Abu Rumi (about 1750 – 1819) is the name recorded as being the translator for the first complete Bible in Amharic, the national language of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Previously, only partial Amharic translations existed, and the Ethiopian Bible existed only in Ge'ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia. His story is recorded by William Jowett (1824). He was educated in the

Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

, but it is not clear if he was a monk, priest, or had any official status within the church. According to Jowett, Abu Rumi served as a translator for the Scots explorer

James Bruce James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who physically confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North and East Africa and in 1770 became the fir ...

at the age of 22. Abu Rumi left Ethiopia in his 28th year, visited

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and

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, where he resided in the house of Sir William Jones. "We are not told what he is supposed to have taught that great orientalist," writes Edward Ullendorff, "but presumably it was a smattering of Ge'ez and Amharic poetry" (Ullendorff, 1968: 66). While travelling through Cairo, at which time his age is estimated at "about fifty or fifty-five years of age" (Jowett, 1824:201), Abu Rumi became very ill and was taken in by M. Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville (1772–1822), the French Consul in Cairo."Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville"
Biographical sketch. He provided Abu Rumi with food, lodging, and medical care. But more significantly, he also provided him with writing materials. Over a period of 10 years, Abu Rumi produced a complete translation of the Bible in Amharic. He then made one more journey to Jerusalem; Abu Rumi died of the plague in Cairo. The manuscript containing his translation was eventually purchased by William Jowett on behalf of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The ...

. He took it back to

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where it was typeset and printed. These printed copies were sent back to Ethiopia. There were a number of editions made of Abu Rumi's original translation, different editors making some changes, but the original work is his. A copy of Abu Rumi's translation of the Bible in Amharic was eventually found in a monastery in the early 1860s and launched a church renewal movement that eventually led to the founding of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Aren 1978:14, 15, 104). Since then, there have been other translations of the whole Bible in Amharic, mostly by the Ethiopian Bible Society, but his is the first. According to Ullendorff, "Abu Rumi's version, with some changes and amendments, held sway until the Emperor Haile Sellassie I ordered a new translation of the entire Bible which appeared in 1960/1." (Ullendorff 1968: 66).

Sources

* Arén, Gustav. 1978. ''Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia''. Stockholm: Stockholm: EFS Forlaget. * Jowett, William. 1824. ''Christian Researches in the Mediterranean from MDCCCXV to MDCCCXX in Furtherance of the Objects of the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

''. London. * Fellman, Jack. 1977. The first Amharic Bible translation. ''The Bible Translator'' 28: pp. 154–155. * Kleiner, Michael. 2003. "Abu Rumi". ''

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (''EAe'') is a basic English-language encyclopaedia for Ethiopian and Eritrean studies. The ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' provides information in all fields of the discipline, i.e. anthropology, archaeology, ethn ...

'', vol. 1, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, pp. 53, 54. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. * Ullendorff, Edward. 1968. ''Ethiopia and the Bible''. Oxford: The British Academy.

Citations

{{Authority control 1750 births 1819 deaths 18th-century translators Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Ethiopian translators Translators of the Bible into Amharic