Arnarsaq
Encyclopedia
Arnarsaq was an Inuit
translator
, interpreter and missionary
, assistant to Paul Egede
, H.C. Glahn and J. Sverdrup from Greenland
. She and Hans Punngujooq translated the Bible
into the Inuit language. She had an important position in the Danish missionary among the Inuit on Greenland in the 18th-century, and has also been portrayed in fiction.
Arnarsaq came to Paul Egede in 1736 and asked to be taught how to come to God
; she converted and was baptized in 1737, and was allowed to keep her original name instead of having been given a name from the Bible at her baptizmal, which was unusual. She is described as a critical debate partner of Egede. In her Bible translation, she prevented censorship and was able to present it the way she saw it: her interpretation of Christianity
is considered to have had a large impact upon the version of Christianity accepted by the Inuit. She followed Egede to Denmark
in 1740. She visited the Danish royal court
in 1740, were she was presented with an Inuit boy to the court as a curiosity. In 1741, she was sent as a missionary to Greenland, where she rivaled the missionaries of the Moravian Church. In 1743, she retired to her home in the Disko area for twenty years. She was not popular among the Inuit, lecturing them about how they should live according to the Christian faith. She never married. From 1763, she was again the interpreter and assistant to the Danish mission. She had an important and influential position among the missionaries, as she was the link between them and the Inuit, whose language they could not understand. The year of her death is unknown; the last year she is mentioned is 1778.
Arnarsaq is portrayed in the novel of B.S. Ingemann
, Kunuk og Naja (1842), which was written with support of the reports of the missionaries: in the novel, she is described as a religious old woman, pointed out by the Inuit as an Ilisiitsoq; a witch
.
Arnarsaq is one of a few Inuit, and the only female Inuit of her time, to be mentioned in Danish history.
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, interpreter and missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, assistant to Paul Egede
Paul Egede
Paul Egede was a Danish-Norwegian theologian, missionary to Greenland and scholar of the Greenlandic language....
, H.C. Glahn and J. Sverdrup from Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. She and Hans Punngujooq translated the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
into the Inuit language. She had an important position in the Danish missionary among the Inuit on Greenland in the 18th-century, and has also been portrayed in fiction.
Arnarsaq came to Paul Egede in 1736 and asked to be taught how to come to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
; she converted and was baptized in 1737, and was allowed to keep her original name instead of having been given a name from the Bible at her baptizmal, which was unusual. She is described as a critical debate partner of Egede. In her Bible translation, she prevented censorship and was able to present it the way she saw it: her interpretation of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
is considered to have had a large impact upon the version of Christianity accepted by the Inuit. She followed Egede to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 1740. She visited the Danish royal court
Monarchy of Denmark
The monarchy in Denmark is the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non-partisan, ceremonial functions...
in 1740, were she was presented with an Inuit boy to the court as a curiosity. In 1741, she was sent as a missionary to Greenland, where she rivaled the missionaries of the Moravian Church. In 1743, she retired to her home in the Disko area for twenty years. She was not popular among the Inuit, lecturing them about how they should live according to the Christian faith. She never married. From 1763, she was again the interpreter and assistant to the Danish mission. She had an important and influential position among the missionaries, as she was the link between them and the Inuit, whose language they could not understand. The year of her death is unknown; the last year she is mentioned is 1778.
Arnarsaq is portrayed in the novel of B.S. Ingemann
Bernhard Severin Ingemann
Bernhard Severin Ingemann was a Danish novelist and poet.Ingemann was born in Thorkildstrup, on the island of Falster, Denmark. The son of a vicar, he was left fatherless in his youth. While a student at the University of Copenhagen he published his first collection of poems Bernhard Severin...
, Kunuk og Naja (1842), which was written with support of the reports of the missionaries: in the novel, she is described as a religious old woman, pointed out by the Inuit as an Ilisiitsoq; a witch
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
.
Arnarsaq is one of a few Inuit, and the only female Inuit of her time, to be mentioned in Danish history.
Literature
- Poul Egede: Efterretninger om Grønland uddragne af en journal holden fra 1721 til 1788, 1988. Grønland 1/1967.