Berber Version of the Holy Scriptures
Berber Version Of The Holy Scriptures The whole of the interior of Northern Africa is inhabited by the Berbers, representatives of the ancient Libyan race. They are divided into several distinct nations, of which the principal are the Amazigh or Berbers of Northern Atlas; the Shellahs, who inhabit the southerin part of the same mountain chain; the Kabyles of the Algerine and Tunisian mountains; and the Tuarick tribes of Siwah, Sokna, and the Western desert.
A translation of the first twelve chapters of St. Luke into the Algerine- Berber (or Showiah) dialect of the Berber language spoken by the Kabyle tribes was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1833, from a MS. which included the four Gospels and the book of Genesis, and which was purchased by the society of Mr. Hodgson, American consul at Algiers. This is the only part hitherto published. See Bible of Every Land, p. 403. (B. P.)