Tatahuicapan Mecayapan Nahuatl Bible (NHXWBTM)

Overview

The Tatahuicapan Mecayapan Nahuatl Bible, titled "Itajto̱l toTe̱ko ipan mela'tajto̱l," contains the New Testament with a summary of the Old Testament in Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuatl, spoken by approximately 37,000 people in the municipalities of Mecayapan and Tatahuicapan de Juarez in the northern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the state of Veracruz [1][2]. A Nahuan variety of Uto-Aztecan, it is also spoken in the neighboring municipality of Pajapan on the Gulf side of the Isthmus. Speakers refer to their language as mela'tajto̱l, derived from the Classical Nahuatl words melac ("straight, right, true") and tajto̱l ("word") [3]. The translation project has a remarkably long history, originally begun in 1943, with three successive expatriate translation teams working on it over the decades; the third team, Chris and Elaine Hurst of Wycliffe Canada, began in 1986 and brought the project to completion [4]. The Tatahuicapan edition of the New Testament was dedicated at a celebration in mid-February 2017, with the Mecayapan variant dedicated a week later before an audience of approximately 700 people [4]. Mother-tongue translators Placido Hernandez Perez and Esteban Perez Ramirez collaborated closely with the Hursts on the translation and also co-authored a Nahuatl dictionary of the municipalities published in 2002 through SIL [5][6].

Language and People

Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuatl (ISO 639-3: nhx) is spoken by approximately 26,600 people in Eastern Central Mexico. [Glottolog: isth1245]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. Translation type: New.

References