Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf (20 December 1655 – 25 January 1712) was a German Pietist, secretary to

Prince George of Denmark Prince George of Denmark ( da, Jørgen; 2 April 165328 October 1708) was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708. The marriage of Georg ...

, and

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

traveller. He is known also as a linguist.

Life

Ludolf was the nephew of

Hiob Ludolf Hiob or Job Ludolf ( la, Iobus Ludolfus or '; 15 June 1624– 8 April 1704), also known as Job Leutholf, was a German orientalist, born at Erfurt. Edward Ullendorff rates Ludolf as having "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship". L ...

the linguist. He acted as a Danish and as an English diplomat. A friend of

August Hermann Francke August Hermann Francke (; 22 March 1663 – 8 June 1727) was a German Lutheran clergyman, theologian, philanthropist, and Biblical scholar. Biography Born in Lübeck, Francke was educated at the Illustrious Gymnasium in Gotha before he studie ...

, he travelled to Russia in the 1690s. He had persuaded Francke that the territories related to the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

were important for the future. Gottfried Leibniz saw the importance of Ludolf's efforts on an even larger scale, bridging the gap to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Ludolf was also one of the founders of the

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

in London, and with Anton Wilhelm Böhme linked it to Francke's organisations in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

Works

Ludolf's ''Grammatica Russica'' was published at Oxford in 1696. This Russian grammar had an introduction that showed, among other remarks, that Russian-speakers themselves distinguished between the spoken

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

, and

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...

.J. A. Dunn, ''What Was Ludolf Writing About?'', The Slavonic and East European Review Vol. 71, No. 2 (Apr., 1993), pp. 201-216. Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4211207

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludolf, Heinrich Wilhelm 1655 births 1712 deaths German diplomats German orientalists German Protestants German male non-fiction writers