Hermann Gundert

Dr.
Hermann Gundert
Photograph of Dr. Hermann Gundert
Born(1814-02-04)4 February 1814
Died25 April 1893(1893-04-25) (aged 79)
MonumentsGundert Statue, Tellichery
OrganizationBasel Mission
Known forProselytizing Christianity, Contributions to Malayalam language
Parents
  • Ludwig Gundert (father)
  • Christiana Enslin (mother)
RelativesHermann Hesse (grandson)

Hermann Gundert (Stuttgart, 4 February 1814 – 25 April 1893) was a German missionary, scholar, and linguist, as well as the maternal grandfather of German novelist and Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse. Gundert is chiefly known for his contributions as an Indologist, and compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam (1859), in which he developed and constricted the grammar spoken by the Malayalis, nowadays; a Malayalam-English dictionary (1872), and contributed to work on Bible translations into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in present day Kerala, India. Gundert also contributed to the fields of history, geography and astronomy.[1]

  1. ^ "Achatiyum Aadyakaala Pathramaasikakalum" (Printing, Early Newspapers and Magazines). Madhyamangalum Malayalasahithyavum (Media and Malayalam Literature) Kunhukrishnan, K. Sivasankaran, M.K et al. Thiruvananthapuram: State Institute of Languages, 2000.[clarification needed]