Sinhala Old Version (SINTOV)

Overview

The Sinhala Old Version is an early translation of the Bible into Sinhala, dating to 1817. Bible translation into Sinhala began during the Dutch colonial period (1638-1796), when missionaries Simon Kat and Wilhelmus Conijn translated the Gospels and the Catechism. [1] In 1813, the Colombo Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society republished the Dutch New Testament translation of 1780, but it contained many errors. [1] The British civil servant and orientalist William Tolfrey (1778-1817) then undertook a fresh translation; he found the existing Sinhalese Bible too colloquial and worked to produce a more literary rendering. [2] Tolfrey died in Colombo on 4 January 1817 before completing his work, which was finished by others and published after his death. [2] The BFBS later revised Tolfrey's translation between 1895 and 1910. [1]

Language and People

Sinhala (ISO 639-3: sin) is spoken by approximately 15,300,000 people in Sri Lanka. [Glottolog: sinh1246]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by BFBS Colombo Auxiliary, Colombo.

References