Twenty-five days after my father passed away and I'm still wondering why this should have happened to our family. I admire him because he is so religious and intelligent. On the other side, I'm not really bright and full of faith like him. Again, I wonder why.
By the way, when I came back to Indonesia, I found one interesting book in my father's bookcase and took it with me back to New Zealand. I remember my father had said to me that the book is written by his great grandfather, Johannes Regar (J. Regar). J Regar is the father of Henriette Regar (the wife of Aristarchus Liando). But, there is another name on the book, M. Adriani-Gunning.
This book is in Tontemboan language with title "Koekoea an Ta'ar Oerē wo n Ta'ar Weroe" and published in 1907 by Firma P.W.M Trap, Leiden. I don't understand this language, but I think, this book is kind of a collection of bible stories, or maybe a Bible translated into Tontemboan, a language of Minahasa, which has, according to the website, never been published. Translated from Dutch or English? I'm not sure.
Table of Content
If it is true that the complete Bible in Tontemboan has never been published, why is there a website that has tried to translate the first three paragraphs of this book? And, why is there a "Firma P.W.M Trap, Leiden - 1907" on the first page? Most importantly, how the Tontemboan people understand Bible? I particularly address these questions to the Indonesian Bible History website and hopefully they can answer my questions.
Translation >>>
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The spirit of God was hovering over the water. Then God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light. God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. God named the light "day", and the darkness he named "night". There was evening, then morning, the first day.
6 comments:
I saw your question on the guestlist of theminahasa.com. The booklet is manufactured in Leiden, this is a medium city in the west of the Netherlands, this city is formally known for his university and researchcenters. Descendants of the royal family used to study there, to gain more knowledge about economics, history and infrastructure of their land.
Posted by Kimball Kalangie
Hi Kimball, unfortunately I've never been in Holland. It must be a great place. Wanna be there some day.
Posted by jeffry
The Netherlands isn't recommendable, the quality of life standards are not in balance. It used to be a great place in a far and away history. At least we can enjoy a good quality kiwi in April, May and June.
Posted by Kimball Kalangie
There has been new development on the availability of this book. You can download if from Google or Archive.org via
http://charlieboysamola.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/alkitab-tua-minahasa-dalam-bahasa-tontemboan
Cross-posting our reply there:
This book, Koekoea an Ta'ar Oerē wo n Ta'ar Weroe; (1907), translated by Mrs. M.L. Adriani (nee Gunning), with the help of J. Regar, apparently was not a Bible translation, but rather bible stories translation, as you suspected.
According to our data, (it's available in http://sejarah.sabda.org/artikel/pekerjaan_penterjemahan_kitab_suci.htm) there was a zending from Leiden called Nicolaus Adriani (1865-1926) sent by NBG, particularly to Sulawesi Tengah, and in 1926 died in Poso. His works included Bare’e-Dutch Dictionary (1928), Bare’e Grammar Book (1931), New Testament in Bare’e (Pamona) (1933). He married with Miss M.L. Gunning before he went to Sulawesi Tengah. Apparently while Dr. N. Adriani worked on the dictionary and Bible, her wife translated the Bible stories book.
As for the question "How the Tontemboan people understand Bible?", we can only imagine that they uses Minahasa language or Indonesian language Bibles, or both.
Hopefully it helps.
Saya orang Minahasa asli (tepatnya Kaima, Kecamatan Kauditan, Kabupaten Minahasa Utara, ingin tahu apakah sudah ada terbitan Alkitab dalam bahasa-bahasa daerah Minahasa (Tonsea, Toulour, dsb.)
Kalau ada datanya, tolong dikirimkan ke alamat email saya :
watupongoh@yahoo.com
Terima kasih
Constantijn A.A. Watupongoh
It would be good if all transcripts of this book posting in the one blog as a Tountemboan Bible. So we also shall learning a lot about Tountemboan Bible.
I am a Tountemboan people who also like to learn about Tountemboan language, especially from something important thing like this.
Thank you,
Regards.
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