A keen student of languages, Samuel Petrus Kleinschmidt, born 27 February 1814, studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, French, and English, all the while retaining his childhood languages, Danish, German, and Greenlandic. Oh, and in his copious spare time, he also translated parts of the Bible into Greenlandic!
Born of humble beginnings in the rectory of Lichtenau in southern Greenland to missionary parents, Samuel travelled to Saxony in Germany in his youth where he studied before taking an apprenticeship at a pharmacy. In 1837 he began working as a teacher. Perhaps the pharmaceutical business wasn't his style. In 1841 he returned home to Greenland and began giving church sermons in plain, everyday Greenlandic language. Samuel spent the rest of his days in Greenland, preaching, and researching and writing about language. In fact, he invented the orthography (the conventional spelling system of a language) used for writing Greenlandic - a system utilised up until 1973 when it was revised. Samuel Petrus Kleinschmidt died 8 February 1886.
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On 26 November 1964 Greenland issued a stamp commemorating the life's work of Samuel Petrus Kleinschmidt. The stamp was engraved by Czeslaw Slania. This is a lovely engraving. Samuel's eye contain so much passion, drive and focus. And, of course, that awesome beard!
Until next time...
Until next time...
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