{{Short description|American missionary}} {{Infobox person | name = Elias Riggs | image = Elias-Riggs.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date|1810|11|19|df=y}} | birth_place = [[New Providence, New Jersey]], U.S. | death_place = [[Constantinople]], [[Ottoman Empire]] (modern-day [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]]) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|1|17|1810|11|19|df=y}} | resting_place = [[Feriköy Protestant Cemetery]], Istanbul, Turkey | resting_place_coordinates = | spouse = {{marriage |Martha Jane Dalzel|1832|1887|reason=her death}} | children = eight | education = [[Hanover College]]; [[Amherst College]]; [[Andover Theological Seminary]] | occupation = [[missionary]], [[linguist]] | employer = [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] | known_for = the Translation of the Scriptures into Armenian and Bulgarian }}
'''Elias Riggs''' (November 19, 1810 – January 17, 1901) was an American [[Presbyterian]] [[missionary]] and linguist.<ref name= "Who's Who"/><ref>{{cite book |chapter= RIGGS, Elias D.D. |title= Encyclopedia of Living Divines and Christian Workers of All Denominations in Europe and America |editor1= Schaff, Philip |editor1-link = Philip Schaff |editor2= Jackson, Samuel Macauley |editor2-link= Samuel Macauley Jackson |year= 1887 |publisher= Funk & Wagnalls, Publishers |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iIdIAAAAYAAJ&dq=Albert+Limerick+Long&pg=PP9 |place= New York |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iIdIAAAAYAAJ&q=Riggs+&pg=PA181 181]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor= Anderson, Gerald H.|author= Stowe, David M. |chapter= RIGGS, Elias |title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions |pages= [https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0000unse_p1w3/page/570/mode/2up?view=theater 570-571] |place= New York |publisher= Macmillan Reference USA |year= 1998 |url= https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0000unse_p1w3/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access=registration}}</ref>
==Biography== Elias Riggs was born on November 19, 1810, in [[New Providence, New Jersey]].<ref name= "Who's Who">{{Cite book |year= 1900 |editor-last= Leonard|editor-first= John. W.|title= WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA; A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men and Women of the United States 1899-1900|edition= 1|publisher= A.N. Marquis & Company|location=Chicago |page=606 |url=https://archive.org/stream/whoswhoinameric01marqgoog#page/n647/mode/2up |access-date= August 30, 2018|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> He was the second son of Elias and Margaret (Congar) Hudson Riggs. His father was the pastor of the local Presbyterian church.<ref name= "Wright">{{cite book |author= Wright Jr., Walter L. |editor=Malone, Dumas |editor-link= Dumas Malone |title=Dictionary of American Biography |publisher= Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |volume=15 (Platt-Roberdeau)|year=1935 |chapter= Riggs, Elias |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofamer15amer#page/602/mode/2up |pages=602–603|access-date= April 13, 2018 |via= Internet Archive }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author= Doğan, Mehmet Ali |url= https://www.academia.edu/9596940 |title = Elias Riggs and the Missionary Activities of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in Greece (1832-1838) |journal = International Review of Turkology |volume= IV |issue=8 |date= 2011 |accessdate = September 10, 2015}} "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."</ref>
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 [[Bible translations into Bulgarian|a translation of the Bible into modern Bulgarian]].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Wiener |first= Leo |author-link= Leo Wiener |title= America's Share in the Regeneration of Bulgaria (1840-1859) |url= https://archive.org/details/jstor-2918140/page/n3 |journal= Modern Language Notes |volume= 13 |issue= 2 |date= February 1898 |pages= 33–41 |jstor=2918140 |doi= 10.2307/2918140|via= Internet Archive |access-date= January 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Hamlin |first=Cyrus |author-link= Cyrus Hamlin (missionary) |year=1877 |title=Among the Turks |publisher=American Tract Society |place=New York |edition= 1 |url=https://archive.org/stream/amongturks00hamluoft#page/260/mode/2up |pages= 261–262|access-date=1 September 2018 |via= Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Washburn|first=George |author-link= George Washburn (educator)|year=1909 |title=Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |place=Boston & New York |edition= 1 |pages= 65, 276 |url=https://archive.org/stream/fiftyyearsincons00wash#page/n64/mode/2up|access-date= August 30, 2018 |via= Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1844 he published the first [[s:Notes on the Grammar of the Bulgarian language|Grammar]] of the modern Bulgarian language. Riggs did research on [[Biblical Aramaic|Chaldee Language]], and also guided the [[Bible translations into Armenian|translation of the Bible into modern Armenian language]].<ref name= "Wright" /><ref name="Genov">Georgi Genov. [http://web.orbitel.bg/classica/history.htm American Elias Riggs and his contribution to the Bulgarian National Revival] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503094848/http://web.orbitel.bg/classica/history.htm |date=2008-05-03 }}. ''Historical Archives''. Sofia, Issue 9-10, November 2000 - May 2001. (in Bulgarian)</ref>
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 [[National boundary delimitation|delimitation]] between Greeks and [[Bulgarians]] in the Ottoman Empire, resulting in an approximate line drawn between [[Serres]] and [[Edessa, Greece|Edessa]] in [[Macedonia (region)|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 [[Bulgaria]]n lands as of the late 19th century.<ref name="Genov" />
==Publications==
* ''[https://archive.org/details/suggestedemendat00rigg/page/n5/mode/2up Suggested Emendations of the Authorized English Version of the Old Testament]'' (1873) * ''[https://archive.org/details/suggestedmodific00rigg/page/n5/mode/2up Suggested Modifications of the Revised Version of the New Testament]'' * ''[https://archive.org/details/somereasonsinfav00rigg/mode/2up Some Reasons in Favor of Retouching the Revised English Version of the Scriptures]'' * ''Notes on difficult passages of the New Testament'' * ''[https://archive.org/details/manualofchaldeel00rigg/page/n5/mode/2up A Manual of the Chaldee Language]''
==Honour== [[Riggs Peak]] on [[Smith Island (South Shetland Islands)|Smith Island]], [[South Shetland Islands]] is named after Elias Riggs.<ref>{{citation |url=https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=136717 |title = Riggs Peak | journal= SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica |access-date= 30 August 2018}}</ref>
[[File:Hristodul Kostovich Sichan Nikolov, Elias Riggs, Albert Long and Petko Slaveykov in Constantinople, circa 1864 - 1865.jpg|thumb|250px|[[:bg:Христодул Костович Сичан-Николов|Christodul Costovich]], Elias Riggs, [[Albert Long]] and [[Petko Slaveikov]] in Constantinople, circa 1864-1865]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [[s:Notes on the Grammar of the Bulgarian language|Notes on the Grammar of the Bulgarian language]] - 1844 - Smyrna (now [[İzmir]]) - Elias Riggs * {{cite book |title= Reminiscences for My Children by Elias Riggs, Missionary of the A.B.C.F.M. in Greece and Turkey (not published) |year= 1891 |url= http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/11472 |accessdate= 8 November 2021 |via= Digital Library for International Research |archive-date= 21 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160921001026/http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/11472 |url-status= dead }} * {{cite journal |title=A Mighty Worker before the Lord|author= Dwight, Henry O.|author-link= Henry Otis Dwight |journal= The Missionary Herald |url= https://archive.org/details/sim_missionary-herald_1901-03_97_3/mode/2up?view=theater |date= March 1901|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sim_missionary-herald_1901-03_97_3/page/98/mode/2up?view=theater 98-103]|accessdate= 10 November 2021 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}} * {{cite book |title= Memorial service for the late Rev. Elias Riggs, D.D., LL.D.: missionary of the American Board of commissioners for Foreign Missions|year= 1901 |url= http://www.dlir.org/archive/orc-exhibit/items/show/collection/6/id/11128 |accessdate= 9 November 2021 }} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Elias Riggs}} *{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Rev. J. F.|title= Sketch of the European Turkey Mission of the American Board |place=Boston |publisher= American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions |year=1901|page= 10 |hdl= 2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t47q2b09j?urlappend=%3Bseq=10 |url= https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc2.ark:/13960/t47q2b09j?urlappend=%3Bseq=10|access-date= September 6, 2018|via= HathiTrust Digital Library}} * {{Citation |title= The Riggs Papers |via= Digital Library for International Research |url= http://www.dlir.org/aba-the-riggs-papers.html |access-date= August 31, 2018}} * {{cite book |editor= Buchan, John|editor-link=John Buchan |chapter= Bulgaria |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/nationsoftodayne12buch/page/n17/mode/2up|title= Bulgaria and Romania: The Nations of Today; A New History of the World|place= Boston and New York |publisher= Houghton Mifflin Company |year= 1924 |url= https://archive.org/details/nationsoftodayne12buch/page/n5/mode/2up |page=[https://archive.org/details/nationsoftodayne12buch/page/36/mode/2up 36] |accessdate= 19 June 2021 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riggs, Elias}} [[Category:1810 births]] [[Category:1901 deaths]] [[Category:American Presbyterian missionaries]] [[Category:People from New Providence, New Jersey]] [[Category:Translators of the Bible into Bulgarian]] [[Category:Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:Ottoman period in the history of Bulgaria]] [[Category:19th-century American translators]] [[Category:Presbyterian missionaries in Europe]] [[Category:Protestant missionaries in Bulgaria]] [[Category:Presbyterian missionaries in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:American missionary linguists]]