Georg Sauerwein

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Georg Julius Justus Sauerwein (born 15 January 1831 in Hannover, died 16 December 1904 in Christiania (now Oslo) ) was a German publisher, polyglot, poet, and linguist.

He was a supporter of the minority languages within the German Empire: Sorbian and Lithuanian. His bilingual Litauer Frühlingslied, (Lietuvininku pavasario giesmele) ("Lithuanian spring song") is popular in Lithuania and considered a second national anthem.

His father worked as pastor in Hannover, Bodenstedt and Gronau in northern Germany. From 1843 to 1848 he went to the Gymnasium (comprehensive secondary school) in Hannover. At the age of 17, he studied Linguistics and Theology at Göttingen, where his talent in languages became apparent.

At age 24 he published an English-Turkish dictionary.

An acknowledged pacifist, he was involved in opposition to what he perceived as the imperialism of Germany under the Kaiser.

It is said that he could read, write and speak about 60 languages including, apart from his native Sorbian and German, at least the following:

Latin, ancient Greek, modern Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, Basque, Portuguese, English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Sami, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chuvash (a Turkic language of Russia), Tamil, Kaschgarisch (spoken in Siberia , similar to the language of Uzbekistan), Kumykisch (spoken in Siberia), Persian, Armenian, Georgian, Sanskrit, Romani, Hindustani, Ethiopian, Tigrinya (another language of Ethiopia), Coptic, ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Malagasy (the language of Madagascar), Malay, Samoan, Hawaiian, different dialects of Chinese, Cornish, and Aneitum (a language spoken in the New Hebrides).

In 1885, Sauerwein published a collection of Norwegian-language poems, Frie Viso ifraa Vigguin (Free Songs from the Mountains). He died in Norway, and is buried in Gronau, where an archive of his work is maintained in his childhood home and where a Realschule (secondary school) is named for him.

[edit] Trivia

• Lithuanian national liberation movement Sąjūdis has used the melody of the Lithuanian Spring Song in its television broadcasting trailer since 1988.

Frie Viso ifraa Vigguin was mainly written at Dovre in Norway. Most of the poems reflect the local dialect of that area. The introduction "Forklarende Indledingsord" and the (extensive)notes are in Danish-Norwegian. The book has recently been republished (2006)at Dovre with pictures and drawings from the area.