Bible translations into Cornish
Encyclopedia
Translations of the Bible 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 same year as the 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version
.
survive from the hand of William Rowe of Sancreed
(fl. 1650–1690).
There are ten versions of the Lord's Prayer
from the 1600s and 1700s. A translation from Latin
was produced in John Davies
' Llyfr y Resolusion in 1632. Another translation was published in William Scawen
'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 produced two versions, John
and Thomas Boson
one each, and William Gwavas also produced two. There are eight versions of the Apostles' Creed
from the same period, and seven versions of the Ten Commandments
.
Two translations of Genesis 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
suggests that some other translations from the same period, of Proverbs
30:5–6 and of Psalms
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
.
5:1–14 by Henry Jenner
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
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
contains a translation of I Corinthians
13 by Robert Morton Nance
.
, was published in 2002 by Spyrys a Gernow; it used Unified Cornish Revised orthography. A translation group called the Cornish Bible Project produced another translation of the New Testament in 2004, published by Kesva an Taves Kernewek
; it used Common Cornish orthography.
. 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 Standard Cornish
from a variety of sources, including Hebrew
and Greek
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.
from Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9–13, together with the corresponding English translation from the Authorized King James Version of 1611.
Books of the Bible
The Books of the Bible are listed differently in the canons of Judaism and the Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Slavonic Orthodox, Georgian, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac and Ethiopian churches, although there is substantial overlap. A table comparing the canons of some of these traditions...
of 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...
. The first full translation of the Bible into the Cornish language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
was published in 2011, the same year as the 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version
400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version
The 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version was a set of events and exhibitions in 2011 commemorating the four-hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Authorized King James Version in 1611.-United Kingdom:...
.
Early translations
Two chapters of St Matthew's GospelGospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
survive from the hand of William Rowe of Sancreed
Sancreed
Sancreed is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately three miles from Penzance....
(fl. 1650–1690).
There are ten versions of the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
from the 1600s and 1700s. A translation from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was produced in John Davies
John Davies (Mallwyd)
Dr John Davies, Mallwyd was one of Wales's leading scholars of the late Renaissance. He wrote a Welsh grammar and dictionary. He was also a translator and editor and an ordained minister of the Church of England....
' Llyfr y Resolusion in 1632. Another translation was published in William Scawen
William Scawen
William Scawen was a one of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish Language in England. He was a politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....
'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 produced two versions, John
John Boson (writer)
John Boson was a writer in the Cornish language. The son of Nicholas Boson, he was born in Paul, Cornwall. He taught Cornish to William Gwavas. His works in Cornish include an epitaph for the language scholar John Keigwin, and the "Pilchard Curing Rhyme". He also translated parts of the Bible, the...
and Thomas Boson
Thomas Boson
Thomas Boson was a writer in the Cornish language and the cousin of Nicholas and John Boson. Thomas helped William Gwavas in his Cornish language research, and wrote an inscription in Cornish for Gwavas's hurling ball. He also made translations of the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the...
one each, and William Gwavas also produced two. There are eight versions of the Apostles' Creed
Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...
from the same period, and seven versions of the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
.
Two translations of Genesis 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
Henry Jenner FSA was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival....
suggests that some other translations from the same period, of Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
30:5–6 and of Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
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
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
.
Modern translations
In the modern period, a translation of JohnGospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
5:1–14 by Henry Jenner
Henry Jenner
Henry Jenner FSA was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival....
was published in 1918, and in 1936 A. S. D. Smith produced his own translation of St Mark's gospel
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, a revised edition being published by Talek (E.G. Retallack Hooper
E.G. Retallack Hooper
Ernest George Retallack Hooper was a Cornish writer and journalist from St Agnes, Cornwall who became the third Grand Bard of the Gorseth Kernow in 1959 to 1964...
) 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
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
and of a number of epistles
General epistles
General epistles are books in the New Testament in the form of letters. They are termed "general" because for the most part their intended audience seems to be Christians in general rather than individual persons or congregations as is the case with the Pauline epistles...
in 1986, and St Luke's Gospel
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
appeared in 1989. Furthermore the Cornish version of the order for Evensong
Evening Prayer (Anglican)
Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening...
contains a translation of I Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
13 by Robert Morton Nance
Robert Morton Nance
Robert Morton Nance was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society....
.
The New Testament
A translation of the whole New Testament, by Nicholas WilliamsNicholas Williams
Nicholas Jonathan Anselm Williams , writing as Nicholas Williams or sometimes N.J.A...
, was published in 2002 by Spyrys a Gernow; it used Unified Cornish Revised orthography. A translation group called the Cornish Bible Project produced another translation of the New Testament in 2004, published by Kesva an Taves Kernewek
Kesva an Taves Kernewek
Kesva an Taves Kernewek 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 language body, the Cornish Language Partnership.It currently has 18 members, 13 elected and 5...
; it used Common Cornish orthography.
The Old Testament
The Cornish Bible Project is currently working on translating the Old Testament, and reportedly twenty Old Testament books have been published so far.The complete Bible
The first complete translation of the Bible into Cornish, An Beybel Sans, was published in 2011 by EvertypeMichael Everson
Michael Everson is a linguist, script encoder, typesetter, and font designer. His central area of expertise is with writing systems of the world, specifically in the representation of these systems in formats for computer and digital media...
. It was translated by Nicholas Williams
Nicholas Williams
Nicholas Jonathan Anselm Williams , writing as Nicholas Williams or sometimes N.J.A...
, taking a total of 13 years to complete. Having completed the New Testament, Williams translated the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
into Standard Cornish
Kernowek Standard
Kernowek Standard is a variety of revived Cornish and a proposed set of revisions to the Standard Written Form. Developed gradually by a group called UdnFormScrefys , it was published as a proposal in a series of revisions. Its principal authors were Michael Everson, Neil Kennedy, and Nicholas...
from a variety of sources, including Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
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.
Translation comparisons
The following is a comparison of various Cornish translations of the Lord's PrayerLord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
from Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9–13, together with the corresponding English translation from the Authorized King James Version of 1611.
| Translation | Matthew Gospel of Matthew The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth... (Mathew) 6:9–13 |
|---|---|
| Authorized Version, 1611 | Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ¹¹Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. |
| Thomas Boson, 1710 | Gen Taz es en Nefe, benegaz eu de Hanou, ¹⁰grua de Guelaze dose, de both bo grues en Nore, pecare ha en Nefe, ¹¹ro do ny an journa ma gen nara journa, ¹²ha gaue do ny gen pehazo, pecare terera ny gava an pehadurrian war a gen pedne, ¹³ha na raze gen Leua do droage, buz gen guetha ny deurt droge, rag an Geulaze te beaue, ha ul an Nearth, ha worriance, rag nevera-venitho, An delna rebo. |
| Nicholas Williams, 2002 | Agan Tas ny usy y’n nef, benegys re bo dha hanow. ¹⁰Re dheffa dha wlascor. Re bo gwres dha volunjeth y’n nor kepar hag y’n nef. ¹¹Ro dhynny hedhyw agan bara puptedh oll. ¹²Ha gaf dhyn agan camweyth, kepar del aven nyny dhe’n re na usy ow camwul er agan pyn ny. ¹³Ha na wra agan gorra yn temptacyon, mes delyrf ny dheworth drog. Rag dhyso jy yma an wlascor, ha’n gallus, ha’n gordhyans, bys vyken ha benary. Amen. |
| Cornish Bible Project, 2004 | Agan Tas ni usi y’n nevow, sanshes re bo dha hanow. ¹⁰Re dheffo dha wlaskor. dha vodh re bo gwrys, yn nor kepar hag y’n nev. ¹¹Ro dhyn ni hedhyw agan bara pub-dydhyek; ¹²ha gav dhyn agan kendonow, kepar dell evyn ni ynwedh dh'agan kendonoryon. ¹³Ha na wra agan dri yn temptyans, mes delirf ni dhiworth drog. Rag dhiso jy yw an wlaskor, ha’n galloes, ha’n gordhyans, bys vykken ha bynary. Amen. |
| Nicholas Williams, 2011 | Agan Tas ny usy i’n nev, benegys re bo dha hanow. ¹⁰Re dheffo dha wlascor. Re bo gwrës dha volùnjeth, i’n nor kepar hag i’n nev. ¹¹Ro dhyn ny hedhyw agan bara pùb dëdh oll. ¹²Ha gav dhyn agan cabmweyth, kepar dell eson ny ow cava dhe’n re-na usy ow cabmwul wàr agan pydn ny. ¹³Ha na wra agan gorra in temptacyon, saw delyrf ny dhyworth drog. Rag dhyso jy yma an wlascor, ha’n gallos, ha’n gordhyans, bys vycken ha bys venary. Amen. |