Hans Egede, a Danish Lutheran pastor, arrived on Greenland in the 1720s. He had hoped to reform the Norse brethren who had reportedly lapsed into paganism, but found only Inuit people and no trace of the Norwegians.Wittman, 1909.

Egede spent fifteen years on Greenland, learning the language and forming a small congregation. Egede also founded Nuuk, the modern capital city of Greenland. At his departure, the work was continued by his son, Poul. The younger Egede published the first Greenlandic dictionary, Dictionarium grönlandico-danico-latinum, in 1750,Hansen Egede, 1750. and a grammar in 1760.Hansen Egede, 1760. A translation of the New TestamentHansen Egede, 1766. followed in 1766.Theil, 2022.