maintained by the United Bible Societies for the Baltic Romani Mission

Baltic Romani

This Romani Bible is translated from the Hebrew and Greek interlinear texts into the Balt-Slavonic (Belarus-Lithuanian) Romani dialect, which belongs to the Baltic Romani language group. The Baltic Roma are scattered over a huge area, ranging from the borders of Germany and Poland to the edge of Siberia near the Pacific Ocean. They make up the main Roma population in Russia, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Kazakhstan. Baltic Roma can also be found in Ukraine, Moldova, Finland and China, where they live alongside other Roma. The Baltic Roma are characterised by similar ethnic and cultural traditions. They speak similar dialects and sub-dialects, which are all mutually understandable. The Baltic Roma are divided into different ethnic sub-groups, based on their dialects and sub-dialects, their parental origin, ancestral history, and “self-definition”. Those sub-groups are known under different names, which derive from their respective dialect or sub-dialect, paternal family origin, family clan΄s name, and domicile. Within every sub-group, different titles (nicknames based on family origin) are used to refer to the individual clans. There have been several attempts to translate God΄s Word into Baltic-Romani dialects.

Baltic Romani Bible

The following list gives a brief overview of publications of the Bible and religious literature in different Baltic-Romani dialects.

– In 1933, the Roma missionary Janis Leimanis (1886–1954) translated the Gospel of John, the Lord΄'s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments into the Latvian Romani (Chúkhno) dialect. His translations were published in Riga.

– In 1990, religious poems reflecting biblical truth, written by the Polish Rom Kororо Mursh (Blind Valiant), were published by Roma Publications, Chandigarh, India.

– In 1993, the poet and translator Dzura Makhotin had his book “The Story About Jesus”, written in the combined Northern-Russian / Vlakh Romani dialect, published by the printing house Dzhudеs, Tver, Russia.

– In 1996, V. Kalinin and T. Voytsekhovskaya published their translation of Matthew΄s Gospel in Balt-Slavonic Romani in Vitebsk, Belarus.

– In 1999, the Gospel of Matthew in Lithuanian Romani and the Gospel of John in Balt-Slavonic Romani, both translated from the Greek originals, were published by GBV Dillenburg, Germany.

– In 2000, the Latvian Bible Society (L.B.B.), Riga, published Luke΄s Gospel in Latvian Romani. This translation was completed by V. Kalinin and Karlis Rudevichs, based on a rough script by Janis Neilands (1919–1999), who had translated the text into his native Latvian Romani Kurzemiaki dialect in 1994.

– In 2001, GBV Dillenburg, Germany, published the New Testament / Psalms / Proverbs in Balt-Slavonic (Belarus-Lithuanian) Romani, translated by V. Kalinin.

– In 2014, the complete Bible was published by DCL, Biel, and MiDi Bible, Préverenges, Switzerland. This translation into Balt-Slavonic (Belarus-Lithuanian) Romani by V. Kalinin comprised not only the Old and New Testaments but also some information on the Roma and their history, plus linguistic supplements and a glossary.

– In 2019, the complete Bible in Baltic Romani was produced in Cyrillic and transliterated into Roman script and entered into the Digital Bible Library.