Nama Bible History (3)

**List: Nama Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Nama... NAMAQUA. "THE Namaquas are a branch of the great Hottentot nation, and possess all the physical characteristics of that singular race.   Their country, through which they are only thinly scattered, occupies a con- siderable section of the south-western coast of Africa, extending from Cape colony on the south to the Hill Damaras on the north; the eastern boundary is formed by an extensive sandy desert, called by Mr. Campbell the Southern Sahara.   The number of individuals composing the Namaqua tribes has never been ascertained.   They are a pastoral people, and subsist chiefly on their cattle: they often endure great sufferings from the want of water, their country being emphatically a "land of droughts." Enervated by the heat of their climate, they are weaker and less courageous than the bold and warlike Caffres; but although sunk into the most deplorable state of ignorance and superstition, they are mild and peaceable in their demeanour, and are seldom guilty of cruel or sanguinary deeds.   The Namaqua language is also used by the Hill Damaras, who are said to belong to the negro race.   That the same language should be vernacular to two people of distinct families is probably in this case to be accounted for by their near neighbourhood, and frequent intercourse during several centuries.   Dutch is now rapidly superseding the Namaqua, and there is every probability that the latter language will soon sink entirely into disuse. I.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.    Namaqua is akin to the dialects of the Hottentots, Koranas, and Bushmen, and is supposed to be a species of degenerated Caffre, just as the language of the Bushmen is a degraded kind of Hottentot. Some authors, however, maintain that the Hottentot with its cognate dialects forms a distinct group, which, from its prevailing characteristic, they denominate the "Click family."   Like the Hottentot language, now nearly extinct, Namaqua is harsh and inharmonious in sound, abounding in clicks and rough gutturals.   The clicks appear to have originated with the Hottentot race, and to have passed from them into the languages of the neighbouring tribes.   These peculiar sounds are considered by the natives as ornamental to their language, but they are extremely difficult of enunciation to a foreigner; they are produced "by the suction of air on a sudden withdrawal of the tongue from the teeth, after compressing it upon them." II.--VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    A translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Namaqua was commenced by the Rev. C. Albrecht in 1815, but does not appear to have been completed.   Ten years subsequently, a translation of the Four Gospels was effected by the Rev. Mr. Schmelin, of the London My. Society, "after incredible labour (we are told) on the part of the translator and his wife, arising from the peculiar structure of the language."   This version was printed at Cape Town, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society.   As this was the first work ever printed in the Namaqua language, it was thought advisable to confine the edition to 300 copies.   The Gospel of St. Luke was afterwards re-translated by Mr. Knudsen, a Rhenish my., the former translation being considered deficient in certain consonants representative of the clicks, and an edition was printed in 1846.   The use of this latter version seems to have been chiefly confined to the Rhenish Society's stations in Namaqua-land. The operations of the schools conducted by the Wesleyan My. Society have hitherto been carried on almost exclusively in the Dutch language.   The Rev. Henry Tindall, who has for many years been engaged there in my. labours, and who has been accustomed to speak the language from his youth, has recently engaged in the task of translating portions of the New Testament into the Namaqua tongue, and it is in contemplation to print, at Cape Town, at least one of the Gospels from his version. Some slight differences of opinion, however, exist between Mr. Tindall and the mies. of the Rhenish Society, relative to points of orthography, and he is desirous that these should be settled before committing any part of his work to the press.   It is estimated, that there are at present upwards of 20,000 individuals who can receive instruction only in the Namaqua tongue; and independently of the desirableness, in a philological point of view, of preserving some memorial of the language itself, it is important that a few at least of the principal books of Scripture should be printed, as soon as possible, for their use."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] NAMAQUA--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. Matthew 6:9-13 unknown.] NAMAQUA--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]

[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]