Translations of parts of the

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 ...

into Cornish have existed since the 17th century. The early works involved the translation of individual passages, chapters or books of the Bible. The first full translation of the Bible into the Cornish language was published in 2011. The New Testament and Psalms in another translation went on-line in 2014.

Early translations

Two chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel survive from the hand of William Rowe (aka William Kerew) of

Sancreed Sancreed (''Cornish: Eglossankres'') is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, approximately three miles (5 km) west of Penzance. Sancreed civil parish encompasses the settlements of Bejouans, Bosvennen, ...

(fl. 1650–1690). There are ten versions of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

from the 1600s and 1700s. A translation from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

was produced in John Davies' ''Llyfr y Resolusion'' in 1632. Another translation was published in

William Scawen William Scawen (1600–1689) was one of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish language. He was a politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Life Scawen was the son of Robe ...

's 1680 ''Antiquities Cornu-Brittanick'', and two versions were produced in John Chamberlayne's 1715 ''Oratio Dominica in diversas linguas versa''. Also from this period,

John Keigwin John Keigwin (1641–1716) was a Cornish antiquary, born at Mousehole, Cornwall. He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west Penwith: this group also included John and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, William Borlase, ...

produced two versions,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and Thomas Boson one each, and William Gwavas also produced two. There are eight versions of the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

from the same period, and seven versions of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

. Two translations of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

1 survive from the 1700s, one by John Boson and another by John Keigwin. William Kerew produced translations of Genesis 3, Matthew 2:1–20 and Matthew 4.

Henry Jenner Henry Jenner (8 August 1848 – 8 May 1934) was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival. Jenner was born at St Columb Major on 8 August 1848. He was th ...

suggests that some other translations from the same period, of

Proverbs 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 ...

30:5–6 and of

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

2:11, 7:11, 35:1 and 2, were also produced by William Kerew. There is also an anonymous line-for-line translation of Psalm 100 located as part of the Gwavas MS at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Modern translations

In the modern period, a translation of

5:1–14 by

was published in 1918, and in 1936 A. S. D. Smith produced his own translation of St. Mark's gospel, a revised edition being published by Talek ( E.G. Retallack Hooper) in 1960. A translation of St Matthew's Gospel by D. R. Evans appeared in 1975, and a version of St John's Gospel was translated by John Page, published in 1984. Ray Edwards published his translation of the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...

and of a number of epistles in 1986, and St Luke's Gospel appeared in 1989. Furthermore, the Cornish version of the order for

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

contains a translation of

I Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author ...

13 by

Robert Morton Nance Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a British writer and leading authority on the Cornish language, a nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society. Nance wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish language, inclu ...

Nicholas Williams's Bible

A translation of the whole New Testament, by Nicholas Williams, was published in 2002 by Spyrys a Gernow; it used

Unified Cornish Revised Unified Cornish (UC) (''Kernewek Uny '', ''KU'') is a variety of the Cornish language of the Cornish revival. Developed gradually by Robert Morton Nance during and before the 1930s, it derived its name from its standardisation of the variant spe ...

orthography. His complete translation of the Bible into Cornish, ''An Beybel Sans'', was published in 2011 by Evertype. It was translated by Nicholas Williams, taking a total of 13 years to complete. Having completed the New Testament, Williams translated the Old Testament into Cornish from a variety of sources, including

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

texts, starting with Leviticus, which he regarded as one of "the boring bits". This Bible contains 10 maps, which label the place names in Cornish.

Cornish Bible Translation Project

The Cornish Bible Project was initiated in 1997, with the aim of translating the whole Bible into Cornish from the original Hebrew,

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

and Greek. The Project is run under the auspices of the Cornish Language Board, and the Bishop of Truro’s Ecumenical Advisory Group for Cornish Language Services. The Cornish Bible is written in the Common Cornish spelling system. It has the ecumenical support of all members of Churches Together in Cornwall. In 2004 An Testament Nowydh (The New Testament) was published by

Kesva an Taves Kernewek Kesva an Taves Kernewek ( Cornish for ''Cornish Language Board'') is an organisation that promotes the Cornish language. It was founded in 1967 by Gorseth Kernow and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. It is represented on the official la ...

;. In July 2014 the New Testament and Psalms were posted on-line on YouVersion (Bible.com) and BibleSearch by the Bible Society. The Cornish Bible Project, including the Old and New Testaments, was completed in 2017, titled ''An Bibel Kernewek''.Dowloadble Bible
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Translation comparisons

The following is a comparison of various Cornish translations of the

from ''Gospel of Matthew'', chapter 6, verses 9–13, together with the corresponding English translation from the '' Authorized King James Version'' of 1611, 1769 edition.

Bibliography

*Brown, Wella, J. H. Chesterfield, J. M. Davey, Ray J. Edwards. Graham Sandercock, and R. K. R. Syed, trans. (2004
''An Testament Nowydh''
Ewny Redreth:

. * Williams, Nicholas, trans. (2002
''Testament Noweth agan Arluth ha Savyour Jesu Cryst''
Ewny Redreth: Spyrys a Gernow. * Williams, Nicholas, trans. (2011
''An Beybel Sans: The Holy Bible in Cornish''
Cathair na Mart: Evertype.

References

{{Cornish language Cornish Cornish-language literature History of Cornwall Christianity in Cornwall