Daniel Macdonald (4 March 1846 – 18 April 1927) was a missionary to the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

(now

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

). He was born in

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where some say it ceases to ...

, Scotland, but migrated to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, Victoria. He studied at the Presbyterian Theological Hall in Melbourne, and was the first Australian-trained Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides. J. Graham Miller
MACDONALD, Daniel (1846-1927)
Macdonald served at Port Havannah on the island of

Efate Efate (), also known as Île Vate (), is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third larg ...

from 1872 to 1905.

Nicholas Thieberger Nicholas Thieberger is an Australian linguist and an Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. Education Thieberger graduated from La Trobe University with a BA Hons. His Masters was also a ...

,
“Compromise Literary Dialect” in Efate, Central Vanuatu
, ''

Oceanic Linguistics ''Oceanic Linguistics'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on the indigenous languages of the Oceanic area and parts of Southeast Asia, including the indigenous Australian languages, the Papuan languages of New Guinea, ...

'' 47.2 (2008), p. 365. He was the "most notable linguist in the history of the New Hebrides Mission", and was the "organising translator-editor" of the

Nguna Nguna Island is an outer island off the north coast of Efate, Vanuatu in Undine Bay. It is neighbored to the east by Pele Island and to the west by Moso Island. Geography The island is bisected by two extinct volcano craters, the highest of ...

–

Old Testament published in 1908. He, John W. Mackenzie, and Peter Milne each contributed approximately one third of the translation. Macdonald espoused the idea that

Oceanic languages The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...

were of Semitic origin, and promoted a hybrid Efatese language. He and Milne were involved in a feud that lasted for more than fifteen years, which started with a disagreement over how to translate the word "God" in the local language. Macdonald was awarded a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

degree from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, and served as moderator of the

Presbyterian Church of Victoria __NOTOC__ The Presbyterian Church of Victoria is one of the constituent churches of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. It was established in 1859 as a union of Church of Scotland, Free Presbyterian and United Presbyterian congregations. The ...

in 1896. He married Elizabeth Keir Geddie, daughter of missionary Rev. John Geddie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Daniel 1846 births 1927 deaths People from Alloa Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish Presbyterian missionaries Australian Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Vanuatu Translators of the Bible into Oceanic languages British expatriates in Vanuatu Australian expatriates in Vanuatu McGill University alumni New Hebrides people British missionary linguists