Mandinka Bible History (3)

**List: Mandinka Ministry the Bible ( la Kitaaboo ) Mandinka... MANDINGO. "MANDINGO (or Mandenga), the most important language of modern Negroland, is predominant in many powerful states on both sides of the Gambia.   On the east it is conterminous with the Haussa and Yariba languages, and on the north it prevails as far as the border of the Great Desert.   It is also supposed to extend far into the interior of the continent, and is spoken in Bambouk, and in the late empire of Bambara.   It is not possible to estimate the number of individuals to whom this language is vernacular, for much of the Mandingo territory is scarcely known to Europeans; and owing to the enterprising and commercial character of the race, Mandingoes are to be found in great numbers, located as traders, in regions far distant from their native states.   They are to be met with at Sierra Leone, at Cape Mesurado, at most of the places of commerce along the coast, and in the interior as far as the head- quarters of the Niger; so that there are several dialects of the Mandingo.    Some connection is supposed to exist between the Mandingo and Foulah tribes, but too little is known of the language of the latter to admit of a close comparison being instituted between it and the Mandingo.   Both Mandingoes and Foulahs are as superior in civilisation and intelligence to the other tribes of intertropical Asia, as were the Aztecs and Peruvians to the various tribes of the New World; and in point of physical conformation, they form an intermediate class between the negro and the Asiatic type.    The Mandingo language has only two numbers, singular and plural.   The plural is formed by adding lu to the singular, the last vowel of which is changed into o, if it does not end in that vowel. Thus:--mausa, a king; mausolu, kings; muso, a woman; musolu, women.   There is no distinction of genders; and no cases of declension, properly so called; the inflection of nouns being made by particles or pronouns, in the simple and primitive way we find in languages little cultivated.   Thus ala, his, is made the sign of the genitive, as it was in English: thus mausa ala kumo, the king his word; is con- tracted into mausala kumo, the king's word, etc.   As the Mandingoes have a very imperfect notion of time, the conjugation of their verbs, managed by pronouns and other particles, is nevertheless far from correctly defined.   Thus the present does for the past, or rather both tenses are involved in one common aorist, etc.   This language is soft, sonorous, rich in vowels, and entirely of African stamp.    The Mandingoes are all Moh_mm_dans, and generally pretend to some acquaintance with Arabic, the sacred language of their religion.   Many Arabic words have been engrafted on the Mandingo language, while numerous terms, especially those relating to commerce, have been borrowed from various European languages.   Copiousness, easy enunciation, and comparative freedom from nasal and guttural sounds, are said to be the characteristics of Mandingo: its nouns for the most part end in the vowel o; this termination often conveys an emphatic signification, and is sometimes equivalent in meaning to the definite article.    The Rev. Mr. Macbrair, a Wesleyan my., was the first to undertake the translation of the Scriptures into this widely-extended language.   His version of the Gospel according to St. Matthew was printed in London under his own superintendence in 1838, by the British and Foreign Bible Society.   The edition, which consisted of 500 copies, was placed at the disposal of the Wesleyan My. Society: no definite accounts have been transmitted concerning the results of the distribu- tion among the natives.   Copies of the Arabic version of the Scriptures have been distributed among the Moh_mm_dan Mandingoes who visit the west coasts of the African continent for purposes of commerce."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] MANDINGO.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. Matthew 5:1-12 unknown; used Alla.]

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