Ossete Bible History (3)

**List: Ossete Ministry the Bible ( the Bible ) Ossete... OSSITINIAN. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. THE Ossetes inhabit the central part of Caucasus, north of Georgia.   In conjunction with several Circassian, Abassian, and other tribes, they occupy the whole of the hill country (called Kabardah and Little Abassia or Abazia) between the Upper Kuban and Lesghistan to the summits of the Caucasus. They are unquestionably a Median colony: Klaproth supposes them to be the Sarmato-Medians of the ancient, and the Alani or Ases of the middle, ages.   According to Dr. Henderson, this tribe numbers about 16,000 individuals, but this appears to be too low an estimate.   A mission was established" "among them in 1752 by the Russian priests, with the view of converting them from heathenism, and in 1821 upwards of 30,000 Ossetes had joined the Greek Church. II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.    The language of the Ossetes unquestionably belongs to the Indo-European stem.   In a vocabulary of 800 Ossitinian words, one tenth have been traced to one or other of the Indo-European languages. The system of conjugation has some resemblance to that of the Persian and Armenian; the tenses are numerous and varied, but auxiliaries are likewise employed.   The pronunciation of the Ossitinian greatly resembles that of the low German and Sclavonic dialects; the English sound th (Greek θ) occurs in it.   The language is rendered harsh by the frequent concurrence of guttural letters and hissing consonants, such as kkh, dts, dtch, etc.   Yet this harshness is modified by the influence of certain laws of euphony, which require some of the consonants to be softened when brought in contact with others of a different order.   In Ossitinian there are six cases; the plural is formed by adding té, thi, or ton, to the nominative of the singular.   According to Sjögren (Ossetische Sprachl. p. 4) there are forty-six or forty-seven letters in the Ossitinian alphabet, which he derives from the Russian; while Dr. G. Rosen (Ossetische Sprachl. p. 3) adopts the Georgian alphabet, and reckons the sounds in the Ossitinian language at thirty-four only.   This language is very rich in prepositions and postpositions, and has four different modes of negation. III.--VERSION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    At the period that so many of the Ossetes were joined to the Greek Church, Mr. Jalgusidse, an Ossitinian nobleman, who held an official appointment under the Russian Government, being anxious to provide his countrymen with a version of the Scriptures in their own tongue, proposed to the Com- mittee of the Russian Bible Society to prepare a translation of the Gospels in the Ossitinian dialect. Mr. Jalgusidse's services were accepted by the committee, and a correspondence was entered into with the Exarch of Georgia, whose co-operation in so important an undertaking was considered desirable. The version was commenced without delay by Mr. Jalgusidse, but he confined it to the Gospels, which he translated chiefly from Armenian.   His production was submitted to the inspection of competent persons, and after having been carefully compared with the original under the immediate superinten- dence of the Archbishop Jonas, it was presented for examination to the Synod.   Its publication was strongly recommended by the Synod, and the committee of the Russian Bible Society resolved, in consequence, to print an edition of 2000 copies at Moscow, under the inspection of the Branch Com- mittee of that city.   The work was ordered to be put to press in 1824, but, from the suspension of the Russian Bible Society, no further intelligence has been received concerning it, and it appears certain that, even if the printing was completed, it was never put into circulation.   The Ossitinians are there- fore, in all probability, still unprovided with a version of any part of Scripture in their own language."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only]

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