Amarasi language
The Amarasi language has about 80,000 native speakers, with four main dialects called Ro'is, Kotos, Tais Nonof, and Ketun, though many differences exist between individual villages.
Amarasi is a Malayo-Polynesian language with strong Melanesian roots, and additional Dutch and Portuguese influences.
Most Timoric languages are separated into east and west because of the island's conflicted colonial history beginning in the early 16th century.
[3] In 1998, Australian linguist Geoffrey Hull classified Amarasi as a dialect of Uab Meto, rather than its own separate language.
The Melanesian languages Fataluco, Macaçai, and Búnac are still spoken in some parts of East and West Timor to this day.
[4] The Amarasi were a powerful princedom in the west section of Timor during the initial occupation of the Portuguese beginning in the 16th century.
According to legend, a young man named Nafi Rasi, accidentally broke a family heirloom and left his home in East Timor to the west, out of fear of retaliation.
He acquired guns from the Portuguese-Timoric Topasses, and used them to gain power and prestige, collecting a following from his home province of Belu, and forming a lasting dynasty.
[6] By the mid 17th century, the Amarasi had been mostly converted to Catholicism by Dominican missionaries, an influence that has lasted to present day.
For over a hundred years the Amarasi fought against the Dutch in the Kupang area along the west coast of Timor, engaging in "low-scale warfare" and headhunting.
The Topasses were completely defeated, and the Amarasi attempted to retreat to their Portuguese allies, but were cut off by the Dutch East India Company's forces.
After several years, the Amarasi were released from their bondage and allowed to return to their native homes, with the condition that they relinquish any affiliation with the Portuguese, and remain loyal to Dutch interests, which they did until West Timor joined the Republic of Indonesia in the 1940s.
The princedom returned to power for the first few years of the Republic on Indonesia, until in 1962, when "traditional forms of government" were abolished in their region.
Amarasi is a variant on Uab Meto, the language spoken by the geographically and socially adjacent Atoni people, and share many basic vocabulary words.
The main difference between the two languages is that Amarasi lacks the complex grammar and spatial symbolism that Uab Meto is defined by.
This style of translation preserves the original meaning of the Greek, while making it significantly easier for everyday Amarasi people to understand.
