Amharic translation of Songs of Songs 1–5, commissioned by James Bruce (Gondar, likely in 1770/71):
(adapted from a scan of the Bruce manuscript no. 94
at the Bodleian Library, Oxford)
Note
(1) Source Text
Ge’ez: from MS Bruce 74?
(2) Translators
James Bruce did not reveal the name of the translator.
…
(2) According to William Jowett (1822, p. 201), (Abba) Abraham (c. 1749/50‒1818) interpreted for James Bruce in Gondar in 1771. During the last decade of his life, he translated the Bible into Amharic.
Had he already been involved in the translation of the Song of Songs during his time in Gondar?
(3) Amharic andəmta commentaries under Emperor Iyasu II
Further reading
Bruce, James. Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. 5 vols. London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1790. [View vol. 1 on Archive.org]
Mersha Alehegne. “Biblical Interpretation in Ethiopian Patristic Literature,” in Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity, edited by Eugen J. Pentiuc, pp. 396‒410. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2022. [Google Books]
Cross-reference
» Bruce, On Bible translation
(in Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, vol. 1, 1790)