Abba Gorgoryos

Abba Gorgoryos (Ge'ez: አባ ጎርጎርዮስ; 1595 – 1658) was an Ethiopian priest and lexicographer of noble origin.[3][4][5][6] He is famous for co-authoring encyclopedias with his friend and companion Hiob Ludolf in two Ethiopian languages, Amharic and Ge'ez, both in Ge'ez script.[7]

Aba Gorgorios engraving by Christopher Elias Heiss, Augsburg, 1691[1][2]

Life

Abba Gorgoryos was born in Mekane Sellasie in Amhara Province. He was invited to Gotha in 1652 by Ludolf, who at the time was in the service of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha.[7] Ludolf and the Duke were interested about Ethiopia and prepared a list of queries which were presented to Abba Gorgoryos. The Duke took particular interest in the legend of Prester John, while Ludolf was interested in Christianity in Ethiopia and the teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The findings of Ludolf are included in his work Theologica aethiopica.[8]

Abba Gorgoryos worked with Hiob Ludolf in co-authoring the earliest grammar of the Amharic language, as well as an Amharic-Latin dictionary, which became the first African language to be translated to Latin. Ludolf's book A History of Ethiopia was based in part on Abba Gorgoryos's conceptualization of Ethiopia and letters.[9] Abba Gorgoryos also developed a Ge'ez lexicon.

On his return journey to Ethiopia in 1658, he died in a shipwreck off the Turkish city of İskenderun.

References
  1. College Library, Special Collections. "Hiob Ludolf, Historia Aethiopica (Frankfurt, 1681)". St John's College, Cambridge. Accessed 29 July 2017.
  2. Prichard, James Cowles (1851), Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind, vol. 2 (4th ed.), London: Houlston and Stoneman, p. 139.
  3. "Faith Over Color: Ethio-European Encounters and Discourses in the Early-Modern Era. Philadelphia: Temple University Electronic Theses and Dissertations". cdm2458-01.cdmhost.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  4. Uhlig, Siegbert. 2005. "Gorgoryos." In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha: Vol. 2, edited by Siegbert Uhlig, 855-856. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
  5. Haberland, Eike. 1986. Three Hundred Years of Ethiopian-German Academic Collaboration. Frankfurt, Germany: Frobenius Institute, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, and Steiner.
  6. Flemming, Johannes. 1890-1891. "Hiob Ludolf: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der orientalischen Philologie." Beiträge zur Assyriologie und vergleichenden semitischen Sprachwissenschaft I, II:537-582; 63-110.
  7. Smidt, Wolbert G.C. (2015). "Gorgoryos and Ludolf: The Ethiopian and German Fore-Fathers of Ethiopian Studies: An Ethiopian scholar's 1652 visit to Thuringia" (PDF). ITYOP̣IS: Northeast African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-10.
  8. Uhlig, Siegbert (Jan 1986). "Hiob Ludolfs 'Theologica aethiopica'". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 49: 394. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00024332.
  9. Ludolf, Hiob. 1682. A New History of Ethiopia. Being a Full and Accurate Description of the Kingdom of Abessinia, Vulgarly, Though Erroneously Called the Empire of Prester John. Translated by J. P. Gent. London: Samuel Smith Booksellers.
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