Heinrich Wilhelm LudolfHeinrich Wilhelm Ludolf (20 December 1655 – 25 January 1712) was a German Pietist, secretary to Prince George of Denmark, and ecumenical traveller. He is known also as a linguist. LifeLudolf was the nephew of Hiob Ludolf the linguist.[1] He acted as a Danish and as an English diplomat. A friend of August Hermann Francke, he travelled to Russia in the 1690s.[2] He had persuaded Francke that the territories related to the Eastern Orthodox Church were important for the future.[3] Gottfried Leibniz saw the importance of Ludolf's efforts on an even larger scale, bridging the gap to China.[4] Ludolf was also one of the founders of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in London, and with Anton Wilhelm Böhme linked it to Francke's organisations in Halle.[5] WorksLudolf's Grammatica Russica was published at Oxford in 1696.[6] This Russian grammar had an introduction that showed, among other remarks, that Russian-speakers themselves distinguished between the spoken Russian language, and Church Slavonic.[7] Notes
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