Hieronim Malecki (also Hieronymus Maeletius or Meletius) (1527, most likely in Kraków – 1583 or 1584 in Lyck, Ducal Prussia (now Ełk) was a Polish, Prussian Lutheran pastor and theologian, as well as a translator, publisher, writer[1] and creator of literary Polish.
He worked as a teacher at a Polish school in Lyck and as a translator for the starosta of Lyck. In 1563 he was hired as the resident translator of Polish in the printing house of Hans Daubmann in Königsberg Królewiec.[1] Malecki's translations include Martin Luther's "House Postil" (Postylla domowa, to yest: Kazania na Ewangelie niedzielne y przednieysze święta, 1574, Królewiec), as well as Luther's Small Catechism (Catechismus maly: dla pospolitych plebanow y kaźnodzieiow, 1615, Królewiec)[2] He also published works by his father, Jan, including Libellus de sacrificiis et idolatria Borussorum, Livonum... ("Treatise on the sacrifices and idolatry in Prussia and Livonia", 1563, Królewiec), originally a letter to the rector of University of Königsberg, Georg Sabinus, which Hieronim also published in a German-language version.[3]
In his translations into Polish, Hieronim, following his father, relied heavily on Czech, and even argued that Czech and Polish were a single language.[4] This practice had origins in an argument between Hieronim's father and another Polish translator in Królewiec, Jan Seklucjan.[5]
According to some historians,[6] Malecki may have been the author or co-author of the Sudovian Book.
