Arbëresh
Arbëresh or Arbërisht is the variety of Albanian spoken by the Arbëreshë people of Southern Italy, called Albanese in Italian. This form of Albanian spoken in Italy is used by people of Albanian descent, who are mainly connected to the Catholic Church of the Greek-Byzantine Rite.
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew (S̆éiti Vangjeγje Sikundre se Matéu), was translated from the Greek text into the Albanian dialect of Piano dei Greci (Hora e Arbëreshëvet) now called Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily by a native of that place.
Editor
It was edited, revised and corrected by Don Demetrio Camarda (1821-1882), author of the Albanian Grammar which he wrote in 1864. Camarda visited Prince Louis Lucien (Luigi Luciano) Bonaparte (1813-1891) at his home in London.
Sponsor
The Sicilian Albanian Arbëresh Gospel of Matthew was commissioned by the philologist Louis Lucien Bonaparte (1813‑1891), a nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte. Louis Lucien Bonaparte moved to London in the early 1850s setting up home at 6‑8 Norfolk Terrace, Bayswater, London. He was fluent in Italian, French, Spanish, English and Basque and became an active member of the Philological Society. Bonaparte was particularly interested in minority languages. He would pay for the printing of many translations of portions of the Bible that he commissioned, in minority languages of Europe. He also commissioned the Gospel of Matthew in Calabrian Arbëresh which was published in 1869.
Publication
The Gospel was printed with the Italian title: Il Vangelo di S. Matteo, tradotto dal testo Greco nel dialetto Albanese di Piani dei Greci in Sicilia da un nativo di questo luogo. Riveduto e corretto da Don Demetrio Camarda, autore della Grammatologia Albanese.
Originally 250 copies were published by Strangeways and Walden of 28 Castle Street in London, in 1868. In the original print each verse is set on a new line, and the first word of each chapter was in capital letters, with the first letter as a large capital.
Digital Edition
This Albanian Sicilian Arbëresh Matthew 1868 was digitised for the Interconfessional Bible Society of Albania, with the help of MissionAssist in 2023. It was digitised from an original copy given by Louis Lucien Bonaparte, which is at the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) archives at Cambridge University.
