Ivan Uzhevych

Ivan Uzhevych

Ivan Petrovych Uzhevych (born 1610s, perhaps North Volhynia – after 1645) was a Ruthenian grammarian.

Very little is known about his biography: From 1637 he studied at Cracow University, then in 1643 he was a student of theology at the Sorbonne, Paris. He wrote a Polish ode on the occasion of the marriage of a certain Aleksander Przyłęcki with Ewa Rupniowa, which was printed in 1641. Uzhevych is well-known to historians of the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages as the author of the first grammar of an East Slavic language.

His name in various languages: Ukrainian: Іва́н Петро́вич Уже́вич (Ivan Uzhevych), Belarusian: Іван Ужэвіч (Ivan Uzhevich), Polish: ''Jan Użewicz''. He himself wrote his name Іωаннъ Ужевичъ Словянинъ (Ioann” Uzhevych” Slovyanyn”), Ioannes Usevicius Sclavonus, Ioannes Ugevicius Sclavonus, Jan Użewic; in the student register of Cracow University he is written Ioannes Petri Uzewicz.