Gáspár Heltai (born as Kaspar Helth) (''c''. 1490–1574) was a

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...

writer and printer. His name possibly derives from the village Heltau ( hu, Nagydisznód, today

Cisnădie Cisnădie (; german: Heltau; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Hielt''; hu, Nagydisznód) is a town in Sibiu County, Transylvania, central Romania, approximately south of Sibiu (german: Hermannstadt). One village, Cisnădioara (german: Michelsb ...

, Romania). Despite being a German native speaker he published many books in Hungarian from his print-shop. The brother of his son-in-law was

Ferenc Dávid Ferenc Dávid (also rendered as ''Francis David'' or ''Francis Davidis''; born as Franz David Hertel, c. 1520 – 15 November 1579) was a Unitarian preacher from Transylvania, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, and the lea ...

, Nontrinitarian and Unitarian preacher and the founder of the

Unitarian Church of Transylvania The Unitarian Church of Transylvania ( hu, Erdélyi Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană din Transilvania), also known as the Hungarian Unitarian Church ( hu, Magyar Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană Maghiară), is a Christian ...

Career

He studied at

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

and he established the first print shop in

Kolozsvár ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , le ...

(now

Cluj-Napoca, Romania ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , le ...

). He also founded a public bath, a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

and the first

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

in the town. He was at the same time a pastor, translator, printer, publisher, writer and businessman. He is considered the first religious reformer of Kolozsvár. He was a great spirit of Hungarian Unitarian

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Together with a group of scholars he produced an almost complete translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

into Hungarian. His work marked the first buds of a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

literature in Hungary.

Bonfini translation

Heltai's most voluminous work is his reworking and translation of Antonio Bonfini's ''Rerum Hungaricum Decades'' ("''Ten Volumes of Hungarian Matters''"), which Heltai published in 1575 as ''Chronica az magyaroknak dolgairól'' ("''Chronicle of the Hungarians’ Past Deeds''"). The work was printed in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca).

References

Relevant literature

*Forgács-Drahota, Erzsébet (2000) Sprichwörter in den Werken von Gáspár Heltai. ''Acta Ethnographica Hungarica'', 45 (3-4). pp. 337–357. ISSN 1216-9803

External links

* *The text of the New Testament translation of Heltai in its original orthographic form is available and searchable in th
Old Hungarian Corpus
16th-century Hungarian historians 16th-century printers Hungarian Unitarians Translators of the Bible into Hungarian Translators to Hungarian Hungarian writers Hungarian chronicles Hungarian chroniclers Hungarian-German people Transylvanian-Saxon people University of Wittenberg alumni Hungarian expatriates in Germany People from Sibiu County 1490 births 1574 deaths 16th-century businesspeople of the Holy Roman Empire {{Hungary-hist-stub