Mapudungun New Testament (ARNSBU)

Overview

The Mapudungun New Testament, titled Ngünechen ñi Küme Dungu ("The Good Word of God"), was published in 2011 by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. in partnership with United Bible Societies, and represents a revised edition of an earlier New Testament first published in 1997. [1] Mapudungun (also called Mapuzugun or Araucano) is the language of the Mapuche people, spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina; it is either a language isolate or a member of the small Araucanian family, with approximately 150,000 native speakers and an ethnic Mapuche population of several hundred thousand. [2] Scripture portions in Mapudungun have been available since the early twentieth century, and a complete New Testament by a Bible society was issued in 1997, followed by the Wycliffe-revised 2011 edition represented here. [3] An audio recording of the New Testament was produced in 2006 through Hosanna / Faith Comes By Hearing. [4] The Jesuit priest Luis de Valdivia had published the first grammar of Mapudungun as early as 1606, giving the language a relatively long written history among South American indigenous languages. [2]

Language and People

Mapudungun (ISO 639-3: arn) is spoken by approximately 258,410 people in Argentina and Chile. [Glottolog: mapu1245]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA.

References