Christoph Mrongovius
Encyclopedia
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, philosopher, distinguished linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, and translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
.
Biography
Mrongovius, son of Bartholomeus, was born in Hohenstein (Olsztynek)Olsztynek
Olsztynek is a town in Poland, in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in Olsztyn County. It has 7,648 inhabitants .-History:The town was founded as Hohenstein by the Teutonic Order, which began to construct a castle in 1351 and granted Kulm law city rights in 1359.The Battle of Grunwald in 1410 took...
in the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
(now in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
). Mrongovius attended a school in Saalfeld (Zalewo)
Zalewo
Zalewo is a town in Iława County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,977 inhabitants .Until 1945 Saalfeld was in Kreis Mohrungen, East Prussia.-Famous people :*Robert Roberthin , one of the first regional poets...
, Kreis Mohrungen (Morąg)
Morag
Morag may refer to:* Morag , a lake monster reported to inhabit Loch Morar in Scotland* Morąg , a city in Warmia-Masuria, Poland...
, and then studied at the cathedral
Königsberg Cathedral
Königsberg Cathedral is a Brick Gothic style building in Kaliningrad on an island in the Pregel . The island was called Kneiphof in German times.-14th Century to World War II:...
school in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
. He matriculated on 21 March 1782 at Königsberg University as Mrongovius Christoph. Coelestin,. Hohens. Boruss. (Christoph Coelestin Mongrovius from Hohenstein, Prussia). During his second semester, he attended Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
's metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
lectures, followed by theology, logic, anthropology and moral philosophy, and physics.
From 1790–1796 Mrongovius taught Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
at the Collegium Fridericianum
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
of the university. In 1796 he married Wilhelmina Luise Paarmann. Until 1798 he was also a copyeditor of Polish languages in several publishing houses in Prussia. In 1798 he received the pastorate at St. Anne's Church in Danzig, where he also taught Polish from 1812-17. Besides Polish, Greek and Kashubian
Kashubian language
Kashubian or Cassubian is one of the Lechitic languages, a subgroup of the Slavic languages....
, he taught in Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
as well. He died aged at 91 on June 3, 1855 in Danzig (Gdańsk)
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
.
In honor of Mrongovius, the name of the former East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
n city Sensburg (Żądzbork in Polish) was changed to Mrągowo
Mragowo
Mrągowo is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of northeastern Poland, the capital of Mrągowo County and the seat the Gmina Mrągowo...
in 1947 by the new Polish administration.
Works
Mrongovius was known for preserving and teaching Polish cultural heritage and language in Danzig to people from the territories affected by the PartitionsPartitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
. He also pioneered the research of Kashubian culture
Kashubians
Kashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia ....
and collected many Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
artifacts from Masuria
Masuria
Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Geographically, Masuria is part of two adjacent lakeland districts, the Masurian Lake District and the Iława Lake District...
. He translated into Polish such works as Anabasis
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
. Mrongovius was a member-correspondent of the Society of Friends of Science
Society of Friends of Science
The Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning was one of the earliest Polish scientific societies, active in Warsaw from 1800 to 1832.-Name:The Society was also known as Warszawskie Królewskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(from 1823) (approved by acclamation), Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde in Stettin (Szczecin)
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
(from 1827) and member-correspondent of the Kraków Scientific Society (Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie) (from 1833). He was honoured with a medal and membership of Historical-Literary Society in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1852), as well as the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, or other achievements...
, 4th class (1843). During his works he was supported by Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, and he corresponded with scholars such as Stanisław Staszic, Tadeusz Czacki
Tadeusz Czacki
Tadeusz Czacki , was a Polish historian, pedagogue and numismatist. Czacki played an important part in the Enlightenment in Poland.-Biography:...
, Alojzy Feliński
Alojzy Felinski
Alojzy Feliński was a Polish writer.-Life:In his childhood he met Tadeusz Czacki. He was educated by the Piarists in Dąbrownica, later in Włodzimierz. In 1778 he settled in Lublin, where he became a close companion of Kajetan Koźmian...
, Andrzej Horodyski, Stanisław Kostka Potocki, and Samuel Bogumił Linde.
Mrongovius is also important as the primary source of seven sets of notes on Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
's lectures in anthropology, metaphysics, theology, physics, logic, and two on moral philosophy. Mrongovius was the author of a number of books and one of the first Polish-German dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
. His extensive book collection, numbering over 1000 pieces, including many rare manuscripts, is now kept in the Polish Academy of Science's library in Gdańsk (Danzig)
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
.
Detailed Polish-German dictionaries
- 1794 Marienwerder Königl. Westpreuß. Kanterschen Hofbuchdruckerey. Christoph Coelestin Mrongovius Handwörterbuch der Hochpolnischen Mundart — Nowy Slownik Polsko-niemiecki.
- 1835 Königsberg in Preussen: Gebrüder Bornträger, Ausführliches polnisch-deutsches Wörterbuch — kritisch bearbeitet von Christoph Cölestin Mrongovius