Jurij Dalmatin ( – 31 August 1589) was a Slovene

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

minister, reformer, writer and translator. He translated the complete Bible into Slovene.

Life

Born in

Krško Krško (; german: Gurkfeld) is a town in eastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the City municipality of Krško. The town lies on the Sava River and on the northwest edge of the Krško Plain ( sl, Krško polje), which is part of the larger Krka Flat ...

, Dalmatin came from a Dalmatian family. Until the age of 18, he studied under the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

teacher and grammarian

Adam Bohorič Adam Bohorič () ( – after 20 November 1598) was a Slovene Protestant preacher, teacher and author of the first grammar of Slovene. Bohorič was born in the market town of Reichenburg in the Duchy of Styria (now Brestanica in Slov ...

. Dalmatin next studied in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

and

Bebenhausen Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the ci ...

south of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

. In August 1566 he entered the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

, becoming a ''baccalarius'' in March 1569 and a ''magister'' in August 1569. He published his magisterial work ''De catholica et catholicis disputatio'' in 1572. These German studies were funded by Bohorič and the Protestant reformer

Primož Trubar Primož Trubar or Primus Truber () (1508 – 28 June 1586) was a Slovene Protestant Reformer of the Lutheran tradition, mostly known as the author of the first Slovene language printed book, the founder and the first superintendent of the Prote ...

. Dalmatin became a preacher in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

in 1572. He had a wife named Barbara, with whom he had four children: Janez, Katarina, Elizabeta, and Marko. He died in Ljubljana in 1589.

Work

Dalmatin was the author of several religious books, such as ''Karšanske lepe molitve'' (''Beautiful Christian Prayers'', 1584), ''Ta kratki würtemberški katekizmus'' (''The Short Württemberg Catechism'', 1585), and ''Agenda'' (1589). However, his most important achievement is the complete translation of the Bible into Slovene, which he allegedly wrote to a large extent at

Turjak Castle Turjak Castle (; sl, grad Turjak or ''turjaški grad'', german: Burg Ursperg, later ''Burg Auersperg'') is a 13th-century castle located above the settlement of Turjak, part of the municipality of Velike Lašče in the Lower Carniola region of ...

under the protection of the

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

n governor,

Herbard VIII von Auersperg Herbard VIII von Auersperg, Freiherr from 1550, Slovenized as ''Hervard Turjaški'' (15 June 1528 in Vienna – 22 September 1575 near Budačka on the Military Frontier) was a governor of Carniola supporting Protestantism, and an imperial Habsb ...

( sl, Hervard Turjaški), and Herbard's son Christoph von Auersperg, who are said to have provided for the translator Dalmatin a "

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...

"-type sanctuary as had been offered to

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

by Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony. This, however, is refuted as pure legend. The original title of Damatin's translation was ''Bibilija, tu je vse svetu pismu stariga inu noviga testamenta, slovenski tolmačena skuzi Jurija Dalmatina'' (The Bible: That Is, the Entire Holy Scripture of the Old and the New Testament, Translated into Slovene by Jurij Dalmatin), and it was published in 1583, printed in the

Bohorič alphabet The Bohorič alphabet ( sl, bohoričica) was an orthography used for Slovene between the 16th and 19th centuries. Origins Its name is derived from Adam Bohorič, who codified the alphabet in his book ''Articae Horulae Succisivae''. It was print ...

. The translation set the norm for the Slovene

standard language A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...

(with later innovations in

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

) until the first half of the 19th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalmatin, Jurij 1540s births 1589 deaths 16th-century Carniolan writers 16th-century Lutheran clergy 16th-century translators Carniolan Lutherans Carniolan translators Translators of the Bible into Slovene People from Krško Carniolan Lutheran writers Carniolan Lutheran theologians

Life

Work

See also

References