Andreas Virginius (theologian)

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Andreas Virginius (born February 5, 1640 in the pastorate of Nõo , Livonia ; † 1701 ) was a Baltic German Bible translator and Lutheran theologian . Together with his son, the theologian Adrian Virginius , he translated the New Testament into the South Estonian language .

Life

Andreas Virginius was born as the son of the theologian Adrian Virginius from Wollin in Pomerania , who worked as a pastor in Nõo (German Nüggen ) near Tartu (German Dorpat ).

Andreas Virginius was a pastor in Kambja ( Kamby ) in South Estonia from 1660 to 1701 . In 1688 he was appointed assessor of the Tartu consistory . Virginius was very keen to raise the educational standard of the Livonian rural population and to strengthen the primary school system. In 1686 a school for peasant children opened in Kambja, one of the oldest in the region.

Translation of the New Testament

Virginius was considered one of the best Estonian connoisseurs of his time. Together with his son, who was even more deeply rooted in the language than his father, he translated the New Testament ( Wastne Testament ) into South Estonia. The commission for the translation came from the general superintendent of Livonia, Johann Fischer . The translation appeared in print in 1686 in Riga in 500 copies (second edition Riga 1727). The translation had had twenty editions by 1926.

The full title of the first edition is:

Meije Issanda Jesusse Kristusse Wastne Testament, Echk Jummala Pöhä Sönna, Kumb Perräst ISSANDA JESUSSE KRISTUSSE Sin dung poehist Ewangelist nink Apostlist om ülleskirjotetu. Cum Gratia et Privilegio S [acrae] R [egiae] M [ajestetis] Sueciae. RIGA, printed by Johann Georg Wilcken, Königl. Buchdr. In the year M DC LXXXVI

Virginius' translation, the most comprehensive South Estonian text at the time, had a major influence on the development of a written Estonian language and the level of education of Estonians (a translation of the New Testament into the North Estonian language by Eberhard and Heinrich Gutsleff did not appear until 1715).

In 1689 the distribution of the translation was erroneously forbidden by the Swedish authorities due to a mix-up, but this hardly affected the distribution in practice.

Andreas Virginius has also translated parts of the Old Testament (including 1. Book of Moses , Book of Job , Book of Proverbs ) into South Estonia, as well as the Great Catechism (1684) together with Lorenz Moller († around 1690) and Marcus Schütz (1639–1707 ) and the hymn book Wastne Tarto Mah Keele Laulo Rahmat (1685).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Beyer: The beginning of Dorpater occasional poetry in popular languages. With an edition of three Low German occasional poems by Adrian Verginius from 1638, in: Christoph Schmelz u. Jana Zimdars (ed.): Innovations in the Swedish Empire. A presentation based on case studies (= series of publications by the David Mevius Society, Vol. 3), Hamburg: Dr. Kovač 2009, pp. 181-207
  2. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature. Berlin, New York 2006 ( ISBN 3-11-018025-1 ), pp. 144f.
  3. ↑ Tartu - Kambja - Vana-Kuuste ( Memento from September 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Virginius, Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic German Bible translator and theologian
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1640
PLACE OF BIRTH Nõo , Livonia
DATE OF DEATH 1701