Maria Blade Lifting-by Tiling

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maria Klingenheben-of tiling (* 1 February . Jul / 13. February  1886 greg. In Bickern (suburb of Riga ); † 11. November 1974 in Hamburg ) was the first German Afrikanistin .

Live and act

Her parents were the Protestant pastor, senior teacher and later cathedral preacher Wilhelm von Tiling and his wife Maria Kupffer. The couple had a total of twelve children (eight daughters and four sons). Her oldest sister was Magdalene von Tiling .

In 1888 the family, whose ancestors had lived in the Baltic States since the middle of the 18th century , moved to the German Empire. As a result of the so-called Russification measures by Tsar Alexander III. the head of the family saw himself increasingly threatened because of his diverse church and school activities and feared for the future of his children. The father first got a job in Travemünde, but in the same year he moved to the community of Leopoldshall in Anhalt.

After studying French, history and German, Maria von Tiling worked for a short time as a senior teacher in Kurland, which was occupied by Germany. As early as September 1916, she became a research assistant at the Colonial Institute in Hamburg, although the noblewoman had never dealt with the languages ​​of German colonies. After just one year, she was holding a seminar on Swahili, followed by language courses for East Cushitic languages ​​and Bantu languages. After the colonial institute was closed, she got a job at the seminar for African and South Seas languages ​​at the newly founded University of Hamburg.

At the age of 38 she did her doctorate with the dissertation Contributions to the Knowledge of Somali , a phonological study and analysis of texts of the northern Somali language. In addition to teaching and research, the Africanist was also active as a journalist. Your two publications on the Jabárti are still important sources on this Somali dialect.

In 1930 she followed her husband, the orientalist and Africanist August Klingenoben (married in 1927), to Leipzig and gave up her university career. Six years later the family returned to Hamburg. Maria Klingenoben-von Tiling dedicated herself to the household and the upbringing of her daughter. Now and then she accompanied her husband to different countries in Africa and the Orient.

After her husband retired, they both lived secluded in Hamburg, but continued to research actively.

Works (selection)

  • The language of the Jabárti, with special reference to the relationship between Jabárti and Somali . In: Journal of Native Languages . Volume 12, 1921/1922, pp. 17-52, pp. 97-162
  • Jabárti texts . In: Journal of Native Languages . Volume 15, 1924/1925, pp. 50-64, pp. 139-158
  • Somali songs . In: Journal of Native Languages . Volume 27, 1926/1927, pp. 295-304

Literature (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the municipality of Bickern (Latvian: Biķernieki)
personal data
SURNAME Blade lift-from Tiling, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tiling, Maria von (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Africanist
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Bickern near Riga
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1974
Place of death Hamburg