The Union Igbo Translation

By the close of the 1800s, missionary works had not progressed far into the interior of the Igbo country owing to the limited road access available to the mission agents. However, the Royal Niger Company’s loss of its charter in 1899 and the annexing of the Igbo culture area as part of the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria changed the situation. According to Isichei (1973: 153), the development of colonial rule and its gradual spread over Igboland

helped the spread of mission work by improving communications and creating a context of ‘law and order’ … [which led] to missionary penetration of the whole Ibo interior in years to come. The spread of colonial rule gave missions a new prestige and authority, for now towns invited them in the hope of obtaining friends and advocates vis-à-vis their new rulers.

Fulford (2002: 463) adds that “[t]he advances won by imperial arms brought greater facility and safety of travel, and protection for converts and churches.”

Furthermore, during this same period, other Christian missions had been established in different parts of Igboland and there was fierce competition among them. These missions include the Roman Catholic Missions (RCM) based at Asaba and Onitsha, the then United Presbyterian Missionary Society based at Old Calabar, the Primitive Methodists based at Uzuakoli, in addition to the existing Lower Niger CMS mission at Onitsha and the breakaway Niger Delta Pastorate in Bonny (Fulford 2002: 464). There was some urgency to reach more Igbo converts before other competing missions would do so, and Bible translation was seen as a veritable tool for this campaign. At this period, translations of the Scriptures were being made by the Presbyterians as well as the CMS and the Delta churches (Fulford 2002:464).

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Now, as the early Christian missionaries had not penetrated the Igbo interior, they did not realize the extent of the dialectal differences among the Igbo communities. This realization, facilitated by the spread of colonial rule, created the need to have translations of the Bible that would be understood by a larger number of the Igbo population. Thus, Archdeacon Dandeson Crowther wrote to the BFBS suggesting that the Bible be translated into Isuama Igbo. His argument was that Isuama Igbo “extended from Bonny eastwards to Bende and Arochuku and as far north as the 'back of Onitsha'-the southern hinterland of the Onitsha district”, all of which, he believed, constituted “the Ibo kingdom proper” (Fulford 2002:

465). Herbert Tugwell, the Bishop of West Africa, acquiesced to this and Crowther was authorized to embark on this translation into Isuama Igbo. One might add that Archdeacon Crowther’s choice of Isuama might have been influenced by his father, Bishop Crowther’s earlier support of and works on Isuama Igbo before the latter’s death. However, this project was soon given a moratorium by Tugwell at the instance of Archdeacon Dennis.

In an article published in July 1904, Dennis writes on the need for “a conference of translators from Onitsha, Bonny and the Cross River, to discuss the feasibility of making a translation that will do for the whole Ibo country.” He must have discussed this with Tugwell, for the latter had written a month earlier to the CMS Parent Committee informing them that he had invited Archdeacon Crowther of the Niger Delta Pastorate in Bonny and the Secretary of the Presbyterian mission in Old Calabar to a Conference scheduled for August 1904, the aim of which was to discuss the possibility of one version of the Scriptures for the whole of the Igbo race (Fulford 2002: 465). The Conference was held in October and the delegates included Archdeacon Crowther and Rev. J. Boyle, an African, from the Delta Pastorate, Julius Spencer, George Anyaegbunam and N. Nzekwu, all Igbo-speakers from the CMS Onitsha, and two CMS missionaries based in Onitsha, Smith and Miss E. A. Warner. The conference was chaired by Rev. S. R. Smith. Incidentally, Dennis could not attend the Conference and the Presbyterian mission did not have any delegate present.

Discussions at the Conference centred on the possibility of using either the Onitsha or Isuama dialect for translations for the whole Igbo country. Delegates from each zone resisted the attempt to “impose” another dialect on them and the meeting ended without

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any specific dialect adopted. Thus, it was agreed that translations be produced in the different dialects and Tugwell lifted his moratorium on translations into Isuama.

However, Dennis who had been away when the Conference was held, would not accept the outcome of the conference and thus requested for a second Conference. In a letter to Rev. J.

H. Ritson, Secretary of the BFBS Editorial Sub-Committee, Dennis expressed his confidence that he could convince the Bonny delegates on the need for “a version of the Holy Scripture that will be intelligible to all Ibo readers whatever their dialect” (Goodchild 2003: 138). The goal was that, “eventually our [the CMS Onitsha] work and that of the Delta Pastorate will be one”. This idea of uniformity appealed to the BFBS and they immediately committed funds for the project (Fulford 2002: 468). This second Conference, held in August 1905, was chaired by Tugwell and attended by delegates from the Delta, Onitsha and the Presbyterian station at Unwana. Dennis was also present.

Unlike Bishop Crowther who saw Isuama Igbo as the standard and purest form of the language, and Archdeacon Crowther who believed Isuama to be the dialect with the most spread, Dennis believed Owerri Igbo to be the pure and original dialect of Igbo, and so should be the foundation for the proposed Union Igbo. Fulford (2002: 471) explains that

[t]his conception was the kernel of the idea of Union Ibo. It involved locating the purest example of the language, and translating under its influence, so to speak, yet not into its dialect; rather the utilitarian principle of comprehension by the greatest number would determine the translation of the sense of the text. It was to be a new, mixed dialect based in some sense on the 'parent' Igbo of Owerri.

Dennis’ position was hinged on the belief that although Igbo had (and still has) a lot of dialects many of which are not mutually intelligible, one could still talk about

“the Igbo language”, now dispersed into variant dialects, but possessing sufficient latent coherence for a common translation in a composite dialect.

This was possible thanks to the influence of some lost cultural centre – which is implied in the notion of purity and in the parental language invoked by

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Dennis – whose speech loosely approximated to the speech of the Owerri Igbo. (Fulford 2002: 471)

In a sense, Dennis’ paradigm is not too different from that of the Crowthers, as they seem to agree that a dialect of Igbo is purer and more original than other dialects. However, while the Crowthers believed this to be Isuama supposedly spoken at Bonny, Dennis believed it to be the Owerri dialect. Furthermore, although the Crowthers’ Isuama is a mixed dialect just like Dennis’, Isuama evolved naturally and was spoken in Sierra Leone unlike Dennis’

Union Igbo which would be “created” from different Igbo dialects and used only in writing.

Be that as it may, the Africans at the Conference again opposed the idea of a Union Igbo. For instance, Rev. George N. Anyaegbunam, brother to T. D. Anyaegbunam, raised doubts as to whether the Union translation would be understood at Onitsha, and Dennis countered that regional variations of vocabulary would be included in the margins to aid the readers. The Rev. Boyle of the Delta churches also feared that the Union translation might be so general that no dialect would understand it. To prove the feasibility of the project, the delegates from Onitsha, Bonny and Unwana were made to present translations of John 8: 28 in their respective dialects. As the translation into Unwana was markedly different from the other two, the Unwana version was set aside and a Union translation was made from the Onitsha and Bonny translations. A boy from Onitsha was called in and, with some help, was able to do a back-translation into English. Though not too convinced, the delegates later acquiesced to Dennis’ proposal. It was also agreed that the Unwana dialect be removed from the proposed Union Igbo⁵². Dennis reports to his mother that

[w]e have today completed the Ibo Language Conference, and I personally am deeply grateful to God for His manifest presence and guidance through our sittings. We have been able to see eye to eye on the various matters discussed as I scarcely dared to hope we should. If the unanimous recommendations of the Conference are accepted by the C.M.S. ... it seems

52 They later had to rescind this decision and Unwana dialect was included in the Union translation (Ogharaerumi 1986: 239)

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that my work during the next few years will be to endeavour to produce a translation of the Scriptures which can be used everywhere in this country⁵³. Although Dennis describes the recommendation as “unanimous”, the metaphor of seeing

“eye to eye” indicates that the consensus did not come easily. The prevailing atmosphere at the missions probably affected the outcome: the leadership positions in the missions were manned by European missionaries and so the African delegates had to agree with the position of their superiors. Besides, the fact that the conference was reconvened after a decision was reached the previous year shows that the authorities had already agreed on an agenda and were only trying to give it an image of a consensus. What is more, all of this happened in the wake of the great purge of the African missionaries and the take-over of power by the European agents. So, in a way, the decision making was a legacy of the purge.

It should also be noted that, at this point, Taylor’s translations of portions of the NT as well as translations made by Archdeacon Crowther and his team, all in Isuama dialect, were in circulation. Also in circulation was the translation of the NT and some books of the OT into the Onitsha (Niger) dialect. The Niger NT was then used as the basis for creating the Union Igbo NT, i.e., the Niger NT was re-written into Union Igbo (Bosah 1984: 68).

Furthermore, the Union Igbo NT was translated by a committee set up by Dennis comprising Dennis himself, Anyaegbunam, Onyeabo, Isaac Aneke, and Nzekwu, representing the five major language areas of Owerri, Onitsha, Bonny, Unwana, and Arochukwu (Ekechi 1978: 23). Although Dennis knew Greek and Hebrew, there is no evidence that these Igbo agents were versed in these languages. So, the translations were apparently made from an English based source text and Dennis brought his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew to bear in the revisions of the translations. The task of translating the Union Igbo NT started in October 1906 and was completed in November 1907 and published in 1908.

The reception of the NT of the Union Bible was not encouraging. Some Igbo natives would not read it because it was difficult to comprehend. Thus, a number of steps were taken to

53 Dennis to Mother, August 16, 1905, ACC 89/FI

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enforce its acceptance and use. First, it was adopted by the CMS as the medium of instruction in religious education. Second, the CMS organized classes to teach young people to read in Union Igbo. Sequel to this was the organization of examinations and prizes awarded to the best readers. Over time, owning a copy of the NT became somewhat of a symbol of enlightenment (Ogharaerumi 1986: 246).

However, this was not a pervasive sentiment, as the Onitsha mission continued to resist the Union translation. A test of the Union NT at Onitsha revealed serious resentment for the translation:

They felt that the Union Bible [NT], good as it seemed, would not meet the needs of the speakers of the Onitsha dialect. They recommended the retention of the Onitsha version which had been in circulation for many years. Then they suggested the printing of a bilingual Bible which would incorporate the translations in the Onitsha and Owerri dialects or an Onitsha translation with Owerri in the margin or vice versa. (Ogharaerumi 1986:

251)

When all efforts to persuade the Onitsha missions to accept the Union translation failed, the CMS were forced to print

an edition of 4,000 copies of the adapted Union Version N. T. to be sold at l/6d, or (2) an edition of 4,000 of the old Onitsha Version N.T. [to be sold at l/6d] or (3) permission to print a large edition of the old Onitsha Version N.T.

on trade terms; and (b) 500 copies of the Old Onitsha Version Pentateuch⁵⁴. The translation of the Union Igbo OT which started in May 1909 was completed by May 1911. However, it was not produced until 1913. Like Schön and Taylor before him, Dennis and his team had a lot of difficulty expressing Christian concepts in Igbo. For instance, Dennis reports that they spent a long time in resolving how to express “visit the sins of the fathers upon the children” in Igbo, and that “[m]any of the words with which we get hung up in the part of the Bible are names of objects entirely unknown in the Ibo Country. We

54 Smith to Kilgour, February 3, 1912, BFBS Editorial Dept. Igbo File (quoted in Ogharaerumi 1986: 254)

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are compelled to transliterate at times and at other times manage by a sort of paraphrase”⁵⁵. In other words, their translational problems included finding the appropriate terms for Christian concepts like sin as well as for items not found in the Igbo culture area and thus for which there were no terms in Igbo.

In the meantime, attitudes towards the Union Igbo Bible remained largely negative.

Ogharaerumi (1986: 260 – 276) presents the different shapes this resistance took, which would not be necessary to replicate here. Suffice it to highlight an incident that gave the UIB some victory, albeit temporary. At a conference held in 1919 to decide the future of the UIB, delegates from Onitsha and Awka spoke against the translation. In response, Rev. F. W.

Dodds of the Primitive Methodist Mission remarked that “if the Awka and Onitsha people had such difficulty in reading and understanding the U.I. Version, then all he could say was that they showed themselves to be less intelligent than the rest of the Ibos”⁵⁶. This rather intimidating challenge silenced the opposing voices at the conference.