About Carl Gottfried Woide
Lived 1725 – 1790 (aged 64). Carl Gottfried Woide was a German librarian and orientalist.
Carl Gottfried Woide (, ; 4 July 1725 – 9 May 1790), also known in England as Charles Godfrey Woide, was an Orientalist, a biblical scholar and a pastor.
Career Woide began his career as a pastor at the Reformed church in Leszno, Poland. He was one of the first scholars to work on the Egyptian Sahidic texts. He examined the Codex Alexandrinus and the published text of the New Testament from this codex in 1786.
Woide was described in 1782 by C. P. Moritz as living "not far from Paddington, in a very salubrious quarter on the edge of the town, where he breathes cleaner and fresher air than in the city. Although well known as a learned authority on Oriental languages, he is nevertheless a sociable and not unworldly man."
Woide possessed some leaves of a Greek-Coptic diglot manuscript of the New Testament known as the Fragmentum Woideanum. These cover a portion of the Book of Luke. Woide suggested that the fragment was created in the 7th century. The leaves belong to Uncial 070 and other leaves of this manuscript are kept in different locations.
Personal life and legacy Woide studied in Frankfurt an der Oder and in Leiden, and held a doctorate of divinity from the University of Copenhagen. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1785, created D.C.L. by the University of Oxford in 1786, and appointed a fellow of many foreign societies. He and his wife had two daughters. He was struck by apoplexy while in conversation at the house of Sir Joseph Banks in 1790, and later died in his rooms at the British Museum.
Woide's papers are held at the British Library. The Fragmentum Woideanum is kept at the Clarendon Press in Oxford.
Works Lexicon Ægyptiaco-Latinum, 1775. Grammatica aegyptiaca utriusque dialecti (1778) Novum Testamentum Graecum e codice ms. alexandrino, London 1786. Appendix ad editionem Novi Testamenti graeci… in qua continentur fragmenta Novi Testamenti juxta interpretationem dialecti superioris Aegypti quae thebaica vel sahidica appellatur, Oxford 1799.
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Important facts
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Carl Gottfried Woide?
Polish orientalist and biblical scholar
When was Carl Gottfried Woide born?
Carl Gottfried Woide was born on 4 July 1725 in Leszno.
When did Carl Gottfried Woide die?
Carl Gottfried Woide died on 9 May 1790 in British Museum.
What was Carl Gottfried Woide's occupation?
Carl Gottfried Woide was a librarian and orientalist.
What nationality was Carl Gottfried Woide?
Carl Gottfried Woide was German.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: Carl Gottfried Woide
· DBpedia: Carl Gottfried Woide
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Carl Gottfried Woide. https://biography.guide/carl-gottfried-woide/
MLA: "Carl Gottfried Woide." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/carl-gottfried-woide/.
Chicago: "Carl Gottfried Woide." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/carl-gottfried-woide/.
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