Konstantinas Sirvydas

Konstantinas Sirvydas (rarely referred as Konstantinas Širvydas;[1] Latin: Constantinus Szyrwid; Polish: Konstanty Szyrwid; c. 1579 – August 23, 1631) was a Lithuanian[2] religious preacher, lexicographer, and one of the pioneers of Lithuanian literature[3] from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, at the time a confederal part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Famous for his eloquence, Sirvydas spent 10 years of his life preaching sermons at St. Johns' Church in Vilnius (twice a day – once in Lithuanian and once in Polish).

Between 1623 and 1624 he also briefly served as the deputy rector of his alma mater, after which he continued as a professor in theology, liberal arts, and philosophy.

He published his trilingual Polish-Lithuanian-Latin dictionary Dictionarium Trium Lingvarum in usum Studiosæ Iuventutis, one of the first such books in Lithuanian literary history some time before 1620.

A decade later, in 1629, he published the first volume of a collection of his sermons entitled Punktai sakymų, and later translated them into the Polish language as Punkty kazań.

Title page of the last (1713) edition of Dictionarium Trium Lingvarum in usum Studiosæ Iuventutis