Friedrich Kurschat

rdf:langString Friedrich Kurschat

rdf:langString Friedrich Kurschat

rdf:langString Friedrich Kurschat

rdf:langString Cranz , East Prussia, German Empire

rdf:langString Noragehlen, East Prussia, German Empire

rdf:langString Grammatik der littauischen Sprache

rdf:langString Linguist, university professor, translator, newspaper editor, Lutheran priest

rdf:langString Friedrich Kurschat (Lithuanian: Frydrichas Kuršaitis; 1806–1884) was a Prussian Lithuanian linguist and professor at the University of Königsberg. He studied the Lithuanian language and published its grammar in 1876 in which he was the first to describe Lithuanian accentuation in detail. Kurschat was born into a family of a poor school teacher and received no formal education until age 28. In 1836, he enrolled into the University of Königsberg where he became an assistant to linguist Ludwig Rhesa. After Rhesa's death in 1840, Kurschat became the leader of the Lithuanian language seminar at the university and held that position for more than forty years. He graduated in 1844 and was ordained as a Lutheran priest. Kurschat published several linguistic studies of the Lithuanian language. His most important work was the grammar of the Lithuanian language published in 1876. He also published two-volume German–Lithuanian dictionary and one-volume Lithuanian–German dictionary. Kurschat was an active translator and editor of various religious texts, including the official edition of hymnal, Lithuanian translation of the Bible, and Luther's Small Catechism. In total, he published about 30 Lithuanian books. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849, Kurschat established a conservative Lithuanian weekly Keleivis (Traveler) and edited it until February 1880. It was one of the very first Lithuanian periodicals.