Book of Iesu
From Almeopedia
The Book of Iesu (so Ivro Iesui) is the second of the holy books of Eleďát; textually it is simply our New Testament, brought to Almea by the Elenicoi. The canonical text is the Old Verdurian translation prepared under the supervision of the Elenicoi themselves; the first version was finished in 2788, and the final version approved in 2827. (The last Elenico patriarch, Sostén, convened a committee to prepare some further revisions, but when he died in 2834 the project was abandoned.)
Though it is read by all Eleďi, it is most closely studied in the eastern patriarchs of Avéla and Kebropol. Since our Old Testament (soî Ivroi Oikumenei) is rarely read, the Eleďi miss most of the prophecies and citations, and have a somewhat vague notion of who the Ebreoi (Jews) were. It's usually assumed that Israél was a large country similar to Cuzei, conquered by Rome much as Caďinas conquered Cuzei.
As part of the Book of Eleď, the Book of Iesu was published in the first printed book on Almea, by Adriano Boďmorey, in 3188.
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Translations
In the patriarchate of Avéla, the canonical text of 2827 is used for all purposes. Spelling was never standardized in Old Verdurian (really Old Avélan in this case, of course), and modern editions use the standard Avéle orthography, which is very close to Mažtane, but with no lexical changes. As the text is more than 650 years old, it is noticeably archaic and offers quite a few difficulties, especially in the epistles (the storytelling of the Gospels is far easier). The ordinary practice is to read an explanatory commentary along with the text.
In Verduria, by contrast, it was usual to write glosses under archaic or Avélan words; for instance, Luke 2:5 describes Mary as Joseph's besya, which meant ‘fiancée’ in OV but ‘girlfriend’ in Mažtane; the word would therefore be glossed cumeliräma. During the Eleďe dynasty, when the quantity of Eleďi greatly increased, it was felt that the archaic language was a burden, and the patriarchate sponsored a translation into modern Mažtane, finished in 3284; this became the standard modern Verdurian translation.
A Kebreni translation was made as early as 2890, and one into Sarroc by 3000. A Barakhinei translation did not appear till 3250, some years after the Barakhinei accepted the Union of 2987. The Benécians translated the Gospels in the 3100s, but did not have a whole Book of Iesu till 3317.
In very recent times the Gospel of Matthew has been translated into Trêng, a language of Téllinor, and isolated chapters have been translated into Bhrumese. No other translations are known, though during a surge of interest in things Verdurian after the Prose Wars, a “Manual of the Northern Religions” was written by a Xurnese scholar which included a fair number of verses translated— crudely, it’s said— into Xurnese.
The apostles
The names of the apostles in Verdurian are Simon Petro, Andrey, Icovo Zebedei, Ihano (Zebedei), Filipo, Varďolo (Naďanél), Tomao, Mateo, Icovo Alfeei, Tadeo, Simon Keže, and Iudá Iscarëte; the latter's replacement was Matia.
Jesus' mother is of course Maria, and her husband Iosif. Maria Magdalene should be easily recognizable.
Component books
- Soa etëlevi i Mateo
- Soa etëlevi i Marco
- Soa etëlevi i Luc
- Soa etëlevi i Ihano
- Soî Mevî voyulië
- Soa pisá Pavelei Romiloin
- Soa perë pisá Pavelei Corintein
- Soa ftorë pisá Pavelei Corintein
- Soa pisá Pavelei Galeten
- Soa pisá Pavelei Efesein
- Soa pisá Pavelei Filipiloin
- Soa pisá Pavelei Colosaen
- Soa perë pisá Pavelei Ďesónen
- Soa ftorë pisá Pavelei Ďesónen
- Soa perë pisá Pavelei Timoďeon
- Soa ftorë pisá Pavelei Timoďeon
- Soa pisá Pavelei Titon
- Soa pisá Pavelei Fiemon
- Soa pisá Ebreoin
- Soa pisá Icovei
- Soa perë pisá Petrei
- Soa ftorë pisá Petrei
- Soa perë pisá Ihanei
- Soa ftorë pisá Ihanei
- Soa tverë pisá Ihanei
- Soa pisá Iudéi
- Soa Dekaši Ihanon
The short name of the epistles (and Acts) are composed of the final dative or genitive, plus an ordinal if any, e.g. Ďesónen 2ë, Ihanei 3ë. The short name for Revelations is Dekaši.
The cities Nëron Pavel wrote to are Rome, Corinto, Galatia, Efeso, Filipoi, Colosai, Ďesónia; the inhabitant names are (singular) Romilo, Corintei, Galatë, Efesei, Filipilo, Colosaë, Ďesónë, formed either from the genitive of the city name, or using the suffix -ilo. The name of the epistle is then formed from the dative plural of these.
Our verse enumeration long postdated the departure of the Elenicoi. The Ivro Iesui is divided into named sections (dunî), corresponding to one to three of our chapters. The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7), for instance, is a single duna named Parna (the mountain). For precision, the individual line number within the duna may be given.
A quotation from the gospel of Ihano
- Translated by So Haleza Grise
Debután esne so Log, er so Log fue cum Aďán, er so Log fue Aď. Ilu fue cum Aďan debután. Ab ilun dësnu tësi šozi, er sam ilun řo dësne suy šoz. Im ilun esne elir, er so elir fue selta uestuin. Er soa selta iluve im šorun, er so šoru řo epne ilat imnižnyen. Esne uestu voyul ab Aďan, nom kë fue Ihano. Ilu žanne še otalmizec, pro otalmizec soan seltan pro dy tësi uesti ab ilun řeď celu.
