Romansch Bible History (3) 
**List: Romansch Ministry
the Holy Bible ( la Sacra Biblia )
Romansch...
ROMANESE, ROMONSCH,
OR UPPER AND LOWER ENGHADINE."THE Grisons, anciently part of Rhœtia, constitute the south-eastern angle of Switzerland, and occupy an area of from 2500 to 3000 square miles. The inhabitants amounted in number (in 1849)
to 89,840: of this population, about two-fifths are of Germanic and about one-tenth of Italian origin:
the Protestants are supposed to number about 62,000 individuals, the remainder being chiefly Roman
Catholics. The mountainous parts of this canton are inhabited by the little Romanese nation. The
Enghadine, or valley of the Inn, on the borders of the Tyrol, is inhabited by a section of this people,
to whom a Romanese dialect called Churwelsche is vernacular. The other Romanese dialect is called
Ladiniche, and is spoken in the valley of the Rhine, on the confines of Italy. Both these dialects are
derived form the Latin tongue, and preserve to this day the most striking characteristics of the Romancelanguages; and they contain among other elements, some Etruscan words, which seem to point to a
time anterior to the present division of languages for the origin of these dialects.
The New Testament was printed in the former of these dialects in 1560, and the whole Bible in
1679. In the latter, the Bible was published in 1719. These editions were all printed in the Grisons,
but they were soon exhausted, and as no further impressions were issued, a copy was scarcely attainable
at the beginning of the present century. A company of Christians at Basle, therefore, projected an
edition for the use of these mountaineers, and under the auspices of the Basle Bible Society, and with
the aid of the parent institution, the New Testament in Churwelsche left the press in 1810. But when
the poor Ladins heard what a treasure their neighbours on the Tyrolese frontier had got, they expressed
a very strong desire to have the same in their dialect. The Bible Societies of London and Basle promptly
consented to grant them this boon, and in 1813 an edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament in
Ladiniche had left the press.
Several subsequent editions of the New and Old Testaments have been issued by the Basle Bible
Society in both dialects. The last edition of which we have any particular account was that of 1834,
published at the expense of the British and Foreign, the Coire, and the Geneva Bible Societies: it
consisted of 2000 copies of the New Testament, and was chiefly designed for a considerable number
of shepherds who pass away the summer in the mountains, without the aid of any religious instruction.
The Rev. Colany Née, of Lemè, remarked on this occasion, "The Spirit of God has scarcely begun
to be heard in a whisper in these mountains; but I have found, generally speaking, that the word
of God is esteemed, and frequently read, and that it is in the possession of most of the Protestant
families in the canton." We add a specimen of the Enghadine dialect of earlier date (1640):--"
--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info only]ROMANESE, ROMONSCH, OR UPPER ENGHADINE.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown (unigenit = "only begotten" @ 1:14).]
ROMANESE, ROMONSCH, OR LOWER ENGHADINE.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]
ROMANESE, ROMONSCH, OR UPPER AND LOWER ENGHADINE.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: "1640" John 1:1-12 unknown.]
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