The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' ( alq, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God; also known as the ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first translation of the Christian
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...
. It was prepared by English
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
Massachusett language
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people ...
. Printed in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, the work first appeared in 1661 with only the
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 Christ ...
. An edition including all 66 books of both the Old and New Testaments was printed in 1663.
The inscription on the 1663 edition's cover page, beginning with ', corresponds in English to ''The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also New Testament. This turned by the servant of Christ, who is called John Eliot.'' The preparation and printing of Eliot's work was supported by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England (also known as the New England Company or Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America) is a British charitable organization created to promote ...
, whose governor was the eminent scientist
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
.
History
The history of '' Eliot's Indian Bible '' involves three historical events that came together to produce the Algonquian Bible.
America's first printing press
Stephen Daye of England contracted Jose Glover, a wealthy minister who disagreed with the religious teachings of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, to transport a printing press to America in 1638. Glover died at sea while traveling to America. His widow Elizabeth (Harris) Glover, Stephen Daye, and the press arrived at
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, where Mrs. Glover opened her print shop with the assistance of Daye. Daye started the operations of the first American print shop which was the forerunner of
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
. The press was located in the house of
Henry Dunster
Henry Dunster (November 26, 1609 (baptized) – February 27, 1658/59) was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. Brackney says Dunster was "an important precursor" of the Baptist denomination in America, ...
, the first president of
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
where religious materials such as the
Bay Psalm Book
''The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre'', commonly called the Bay Psalm Book, is a metrical psalter first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first book printed in British North America. The ...
were published in the 1640s. Elizabeth Glover married president of Harvard College
Henry Dunster
Henry Dunster (November 26, 1609 (baptized) – February 27, 1658/59) was an Anglo-American Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College. Brackney says Dunster was "an important precursor" of the Baptist denomination in America, ...
on June 21, 1641.
Act of Parliament
In 1649 Parliament enacted ''An Act for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England,'' which set up a Corporation in England consisting of a President, a Treasurer, and fourteen people to help them. The name of the corporation was "
The President and Society for the propagation of the Gospel in New England
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England (also known as the New England Company or Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America) is a British charitable organization created to promote ...
," but it was later known simply as the New England Company. The corporation had the power to collect money in England for missionary purposes in New England. This money was received by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and dispersed for missionary purposes such as ''Eliot's Indian Bible''.Thomas, 1874, Vol. I, p. 67
Arrival of John Eliot
Eliot came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1631. One of his missions was to convert the indigenous
Massachusett
The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...
to Christianity. Eliot's instrument to do this was through the Christian scriptures. Eliot's feelings were that the Indians felt more comfortable hearing the scriptures in their own language than in English (a language they understood little of). Eliot thought it best to translate the English Christian Bible to an Algonquian Bible rather than teach the Massachusett Indians English. He then went about learning the Algonquian Indian language of the Massachusett people so he could translate English to the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language. Eliot translated the entire 66 books of the English Bible in a little over fourteen years. It had taken 44 scholars seven years to produce the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the Christian Bible in 1611. Eliot had to become a grammarian and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
to devise an Algonquian dictionary and book of grammar. He used the assistance of a few local Massachusett Indians in order to facilitate the translation, including
Cockenoe
Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native American translator from Long Island in New York where he was a member of the Mon ...
,
John Sassamon
John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon (), was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In January ...
,
Job Nesuton Job Nesuton (died 1675) was a Native American translator who translated large parts of the Eliot Indian Bible, the first Bible printed in America.
Job Nesuton was a Massachusett active in John Eliot's mission to the Indians of the Massachusetts ...
, and
James Printer
James Printer, also known as Wowaus, (1640–1709) was a Native American from the Nipmuc tribe who studied and worked as a printer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was one of the most famous early Nipmuc writers. Printer was the first Native Ameri ...
.
Eliot made his first text for the ''Corporation for the propagation of the Gospel in New England'' into the Massachusett language as a one volume textbook primercatechism in 1653 printed by Samuel Green. He then translated and had printed in 1655-56 the Gospel of Matthew, book of Genesis, and Psalms into the Algonquian Indian language. It was printed as a sample run for the London Corporation to show what a complete finished Algonquian Bible might look like. The Corporation approved the sample and sent a professional printer,
Marmaduke Johnson
Marmaduke Johnson (1628 – December 25, 1674) was a London printer who was commissioned and sailed from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1660 to assist Samuel Green (printer), Samuel Green in the printing of ''Eliot Indian Bible, The Indian ...
, to America in 1660 with 100 reams of paper and eighty pounds of new type for the printer involved to print the Bible. To accommodate the transcription of the Algonquian Indian language
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s extra "O's" and "K's" had to be ordered for the printing press.
Johnson had a three-year contract to print the entire Bible of 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament). In 1661, with the assistance of the English printer Johnson and a
Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
named James Printer, Green printed 1,500 copies of the New Testament. In 1663 they printed 1,000 copies of the complete Bible of all 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament) in a 1,180 page volume. The costs for this production was paid by the Corporation authorized by the Parliament of England by donations collected in England and Wales. John Ratcliff did the binding for the 1663 edition.
Description
Eliot was determined to give the Christian Bible to them in their own Massachusett language. He learned the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language and its grammar.
Eliot worked on the Indian Bible for over fourteen years before publication. England contributed about 16,000 pounds for its production by 1660. The money came from private donations in England and Wales. There was no donations or money from the New England colonies for Eliot's Indian Bible. The translation answered the question received many times by Eliot from the Massachusett was "How may I get faith in Christ?" The ecclesiastical answer was "Pray and read the Bible." After Eliot's translation, there was a Bible they could read.
Eliot translated the Bible from an unwritten American Indian language into a written alphabet that the Algonquian Indians could read and understand. To show the difficulty of the Algonquian language used in Eliot's Indian Bible
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...
gives as an example the Algonquian word ' (32 characters) which means "our lusts". He said that the Indian language did not have ''the least affinity to or derivation from any European speech.''
Some ecclesiastical questions given to Eliot by the Natick Indians that were to be answered by the new Algonquian Bible and Indian religious learning were:
* ''If but one parent believe, what state are our children in?''
* ''How doth much sinne make grace abound?''
* ''If an old man as I repent, may I be saved?''
* ''What meaneth that, Let the trees of the Wood rejoice?''
* ''What meaneth that, We cannot serve two masters?''
* ''Can they in Heaven see us here on Earth?''
* ''Do they see and know each other? Shall I know you in heaven?''
* ''Do they know each other in Hell?''
* ''What meaneth God, when he says, Ye shall be my Jewels''
* ''If God made hell in one of the six dayes, why did God make Hell before Adam had sinned?''
* '' Doe not Englishmen their souls, to say a thing cost them more then it did? and is it not all one as to steale?''
Legacy
In 1664 an especially prepared display copy was presented to King Charles II by
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
, the Governor of the New England Company. Many copies of the first edition (1663) of ''Eliot’s Indian Bible'' were destroyed by the British in 1675-76 by a war against
Metacomet
Metacomet (1638 – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,Samuel Kneeland.Newgass, 1958, p. 32 Eliot's Indian Bible translation of the complete Christian Bible was supposedly written with one pen. This printing project was the largest printing job done in 17th-century
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
.
The Massachusett Indian language Natick dialect that the translation of Eliot's Bible was made in no longer is used in the United States. The Algonquian Bible is today unreadable by most people in the world. ''Eliot's Indian Bible'' is notable for being the earliest known example of the translation and putting to print the entire 66 books of the Christian Bible into a new language of no previous written words.
Eliot's Indian Bible was also significant because it was the first time the entire Bible was translated into a language not native to the translator. Previously scholars had translated the Bible from Greek, Hebrew, or Latin into their own language. With Eliot the translation was into a language he was just learning for the purpose of evangelization.
In 1709 a special edition of the Algonquian Bible was authored by
Experience Mayhew Experience Mayhew (1673–1758) was a New England missionary to the Wampanoag Indians on Martha's Vineyard and adjacent islands. He is the author of Massachusett Psalter (a rare book like the Bay Psalm Book and Eliot Indian Bible).
Experience was ...
with the Indian words in one column and the English words in the opposite column. It had only Psalms and the Gospel of John. It was used for training the local Massachusett Indians to read the scriptures. This Algonquian Bible was a derivative of ''Eliot's Indian Bible''. The 1709 Algonquian Bible text book is also referred to as ''The Massachuset psalter''. This 1709 edition is based on the King James Bible just like ''Eliot's Indian Bible'' (aka: ''Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up Biblum God'').
A second edition printing of ''Eliot's Indian Bible'' was an instrumental source for the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project where it was compared to the King James Bible in order to relearn Wôpanâak (
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
) vocabulary and grammar.
See also
*
John Ratcliff (bookbinder)
John Ratcliff (or Ratcliffe) of the seventeenth century is the first identifiable bookbinder in America, known for binding Eliot's Indian Bible in 1663.
Ratcliff, who came from London, England, worked as a bookbinder in Boston, Massachuse ...
*
Pony Express Bible
The Pony Express Bible is a Protestant Bible that was distributed to the Pony Express riders by the operators of the company in 1860 and 1861. In addition, the riders were required to sign pledges related to upholding their behavior accor ...
*
Early American publishers and printers
Early American publishers and printers played a central role in the social, religious, political and commercial developments in colonial America, before, during, and after the American Revolution. Printing and publishing in the 17th and 18th ce ...