Ferdinand Kittel
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Ferdinand Kittel (born April 7, 1832 in Resterhafe , East Friesland , † December 18, 1903 in Tübingen ) was a missionary for the Basel Mission , who has achieved great merits through linguistic work on the southern Indian language Kannada . His monument is on the "Mahatma Gandhi Road" in Bangalore .
Between the ages of 17 and 21, Kittel attended the Basel Mission seminar. In 1853 he was sent to India. He studied the language and culture of the local population more intensively than other missionaries. This resulted in the creation of the Kannada dictionary. It appeared in 1894 with around 30,000 entries. In 1903 the grammar of the Kannada language was published. In addition, Kittel devoted himself particularly to school lessons.
From 1860 to 1864 Kittel was married to Pauline Eyth from Tübingen, who had been brought to India by the Basel Mission; the couple had two sons. Pauline died in 1864 after spending years in the ministry and for the family. In 1866, while on vacation at home, Kittel met Pauline's sister Wilhelmine Julie, who was eleven years his junior, whom he married a year later, took to India and with whom he had two sons and two daughters.
The Philosophical Faculty of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen awarded Ferdinand Kittel an honorary doctorate in 1896 .
In Dharwad , a district of the Indian state of Karnataka , Kittel's main area of activity, a Christian college was named after him, the "Kittel Science College".
Literature about Ferdinand Kittel
- Wendt, Reinhard [Ed.]: An Indian to the Indians: on the initial failure and the posthumous success of the missionary Ferdinand Kittel (1832–1903), published 2006.
Web links
- Literature by and about Ferdinand Kittel in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kittel, Ferdinand |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German missionary and linguist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1832 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Resterhafe , East Frisia |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 1903 |
| Place of death | Tübingen |