Ainu Batchelor 1897 (AINB97)

Overview

The Ainu Batchelor 1897 is a New Testament translated into the Ainu language by Rev. John Batchelor (1855-1944), an English Anglican missionary with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) who lived among the Ainu people of Hokkaido, Japan, from 1877 to 1941. [1] Batchelor began translating Scripture using the Roman script and published 250 copies of Matthew chapters 1-9 in 1886, followed by the complete Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Jonah in 1889. [2] The Gospels, selected Epistles, and Psalms followed in subsequent years. [2] The complete New Testament, titled Ashiri Aeuitaknup ("New Covenant"), was published in Yokohama in 1897 by the Bible Societies' Committee for Japan, a joint body of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the National Bible Society of Scotland. [2] Beyond his translation work, Batchelor was a pioneering scholar of the Ainu language and culture, producing the first Ainu grammar, a comprehensive Ainu-English-Japanese dictionary, and numerous ethnographic works. [1] He was the first person to develop a writing system for Ainu and to publish written works in the language. [1] This translation is now in the public domain.

Language and People

Japanese Ainu (ISO 639-3: ain) is spoken by approximately 13,000 people. [Glottolog: ainu1240]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Scottish Bible Society.

References