Egede, Paul

Egede, Paul son of Hans, was born at Waagen, Norway; went to Greenland in 1720, in his twelfth year; afterwards studied at Copenhagen; returned to Greenland in 1704; finally left it in 1740, and was, in reward for his labors, appointed chaplain of the hospital of the Holy Ghost, member of the College of Missions, director of the Hospital of Orphans, and finally (1776) bishop of Greenland. Having retired to the house of his son-in-law, pastor Saabye, he did not cease to urge the Danish government to send new expeditions to that colony, and had the joy of seeing his wishes finally complied with. He died June 3, 1789. He wrote and published a Greenland grammar (Grammatica Graenlandico-Lat.-Dan., Copenh. 1760) and dictionary (Dictionarium Graenlandicum-Dano-Latinum, Copenh. 1754), which have since been improved by Fabricius; translated the New Testament into the language, and was the author of a work, Efterretninger om Gronland (Information on Greenland, Copenh. 1789), which is one of the most interesting in Danish literature. It gives a history of the mission from 1720 to 1788 in a more interesting style than his father was master of. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biogr. Gener. 15:705.