Sources on Haylu, the translator of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Ittu-Oromo
BFBS Report 82 (1886), p. 414:
“Ittu-Galla. – A version of the Gospel of St. Matthew has been prepared, at the suggestion of Professor Reinisch, of Vienna, by Hajlu, a Galla freedman from Harar. Hajlu was trained by the Swedish missionaries at Massowah, and afterwards travelled with Professor Reinisch in Africa as his servant. The Committee have agreed to purchase the version on the approval of Professor Reinisch, to whom they already owe two new versions, the Bogos and the Falasha-Kara.”
Literature on Haylu, an Oromo associated with the Swedish Evangelical Mission in Massawa
1) Arén, Evangelical Pioneers
The translator of this Gospel might be the “Hailu” who participated in the second Oromo expedition in 1881/82. Cf. Arén, Evangelical Pioneers:
p. 250: “Preparations for the expedition were well under way when Onesimos returned from abroad in the autumn of 1881. In his company was Mr. A. W. Påhlmann (1852-1931), a classmate who had volunteered to go with him. Then there was a young highlander named Hailu. In 1877 Hailu had desired to accompany Nigusé Tashu to Jimma but was insuffciently trained.
- fn. 9: Emelie Lundahl to Board, 1879.01.07, in SEM Missions-Tidning 1879, 35.
Now aged twenty-one [i.e., Hailu was born around 1860], he could join the second expedition as an ordained evangelist.
- fn. 10: SEM / E I 24.181: Arrhenius, 1881.11.08.
A recently baptized young Oromo, named Filipos, became its fifth member.
- fn. 11: […] For the age of Hailu and of the 19-year-old Filipos, see SEM/E I 24.141: Lundahl, 1880.03.04.
The party included two women. As a final preparation for the journey, Onesimos married Mihiret Hailu from Gojam […, p. 251]. Hailu similarly married Sematu, a girl from Aksum Tsion of the same age as Mihiret.”
p. 252: “[At Khartoum] Mr Hansal, the Austrian consul, introduced the visitors to the Egyptian governor-general […]”
p. 257: “[At Khartoum] Hailu and Sematu suffered from repeated attacks of fever and had to be sent back to Imkullu as soon as possible. They left Khartoum just after the middle of May [1882], together with Påhlman.”
Further reading
Arén, Gustav. Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978. [View online]
Beskow, Gustaf Emanuel. Den svenska missionen i Ost-Afrika. Vol. 1. Stockholm: EFS, 1884. [Reprint 1888 [see pp. 267, 271], Archive.org]
—. Den svenska missionen i Ost-Afrika. Vol. 2. Stockholm, 1887. [Non vidi]
Påhlmann, Axel W. “Guvernören Marno och den första gallaexepeditionens vistelse i Famaka år 1882. Ett 40-årsminne [Governor Marno and the first Oromo expedition’s stay in Famagusta in 1882. A 40th anniversary commemoration],” SEM Missions-Tidning, 1922, p. 106-09.
Reinisch, Leo. Die Kafa-Sprache in Nordost-Afrika. [See p. 3; Archive.org]