33 Facts About Friedrich Kurschat

Friedrich Kurschat was a Prussian Lithuanian linguist and professor at the University of Konigsberg.

Friedrich Kurschat studied the Lithuanian language and published its grammar in 1876 in which he was the first to describe Lithuanian accentuation in detail.

Friedrich Kurschat graduated in 1844 and was ordained as a Lutheran priest.

Friedrich 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.

Friedrich Kurschat was born on 24 April 1806 into a family of a school teacher.

Friedrich Kurschat was the eldest of eight children and received his first education at his father's school.

Friedrich Kurschat later moved to teach in Heinrichswalde where he earned just 70 Prussian thalers a year and to Kalthof.

At age 28, having saved a hundred thalers, Friedrich Kurschat enrolled into a gymnasium in Elblag.

Friedrich Kurschat's studies were interrupted by an illness and he worked for a year as a teacher in Tragheim.

Friedrich Kurschat graduated from the university and was ordained as a priest in 1844.

Friedrich Kurschat was assigned as a chaplain of Lithuanian-speaking soldiers.

Friedrich Kurschat substantially improved the quality of the seminar and published two booklets for its attendees in 1843 and 1849.

Friedrich Kurschat offered the seminar to all students of the university, not just those studying theology.

Friedrich Kurschat visited several Lithuanian activists, including Motiejus Valancius and Antanas Baranauskas.

Friedrich Kurschat was recognized as a professor in 1865 and as honorary PhD in 1875.

Friedrich Kurschat ran in the 1874 elections to the German Reichstag as a candidate of the Prussian Conservative Party but received only 147 votes out of 5,748.

Friedrich Kurschat was similarly unsuccessful in the 1879 elections to the Landtag of Prussia.

Friedrich Kurschat promoted Lutheran religious ideals and supported the German Empire and the Kings of Prussia while criticizing "democratic vomit" directed at them.

Friedrich Kurschat did not believe in the future of Prussian Lithuanians and did not campaign against Germanization.

Friedrich Kurschat believed that the Lithuanian language was destined for extinction and hurried to record it for future studies.

Friedrich Kurschat used spent his summers in Cranz where he died on 23 August 1884.

Friedrich Kurschat was buried four days later in Konigsberg, but his grave has not survived.

Friedrich Kurschat published his studies of the Lithuanian language in German.

Already in 1843, Friedrich Kurschat published a booklet for the attendees of the Lithuanian language seminar.

Friedrich Kurschat did not have a strong linguistic education and therefore was not as technically strong as Schleicher.

However, as a native speaker, Friedrich Kurschat had much better command and understanding of Lithuanian and could provide much more detail than Schleicher.

Friedrich Kurschat was not familiar with Universitas lingvarum Litvaniae, which was published in 1737 and briefly discussed Lithuanian accentuation, and came to his conclusions independently.

Friedrich Kurschat was able to get some government assistance from Prussia and from Austria-Hungary.

In collecting the data, Friedrich Kurschat was assisted by other priests and Lithuanian activists.

Friedrich Kurschat later published smaller hymnals: 64 hymns with 16 sheet music in 1853, a prayer book with 150 hymns in 1854, and 98 hymns for soldiers and students in 1857.

In 1858, Friedrich Kurschat prepared a new edition of the Bible translation into Lithuanian.

In 1843, while still a university student, Friedrich Kurschat published a new edition of a collection of Lithuanian folk songs collected and first published by Ludwig Rhesa in 1825.

For some time, Friedrich Kurschat corrected language of Nusidavimai apie evangelijos prasiplatinima tarp zydu ir pagoniu, a monthly Lithuanian periodical reporting mainly on Evangelical missions in Asia, Africa, and South America.