Georg Sauerwein

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

His father worked as pastor in Hannover, Schmedenstedt and Gronau in 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. He was a supporter of the minority languages within the German Empire: Sorbian and Lithuanian. His poem "Lietuvninkais mes esam' gime" ("As Lithuanians we are borne", 1879) is still popular in Lithuania and considered a second national anthem.

In 1885, Sauerwein published a collection of Norwegian-language poems, "Frie Viso ifraa Vigguin" (Free Songs from the Mountains). It was mainly written at Dovre in Norway. Most of the poems reflect the local dialect of that area. The introduction "Forklarende Indledningsord" and the (extensive) notes are in Danish. The book was republished in 2006 at Dovre with pictures and drawings from the area.

He died in Norway, and is buried at Gronau.

Polyglot

Apart from his mother language German, Sauerwein could read, write and speak, about 60 languages including, 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, Sorbian, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Chuvash (a Turkic language), Tamil, Kashgar (spoken in Siberia , similar to the language of Uzbekistan), Kumyk (spoken in Siberia), Persian, Armenian, Georgian, Sanskrit, Romani, Hindustani, Ethiopian, Tigrinya (another language of Ethiopia), Coptic or 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).

Legacy

In Gronau an archive of his work is maintained and a Realschule (secondary school) is named for him. There are Sauerwein-streets in Gronau, Hannover, Burg in Spreewald, Dovre, Norway, Klaipėda and Šilutė, Lithuania. Lithuanian national liberation movement Sąjūdis has used the melody of the "As Lithuanians we are borne" in its television broadcasting trailer since 1988.