INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY (continued.) BRANCH When printed lated since 1800 Copies circu by the B. & F. Bible Society. Chief Translators. 165 For whom intended. Languages. or made. Portuguese 1681. 1719. 1751 Wallachian 1648. 1688.1816 10,000 Archp. Theodo-Anc. Dacia, Ancient Sclavonic Russian 1838 tius And 15 others, mostly obsolete. SCLAVONIC BRANCH. 3,000,000 Cent. IX. 1581. 71,670 Cyril, Methodius) The Sclavi. 1517. 1519. 1813 1,400,000 Under Russian Russia, Bosnian in Rus- Bible Society 60,000,000. Bosnia, 1,000,000. 166 INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY (continued.) SCLAVONIC BRANCH (continued.) Wendish. 1574. 1728. 1813, 13,000 Frenzeln, Fabri-Lusatia, Irish (Gaelic) Scotch CELTIC BRANCH.-600,000 speak Irish only. 1602. 1640. 117,500 | Daniell, Bedell, Ireland, 3or King 1686. 1754. 1783 50,000 Stuartson (Gaelic) Manks (Gaelic) 4,000,000. Scotland, 400,000. The first translation in this list, the Persian, brings to our memory some of the most touching acidents of modern missions. Christian churches THE PERSIAN VERSIONS. 167 must have existed in Persia from very early times. Constantine wrote to Sapor, the king of that country, on behalf of the Christians in his dominions; and the Elamites, who were present at Jerusalem at the time of the first Pentecost, after Christ had ascended, no doubt carried with them the glad tidings which they had just heard.* There is even reason for believing that there was in the first ages of the church a Persian version, though all trace of it is now lost. The earliest known version is one which is supposed to have been made by a Jew, in the eighth or ninth century. It was printed at Constantinople in 1545, and afterwards in the "London Polyglot." Some of the first modern versions we owe to the request of heathen kings. In 1582, Akbar, the emperor of the Moguls, applied to the king of Portugal for a copy of the Scriptures, and a learned man to explain the Christian religion. His letter was sent to Goa, but whether it was forwarded to Europe is doubtful. Jerome Xavier, however, a Jesuit, and relative of Francis Xavier, undertook to translate the books requested by the emperor. Instead of faithfully executing his work, he made a history of Christ, compiled in part from the Gospels, and in part from the old legends of the Romish church. When it was presented to the emperor, in 1602, he is said to have laughed at the fables it contained. Nadir Shah made a somewhat similar application, and, alas! with a very similar result. * See Bagster's Bible in every Land. 168 MARTYN AT SHIRAZ. Henry Martyn, who saw the version given to him, states that it could be no matter of surprise that the king regarded such a history with contempt. The conduct of Xavier was the more reprehensible as he possessed at that time an ancient translation of the Gospel into Persian. The copy is now in the library of the Escurial in Spain, and is certified, in his own handwriting, to have been given to him in 1598 by an Armenian father from Jerusalem, and seems to have been written in the year 828. And yet this man spent forty years of his life in India, and endured toils and persecutions for the cause he had espoused that would have done no dishonour to a much purer faith. Early in the present century, Henry Martyn had his attention called to the state of existing Persian versions, and undertook, with the help of Sabat, to produce an improved translation. His work he completed in 1808. It was found, however, to be so full of Arabic and foreign terms, that it was unintelligible to the common people. Henry Martyn, therefore, resolved to visit Persia himself, that he might obtain the means of correcting it. In 1811, he reached Shiraz, the seat of Persian literature, and there he remained nearly a year. As soon as his work was completed, the translator was compelled, by shattered health, to leave the country, on his way to England. He died the same year at Tocat, in Asiatic Turkey. Some of the circumstances of his visit are narrated by a Mohammedan in touching terms. |