Assyrian Neo-Aramaic New Testament and Psalms (AIIWBT)

Overview

The Assyrian Neo-Aramaic New Testament and Psalms (2014) is a modern translation produced by Aramaic Bible Translation, Inc. (ABT) in collaboration with the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation. [1] ABT was officially established as a non-profit in 1993 by Dr. Esther Matteson, an American missionary who had previously translated the Bible for the Piro people of Peru in the 1940s and 1950s; she became interested in modern Aramaic translation after meeting Aramaic speakers during a research trip to Turkey in the 1980s, and subsequently moved to Detroit, Michigan to begin working with the Chaldean community. [2][4] ABT partnered with The Seed Company (an affiliate of Wycliffe Bible Translators) to support the translation work. [4] While working on the Chaldean Bible, Matteson met Dr. Peter Talia, a pastor of an Assyrian Christian Church, who formed a new branch of ABT dedicated to the Assyrian dialect and served as primary translator until his passing in 2002; Homer Ashurian, originally a board member, was recruited onto the translation team and subsequently served as editor, translation checker, and head translator until 2016. [2][4] Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV endorsed the translation in 2001. [2] Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (also called Suret or Sūreṯ; ISO 639-3: aii) descends from Eastern Aramaic and has been spoken continuously by Assyrian Christian communities across Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran; UNESCO classifies the language as definitely endangered due to displacement following the Assyrian genocide and subsequent diaspora. [3] The 2014 edition is the most recent revision of the New Testament, and ABT continues work on translating the Bible into five different modern Aramaic dialects, including the Old Testament in Assyrian. [1][4] The vernacular title of this edition is ܕܝܬܩܐ ܚܕܬܐ ܕܡܪܢ ܝܫܘܥ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܘܡܙܡܘܪ̈ܐ ܒܠܫܢܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ (New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Psalms in the Assyrian Language), written in the Syriac script.

Language and People

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (ISO 639-3: aii) is spoken by approximately 626,000 people in Iraq. [Glottolog: assy1241]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA.

References