Question cocerning the native term for god(s) and imported Christianity

[Chun Jimmy Huang]

Mr. Smith,
Thank you for sharing the fascinating observations. cultural 
contact in translation amazes me - it is not just about finding 
the closest descriptive terms but also concerned with 
appropriateness in the contacting cultures/ideologies. I love your 
"yeshua-he heals-medicine man" story.

Also big thanks to those who have posted on this thread. Your 
comments are all inspiring to me. I'll look into the references 
you recommended.

Chun



On Thu Aug 28 21:59:27 EDT 2008, Richard Smith <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET> 
wrote:

> yes it is interesting!
> 
> Because "God" is not itself a name and doesn't describe action it 
> was
> difficult to translate or use among my Wyandot ancestors.
> The Methodist Episcopal missionaries in the 1800's were strict 
> and
> uncompromising in their doctrines. Any Wyandot who wasn't 
> convinced
> the Book they brought was the word of God was considered of the
>  "heathen party". However the Christian Wyandots who were fully 
> converted to
> all the doctrines of the Methodists chose to use the descriptive 
> term
> "Hamendizhu'  or  Ha'???tem??di??u' which translates as
> "he speaks with a loud voice" but more accurately conveys:
> "He has the Authority"
> The Wyandot word for "Jesus" was "Shasus" having no intrinsic 
> meaning
> just a wyandotaphone  sound that sounded sorta close to  "Jesus".
> The missionaries might have tried giving the meaning of the 
> original
> descriptive name Yeshua (He heals,saves) and allowed the 
> Christian Wyandots
> to voice that meaning in Wyandot language, But unfortunately
> "he heals" would have been the same word used to describe a 
> medicine man!
> To the missionaries of this time, medicine people people were of 
> the devil.
> 
> ALL Wyandot names described something..until the foreigners 
> arrived and
> Christian Wyandots reverted to the English way of giving names:
> Robert, Jim, Edward, Jesus, Joe
> sounds representing individuals, yet names describing no known 
> action.
> 
> see: History of the Wyandott Mission At Upper Sandusky,Ohio.Under 
> the Direction
> of The Methodist Episcopal Church (1840)  James B.Finley
> 
> -Richard Zane Smith
> Wyandotte, Oklahoma
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 8/28/08 1:19 PM, "Maxine Baptiste" <mrb1 at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> 
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi, as far as I know, the terms used in Catholic prayers are 
>> nativized
>> terms of
>> the English equivalent. sisi kri would be the term for Jesus 
>> Christ, san mari
>> will be the term for Saint Mary, and the term for God would be 
>> the Native word
>> for "creator" k'wulncutn. This is interesting, Maxine
>> 
>> Quoting Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu>:
>> 
>>> Tabe (greetings),
>>> 
>>> I have been looking at a copy of Dutch-English-Siraya St. 
>>> Mattew's
>>> for Siraya language revitalization (an indigenous Austronesian
>>> language in Taiwan). It was edited by the Dutch missionary Daniel
>>> Gravius in 1661. What I have found is that when translating the
>>> bible to Siraya, Gravius had kept the native term that referred 
>>> to
>>> god in general, "alid," and used it to refer to the Christian 
>>> god.
>>> Later I realized that the same applied to other indigenous
>>> languages in Taiwan. That is, the Presbyterian missionaries that
>>> came to Taiwan all kept the native terms for god(s) and
>>> incorporated them into their Christian missions.
>>> 
>>> Curiously, on the other hand, the Spanish Catholic priests who
>>> went to the Philippines around the same time had replaced the
>>> native terms for god(s) with "Dios".
>>> 
>>> so the different choices in terms of whether appropriating the
>>> native religious terms into Christianity or not (which may lead 
>>> to
>>> significant sociolinguistic consequences). It makes me wonder if
>>> such difference in choice is pertinent to (Presbyterian)
>>> Protestant vs. Catholics and/or Dutch vs. Spanish.
>>> 
>>> I'd much appreciate if anyone can share some insights from the
>>> American experience or from other regions.
>>> 
>>> madag ki alilid (thanks very much)!
>>> 
>>> Chun (Jimmy) Huang
>>> PhD candidate,
>>> Linguistics, University of Florida
>>> Special assistant,
>>> Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Culture Association
> 
>