Vittus Steenholdt
Vittus Frederik Steenholdt (born August 18, 1808 in Upernavik , † February 13, 1862 in Ilulissat ) was a Danish - Greenlandic catechist , university teacher and translator .
Life
Vittus Steenholdt was the son of the Danish trade assistant Niels Larsen Steenholdt (1766-1822) and his Greenlandic-Danish wife Ane Lyngbye (1767-1830). He turned out to be gifted at a young age and was soon taught in Aasiaat by Peder Kragh , with whom he then lived as a foster son. He was linguistically and musically gifted and from 1826 worked as an organist, catechist, assistant teacher and translator under Kragh. On September 8, 1830, he married in Aasiaat Ane Clara Geisler (1812-1857), daughter of the colonial administrator Johan Christian Geisler (1779-1836) and his Greenlandic wife Karen Nicolaisdatter (1784-1861). In 1840 he was appointed chief catechist in Ilulissat.
In 1845 the seminarium in Ilulissat was opened and Vittus Steenholdt was appointed teacher. Since the director was usually not on site, Vittus Steenholdt was responsible for the work in the seminar. To do this, he translated several textbooks into Greenlandic , the Bible history of Carl Frederik Balslev and large parts of the New Testament . In addition, he wrote the treatise Illerkuksamut imaloneet illuarnermik ajokersout in 1860 (A teaching on morality and righteousness). The seminar in Ilulissat, which was mainly influenced by Vittus Steenholdt, was initially much more successful than the one in Nuuk . The students were mainly taught in Danish. They were well educated enough to be pastors, but in Denmark the appointment of Greenlanders as pastors was viewed critically. After the student Tobias Mørch was the first Greenlander to be properly ordained ( Frederik Berthelsen had been ordained out of necessity around 60 years earlier), the seminary in Ilulissat was closed.
When Samuel Kleinschmidt created the first standardized Greenlandic orthography in 1851, he was clearly influenced by Vittus Steenholdt, whose language skills and his own orthography he valued very much. Among other things, he had sent Kleinschmidt a revised version of Otto Fabricius' dictionary . It is said that Vittus Steenholdt was way ahead of his time.
After his first wife died, Vittus Steenholdt married on August 28, 1857 in Ilulissat Birgithe Charlotte Kristine Sandgreen (1836-1859), daughter of the carpenter Levi Christopher Nicolai Sandgreen and his wife Karen Motzfeldt, a daughter of Peter Hanning Motzfeldt . She died two years after the wedding and Vittus Steenholdt married Mathilde Kristine (1822–1868), daughter of Jørgen Christopher and his wife Caroline, from Greenlanders in Ilulissat on September 21, 1860. Vittus Steenholdt died a year and a half later at the age of 53.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
- ↑ Biography in Biografisk Leksikon for Grønland
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Steenholdt, Vittus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Steenholdt, Vittus Frederik (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish-Greenlandic catechist, university teacher and translator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 18, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Upernavik |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 13, 1862 |
| Place of death | Ilulissat |