Johann Philipp Roth

Johann Philip Roth (born November 13 ^{. Jul} / 24. November  1754 ^greg. In Pärnu , † June 13 ^jul. / 25. June  1818 ^greg. In Kanepi ) was one of the first German Baltic literary and popular educators .

education

Johann Philipp Roth was born in Livonia . Age of 14 he went to school to Germany and studied in Halle and Konigsberg theology .

Provost

From 1780 until his death Johann Philipp Roth was pastor in the parish of Kanepi . In 1798 he was appointed provost of Võrumaa in Livonia . From 1803 he was provost of Tartu-Võru responsible for 17 parishes.

Act

In his work Roth dedicated himself to the better education of the rural Estonian population. A revolutionary process for the time. In 1802 he was a co-founder of the Võrumaa Teachers' Convention, a library and a reading ring. In the same year he published a hymn book in the South Estonian language (Võro), the following year a manual for the peasant language.

In 1804 Roth founded the parish school for boys in Kanepi , which was the first of its kind in present-day Estonia. The modern curricula were drawn up in close collaboration with the University of Tartu , which was re-established in 1802 . In December 1811 Roth founded a similar school for girls from poor economic backgrounds at his own expense.

In 1804 Roth had the Livonian peasant code translated into the vernacular language of southern Estonia. From their own reading, the peasants should be able to invoke the rights that the Russian Tsar Alexander I had legally guaranteed them.

Tarto maa rahva Näddali-Leht

In 1806, Roth started the weekly newspaper Tarto maa rahva Näddali-Leht . It was also written in the South Estonian Võro language and was probably the first ever newspaper in South Estonian. He worked closely with the later lecturer for Finnish and Estonian at the University of Tartu , Georg Philip von Roth (1783-1817), and with his brother-in-law, the pastor of Põlva Gustav Adolph Oldekop . However, the publication of the newspaper was short-lived: after 39 (or 43) issues, the paper was banned by the Russian authorities in December 1806 . The newspaper was nevertheless formative for the education of South Estonian as a written language, the raising of the level of education of the local population and the increase in the self-confidence of the farmers.

On Roth's initiative in 1810 the Livonian peasants who were still in bondage were given hereditary surnames (family names). Roth was particularly inspired by terms from nature.

Private life

Johann Philipp Roth was married to the daughter of the pastor of Kursi, Beate Catharine Seefels († 1818). The couple had five sons and seven daughters. Johann Philipp Roth, who, like all educated Estonians of the time, was a native German speaker, made sure that his children had a perfect command of the Võro language.

literature

• Milvi Hirvlaane: Johann Philipp Roth . 2003
• Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . 3 volumes; Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-11019338-1 . Volume 3, p. 1089 f.

Web links

• Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry on Johann Philipp Roth. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• Detailed CV (Estonian)
• Appreciation (Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church)