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An extremely interesting biography has Bartol Gyurgieuits (Bartol Jurjevic or Gjurgjevic, born in the region of Turopolje near Zagreb, known for nice wooden churches, 1506 – 1566?), a participant of the tragic battle on the Mohac field in 1526, where he was captured by the Turks and lived as a slave in many parts of the Turkish Empire. As a captive he was a teacher of Greek in Damascus (see [Marianna D. Birnbaum, p. 252]). After 13 years of slavery he managed to escape, first finding refuge among Armenians (see [Marianna D. Birnbaum, p. 253]). Since that time he travelled a lot throughout Europe, agitating for the creation of a strong union against the Ottoman Empire. His numerous writings in the Latin language were published first in Antwerpen (1544) and then extensively reprinted in many other languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Dutch (Flemish), Hungarian, Polish, Czech etc. One of his numerous titles is Exhortatio contra Turcas. These extremely interesting testimonies about the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire can be found in the libraries of almost all larger European cities:

Paris, Rome, Vienna, Basel, Leiden, Wittenberg, Florence, London, Prague, Venice, Antwerpen, Liége, Worms, Nürenberg, Krakow, Lyon, Frankfurt etc. (e.g. in 44 towns of Germany alone) and in some cities of the USA.

Bartol Gyurgieuvits: Libellus vere christina lectione dignus diuersas res Turcharum brevi tradens, Rome, 1552, content: De Turcarum ritu et caeremoniis, De afflictionem tam captivorum, Vaticinium infidelium de Christianorum cladibus et calamitatibus, Deploratio cladis christianorum ad potentisimos monarchos; the book contains “Our Father” in the Arabic in written in Latin characters (from the 2006 exhbition in NSK, Zagreb)

Most of his writings contain small dictionaries of the Croatian (which he calls Slavonian), Turkish, Persian and Hungarian languages. As a part of his “De afflictione…sub Turcae” (1544) he wrote the first known Croatian – Latin dictionary (with the basic prayers: Our Father, such as Hail Mary, Credo), which is also the first known dictionary among the Croats. He is also the author of the practical Italian – Arabian – Hebrew – Chaldean dictionary, added to the description of his pilgrimage to Yerusalem when escaping from the Turkish slavery. It was written in Italian: “Specchio della peregrinazione delli piu notabili luoghi della Terra Santa”, and the author signed it as Georgievicz de Croatia. His name is written in as many as 25 different ways in the literature.

He also mentioned a Croatian Script, which is “different from any other script in the world” (Glagolitic). He indicates that the Croatian language is spoken among others on the Constantinople court of Turkish sultans. Gyurgieuivits’ works are also of interest for the study of Islamic music. He was not only the first Croatian author, but also the first Slav author whose writings were popular throughout Europe. For more information see [Zoric].
Branko Franolic: Georgijevic’s Description of Turkish Ways and Customs: Unique Work Published in London in 1570, Croatian Times, London 1977

The Englishman Hugh Goughe wrote “The Ofspringe of the House of Ottomane”, published in London in 1570, which is a translation of Gyurgieuits’ book “De origine imperii Turcorum”. In Goughe’s book there is a dialogue in Croatian with a parallel English translation, alongside with two prayers in Croatian (Our father and Hail Mary).

Source Branko Franolic: Georgijevic’s Description of Turkish Ways and Customs: Unique Work Published in London in 1570, Croatian Times, London 1977 (many thanks to Dr. Franolic for sending me this article)

Let us present again Lord’s Prayer in Croatian using contemporary orthography.

Nas otče ki jesi na nebesi Our father which arte in heaven Sveti se tvoje ime. Kraljevstvo Holowed thy name. They kyngdome pridi, tvoja volja budi na zemlji kako come, they will be done in earthe as it is na nebu. Daj nam ga danas našega in heaven. Give onto us this day our vsagdanjega kruha, i odpušćaj nam naše duge, daillye bredde, and forgeue us oure debts kako mi odpušćamo našim dužnikom, i as we doe frgeue our debters, and ne pelaj nas v napast, da izbavi leade not us into temptation, but deliver nas od neprijazni, Amen. us from evil, Amen.

Note that the word order of Croatian follows the word order of English version of Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer in Croatian with the usual word order would be as follows (compare with the Croatian Glagolitic Lord’s Prayer, 1375, Bibliotheque nationale in Paris, which is very close):

Otče nas ki jesi na nebesi \\ Sveti se ime tvoje \\ pridi kraljevstvo tvoje \\ budi vlja tvoja \\ kako na zemlji tako i na nebu \\ kruha vsagdanjega daj na ga danas \\ i odpušćaj nam duge naše \\ kako i mi odpušćamo dužnikom našim \\ i ne pelaj nas v napast \\ da izbavi nas od neprijazni, Amen.

There is also a small vocabulary of Croatian language, Vocabula Sclavonica, containing 52 words and phrases. Gyugyieuits himself is called the “first Croatian lexicographer” in this book. The British Library in London holds as many as 44 copies of various Gyurgiveuvits’ books.

We should also mention the following book, Georgievits, Bartholomeus: De reitibus et differentiis Graecorum et Armenicorum, Antverpiae?, 1544. (see [Marianna D. Birnbaum, p. 194])

Regarding early dictionaries of the Croatian language, let us mention a German knight Arnold von Harf (1471-1505) who visited the Croatian lands along the coast during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1496-1499. His book “Die Pilgerfahrt des Ritters Arnold von Herff von Cöln”, published in Köln in 1860, includes a short conversational dictionary of the Croatian language containing 56 words and basic expressions. He also visited the beautiful, strong and freedom loving city of Dubrovnik (as he says), for which he states to be in the Croatian Kingdom – in den Koenynckrijh van Croatijen.