Daniel Klein ( lt, Danielius Kleinas) (1609–1666) was a
Lutheran pastor and scholar from
Tilsit
Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
Geography
S ...
,
Duchy of Prussia, who is best known for writing the first
grammar book of the
Lithuanian language.
Klein studied
philosophy,
theology,
Greek and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
in the
University of Königsberg. In 1637 he became a Lutheran pastor.
In 1653 Klein published the first grammar book of the Lithuanian language (''Grammatica Litvanica''), written in
Latin. Klein coined the distinctive Lithuanian letter
Ė.
He also wrote a Lithuanian dictionary, but it was left unpublished.
Klein published collections of Lithuanian
hymns (Lit. ''giesmės''), some of which he wrote himself.
References
External links
Danielius Kleinas, Daiva Kšanienė, Mažoji Lietuva
The Lithuanian Language, Giedrius Subačius Institute of the Lithuanian Language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Daniel
Balticists
1609 births
1666 deaths
People from Tilsit
Linguists from Germany
17th-century German Lutheran clergy
Grammarians from Germany
History of the Lithuanian language
Lithuanian grammar
Linguists from Lithuania
Lutheran hymnwriters
People from the Duchy of Prussia
Researchers of Lithuanian language
University of Königsberg alumni
17th-century hymnwriters