Faye Edgerton
Faye Elva Edgerton | |
---|---|
Born | 26 March 1889 Little Blue Township, Adams County, Nebraska |
Died | 4 March 1968 |
Occupation | Bible translator |
Faye Elva Edgerton (Navajo: translated as: "The One Who Understands.") (26 March 1889 – 4 March 1968) was a missionary, linguist and Bible translator with
Early life and education
Edgerton was born in Nebraska, she became a Christian when she was 10 years old. After graduating from high school she went to Chicago to study music. She became very sick there with Scarlet fever, and went deaf. She recovered, however, and regained her hearing. After that incident she attended and graduated from Moody Bible Institute. Linguistic training began in 1943 with the Summer Institute of Linguistics taught by Drs. Kenneth L. Pike and Eugene A. Nida. Eugene Nida personally mentored Edgerton in her early linguistic inquiries.[1] She continued with full-time field work and intensive summer studies with other linguists. In 1958 she participated in a seminar on the Athapaskan languages of North America held in Norman, OK under Dr. Harry Hoijer. The following year she prepared for publication her findings on the sentence structure in Western Apache. In 1964 she also participated in a translation workshop in Ixmiquilpan, Mexico. with Dr. Robert Longacre.[2]
Korea
In 1918 Edgerton set out for
After she arrived back in the United States she spent some time with her father, who was dying. Her father died in December 1923. The Presbyterian board in early 1924 assigned Edgerton to work at a school in Ganado, Arizona, on a Navajo reservation. It was believed that the climate would help her sinus problem, because of her frail health she also wasn't permitted to go far from medical aid, and so Korea wasn't an option.
At the school she noticed that kids weren't allowed to speak Navajo, except for a short time after supper. She learned Navajo however, and increasingly became aware that the Navajo people needed the Bible in their own language. After taking a course at the
In 1944 she decided to leave the Presbyterian mission and joined
It is the largest piece of Navajo literature, and became an instant bestseller among the tribe. This work also resulted in a revival of the Navajo language, that many had previously sought to extinguish.[4]
Apache New Testament
After translating the Navajo New Testament, Edgerton learned Apache, and together with Faith Hill translated the New Testament into the
Manuscripts and translation notes are held at Northern Arizona University.[6] She also helped some with the Hopi and the Inupiat/Eskimo New Testaments.
Bibliography
- Ethel Emily Wallis, God Speaks Navajo: The Moving Story of Faye Edgerton, New York: Harper & Row Publishers (1968)
- Faye Edgerton, "Relative frequency of direct discourse and indirect discourse in Sierra Chontal and Navajo Mark." (1964)
- Faye Edgerton, "The tagmemic analysis of sentence structure in Western Apache." (1963)
- Faye Edgerton, "Some translation problems in Navaho." (1962)
References
- ^ Ethel Emily Wallis, God Speaks Navajo, (New York: Harper & Row, 1968) p. 76.
- ^ Wallis, pp. 126, 129.
- ^ Reports of the Boards. 1919.
- ^ Wallis, pp. 116–121.
- ^ Bible Translation Day Archived 2008-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ NAU manuscript collection #157