Elias Riggs (November 19, 1810 – January 17, 1901) was an American Presbyterian missionary and linguist.
Biography Elias Riggs was born on November 19, 1810, in New Providence, New Jersey. He was the second son of Elias and Margaret (Congar) Hudson Riggs. His father was the pastor of the local Presbyterian church. "The second son of a Presbyterian clergyman, Elias Riggs was born at New Providence, New Jersey, on November 19, 1810, the year in which the ABCFM was established."
During his missionary activities in the Ottoman Empire he contributed greatly to the Bulgarian National Revival. He organized with Albert Long the first translation (by Neofit Rilski), and worked on editing, printing and dissemination of a translation of the Bible into modern Bulgarian. In 1844 he published the first Grammar of the modern Bulgarian language. Riggs did research on Chaldee Language, and also guided the translation of the Bible into modern Armenian language.Georgi Genov. American Elias Riggs and his contribution to the Bulgarian National Revival . Historical Archives. Sofia, Issue 9-10, November 2000 - May 2001. (in Bulgarian)
The government and church of newly independent Greece originally opposed Riggs' mission, but later had to accept American and British Protestant activities among Christians other than Greeks. Riggs took part in negotiations identifying the then actual ethnic delimitation between Greeks and Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire, resulting in an approximate line drawn between Serres and Edessa in Macedonia north of which the Christian population was recognized as predominantly Bulgarian. Subsequently, the 1876 Constantinople Conference of the Great Powers confirmed that early delimitation in its more comprehensive definition of ethnic Bulgarian lands as of the late 19th century.
Publications
Suggested Emendations of the Authorized English Version of the Old Testament (1873) Suggested Modifications of the Revised Version of the New Testament Some Reasons in Favor of Retouching the Revised English Version of the Scriptures Notes on difficult passages of the New Testament A Manual of the Chaldee Language
Honour Riggs Peak on Smith Island, South Shetland Islands is named after Elias Riggs.
References
External links Notes on the Grammar of the Bulgarian language - 1844 - Smyrna (now İzmir) - Elias Riggs