Chronological overview of Zännäb’s life and work
This overview is mainly based on Smidt’s article on Zännäb in the Encyclopaedia Aethiopia and Punkhurst’s essay on “The Beginnings of Oromo Studies in Europe” (see bibliography).
Note that there are different spellings of Zännäb [ዘነበ] in English and German literature (Zanab, Zaneb, Zenub, Sanab, etc.).
Upbringing
around 1825: Zännäb was born in Ifat (the area east of the Shewan highlands and west of the Awash River). It seems that he had a brother called Mäsqal, a däbtära like Zännäb himself.
Maqdala [Amba Mariam] and surroundings
(ca. 1856 until April 1868)
about 1857: Zännäb became acquainted with the Amharic Bible
1858-59: Zännäb turned to a Bible-centred faith. Kienzlen and Mayer were important companions on his spiritual journey. Flad taught him English.
- At Amba Mariam (aka Maqdala), Zännäb showed Flad a passage in the legal code Fetha Negest which states that at the time when Frumentius introduced Christianity in Abyssinia, half the population were Jews and the others were snake worshippers.
until ca. 1860: As a scribe of the King, Zännäb wrote a Chronicle of the Reign of Emperor Tewodros II. (The account ends in 1859.)
Zännäb held regular Bible studies and prayer meetings with some soldiers.
1864/65: Zännäb compiled a collection of proverbs and aphorisms (probably the earliest work of secular Amharic literature except royal chronicles).
1868: Zännäb served as the Keeper of the Royal Archives. The Medhane Alem church hosted more than 1000 Ge’ez manuscripts which Tewodros had taken from churches in Gondar etc.
Travel to Su’ez and stay in Massawa
(1868-69)
After the fall of Amba Mariam in April 1886, aläqa Zännäb travelled to Suez. He served Prince Alemayehu Tewodros as a tutor for his Amharic studies. Ousted by Captain Speedy, Zännäb had to return to Massawa. There he stayed with Werner Munzinger.
September 1868: Krapf reported that he had received Zännäb’s Oromo version of the Four Gospels [and the Psalter] in the summer of 1868 through Martin Flad. According to Darlow & Moule, Flad had asked Zännäb to translate these Biblical texts into Oromo.
Adwa
(1869-70)
March 1869: Zännäb arrived in Adwa (cf. letter in Smidt, Briefe 1). Johannes Mayer and Christian F. Bender worked as Bible colporteurs for the British & Foreign Bible Society. Zännäb organised and led a circle of Bible readers.
- Did Mayer and Bender also teach at a school?
1869‒70 [1861‒62 A.M.]: Zännäb sent letters with reform proposals to the young king of Shewa, Menelik, who had lived in Amba Mariam from 1855 to 1865 (e.g. educating the population in agriculture and opening trade routes via Harar).
June 1870: Krapf reported that he had received Zännäb’s Oromo translation of the entire New Testament.
Seqota
(March – May 1872)
1872: Together with the Maier family, Zännäb was detained by Ras Ali Birru in Seqota for 2 months (until freed by King Menelik of Shewa)
Near Ankober
(1872-7x)
Upon invitation of King Menelik II, Maier and his co-workers settled in the Ankober area and taught school children in the morning hours.
1872: The Oromo version of the Psalter and Genesis were printed in St. Chrischona. [The manuscripts seem to have been brought to Europe by Martin Flad in 1871.]
Warra Illu (187x -76?)
King Menelik was interested in having the entire Old Testament translated into Oromo and commissioned Zännäb to do so. For the first drafts, Zännäb relied on mother-tongue speakers. They included Sholan, Waaree, Jagan and Gäbre Maryam.
By 1875, the translation of the books Exodus and Joshua were drafted. The Oromo title page of Exodus suggests that Zännäb no longer lived in the same town as the European missionaries, but had settled in Warra Illu.
1876: King Menelik ordered Zännäb to translate the Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel. A copy was prepared to be sent to Krapf for revision after the Hebrew source.
Aläqa Zännäb passed away in October 1876. Maier wrote that Greiner took Zännäb’s manuscripts (Arén, Pioneers, p. 448). It appears that Zännäb’s manuscripts did not reach Europe.
- Greiner’s “assistant”, Yooseef Gaaluu, translated the prophetical books of the Old Testament. It is, therefore, likely that Zännäb had not translated this part of the Old Testament. Greiner’s manuscripts were stolen at Tadjoura on his way to Europe in 1886.
Further reading
» Bibliography with links
» Selected letters by Zännäb
» Excerpts on Zännäb
» BFBS Monthly Reporter (1869) on Bible meetings in Adwa etc.
» Zännäb’s co-translators