Johann(es) Gutslaff (died 1657 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

) was a

Baltic-German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were Germans, 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 ...

clergyman, scholar,

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...

enthusiast, Bible translator, and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

collector. He studied at

Greifswald University The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

(1632) and at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

(1634). In 1639 he came to Estonia. There he attended the Faculty of Theology at

Tartu University 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 ...

. At the university, he also studied the

South Estonian language South Estonian, spoken in south-eastern Estonia, encompasses the Tartu, Mulgi, Võro and Seto varieties. There is no academic consensus on its status, as some linguists consider South Estonian a dialect group of Estonian whereas other linguist ...

. From 1641 to 1656 he was a pastor in

Urvaste Urvaste ( vro, Urvastõ) is a village in Antsla Parish, Võru County, in southeastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Before the 2017 Administrative Reform, the village belonged to Urvaste Parish. Tamme-Lauri oak The Tamme-Lauri oak ( et, ...

and there he wrote all his writings. He died in 1657 in Tallinn, being infected by the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

Works

In 1648 he compiled the first grammar of South Estonian: "Observationes grammaticae circa linguam esthonicam". Gutslaff wanted to translate whole Bible into South Estonian. He did not finish the translation. Until today, his translations of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

up to

First Book of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

are preserved. There are also indirect evidences, that some parts 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 ...

were translated by Gutslaff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutslaff, Johannes Baltic-German people Estonian Christian clergy 1657 deaths Year of birth unknown