Pierre Robert Olivétan

Pierre -Robert Olivétan (also called Olivetanus ) (* 1505 in Noyon, Picardy, † 1538 in Italy ) was a Reformed theologian and Bible translator.

He was the son of a Church Vogts and grew up in the same town as John Calvin, with whom he was related. In 1526 he studied law at Orléans, but had to flee the following year because he was suspected of heresy. As of April 1528, he dedicated himself to the study of ancient languages ​​Strasbourg. In 1531 he became a tutor in Geneva, was because of his reformist attitude in November but was exiled from there and moved to Neuchâtel, where he also worked as a private tutor. Together with Guillaume Farel, he attended the September 12, 1532 participated in the Synod of the Waldensian in Chanforan where you commissioned him to create a French translation of the Bible. After he had completed this work in 1535, he was appointed in May 1536 teacher at the Geneva School. In March 1538 he embarked on a trip to Italy, stayed there, among other things at the court of Renée de France in Ferrara and died soon after, in unknown circumstances in Italy.

The Bible translation Olivétans based in the Old Testament the Hebrew and Aramaic original. His New Testament is a revision of the translation, which was Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples made ​​around 1523 by the Latin Vulgate.