Wolof Tereb Injiil (WOLWNT)

Overview

The Teereb Injiil di Kaddug Yalla ("Book of the Gospel, the Word of God") is a New Testament translation in the Wolof language, with copyright held by La Mission Baptiste du Senegal (2010). [1] The Wolof New Testament has its origins in a translation project that began in the early 1970s. Marilyn Escher, a linguist with WorldVenture (formerly Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society), joined the Wolof translation team in Senegal in 1972 and has remained involved for over five decades. [2] Earlier editions of this translation were published in 1987 and 2004 by Les Assemblees Evangeliques du Senegal and La Mission Baptiste du Senegal. [3] This edition is distinct from the later Contemporary Wolof Bible project (completed 2023), which aimed to produce a full Bible in the modern urban Wolof spoken in Dakar and other cities. [4] The translation project persevered through the deaths of several key national translators, including Magatte Fall, Mbengue Fall, and Mamadou Diop. [2]

Language and People

Wolof (ISO 639-3: wol) is a Niger-Congo language and the dominant lingua franca of Senegal, also spoken in The Gambia and Mauritania. [5] With approximately 5.9 million native speakers and many more second-language speakers, Wolof is understood by an estimated 80-90% of Senegal's population. [5] The Wolof people are predominantly Muslim, and the language has significant Arabic loanwords related to religious and cultural concepts. [2] The Wolof writing system uses both the Latin alphabet (as in this translation) and an Arabic-based script called Wolofal. [5] [Glottolog: nucl1347]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by British and Foreign Bible Society.

References