Author: RASK, RASMUS KRISTIAN:
Title: Singalesisk skriftlaere. Kolombo 1821 (1822).
Description: . Pp. 16. As issued, uncut. The title page printed several years later in Copenhagen not present here (but supplied in facsimile). With important provenance: Fredrik Peter Jacob Dahl, Danish linguist. With inscription on first page reading that F.P.J. Dahl received this copy from Rask August 11, 1823. First and only edition of this Sinhalese grammar by the famous Danish linguist Rasmus Rask. In this work Rask compares Sinhalese with Sanskrit, Pali, Tamil, Telugi and other Asian languages. He deals with the phonetics, pronunciation, accentuation and numerals. In the introduction Rask explains that very little was known about the Sinhalese language up to this date and therefore Klaproth did not include anything about it in his "Asia Polyglotta" published a few years earlier. Rask travelled to India to study the relationship between the European and Asian languages, and he visited Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for about nine months in 1821/22. We believe the text was printed at Colombo in 1821 or 1822 but that the title page was not printed until 1828 or later in Copenhagen because the printed text on verso of the title is dated 1828. See Rhodes: "The Spread of Printing" Eastern Hemisphere, India, Burma, Ceylon, Burma and Thailand (1969) p. 76. Vater p. 73. Zenker ii 3019.

Keywords: South Asia, singhalese, cingalese, ceylon, sri lanka, asia, asie, asien, asiatic, language, langue, linguistic


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