Samuel Kleinschmidt
Encyclopedia
Samuel Petrus Kleinschmidt (1812 - 1886) was a German
/Danish missionary linguist born in Greenland
known for having written extensively about the Greenlandic language and having invented the orthography used for writing this language from 1851 to 1973.
He was born to a couple of Moravian missionaries in the rectory of Lichtenau
in southern Greenland (today, Alluitsoq). As a youth he went to school in Germany and Denmark studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as Dutch, French, and English, all the while retaining his childhood languages, Danish, German, and Greenlandic. In 1840 he returned to Greenland, after two years he held his first sermon in Greenlandic, speaking it fluently and plainly rather than using old worn out idioms of the previous ministers. He already finished his grammar of Greenlandic in 1845. He sent it to printing at the University of Berlin but it was not be published until 1851. It was exceptional because it didn't use the traditional scheme of the Latin grammar to describe its subject, but rather devised a new scheme more suited for the Greenlandic language. This grammar was also the first work to employ the orthography which became the standard in writing Greenlandic until the reform of 1973. In 1859 he left the Moravian church to join the Church of Denmark
. Most of his time in Greenland he served as a teacher rather than as a priest. He also translated the better part of the Bible into Greenlandic. He died in 1886 at 72 years of age in Neu-Herrnhut (today, Nuuk
), having spent the 54 of them in Greenland.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
/Danish missionary linguist born in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
known for having written extensively about the Greenlandic language and having invented the orthography used for writing this language from 1851 to 1973.
He was born to a couple of Moravian missionaries in the rectory of Lichtenau
Lichtenau
Lichtenau may refer to:In Germany:* Towns and municipalities:**Hessisch Lichtenau**Lichtenau, Baden-Württemberg**Lichtenau, Bavaria**Lichtenau, Saxony**Lichtenau, Westphalia* Localities:**Lichtenau, Feuchtwangen**Lichtenau, Lübbenau...
in southern Greenland (today, Alluitsoq). As a youth he went to school in Germany and Denmark studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, as well as Dutch, French, and English, all the while retaining his childhood languages, Danish, German, and Greenlandic. In 1840 he returned to Greenland, after two years he held his first sermon in Greenlandic, speaking it fluently and plainly rather than using old worn out idioms of the previous ministers. He already finished his grammar of Greenlandic in 1845. He sent it to printing at the University of Berlin but it was not be published until 1851. It was exceptional because it didn't use the traditional scheme of the Latin grammar to describe its subject, but rather devised a new scheme more suited for the Greenlandic language. This grammar was also the first work to employ the orthography which became the standard in writing Greenlandic until the reform of 1973. In 1859 he left the Moravian church to join the Church of Denmark
Church of Denmark
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Church of Denmark or Danish National Church, is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland...
. Most of his time in Greenland he served as a teacher rather than as a priest. He also translated the better part of the Bible into Greenlandic. He died in 1886 at 72 years of age in Neu-Herrnhut (today, Nuuk
Nuuk
Nuuk, is the capital of Greenland, the northernmost capital in North America and the largest city in Greenland. Located in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the city lies on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea and on the west coast of Sermersooq. Nuuk is the largest cultural and economic center in...
), having spent the 54 of them in Greenland.