Heinrich Stahl (pastor)

An introduction to the Esthnian language , H. Stahl, 1637

Heinrich Stahl - after another reading Stahell - (* 1600 in Tallinn , † June 7 ^{. Jul} / 17th June  1657 ^greg. In Narva ) was a German-Estonian pastor and writer. He is considered the founder of Estonian church literature and the "father" of the Estonian written language.

Life

Heinrich Stahl studied theology at the universities of Rostock , Greifswald and Wittenberg . From 1623 he was pastor in northern Estonia. He was a pastor in the parishes of Peetri , Järva-Madise and Kadrina (Eng. Sankt Katharinen ). In 1627 he was appointed provost of Järvamaa , a district in central northern Estonia. Later he was senior pastor at the Tallinn Cathedral and from 1641 provost of Ingermanland and Alutaguse . His seat was in Narva , where he died of the plague in 1657.

Works

• 1632 Hand and house book for the pastors and house fathers of the Estonian principality, first part… Riga: Gerhard Schröder. (contains Martin Luther's Small Catechism )
• 1637 Hand and house book for the parishioners and house fathers of the Estonian principality, Ander Theil… Revall: Christoff Reusner (contains a hymn book ).
• 1637 reference to the Esthnian language. Revall: Chr. Reusner the elder.
• 1638 Hand and house book for the pastors and house fathers of the Estonian principality, third part ... Revall: Chr. Reusners Sel. Post-mortem Widwen Drückerey. (contains gospels and epistles)
• 1638 Hand and house book for the pastors and house fathers of the Estonian principality, Vierdter and last part… Revall: Chr. Reusners Sel. Post-mortem Widwen Drückerey. (contains psalms and prayers)
• 1641 Leyen Spiegel, in which it is recently shown how a simple Christian ... [Winter Partil]. Revall: Heinrich Westphal.
• 1649 Leyen Spiegel, in which it is recently shown how a simple Christian ... [summer part]. Revall: Heinrich Westphal.

meaning

Since there were only a few written Estonian texts before Stahl, he is rightly considered the founder of the Estonian written language. His spelling was of course heavily based on German (and partly Latin), which was not always suitable for Estonian. This evil was only remedied in a thorough reform in the middle of the 19th century. Since Stahl produced many texts compared to his predecessors (and also successors), many of which were reprinted, he exerted a great influence on the development of Estonian writing. This can already be seen from the dedication poem in the opening credits of the grammar from 1637, which Timotheus Polus , poetics professor at Tallinn Gymnasium, wrote:

Who can speak Esthnian / and cannot pray /

I / Mr. Stahl / taught it by letter

The catechism = teaching

From the beginning to the last

You have to God's glory

Translated into Estonian.

Of particular importance is Stahl's grammar from 1637, which was the first grammatical description of Estonian. More precisely, this is a textbook for foreigners, because the Lutheran pastors who were supposed to preach Estonian were often not Estonians and therefore had to learn the language first. As was customary at the time, the grammar is based on the Latin model and therefore does not recognize the peculiarities of Estonian, which has a different structure than the Finno-Ugric language . As a result, Estonian only has six cases here like Latin, although the 14 cases that are common today were also used in the 17th century. Stahl's solution was that his ablative , which he knew from Latin grammar, had several different forms (!). Another peculiarity of the grammar is that it was written in German, since grammars were normally written in Latin in the 17th century. Stahl probably doubted his colleagues' knowledge of Latin and wrote his instructions in German to be on the safe side. It was a language he could assume anyone could speak.

Trivia

According to a relevant historical book source, Stahl's book Kurtze and Simple-Minded Questions, concerning the basic pieces of Christianity, was published in Riga in 1630 with a German-Estonian parallel text. Apart from the source mentioned there, the foreword to the North Estonian translation of the New Testament from 1715, nothing is known about the book, so that this is probably a ghost publication.

Literature on steel

• Paul Ariste: Saksa laensõnad Heinrich Stahli eesti keeles . In: Emakeele Seltsi Aastaraamt , Vol. 9 (1963), pp. 85-118.
• Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 1231-1234 .
• Külli Habicht: Eesti vanema kirjakeele leksikaalsest ja morfosüntaktilisest arengust ning Heinrich Stahli keele eripärast selle taustal . Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, Tartu 2001 (= Dissertationes Philologiae Estonicae Universitatis Tartuensis , Vol. 10).
• Cornelius Hasselblatt : History of Estonian Literature. From the beginning to the present . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-11-018025-1 , pp. 126-130.
• Kristel Kikas: Kuidas sai Heinrich Stahli saksa-eesti sõnastikust (1637) eesti-saksa sõnastik ja mida see sisaldab . In: Emakeele Seltsi Aastaraamt , vol. 46 (2000), pp. 185-223.
• Kristel Kikas: Mida sisaldab Heinrich Stahli Vocabula? Tartu Ülikool, Tartu 2002, ISBN 9985-4-0266-9 (= Tartu Ülikooli Eesti Keele Õppetooli Toimetised, Vol. 21 ); especially examines Heinrich Stahl's reference to the Esthnian language , with a summary in German.
• OAF Lönnbohm: H. Stahl'in, Viron kirjakielen perustajan kielestä . o. O. 1881 (handwriting in the Kotimaisten kalten tutkimuskeskus, Helsinki)
• Piret Lotman: Heinrich Stahli elu ja looming . Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu, Tallinn 2014 (= Acta Bibliothecae Nationalis Estoniae , vol. 14).
• Raimo Raag: Mis oli õieti esimese eesti keele grammatika autori nimi? In: Keel ja Kirjandus , vol. 45 (2002), pp. 183–192.
• Raimo Raag: Henricus Stahell: clergyman and language codifier in Estonia . In: Klaus Garber , Martin Klöker (eds.): Cultural history of the Baltic countries in the early modern period. With a view of the modern age . Niemeyer, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-484-36587-0 , pp. 337-362 (= early modern times , vol. 87).
• Huno Rätsep: Heinrich Stahli keeleõpetus oma aja peeglis . In: Keel ja Kirjandus , vol. 30 (1987), pp. 709-715.
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Heinrich Stahl. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital

Single receipts

1. ↑ Raimo Raag: Mis oli õieti esimese eesti keele grammatika autori nimi? In: Keel ja Kirjandus , vol. 45 (2002), pp. 183–192.
2. ↑ See the entry of Heinrich Stahl's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal
3. ↑ Bernd Nielsen-Stokkeby : Baltic memories . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1990, pp. 51-52.
4. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: History of Estonian Literature . De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, p. 127.
5. ^ Raimo Raag: Henricus Stahell: clergyman and language codifier in Estonia . In: Klaus Garber, Martin Klöker (eds.): Cultural history of the Baltic countries in the early modern period . Tübingen 2003, p. 338.
6. ↑ Endel Annus: Eestikeelne raamat 1525-1850 . (= Eesti retrospektiivne rahvusbibliograafia , Vol. I), Tallinn 2000, p. 62.
7. ↑ Raimo Raag: Mõtteid eestikeelsete varatrükiste bibliograafia ilmumise puhul . In: Keel ja Kirjandus , Vol. 44 (2001), pp. 586-590.

Web links

• Stahl, Heinrich . In: East German Biography (Kulturportal West-Ost)
• Leyen Spiegel Treasures of the European National Libraries - Estonia, The European Library
• Publications by and about Heinrich Stahl in VD 17 .