Latin – Kannada Dictionary Goes For Reprint

The Latin-Kannada Dictionary Reverend Charbonnaux compiled in 1861 just got a new lease of life. Reverend Charbonnaux served as Bishop of Mysore. After 149 years, the Latin-Kannada dictionary has gone to reprint again – by the Akhila Karnataka Catholic Christara Kannada Sangha. The Dutch and the Portuguese influenced peninsular India way before the British spread their language here. Even those regions beyond the coast were quite in the grasp of the missionaries.

The reprinted dictionary is available for perusal at the St Mary’s Basilica in Bangalore. It will be in the markets by next month. The dictionary is the second one compiled by the priests of The Paris Foreign Mission Society. The first one, Dictionarium Canarense-Latinum, was compiled by Jean-Marie Auguste Bouteloup in 1855. The two were discovered in the archives of the oldest church in Bangalore, the St Mary’s Basilica.

The mission society had set up in Bangalore, and Father Bouteloup was in charge of it. He has additionally authored over 13 books in Kannada.