Aster Ganno (c.1872–1964) was an Ethiopian Bible translator who worked with the better known

Onesimos Nesib Onesimos Nesib ( Oromo: Onesimoos Nasiib; Amharic: ኦነሲሞስ ነሲብ; c 1856 – 21 June 1931) was a native Oromo scholar who converted to Lutheran Christianity and translated the Christian Bible into Oromo. His parents named him Hika ...

as a translator of the Oromo Bible, published in 1899. Asteer Gannoo

Biography

She was born free, but was later enslaved by the king of

Limmu-Ennarea The Kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea was one of the kingdoms in the Gibe region of Ethiopia that emerged in the 19th century. It shared its eastern border with the Kingdom of Jimma, its southern border with the Kingdom of Gomma and its western border wi ...

. She was emancipated in 1886 when Italian ships intercepted a boat which was taking her to be sold on the Arabian Peninsula, then took her to Eritrea where the Imkullu school of the

Swedish Evangelical Mission The Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) ( Swedish: "Evangelical Homeland Foundation", EFS) is an independent, low-church, New Evangelical () movement within the Church of Sweden. It emphasizes the importance of lay involvement in the church and ...

took her in. Aster (by Ethiopian custom, she is referred to by her first name) was educated at their school. Onesimos quickly “discovered that Aster was endowed with considerable mental gifts and possessed a real feeling for the Oromo language” (Arén 1978:383). She was assigned to compile an Oromo dictionary, which was first used in polishing a translation of

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

published in 1893. Aster also translated a book of Bible stories and wrote down 500 traditional Oromo

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requ ...

s, fables,

proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...

s, and songs, many of which were published in a volume for beginning readers (1894). She later worked with Onesimos in compiling an Oromo hymnbook. Arén reports that a large amount of folklore she collected is still unpublished, preserved by the Hylander family (Arén 1978:384, fn. 71). Aster and Onesimos completed translating the complete Bible into Oromo, which was printed in 1899. The title page and history credit Onesimos as the translator, but it appears that Aster's contribution was not, and still is not, adequately appreciated.Senai Wolde Andemariam. 2013. Who should take the credit for the Bible translation works carried out in Eritrea? ''Aethiopica'' 16: 102-129
Online access to article
/ref> In 1904, Aster, together with Onesimos and other Oromos, were able to move from Eritrea back to Wellega, where they established schools, Aster serving as a teacher at

Nekemte Nekemte, also spelled as Neqemte (, Amharic: ነቀምት), is a market town and separate woreda in western Ethiopia. Located in the East Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, Nekemte has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2,088 met ...

References

Bibliography

* Arén, Gustav (1978). ''Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia''. Stockholm: Stockholm: EFS Forlaget. * Kebbede Hordofa Janko and Unseth, Peter (2003). "Aster Ganno". ''

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (''EAe'') is a basic English-language encyclopaedia for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies. The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' provides information in all fields of the discipline, i.e. anthropology, archaeology, ethno ...

'', vol. 1, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, pp. 387,388. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

External links

Mekuria Bulcha, "Onesimos Nasib's Pioneering Contributions to Oromo Writing"
''Nordic Journal of African Studies'' 4(1): 36-59 (1995)

Dictionary of African Christian Bibliography {{Authority control 1872 births 1964 deaths Bible translators Ethiopian translators Ethiopian scholars Ethiopian Lutherans Ethiopian evangelicals Kidnapped African children Oromo-language writers Lutheran biblical scholars Female Bible Translators Translators of the Bible into Oromo