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Jet the Translation of Kristos As Kristo in the Dangme Mother Tongue

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Jet the Translation of Kristos As Kristo in the Dangme Mother Tongue THE TRANSLATION OF KRISTOS AS KRISTO IN THE DANGME MOTHER TONGUE TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT VISITED Kuwornu-Adjaottor Jonathan E. T Abstract The writer contends that Greek word Kristos should be translated and spelt Klisto in the Dangme New Testament because the Dangme orthography has no “r;” the nearest in sound is “l.” Comparing the way New Testament is generally taught with the methodology used at three institutions in Ghana, and the results the usage of such a methodology, it is being recommended that New Testament Greek in Ghana/Africa should be taught with the Greek New Testament and the mother-tongue translations of the New Testament. This will allay the fears of students who get scared at the start of the study of New Testament Greek, and motivate them to get interest in the discipline from the unset. Further, it will help students to apply what they learn to their study of the New Testament as a whole. Key words: Kristos, Klristo, Klisto, Dangme orthography, Dangme mother-tongue translation of the New Testament. Introduction The word Christ appears in English and most European languages. It is derived from the Greek Kristos, transcribed in Latin as Christus in the New Testament to describe Jesus. Christ is now often used as a name, one part of the name “Jesus,” but is actually a title, the Messiah. Its usage “Christ Jesus” emphasises its nature as a title (Doniger, 1999: 212; Pannenberg, 1977: 30-31). In the Septuagint (LXX) version of the Hebrew Bible, the word Kristos is used to translate the Hebrew mashiach, Messiah, meaning “anointed” (Zanzig, 1999: 314; Etynonline, 2013). 1 “Christ” is one of the most familiar terms by which Jesus is known, both in the New Testament and in subsequent Christian tradition. All the canonical Gospels apply the term to Jesus, but each has its own interesting variation in the way Jesus is presented as “Christ” (Green, McKnight & Marshall, 1992:106). The spelling of Kristos (Greek Genetive case: tou Kristou), and Nominative: ho Kristos) in English as “Christ” was standardised in the eighteenth century, during the Enlightenment, when the spelling of certain words were changed to fit Greek or Latin origins. Before this era, in Old and Middle English, the word was spelled Crist, with the i pronounced either as /i:/, preserved in the names of churches such as St Katherine Cree, or as a short /i/, preserved in the modern pronunciation of Christmas. The spelling “Christ” is attested from the fourteenth century (Proffitt, 2005). In modern and ancient usage, even within secular terminology, Christ usually refers to Jesus, building on the centuries’ old tradition of such use. Since the Apostolic Age, the use of the definite article before the word Christ and its development into a proper name signifies its identification with Jesus as the promised Messiah (Rubinstein, 2004). In Ghana, the Bible Translation Agencies – Bible Society of Ghana (GBS), the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT) and the International Bible Society 2 (IBS) - have translated the New Testament into twenty-seven mother-tongues of sixty-seven Ghanaian languages , and the full Bible into thirteen (Kuwornu-Adjaottor, 2012: 121-129). The Dangme has three versions of the New Testament: Somi He ô, (Bible Society of Ghana. 1977); Wami Munyuô: Somi He ô Kâ La ame, (Dangme New Testament and Psalms, International Bible Society, 1997) and the Ngmami Klôuklôu ô, (The Dangme Full Bible, Bible Society of Ghana/United Bible Societies, 1999). How is the Greek word Kristos translated in the Dangme Bible (New Testament)? What accounts for the difference in the translation and spelling of Krisotos in the Dangme and the Gᾱ, Eûe, Fante, Akuapem-Twi and Asante-Twi translations of the New Testament? Kristos as Kristo in the Dangme New Testament Dangme is the aboriginal language in Ghana spoken by the people of Ada, Ningo, Kpone, Prampram, Osudoku, Shai (Sε), Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo. The language is tonal and the eight Dangme tribes have peculiar linguistic characteristics (Bureau of Ghana Languages, Dangme Version, 1990: 5). In all the three translations of the Dangme New Testament cited above, the word Kristos (Christos) which appears in 531 times in the Greek New Testament (Nestle-Aland, 1994), has been translated as Kristo. A comparison of the spellings of Kristos (Greek) and its translation into Dangme Greek Alphabet Sound English Dangme Sound Transliteration Alphabet A, a AHL-fah a A, a ah B, b VEE-tah b B, b bah G, g GHAH-mah g G, g geh D, d THEL-tah d D, d dah 3 E, e EHP-see-lon e E, e ee Z, z ZEE-tah z Z, z zi H, h EE-tah … Ââ âh Q, q THEE-tah th I, i Yo-tah i I,i ih K, k KAH-pah k K, k kh L, l LAHM-thah l L, l lh M, m mee m M, m m N, n nee n N, n n X, x ksee O, o OH-mee-kron o O, o oh P, p pee p P, p p R, r roh, roe r R, r S, s, j SEEGH-mah s S, s sh T, t tahf t T, t t Y, u EWP-see-lon u U, u uh F, f fee ph F, f f X, c hee ch Y, y psee psi W, w oh-MEE-ghah õ 4 From the table of the two language alphabets, it is clear that the Dangme alphabet has no “r.” The contention that there is no “r” in Dangme is supported by Abedi-Boafo (1971), Accam (1972) and Bureau of Ghana Languages (1990). These authors have arranged some Dangme words, idiomatic expressions and proverbs alphabetically but “r” is not captured in their writings. So how should a word with the letter “r” be spelt in the Dangme? The simplest way to do that is to find the letter which sound is closest to that of “r” and that is “l.” But how come that Kristos is spelt Kristo in the Dangme mother-tongue translations of the New Testament? A comparison of the Greek alphabet with those of the Dangme, Gᾱ, Eûe, Fante, Akuapem-Twi and Asante-Twi can help us answer the question. But before we do that it is important to know where the languages are spoken in Ghana. Gã is the aboriginal language of the people of Ga Mashie, (the Ga State) which lies along the Gulf of Guinea in Southern Ghana, extending from the Laåma Hill on the West to Tema in the East. Gã is a tonal language and changes in meaning of words may be brought about by tonal differences, (Bureau of Ghana Languages, Gã Version 1999, 5). The Gã language is comparatively a new dialect. It is a cognate of the older dialects of the people of Ada and Krobo, which are spoken in the south-eastern triangular corner of Ghana between the sea, the Akuapem mountains and the lower course of the river Volta. (Akrofi, Botchey & Takyi, 1996: iv). 5 Eûe is spoken in the Volta Region of Ghana, the Republic of Togoland, and the eastern part of the Republic of Benin. It is a tonal language and changes in meaning can be brought about by tonal differences, (Bureau of Ghana Languages, Eûe Version, 1999:5). Asante-Twi is an Akan dialect. Even though this language is known as Asante-Twi, but it is the dialect of the following states in Ghana: Asante, Brong-Ahafo, Kate-Krakye, Gyaaman, Sahwi, Twiforo, Wasa, Asen, Dankyira, Adanse, Akyem Abuakwa, Akyem Kotoku, Akyem Bosome, Kwawu and New Juaben (Bureau of Ghana Languages, Asante Version, 1998:3). Akuapem-Twi is an Akan dialect spoken in the south-eastern part of Ghana, mainly by the people of Akuapem and Akwamu. It has some peculiar linguistic features that differentiates it from Asante-Twi and Fante, even though it is understood by the other Akan language groups (Akrofi, Botchey & Takyi, 1996: iii). Fante, usually called Mfantse by the tribes which speak it, is spoken mainly in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana, but it is understood in the other Regions of Southern Ghana and in Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo. Fante is a tonal language and changes in meaning may be brought about by tonal differences (Bureau of Ghana Languages, Asante Version, 1990: 6). Greek Dangme Gã Eûe Asante- Akuapem- Fante Twi Twi A a Aa Aa Aa Aa Aa Aa B b Bb Bb Bb Bb Bb Bb G g Gg Gb D d Dd Dd Dd Dd Dd Dd E e Ee Ee Ee Ee Ee Ee Z z Zz Zz Zz 6 H h Q q I i Ii Ii Ii Ii Ii Ii K k Kk Kk Kk Kk Kk Kk L l Ll Ll Ll Ll Ll Ll Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm Nn Nn Nn Nn Nn Nn Nn X x Oo Oo Oo Oo Oo Oo Oo Pp Pp Pp Pp Pp Pp Pp Rr Rr Rr Rr Rr Rr Ss(j Ss Ss Ss Ss Ss Ss Tt Tt Tt Tt Tt Tt Tt Uu Uu Uu Uu Uu Uu Uu Ff Ff Ff Ff Ff Ff Ff Cc Yy Ww A comparison of the Greek and the Dangme alphabets with those of the Gᾱ, Eûe, Fante, Akuapem-Twi and Asante-Twi reveals that, out of the six Ghanaian mother-tongues, only the Dangme does not have the letter “r” as part of its alphabet. Thus, the spelling of Kristo in the Dangme may have been influenced by the Gᾱ, Eûe, Fante, Akuapem-Twi and Asante-Twi translations of the Bible (see Bible Society of Ghana 1908/2006, 1931, 1948, 1964/2012, 1964/2012).
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