Abba Gorgoryos ( Ge'ez: አባ ጎርጎርዮስ; 1595 – 1658) was an Ethiopian priest from Amhara tribe and lexicographer of noble origin. He is famous for co-authoring encyclopedias with his friend and companion

Hiob Ludolf Hiob or Job Ludolf ( or '; 15 June 1624– 8 April 1704), also known as Job Leutholf, was a German orientalist, born at Erfurt. Edward Ullendorff rates Ludolf as having "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship". Life After studyin ...

in two Ethiopian languages,

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

and Ge'ez, both in Ge'ez script.

Life

Abba Gorgoryos was born in Mekane Sellasie in

Amhara Province Amhara Province (Amharic: አማራ) also known as the "Amhara country" and originally as Bete Amhara (Amharic: ቤተ ዐምሐራ,, "House of Amhara") was the name of a medieval province of the Ethiopian Empire, located in present-day Debub Wol ...

. He was invited to

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

in 1652 by Ludolf, who at the time was in the service of

Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha Ernest I, called "Ernest the Pious" (25 December 1601 – 26 March 1675), was a duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg. The duchies were later merged into Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He was the ninth but sixth surviving son of Johann II, Duke of S ...

. 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 Prester John () was a mythical Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Church of the East, Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian state, Christian ...

, while Ludolf was interested in Christianity in Ethiopia and the teaching of the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

. The findings of Ludolf are included in his work '' Theologica aethiopica''. Abba Gorgoryos worked with Hiob Ludolf in co-authoring the earliest grammar of the

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.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. 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 İskenderun (), historically known as Alexandretta (, ) and Scanderoon, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 247 km2, and its population is 251,682 (2022). It is on the Mediterranean coas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorgorios, Abba 1595 births 1658 deaths 17th-century Ethiopian people People from Amhara Region Amharic language Ge'ez language South Semitic languages African encyclopedias Ethiopian Orthodox Christians