Original Shona Union Bible 1949 Doke orthography (SNAOLD)

Overview

The Original Shona Union Bible of 1949, titled "Baiberi Magwaro Matȿene aMŋari," is the first complete Bible in the unified Shona language. It was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society using the orthography developed by South African linguist Professor Clement Martyn Doke in his 1931 "Report on the Unification of the Shona Dialects," commissioned by the Government of Southern Rhodesia and the Carnegie Corporation. [1] [2] The Doke orthography employed distinctive characters including ɓ, ɗ, ŋ, ȿ, ʋ, and ɀ, which were later replaced when the Standard Orthography was adopted in 1955. [3]

Translation History

Efforts toward a common Shona Bible began with the Southern Rhodesian Missionary Conference, first held in 1903, which sought a translation usable across all dialects of Mashonaland. [4] Early work proceeded in separate dialects: Sam and John Helm translated the New Testament into the Karanga dialect alongside Andrew and Clini Louw of the Dutch Reformed Church Mission, completing it around 1918. [4] Rev. Andries Adriaan Louw, who had established the DRC's first mission station at Morgenster in 1891, was instrumental in early Shona translation efforts. [5] After Doke's 1931 report standardized the language by drawing primarily on the Manyika and Zezuru dialects, a unified translation became possible. [2] The resulting Shona Union Bible was published in 1949 and has been reprinted many times. A digitized edition was prepared by MissionAssist for BFBS in 2017. [3]

Language and People

Shona (ISO 639-3: sna) is spoken by approximately 7,237,290 people in Botswana. [Glottolog: shon1251]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by British and Foreign Bible Society.

References