Carl Gottfried Woide (, ; 4 July 1725 – 9 May 1790), also known in England as Charles Godfrey Woide, was an Orientalist, a biblical scholar and a pastor.

Career

Woide began his career as a pastor at the

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church in

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, Poland. In 1750 he transcribed the manuscript of the ''Lexicon Ægyptiaco-Latinum'' of Mathurin Veyssière de La Croze in Leiden, which incorporated Sahidic words by Christian Scholtz. Woide learnt Coptic and became an expert in the Sahidic language. Woide lived in Britain from 1768 until his death in 1790, serving as pastor of the German Reformed Church at the Savoy and the Dutch Reformed Chapel at

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. He later become a librarian at the

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, first in the Department of Natural History, then in the Department of Printed Books, in charge of its Oriental manuscripts. He was one of the first scholars to work on the Egyptian Sahidic texts. He examined the

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

and the published text of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

from this codex in 1786. Woide was described in 1782 by C. P. Moritz as living "not far from

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, in a very salubrious quarter on the edge of the town, where he breathes cleaner and fresher air than in the city. Although well known as a learned authority on Oriental languages, he is nevertheless a sociable and not unworldly man." Woide possessed some leaves of a Greek-Coptic diglot manuscript of the New Testament known as the ''Fragmentum Woideanum''. These cover a portion of the

Book of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

. Woide suggested that the fragment was created in the 7th century. The leaves belong to Uncial 070 and other leaves of this manuscript are kept in different locations.

Personal life and legacy

Woide studied in

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and in

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, and held a doctorate of divinity from the University of Copenhagen. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1785, created D.C.L. by the University of Oxford in 1786, and appointed a fellow of many foreign societies. He and his wife had two daughters. He was struck by apoplexy while in conversation at the house of Sir

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in 1790, and later died in his rooms at the British Museum. Woide's papers are held at the British Library. The ''Fragmentum Woideanum'' is kept at the

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.British History Online.
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Works

''Lexicon Ægyptiaco-Latinum''
1775.
''Grammatica aegyptiaca utriusque dialecti''
(1778) *''Novum Testamentum Graecum e codice ms. alexandrino'', London 1786.
''Appendix ad editionem Novi Testamenti graeci… in qua continentur fragmenta Novi Testamenti juxta interpretationem dialecti superioris Aegypti quae thebaica vel sahidica appellatur''
Oxford 1799.

References

External links

Linnean Correspondence
Karl Gottfried Woide to Carl Linnaeus (27 June 1775) {{DEFAULTSORT:Woide, Carl Gottfried 1725 births 1790 deaths 18th-century Polish people 18th-century German people 18th-century English clergy Polish librarians German librarians British librarians German biblical scholars Polish orientalists German orientalists British orientalists Fellows of the Royal Society British people of German descent German male non-fiction writers Polish Protestants Polish Calvinist and Reformed Christians