Georg Mancelius ( lv, Georgs Mancelis, born 24 June / 4 July 1593 in Grenzhof (now
Mežmuiža in
Augstkalne Parish),
Courland; died 17 March 1654 in
Mitau
Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united ...
) was a
Baltic German
Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...
Lutheran theologian in what is now
Latvia. He wrote the first dictionary of the
Latvian language
Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well ...
. From 1635 to 1636 he was Vice Rector of the
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...
and from 1636 Rector.
Selected works
* 1619 - ''De terrae motu'' (earthquake of 30 June 1616 in Zemgale)
* 1631/1643 - ''Vademecum'' (guide to spiritual texts in Latvian)
* 1638 - ''Lettus, das ist Wortbuch sampt angehengtem täglichem Gebrauch der Lettischen Sprache''. Riga, 1638 (long title: ''Lettus, Das ist Wortbuch, Sampt angehengtem täglichem Gebrauch der Lettischen Sprache; Allen vnd jeden Außheimischen, die in Churland, Semgallen vnd Lettischem Liefflande bleiben, vnd sich redlich nehren wollen, zu Nutze verfertigt durch GEORGIVM MANCELIVM Anno M. DC. XXXVIII'')
* 1654 - ''Langgewünschte Lettische Postill'' (Latvian Sermon Book), reissued in 1699, 1746, 1769, 1823
References
Further reading
* Kristi Viiding: ''Das Porträt eines liv- und kurländischen orthodoxen Theologen (Georg Mancelius), anhand der ihm gewidmeten Geleit und Begrüßungsgedichte.'' In: Udo Sträter (ed.): ''Orthodoxie und Poesie.''
Evangelische Verlagsanstalt
The Evangelische Verlagsanstalt (EVA) is a denominational media company founded in Berlin in 1946. Its shareholders are the and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony. The managing director is Sebastian Knöfel.
Book publisher
The range inc ...
Leipzig 2004
* Johann Friedrich von Recke, Karl Eduard Napiersky: ''Mancelius (Georg)''. In: ''Allgemeines Schriftsteller- und Gelehrten-Lexikon der Provinzen Livland, Esthland und Kurland''. 1831, pp. 152–15
Google Books* Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: ''Lexikon der deutschsprachigen Literatur des Baltikums und St. Petersburgs''. Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. Bd.2, pp. 883–885.
1593 births
1654 deaths
People from Tērvete Municipality
People from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Baltic-German people
Latvian theologians
Grammarians from Germany
Rectors of the University of Tartu
{{theologian-stub