Morrison-Milne Version

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Morrison-Milne Version (CMNMMV)

Overview

The Morrison-Milne Version (known in Chinese as 神天聖書, “Shéntiān Shèngshū”) is the first complete Protestant Bible in Chinese, published in 1823 in Malacca by the Anglo-Chinese College. [1] The translation was the work of Robert Morrison (1782–1834), the first Protestant missionary to China, and his colleague William Milne (1785–1822), both serving under the London Missionary Society. [2] Morrison arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1807 and completed the New Testament by 1813, publishing it the following year. [2] Milne joined Morrison in 1813, and the two worked together to translate the Old Testament, completing the entire Bible by 1819. [3] Publication was delayed until 1823 because moveable metal type was unavailable in Malacca, requiring the time-consuming preparation of woodblocks, and Milne’s death in 1822 left Morrison to oversee the final stages alone. [3] The complete work was issued in 21 volumes. [4] Although Joshua Marshman and Joannes Lassar published a competing Chinese Bible from Serampore slightly earlier, the Morrison-Milne version became the more widely used translation among Protestant missionaries in China. [3]

Language and People

Mandarin Chinese (ISO 639-3: cmn) is spoken by approximately 918,000,000 people in China. [Glottolog: mand1415]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by British and Foreign Bible Society.

References