Five Old Bibles at Phuthadikobo MuseumAuthor(s): Derek JonesSource: Botswana Notes and Records, Vol. 40 (2008), pp. 169-171Published by: Botswana SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41236042 .

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Botswana Notes & Records, Volume 40> 2008

Five Old Bibles at Phuthadikobo Museum

Derek Jones§

The Phuthadikobo Museum in Mochudi has five very interesting Bibles in its collection. Three are in Setswana and two in Sesotho. They all date from the late nineteenth century. Nowadays a book's publication details are set out in full on the verso of the title page, but that was not the fashion a century ago. In these Bibles the basics are on the title page, and that is all.

One of these Bibles is special. It is bound in leather on boards, and embossed in gold. Originally it had a hasp so that it could be locked. The folios are loose from Ezekiel on, and missing after 1 Corinthians 15. On the front cover is inscribed -

MORENA LENCOE MOCHULI CHRISTMAS 1896

Morena is an honorific title parallel with Kgosi, and the usage seems more common among the Bakgatla than in the other tribes. The recipient would have been Chief Lentswe I. On the first blank page is written, each in a different handwriting -

Neo ea Baruti [Gift of the Missionaries] Deuteronome 6:4-9. W J Neethling Pesalem 119:105. M S Neethling

Pesalem32::8. DJ Retief I Bakorinta 15:57. D J Joubert

Morena Lencoe had professed the Christian faith in 1892.

The title page is in Setswana [Sechuana], apart from the printer's name and city-

BIBELA EA BOITSEPHO [THE HOLY BIBLE] E E CUTSEN [WHICH CONTAINS]

KGOLAGANO E KHOLUGOLU, LE E NCA [THE OLD TESTAMNENT AND THE NEW]

TSE DI HETOLECWEN MO [WHICH ARE TRANSLATED INTO] PUON EA SECHUANA [THE SETSWANA LANGUAGE]

LONDON: E GATISERICOE PHUTHEGELO EA GO HALALETSA BIBELA MO BERITANEN LE MO

MAHATSIN A MANUE, KE R. CLAYAND SONS, LD, BAGATISI. [PRINTED FOR THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY BY

R CLAYAND SONS LTD, PRINTERS.] 1890

The second Bible is the same edition as the first. It is bound in flexible leather with yapp edges. The folios are detached from the cover, and many individual pages are loose. The inscription on the front cover of this Bible is very faint, but reads KGAFELE LE SEINOAEN PIL ANE AUGUST 1905. They were married on 1 5 August, and this was obviously a gift for the occasion, probably also by the Dutch Reformed missionaries. Kgafela, as the name is usually spelt, was the heir apparent for the chieftainship, but died at the age of 34, before he was enthroned.

§ Derek Jones, OBE, MA (Oxon), Dip Theol (Mansfield).

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Botswana Notes & Records, Volume 40, 2008

The third Setswana Bible is different from the others. Firstly, it was a later printing. Mr R Clay and his sons produced this edition for the BFBS (British Foreign Bible Society) in 1898. Secondly, the page size is octavo instead of the crown octavo of the others. The type size is also smaller. However, the text is identical with the 1890 Bibles. This copy is bound in soft leather with yapp edges. The third difference is that the binding is still intact, and the paper is in good condition.

The orthography used in the 1 890s had changed since it was first devised for the oral Setswana language by missionary Robert Moffat in 1 820. The first publication printed in Setswana was his Bechuana Catechism of 1 826, which included Bible passages. Moffat continued to translate and print sections of the Bible at Kuruman, completing the task in 1857. Setswana was the first sub-Saharan African language to have the Bible printed in it. However, adopting letters to represent sounds is subjective to some extent. What one person hears as r, another might write as /, and yet another as d. The word used for God is an example of this, as Moffat started with Morimo, and changed later to Modimo, while others preferred Molimo. The orthography debate continued throughout the century, and these Bibles demonstrate the stage that had been reached by 1890.

In 1908 Alfred Wookey of the London Missionary Society and his team produced a version of the Setswana Bible for the BFBS, carrying the revision a further stage. His orthography was accepted by the relevant education authorities in 1910, and became the standard for ethnic Botswana from Kimberley to Kasane. In the 1930s the universities came on the scene, and proposed yet another revision, which came to be known as the 1937 Setswana Orthography, and with some subsequent modifications this is the writing system we use today. The Wookey Bible was processed into the 1937 style in a further revision produced in 1992 by Pula Press, the team being led by Martin Morolong. This was published by the Bible Society of South Africa.

Here are some examples of the spellings. Remember that the sound has not changed, only the written representation. 1890 first, 2006 next -

Lencoe - ► Lentswe. Mochuli - > Motshodi (though the Place Names Commission permitted the retention of the traditional spelling). Sechuana - ► Setswana. puon - » puong. mi - * mme. ea - ► ya. oa - > wa. Kholagano e Kholugolu le e Nca - ► Kgolagano e Kgologolo le e Ntsha. Morimo o lo oa tlola magorimo le lehatsi mo tsimolohon - ► Modimo o no wa tlhola magodimo le lefatshe mo tshimologong. Seinoaen - » Seingwaeng. Boitshepho illustrates the subjective element. Some people aspirate the p, hence boitshepho; some do not, and the word is usually spelt boitshepo.

The other two Bibles are in Sesotho. Both have leather and board binding. Both were published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, but the printer is not named. The

binding of one is intact, but the spine of the other has disintegrated, and an attempt has been made to repair it. It starts at Exodus 3, and finishes in the Letter of James. What catches the eye in the text is that the lines of print go full measure, and the text is divided into paragraphs with section headings. This format is ahead ofthat in the Setswana Bibles, which are still set two columns to a page, start a new line with each verse, and have no section headings. Unusually, both these Bibles have a title page for the Old Testament and another for the New Testament. In the stronger Bible both give the date 1881. In the other the title page for the OT is missing, but that for the NT is there, and gives the date as 1903. There is a handwritten provenance note in this Bible to say that it was in the possession of Nkomo Josefa Mmampane, who died 'mono Motshodi' [here in Mochudi] in 1946. Mampane's regiment, Makoba, was inaugurated in 1880, using the old rites. Following his conversion, Linchwe discontinued the old initiation rites, the last regiment to be inaugurated in that way was the Makuka in 1902. It is poignant that here was a Lekoba now with his Bible.

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Botswana Notes & Records, Volume 40, 2008

Not many of the possessions of the Tswana chiefs have found their way to museums or other public institutions. These Bibles at the Phuthadikobo Museum are therefore historical artefacts of considerable importance.

Kgosi Linchwe's Bible dated 1896.

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