''Se Wsi Testamenti'' (; modern Finnish: ''Uusi testamentti'') is the first translation of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

in Finnish; it was published in 1548. It was translated by Mikael Agricola, then rector of the Turku Cathedral School and later Bishop of Turku. Generally regarded as Agricola's most prominent work, the manuscript was completed in 1543, but it underwent correction for five more years. The whole work took eleven years. The ''New Testament'', printed in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 1548, was still based mainly on the

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Text

''Se Wsi Testamenti'' contains 718 pages and many illustrations. It has two prefaces, practical and theological. In the practical preface Agricola gives reasons for using the Turku dialect and tells how

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

came into Finland. In the theological preface Agricola tells that his translation was based on the Greek text by Erasmus (familiar to him particularly from his time with Melanchthon), a Latin collection by Erasmus of Rotterdam, a German translation by Martin Luther, as well as the Swedish

bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

s by Olaus Petri.Nuorteva 1992.

Features

Agricola also explains how he had to create many new words and hoped they would be liked and put into use (which they have, although some of them, particularly of animals never seen in Finland, fared less well after encounter with the real animal or object; such as ''jalopeura'' or "noble deer" for

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

- now called ''leijona'', and ''kamelikurki'' or "camel crane" for ostrich - now called ''strutsi''). "Se" (literally "that") in the title is a definite grammatical article (equivalent to "the" in English); modern Finnish has no articles. Mikael Agricola by Albert Edelfelt

Orthography

The

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

characteristics of this book are: * "v" was often written as "w" ''wanha'' 'old' (modern Finnish: vanha) or as "u" hyue 'good' (modern Finnish: hyvä) * "d" was often written as "dh" and is the sound /ð/ ''sydhen'' 'heart' (modern Finnish: sydän) * "ii" was written as "ij" ''sijs'' 'so' (modern Finnish: siis) * "uo" was written as "o" or "oo" noori 'young' (modern Finnish: nuori) * "ts" was written as "tz", and is pronounced as /θ/ * "ks" was written as "x" * "k" was written as "c" before back vowels or as "q" before "u" ''quin'' 'as if' (modern Finnish: kuin) * "ä" was often written as "e" ''ise'' 'father' (modern Finnish: isä) * "uu" was written as "w" ''wsi'' 'new' (modern Finnish: uusi), as in the title

References

Works cited

External links

Full text
at Finnbible
Digital facsimile
at {{illm, Doria (National Library of Finland), lt=Doria, fi, Doria Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland Finnish language Finnish literature Mikael Agricola Bible versions and translations 1548 books New Testament editions