ... 169

Surat . . . .123

Bellarv ... 85

Cuttac

k ... 34

Loodiana ... 39

Oodooville . . 164

Surrendei ... 52

Benares .... 2

Cutwa

Madras . . .43

Ootakamund . . 107

Suviseshapooram . 48

Berhampore ... 18

Dacca

. 25

Madura ... 63

Palamcottah . . 44

Tallvgunge . . 16

Berhampore . . *110

Darwh

ar . 97

Ma lara, &c. . . . 134

Pallam ... 56

Tamlook ... 17

Bettigherry . . .101
Bombay . . .111

Delhi .... 26
Dinagepore . . 27

Malagamoodra . . 103
Malcolm-Peth . . 118

Panditeripo . . .165
Paneivadali . . 53

Tanjore ... 75
Tellicherry . . 108

Burdwan ... 6

Dohna

voor ... 49

Manargoody . . 92

Panneivilei ... 54

Tillipally . . .162

Burisohl ... 24

Edeye

ikoody . . 69

Manepv . . . .166

Pantura . . . 144

Toomboovilla . . 149

Bvamville . . . 152

Fort IV

^oolkv ... 98

Mangalore ... 96

Patna ... 31

Tranquebar . . .104

Calcutta" ... 1

Futtel

ghur . . 38

Masuhpatam . . 60

Pavoor .... 51

Trevandrum . . 91

Calicut . . . .110

Gahal;

lya . . . 159

Matelle . . . 156

Pittoompy . . 147

Trichinopoly . . 78

Caltura ... 131

Galalo

na ... 157

Matura . . . .130

Plantation Mission . 161

Trichoor ... 59

Canandagoody . . 64

Galkis

*e 142

Muvelicare . . 57

Point Pedro . . .137

Trincomalee . . . 138

Cananore . . . 1(19

Galle,

&c. . . 145

Mavaveram . . .105

Poonah ... 117

Utuan Khandy . . 163

Catery .... 102

Ganjai

a . 35

Meerut ... 9

Poonamallee ... 71

Varany . . . 167

Cawnpore ... 14
Chavagacherry . . 168

Gogo .... 122
Gonawelle ... 151

Meignanapooram . 47
Midnapore . . 37

Pooree ... 36
Puthukotei and Ramnad 72

Vediarpuram . . 77
Vepery ... 76

Cherrapoonjee . . 42
Chicacole . . .82
Chindadripett . . 65

Goobbee ... 93
Gorruckpore ... 8
Hanwalla . . . 146

Mirzapore ... 20
Mongliir ... 29
Morotto . . .143

Putlam . . . .132
Quilon ... 90
Rajamundrv ... 106

Vizagapatam . . 81
Weilgamina . . 150

CLASS III.- INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.

B. SANSCRIT FAMILY.

SANSCRIT.

SPECIMEN OF THE SANSCRIT VERSION.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

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** A SPECIMEN of Dr. Carey s Version will be found at p. 74.

ON THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

^ GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Sanscrit, the ancient and classical language of
India, is still cultivated by the learned throughout a country comprising upwards of 1,250,000 English
square miles, equal to about a third part of the entire area of Europe. Among the 130,000,000 in
habitants of this extensive region, Mahometanism and various other forms of religion exist ; but the
predominant creed is Brahrninism, which is professed by seven-eighths of the people. The ancient
Brahminical writings, called the Vedas, inculcate the existence of one Supreme Being ; but the
government of the universe is said to be delegated to 333,000,000 subaltern deities, and the mass of
the people are practically gross idolaters. Brahrninism is pre-eminently a religion of forms and cere
monies : fatiguing pilgrimages, rigorous fastings, and many cruel observances, amounting even to the
wilful sacrifice of life, are frequently exacted from its votaries. 1

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. The origin of this language is lost in remote anti
quity .^ We possess no authentic records concerning the peopling of India, nor the early history of its
inhabitants. It is, however, generally believed that, many centuries anterior to the Christian era, a
people of Japhetic origin settled in India, and brought with them their own language, with which the
language of the aborigines of the country, or at least of the northern provinces, became gradually
blended. This language was the Sanscrit, and philological evidences have of late years been adduced

1 Memoir of Dr. Carey, by Rev. E. Carey, p. 199.

72 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

in abundance to prove its close connection, if not its original identity, with the Zend, the language of
ancient Bactria, thus pointing pretty clearly to the origin of the early settlers. Sanscrit was a
refined and polished tongue during many ages when Europe was plunged in barbarism ; and the philo
sophy, science, and erudition of the Brahmins, inscribed in their rich and flexible language on the
fragile leaves of the palm-tree, were, from generation to generation, religiously concealed in temples
from the gaze of the Western world. The successes of the British in India during the last century led
to the examination of these monuments of ancient lore ; and the language in which they were written
then began to be studied by Europeans. From this period a new era commenced in philological
science. It was found that many hypotheses, which had long engaged the attention and baffled the
penetration of philologists, could be conducted to a safe and triumphant issue by means of the impor
tant link in the chain of causes and effects afforded by the Sanscrit language. The same grammatical
principles upon which the Sanscrit is based were proved to pervade the Greek, the Latin, the German,
the Icelandic, and in fact all the languages constituting what has been appropriately designated the Indo-
European class ; while the fifteen hundred radical monosyllables, by means of which all Sanscrit words
are constructed, were traced, with precisely similar significations, and to the amount of one thousand,
among the elements of the Indo-European languages ; for these numerous languages, as Eichhorn has
well remarked, exhibit the fragments of a grand edifice, of which the whole is to be seen entire only
on the banks of the Ganges. The very name of the Sanscrit language (derived from the preposition
sam, equivalent to the Greek &lt;rvv, s euphonic, and krita, passive participle of kri, to make) denotes its
completeness ; and Sir William Jones in comparing it with the two learned languages of Europe
attested its superiority over both, for it is, as he said, " more perfect than the Greek, more copious than
the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." Its nouns, like the Greek, admit of three num
bers (singular, dual, and plural), and of three genders ; the cases resemble those of the Latin and
Greek in power, but including the vocative they reach the number of eight, the two additional cases
not occurring in the sister languages being the Instrumental, which has the sense of by or with, and the
Locative, which conveys the meaning of in or on. 1 In point of inflection, the Sanscrit cases of nouns
present the type of the Greek and Latin declensions. So in the conjugation of Sanscrit verbs, affini
ties are everywhere to be traced with the Greek, Latin, and Germanic languages, but more especially
with the Greek. The resemblance between Greek and Sanscrit is particularly striking in the formation
of the tenses, and in the use of the augment and reduplication. Like the Greek, the Sanscrit pos
sesses three voices, active, middle, and passive; but as in Greek, so in Sanscrit, the distinction between
the active and middle forms is often lost sight of, and in many verbs can scarcely be said to exist. All
traces of this middle voice have disappeared in Latin and in all the other languages of this class, except
the Zend and the Gothic. 2 Sanscrit verbs have five moods indicative, potential, imperative, precative,
and conditional. The indicative has six tenses ; namely, three preterites (corresponding in form with
the Greek imperfect, aorist, and perfect), two futures, which, like the two futures of the Greek verb,
seem to be used indiscriminately; and one present. All the other moods in Zend and Sanscrit possess
but one tense. In the Vedas, however, the most ancient documents of the Sanscrit language, there
are indications that the other moods originally possessed more than one tense ; and hence Bopp infers,
that " what the Indo-European languages in their development of the moods have in excess over the
Sanscrit and Zend, dates, at least in its origin, from the period of the unity of the language." A
remarkable analogy has been noticed by Bournouf and others between the Sanscrit infinitive and the
Latin supine in turn ; and a great number of instances, in which this similarity is perfect, are adduced
by Schlegel in the Indische Bibliotheck (e. a. Sans, sthdtum, Lat. statum ; Sans, datum, Lat. datum) ;
and the original identity of the two forms is proved by the fact, first remarked by Bopp, that, in the
more ancient monuments of the Latin language, the supine in turn is used where, according to later
usage, the infinitive is employed. 3 In Sanscrit, as in Greek, Latin, and all the Germanic languages,
prepositions are extensively used in forming compound verbs. In all those languages the verbs thus
compounded sometimes retain simply the signification of the original verbal root ; in other instances
they express the combined sense of the two elements of which they are composed ; and in other cases
they present a meaning differing widely from what their composition would have led us to expect. 4

Without being so intimately connected with the Sanscrit as the Greek, Latin, and Germanic lan
guages, the Lithuanian, Lettish, Old Prussia, and Sclavonic dialects bear testimony in their words and
structure of a common origin. One general and invariable characteristic which (with the exception
of the Celtic family) runs through every language of the Indo-European class is, that in the first and

1 Professor Wilson s Sanscrit Grammar, p. 28. 3 Bournouf in Journal Asiatique, vol. v. p. 121.

2 Bopp, Vergleichende Grammatik des Sanskrit, Zend, etc. vol. ii. p. 5. 4 Professor Wilson s Sanscrit Grammar, p. 27.

LANGUAGES.] SANSCRIT. 73

second personal pronouns there is no distinction of gender, and that the nominative case singular of the
first personal pronoun is derived from a root very different to that whence the oblique cases proceed. 1
One of the principal links of resemblance, according to Bopp, between the Lithuanian and the Sans
crit is the omission of the letter n in both languages, whenever it occurs as the final radical of certain
words : this he attributes to the influence of the laws of euphony. Klaproth, not content with recog
nising the astonishing affinities of the Indo-European languages, has extended his researches over a yet
wider field of survey, and has formed an extensive vocabulary, in which he exhibits a multitude of
words which are found in Sanscrit, and which are also preserved in the Finnish, Samojede, and
Turkish languages ; but aware of the difficulty of explaining this phenomenon, he confines himself to

u w *

the mere statement of its existence. 2

ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. The artificial system upon which the Sanscrit alphabet is arranged
is explained, page 7. The alphabetical characters usually employed in writing Sanscrit are called
Devanagari, signifying the alphabet of " the city of the gods," from nagara a city, and deva (deus)
a god. No^grammarians^have ever equalled or even rivalled the Indian in the study of the laws of
euphony. The permutations to which Sanscrit letters are subjected in conformity with these laws are
particularly numerous. These permutations extend even to syntax, and words merely in sequence
have an influence over each other in the change of final, and sometimes even of initial, letters. 3 Com
pared with the alphabetical sounds of other languages, it has been found that, taking articulation for
articulation, and value for value, there are ten sounds less in Kussian than in Sanscrit, twelve less in
Greek, fifteen in German, and eighteen less in Latin. 4

SANSCRIT VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. It seems to have been by the special interposition
of Providence that the means of effecting a translation of the Scriptures into Sanscrit were provided
at the precise period when the first attempt was made to commence this important work. Only a few
years previous to_ the arrival of the venerable Carey in India, Sanscrit was almost inaccessible to Euro
peans^ Sir William Jones, by large pecuniary payments which would have been beyond the means of
the missionary, secured the services of a pundit in elucidating the principles of the language ; and the
works afterwards prepared by this celebrated orientalist, and by others who followed in the same track,
removed the apparently insuperable difficulties which had placed the Sanscrit language beyond the
reach of ordinary students. The care of Providence in providing means for printing the Scriptures in
the janguages of India is also remarkable, for no Sanscrit work had ever been committed to the press
until a few years prior to the translation of the Scriptures into that language, when Dr. Wilkins suc
ceeded in constructing a fount of ^ types in Indian characters. A native, formerly in his service, com
municated the invention to the Missionaries at Serampore, and with his aid types were cast for printing
the Scriptures in no less than twelve of the alphabets used in various parts of India. 5 The Sanscrit
New Testament was commenced in 1803, and finished at press in 1808 ; the edition consisted of 600
copies. 6 The printing of this edition was commenced in 1806, and in the same year the Rev. David
Brown, provost^of the College of Fort William, sent a specimen of it to the Committee of the British
and ^ Foreign Bible Society in London. In his accompanying letter he remarked respecting this
version, that "_the Sanscrit answers to Greek as face answers to face in a glass ; the translation will be
perfect while it^is almost verbal. You will find the verb in the corresponding mood and tense, the
noun and adjective in the corresponding case and gender. The idiom and government are the same :
when the Greek is absolute, so is the Sanscrit ; and in many instances the primitives or roots are the
same. Dr. Carey tells us that he translated this version immediately from the Greek, and that he
afterwards, in conjunction with Dr. Marshman, compared each sentence with the Greek text. 8 All
his other translations were in the first place written out roughly for him by native pundits, and then
submitted to him for correction and revisal, but he dictated the Sanscrit himself to an amanuensis. 9
Dr. Carey had made some progress in the translation of the Old Testament into Sanscrit, when the
disastrous fire at Serampore in 1812 interrupted his labours. In this fire a dictionary of the Sans-
scnt and various Indian dialects, laboriously compiled by Dr. Carey, was consumed, and likewise the
Sanscrit MSS. of ^ the Second Book of Samuel and of the First of Kings. 10 In the year 1815
Dr. Yates arrived in India, and was associated with Dr. Carey in the work of translating the Scrip-

K? a PP&gt; I* 1 p lei 1 hen ?. e Gramm . atik des Sanskrit, Zend, etc. vol. ii. p. 1 . e Tenth Memoir of the Serampore Translations, p. 58.

s Ad JZ Kecherches en Asie vol. ,. pp. 422-441 . r Third Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 36.

4 Nn?wf s T Hlstor . lcal . s ketch of Sanscrit Literature, p. 16. 8 Cox s History of the Baptist Missioniy Society, vol. i. p. 171.

I T^nfv f JS"? As ^tique vol. i. p. 429- 9 Memoir of Dr. Carey, by Rev. E. Carey, p. 527

rwenty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 152. 10 Memoir of Dr. Carey, by Rev E Carey p 527

74 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

tures. The proofs of the Sanscrit Old Testament, then passing through the press, were all examined
by him, and conferred with the Hebrew, and he subsequently, in concert with Dr. Carey^, subjected
them to a second revisal. 1 The Old Testament was issued in portions at different periods in the
following order :

A. D. 1811 600 copies of the Sanscrit Pentateuch.

1815 1000 copies of the Historical Books in Sanscrit.

1818 1000 copies of the Hagiographa.

1822 1000 copies of the Prophetic Books. 2

In 1820, a second edition of the New Testament was undertaken at Serampore, the former edition
having been completely exhausted. As numerous applications for copies of the Sanscrit Scriptures
had been made by the literati of India, especially by those in the western provinces, this edition was
extended to 2000 copies. 3 In 1827 a second edition of the Old Testament, to consist of 2000
copies, was in the press, but various circumstances retarded its completion ; and in 1834, the date
of the Tenth Memoir of Serampore Translations, the impression had been struck off only as far as
the First Book of Kings. 4

SPECIMEN OF DR. CAREY S SANSCRIT VERSION.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. r. 1 to 14.

^nft ^ srrafta u ^ ^ ^GR$I ^rrirRrbr *r ^: ^unl^i. ^ i

9 TTf UH&lt;*

t uifvsfy vit *4riHiHir *r ^4 w^wrfff ^ fir^ ifW5%f?rfir iwnir

Q. &lt;iO r &lt;|rt W^ 5 H4 a*) TJ I

I FRT TTf^ft ^ Pl

H j ^i^M^rmriiy ^H(rtT4y^i&gt;4r ^c crot ^rr T wwr&gt;r ^nr inn

^TT Tf^TT Tf

In determining the value of Dr. Carey s Sanscrit version, it must be remembered that it was
undertaken at a period when the language had been little studied by Europeans, and when no printed
copies of the standard works were in existence. Yet, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which
he laboured, Dr. Carey seldom fails in point of fidelity or correctness. His defects, it has been well
remarked, are mainly to be attributed to " the principle which appears to have influenced all the
Serampore versions that of translating as closely to the letter of the text as possible ; a rigour of
fidelity that cannot fail to cramp and distort the style of the translator." 5 The inelegance and harsh
ness of Dr. Carey s diction rendered his version unpopular with the learned men of India, and the
desirableness of obtaining a new and more polished translation of the Scriptures soon became apparent.
In 1835 a statement to this effect was laid before the Committee of the Society for the Promotion of
Christian Knowledge. The Committee entered into communication on the subject with the Bishop of
Calcutta, and with Dr. Mill, then principal of Bishop s College, and authorised them to take such
measures as they might deem proper for effecting a new version of the Scriptures into Sanscrit. 6

1 Memoir of Dr. Yates, by Dr. Hoby, p. 81. s Professor Wilson s Remarks in Memoir of Dr. Carey, p. 606.

2 Tenth Memoir of Serampore Translations, p. 58. 6 Report of the Foreign Translation Committee of the Society for

3 Seventh Memoir of Serampore Translations, p. 4. Promoting Christian Knowledge for 1835, p. 81.

4 Tenth Memoir of Serampore Translations, p. 58.

INDO-EUEOPEAN LANGUAGES.] SANSCRIT. 75

Dr. Mill had previously paved the way for this important undertaking by publishing a Sanscrit
Glossary of theological terms ; yet, with the exception of a truly classical work prepared by that eminent
scholar, and entitled the Christa-Sangita, or the Sacred History of our Lord Jesus Christ, no attempt
appears to have been made under the patronage of the Society to carry the proposed version into
execution. Two editions of the Sermon on the Mount in Sanscrit verse, which originally appeared as
the twelfth canto of the second book of the Christa-Sangita, were afterwards published, the one in
Devanagari, and the other in Bengalee letters. Eventually, the translation was undertaken by
Dr. Yates, formerly the associate of Dr. Carey, and upon whom the mantle of the venerable translator
seemed to have fallen. Yielding to the entreaties of missionaries in Calcutta and Northern India, and
to the appeals of the people, he began the work in 1840 by the publication of 2500 copies of the
Psalms l in Sanscrit verse. It is said of this work that each stanza, and sometimes each line, contains
a complete sense ; and that the padas, or half lines, are like so many steps, leading the mind forward,
and affording resting-places, till the whole is comprehended. 2 In 1843 the Bible Translation Society
granted 500 towards the translation of the entire Scriptures into Sanscrit under the superintendence
of Dr. Yates, and a similar sum was contributed for the same purpose by the American and Foreign
Bible Society. Thus encouraged, Dr. Yates proceeded rapidly with the work. In 1844 the Gospels
were completed ; and in 1846, 3000 copies of the Proverbs had been printed, and an edition of 2500
copies of the New Testament was in the press. 3 In this version of the New Testament a metrical
rendering is given of the quotations from the practical parts of the Old Testament, by which means they
are more readily distinguished from the other parts of the text. 4 Dr. Yates was successfully prosecuting
the translation of the Old Testament, when his career of usefulness was suddenly interrupted by death.
A short time previous to his decease, foreseeing his approaching end, he had expressed himself in the
following terms in a letter addressed to his assistant, the Rev. Mr. Wenger: "I think I may, in
reference to your life and mine, use the language of John, You must increase, but I must decrease.
May I only live to see you as far advanced in the Sanscrit as you now are in the Bengalee, and I shall
die in peace, rejoicing in the goodness of God in raising up one after another to carry on his work." 5
Immediately after the removal of this devoted translator (1845), on examining the state of the version,
it was found that the books of Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah, had all passed through the press,
and that the rest of the Pentateuch and the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, and Daniel had been
prepared in MS. The Missionaries then agreed that " the pundit who had long been engaged in
writing the rough draft of the version should proceed in his work, and that Mr. Wenger should, by
studying the language, prepare himself for revising and publishing the work." 6 This plan, according
to the last accounts, is now being pursued at Calcutta.

EESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF 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. On 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. 7
When 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 Scrip
tures 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.

1 Fourth Report of the Bible Translation Society. s Memoir of Dr. Yates, by Dr. Hoby, p. 350.

2 Memoir of Dr. Yates, by Dr. Hoby, p. 328. 6 Baptist Record for 1840, p. 338.

ui jLfi . i tttes, uy ui . nuuy, p. ozs.

3 Annual Report of the Baptist Missionary Society for 1847, P- 3.

4 Cox s History of the Baptist Missionary Society, p. 300.

" Fourth Report of the Bible Translation Society.

PALI.

(For SPECIMEN of the Pali Version, see Plate IV.)

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT. Pali, though no longer a vernacular language in any country, has
for ages been established as the religious and learned language of the Buddhists in the Island of
Ceylon, in the Burraan 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,
Thibet, and the Chinese Empire are written in a language which is called Fan by the Chinese, rdjagar
by the Tibetans, enedkek and endkek by the Monguls. 1 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 fact of the sacred books of
the same religion being written partly in Sanscrit and partly in Pali, is to be accounted for by sup
posing that, at the very remote period of history when the language and religion of Buddhism were
conveyed into the countries north of India, Pali, which is a derivative and comparatively a modern
dialect, had not been formed. The first Buddhists were sectaries 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.

CHARACTERISTICS OP THE LANGUAGE. Pali is a language immediately derived from San
scrit, and, its whole history is intimately connected with that of Buddhism. 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 induced, difficult grammatical inflections disappeared, or were greatly simplified,
and such combinations of letters in words as were not easy of articulation, were softened down in pro
nunciation. 2 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 enun
ciation. 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 lan
guages 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. 3 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 has been promulgated as early as the fourth
century prior to 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, their 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

1 Remusat, Recherches sur les Lanpues Tartares, vol. i. p. 375. 3 Bournouf et Lassen, Essai sur le Pali, p. 141.

2 Bournouf et Lassen, Essai sur le Pali, p. 146.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] PALI. 77

any degree by the various languages and dialects of the people by whom it is venerated. In com
paring 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 resem
blance 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 them
selves in their own country during the persecutions which caused the banishment of their brethren.

ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. There are several different Pali alphabets; but it is believed that
they are all derived from an ancient Buddhistic alphabet formed on the model of the Devanagari.
The classification of the letters 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 lan
guage of ^books. Thus the Pali character used by the Burmans is square, while that employed by the
Siamese is a more rounded or circular form, and in other places the Pali affects a more angular
character.

VERSION 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, 1 and by Don Abraham de Thomas, mohandiram of the 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 New 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 the course of the month. 2 The progress of the work
was interrupted in 1817 by the death of Mr. Tolfrey, who 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 Kev. 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." 3 Efforts were, therefore, made for its pub
lication; and m 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 Matthew
was struck off, and copies were sent to the Burman Empire for examination by competent judges. 4
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 this Testament, became a sincere convert to
Christianity, and subsequently devoted his whole attention to the completion and revision of this
important work. 5

1 Owen s History of British and Foreign Bible Society, vol. ii. p. 459.

! Twelfth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 229.

3 Twenty-first Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xlviii.

HINDUSTANI.

SPECIMEN OF THE HINDUSTANI VEESION.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.

ON THE HINDUSTANI OR URDU LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

GEOGEAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. To those who visit India in an official capacity,
or for mercantile purposes, Hindustani is more practically useful than all the other languages of the
country, for it is understood and spoken by persons of different nations in the larger towns^and villages,
from Madras to Bombay, and from the Ganges to Cape Comorin. It is, in fact, the prevaihng medium
of colloquial intercourse among a hundred millions of British subjects. 1 Yet this language, although
so extensively diffused throughout India, can claim predominance in no particular locality. It is the
vernacular of a class of persons who, on account of their professing the Mahommedan religion, are called
Mussulmans : they are natives of India, but chiefly derive their descent from the Mahommedan con
querors of the country. In number, they were said some y_ears ago to amount to 6,000,OC
dividuals, 2 but more recent accounts represent them as constituting one ninth part of the entire popula
tion of India. They reside chiefly in the upper provinces of Hindustan ; but so far from confining
themselves to any particular province, they are to be met with in almost every part of the country,
and particularly in the cities of Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Patna, and Moorshedabad.

CHAEACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. Hindustani is a mixed language, and owes its
tion to the intercourse of the Mahommedan invaders with the conquered natives of India. _ At the
time of the first Mahommedan invasions, which date from the tenth century, Hinduwee, or Hindi was
the prevailing dialect in Northern India. On their permanent settlement in India, the Mahommedans
adopted this dialect as the medium of communication with the natives, but they greatly altered it by

i Grammar of the Hindustani Language, by Arnot and Forbes, Pref. * Twenty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ixvi.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] HINDUSTANI. 79

the introduction of words and idioms from the Persic and Arabic, their own vernacular and liturgic
languages. The new dialect thence arising was called Urdu (camp), or Urdu Zaban (camp language),
because the language of the Mahommedan camp and court : it was also called Hindustani from the
geographical region through which it ultimately became diffused. Though so intimately connected
with Hinduwee, which is essentially a Sanscrit language, Hindustani deviates greatly in grammatical
structure from the original Sanscrit type. Its nouns have but two genders and two numbers, and
although they admit of declension, yet the six cases are chiefly distinguished by the aid of post
positive particles. Nouns denoting neuter and inanimate objects are classed under the masculine or
feminine genders, according to their terminations ; but the rules regulating this classification are ex
tremely arbitrary, and admit of many exceptions. The just application of these rules forms one of
the principal difficulties of the language ; but, in other respects, Hindustani is comparatively easy of
attainment, on account of the extreme simplicity of its structure. The verb, which in most languages
occasions more or less perplexity to the learner, is in Hindustani distinguished by extreme regularity.
There is only one conjugation, and not more than five or six words slightly irregular. Most of the
tenses are formed by means of participles and auxiliaries, the rest by inseparable affixes. 1 Neuter
verbs have no passive form, but transitive verbs are said to possess a passive, although it is seldom
used : natives, especially those in the presidency of Bombay, purposely refrain from resorting to this
form, and prefer the use of a periphrasis. 2 Hindustani is spoken in different provinces with various
local peculiarities of idiom. The dialect of Hindustani current in the Madras presidency is called
Dakhani. Another variety of Hindustani is a species of jargon called Moors, spoken by the servants
of Europeans in Calcutta and Bombay, and characterised by the absence of all grammatical inflection,
and the frequent introduction of English and Portuguese words.

ALPHABETICAL SYSTEM. The alphabetical characters properly belonging to the Hindustani lan
guage are the Arabic, or rather the Persic modification of the Arabic letters called Tatlik; that is to say,
hanging or sloping. This latter mode of writing differs from the Nashki, or regular Arabic, about as
much as our ordinary style of manuscript writing differs from that in print. To the Persic characters
(which exceed the Arabic by four) the Mussulmans in writing their language add three other letters,
to represent the harsh cerebral sounds t, d, and r of the Hinduwee. 3 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.

SPECIMEN OF THE HINDUSTANI VEKSION IN THE DEVANAGARI CHARACTER.

ST. JOHN", CHAP. i. r. 1 to 14.

9 fcPTT * ^ ST^K TT%; f^T *ft ;f|^T -Sjft TH^R i H1TT JTCT ^ ^T ^TT

fofrm * %f?R ftfrRt ^ T^ oR^r fflfrqr T^ T^ ^^UH ^^ft fa
t ? ?^^ ^ T?T TR fm^r ^ % * ^K TT ift

1 Grammar of the Hindustani Language, by Arnot and Forbes, p. 39. * Grammar of the Hindustani Language, by Arnot and Forbes, p. 15.

2 Journal Asiatique, fourth series, vol. v. p. 92.

80 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

It was, however, afterwards ascertained that the natives who employ these characters are, in
general, more habituated to the use of the Hinduwee than of the Hindustani dialect. Roman letters
have, likewise, been used of late years in printing Hindustani.

SPECIMEN OF THE HINDUSTANI VERSION IN ROMAN LETTERS.

ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. v. 1 to 14.
/

1 SHURU men kalam tha, aur wuh kalam Khuda ke pas tha, aur wuh kalam Khuda
tha. 2 Wuhi shurii men Khuda ke pas tha. 3 Sab kuchh us se paida hiia, aur baghair
us ke ek chiz paida na hui, jo paida hui. 4 Us men zindagi thi, aur wuh zindagi
admion ki roshni thi. 5 Aur wuh roshni tariki men chamakti hai, par tariki ne use
daryaft na kiya.

5 Yuhanna nam ek admi Khuda ki taraf se bheja gaya. ; Wuh gawahi ke waste aya,
ki roshni par gawahi de, taki us ke wasile se sab iman lawen. 8 Wuh ap wuh roshni
na tha, balki us roshni par gawahi dene ko aya. 9 Wuh sachi roshni, jo har admi ko
roshan karti hai, dunya men anewali thi. 10 Wuh dunya men thi, aur dunya us se paida
hui, par dunya ne use nahin pahchana. " Wuh apnon ke pas aya, par apnon ne use
qabiil na kiya ; 12 lekin jitne use qabul karke us ke nam par iman lae, us ne unhen Khuda
ke farzand hone ka martaba diya ; 13 we lahu se nahin na insan ki khwahish, na mard
ki khwahish se, balki Khuda se paida hue ham.

4 Aur wuh kalam mujassam hua, aur fazl aur sachai se bharpur hoke hamare darmiyan
sakunat kar raha ; aur ham ne us ka jalal aisa, jaisa bap ke iklaute ka jalal dekha.

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 four first chapters of Genesis, the book of Psalms, the prophecies of Daniel,
and some parts of the 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. 1 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 translated by natives, and revised and collated
with the Greek by William Hunter, Esq., were published at the College of Fort William in Calcutta. 2
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 surprising acquaintance with the English language. 3 Sabat was also consulted respect
ing the use of Persic and Arabic words, but his evil temper greatly detracted from his usefulness. 4 By
means of the most indefatigable exertions, the translation of the entire Testament was completed in
1808. Mr. Martyn remarked, that it often cost him and his coadjutors whole days to make one chapter
intelligible in Hindustani. 5 Of the feelings and personal experience of the translator during the pro-

1 Le Long, part ii. vol. i. p. 208. 4 Journal and Letters of Rev. H. Martyn, Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 184.

2 Bishop Marsh s History of Translations. 5 Journal and Letters of Rev. H. Martyn, Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 285.

3 Journal and Letters of Rev. H. Martyn, Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 1S4.

INDO-ETJROPEAN LANGUAGES.] HINDUSTANI. 81

gress of this work, we have happily the means of judging. In a letter addressed to the Associated
lergy, and dated January 1808, Mr. Martyn 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 of 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 shall come." 1 The philological difficulties which
Mr. Martyn had to encounter in the prosecution of his work, were by no means few or inconsiderable.
No prose compositions 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 Mahom-
medans and men of learning were then, as they still are, disdainful of all works in which the Persian
had not lent its aid to adorn the style ; while to the illiterate classes a larger 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 further 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 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 Matthew at one of the presses in Calcutta. 2 The fount of Persic 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 ; and at length, in the
year 1814, this invaluable version appeared, in an edition of 2000 copies of the Testament on English
paper ; besides 3000 copies of the Gospels and Acts on Patna paper, which were printed off for im
mediate use. 3 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 attained, 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 cha
racter. The Calcutta Committee yielded to the wishes of these people by furnishing them, in 1817,
with an edition of 2000 copies of Martyn 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 Hinduwee 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 Persic and
Arabic terms, and transferred into the Hinduwee idiom by Mr. Bowley. An edition of the Gospel of
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. 4
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
carried into execution till 1819, when an impression of 5000 copies was struck off with some Persic
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 the 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 Mirza Fitrut, who had, on
his first engagement as an assistant to Mr. Martyn, promised to learn the Hebrew language in order to
qualify himself for translating the Old Testament from the original text. 6 A copy of the book of

XT and Letters of Rev - H - Martyn, Wilberforce, vol. ii. p. 143. &lt; Seventeenth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ivii.

- Ninth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 86. 5 Journal and Letters of Rev. H. Martyn, vol. ii. p. 133.

3 Eleventh Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 145.

82 THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

Genesis belonging to this version had passed into the hands of the Church Missionary Society ; they
lent it in 1817 for publication to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and it was printed in London
under the care of Dr. Lee. The Calcutta Society had, since the year 1816, been in possession of a
rouo-h 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 Mahommedans. 1
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 easv to invest the Scriptures in 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 docs 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 things
unknown, which must of necessity give an air of uncouthness to the style, with whatever care the
labour be conducted." 2 On the completion of the Pentateuch, the editors found it desirable to delay
the publication of the succeeding books, in order that the MS. might first be subjected to a more
thorough revision and collation with the original Hebrew. In the 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 Rev. Principal Mill ; 3 but in 1824, when the
work 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 Mr. Da Costa
to the close, under the superintendence of the venerable Archdeacon Corrie. 4 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 2nd 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
Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society made a grant of 1000 to the London Missionary
Society, for time and services rendered by their missionaries in prosecuting the work. 6 In 1844 the
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 Messrs. Shurman and Kennedy of Benares, assisted by the Rev. J. Wilson of Allahabad,
and J. A. F. Hawkins, Esq. 7

In 1839 the Calcutta Committee published 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 such
a version, as one adapted to the wants of native Christians, drummers, etc. acquainted with the
English letters. 8

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 Persic characters. 9 In 1842 the Calcutta Committee announced _the completion
of a thorough revision of the entire New Testament, for which they acknowledged their obligation to

1 Eighteenth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 64. Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcvi.

2 Twentieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 107. 7 Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcvi.

Twentieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. 107- 8 Thirty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ix.

&lt; Twenty-seventh Report of British and For. Bible Society, p. xlviii. Thirty-fourth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Ix.

* Thirty-first Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. lix.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] HINDUSTANI. 83

the joint labours of the missionaries of the London and of the Church Missionary Society, who had
for five years devoted all their spare time to this important work. 1 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. 2 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 an 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. Shurrnan 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. 3 The edition had left the press in 1844.

It appears, therefore, that besides the version by the Rev. Henry Martyn, there are now three dif
ferent 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 184 1. 4 Among these new translations, 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 Mahommedans.

RESULTS or THE DISSEMINATION or THIS VERSION. One of the earliest evidences that
occurred in testimony that the blessing of God rested upon this version, is afforded in the case of
Abdool Messee. This devoted native missionary was originally a bigoted Mahommedan. 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 description of his own
heart, and of his state as a sinner. Conviction was followed by conversion, he devoted himself to the
service of God, and was made eminently useful as a preacher of the Gospel among his countrymen. 5
The general effect produced on the Mussulmans of India by the distribution of their vernacular Scrip
tures is more favourable than could have been expected from the known bigotry of the 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 Mahommed, so long remarkable for their deter
mined 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 Mahommedans;
the result, we believe, of a very liberal dispersion of the sacred Scriptures. We cannot speak of con
version ; but we do hope that the public mind is preparing for a great revolution in favour of the
Gospel." 30

1 Thirty-eighth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. Iviii. * Annual Report of Baptist Missionary Society for 1847, p. 49.

2 Thirty-eighth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. lix. 5 Christian Missions (Religious Tract Society), p. 82.

3 Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcvii. s Fortieth Report of British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xcix.

HINDUWEE.

SPECIMEN OF THE HINDUWEE VERSION.
ST. JOHN, CHAP. i. . 1 to 14.

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ON THE HINDUWEE OR HINDOOEE LANGUAGE AND VERSIONS.

GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. Hinduwee, with its various dialects, is spoken in
all the upper provinces of India. The population of these provinces in 1826, according to the par
liamentary returns, amounted to 32,000,000 ; the more probable estimates of Maltebrun and
of Mr. Hamilton, however, represent the amount of population at 25,700,000. In these provinces the
Mahommedans, as before stated, speak Hindustani ; but the Hindoos, properly so called, who profess
Brahminism, speak Hinduwee, or one of its numerous dialects. The knowledge of Hinduwee seems
to extend beyond the 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 Hinduwee, such as is used at Benares, is
understood by the Rajpoots of Central India, and even by the Sikhs, the Nepalese, the Guzerattees,
and the Mahrattas, who have distinct dialects of their own. 1

CHARACTERISTICS or 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. 2
Its affinity to the Sanscrit is very remarkable, and about nine-tenths 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 Sanscrit has refined, may be proved from etymology, the analogy

i Buyers Letters on India, p. 95. 2 Prichaid s Researches, vol. iv. p. 135.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES.] HINDUWEE. 85

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
m the predominance of Persic 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 Persic or Arabic characters appertain properly to the Hin
dustani, while the Devanagari are the proper characters of the Hinduwee. The Kyt hee or writers
character, which is an imperfect imitation 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 wnte in the Kyt hee for one who transacts business in the Devanagari. 2

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 Persic and Arabic for its supplies- and

ot 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 other, as equally unintelligible to

their Mussuiman 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

? n rJj T VerS1 n WaS comrnenced i* 1802 5 and in 1807 the whole of the New, and portions of

istament 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

The Gospels were printed in 1809, and in 1811 an edition of 1000 copies of the

itire New lestament 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

ietermmed to publish a version executed by the Eev. 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 forma^

on of an idiomatic and standard version. 3 The publication of Mr. Chamberlain s version was com

menced with an edition of 4000 copies of the Gospels in 1819. This edition was printed in the

Jeyanagari character ; and in the following year another edition of the Gospels, consisting o f 3000

copies, appeared in the Kyt hee character. The further publication of this version was interrupted by

the lamented decease of Mr. Chamberlain. The Rev. J. T. Thompson, a Baptist missionary long

lent at Delhi, then undertook the revision of the entire version of the New Testament and of the

1 salms, and an edition of 3000 copies of the Gospels was printed in 1824 under his superintendence.

Id lestament, the only version printed at Serampore appears to have been that of Dr. Carey

It was published m successive portions; the Pentateuch appeared in 1813, and in 1818, 1000 copie*

ot the entire Old Testament were completed.

Another version of the Hinduwee New Testament was published by the Calcutta Bible Society ;
the Gospel of Matthew m 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 Persic and Arabic terms. 4 Martyn 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 Chunar Lemg unacquainted with the original languages of Scripture, he consulted the
English authorised version m all passages where the Hinduwee idiom required him to alter Martyn s
dmirable renderings, referring at the same time to the best commentators on Scripture. 5 Mr. Corrie
revised the first edition of the work. New editions of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were pub-
.827 ; and in 1833 a third edition of these Gospels, to the extent of 4000 copies, was issued.

4 Fifteenth Calcutta Report, p. !0.

I ^ s Handbook of Ben.al Missions, p. 138 .

THE BIBLE OF EVERY LAND. [CLASS III.

Mr. Bowley also undertook the transference of the Hindustani version of the Old Testament into the
Hinduwec 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 Mr. 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. 1 According to the last accounts received from India, two
separate revisions of the Hinduwee versions are now in progress : the one conducted by a Sub-com
mittee appointed for the purpose by the Auxiliary Bible Society at Agra; and the other by Mr. Leslie,
a Baptist Missionary at Calcutta. 2 The Agra Sub-committee have so far completed their revision of the
New Testament as to allow it to go to press, and the printing has proceeded as far as the twelfth chap
ter of Luke. Three thousand extra copies of the Gospel of Matthew have been^ struck off for separate
distribution, which are now ready for circulation. The edition of the New Testament now_ in the
press consists of 5000 copies. This Sub-committee have also made some progress in the revision of
the Old Testament, and expect that it will soon be ready for the press. 3

RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION. The following instance, related by
Mr. Thompson of Delhi, proves that 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, ancf found him well acquainted with the words of Christ and the great truths of
revelation, which knowledge he had obtained by a simple perusal of the Hindoo New Testament, with
out 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 help, 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 loathe to forego the world s applause. 4 We are not
told any thing further respecting him, but his case, while it illustrates the force of the divine words,
" how can ye believe which receive honour one of another," proves likewise that this version of Scrip
ture is adapted to the comprehension and to the intellectual wants of the Hindoo. The 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