Heinrich Göseken

Heinrich Göseken was a Baltic-German Lutheran pastor, language enthusiast, occasional poet, and translator. He is credited with writing a grammar of Estonian as well as a Latin–Estonian–German dictionary.
From 1631 to 1634, he studied at Rostock University.
In 1637, he came to Tallinn. He quickly learned Estonian and he worked in western Estonia as a pastor at Kirbla, Risti and Harju-Madise, and Kullamaa. In 1647 he became a dean of Maa-Lääne deanery, and in 1659 an assessor of the Consistory of Tallinn.
He was buried in Kullamaa Church.

Works

In 1641, he wrote the poem: "Heh sel ke Jumlakartus sees", one of the first poems in Estonian. In 1656, he published Neu Ehstnisches Gesangbuch.
In 1660, he published a grammar of Estonian: Manuductio ad Linguam Oesthicam / Anführung zue Öhstnischen Sprache. This book also contains a glossary of Estonian words, and it is the most extensive Estonian lexicon from the 17th century.