Ziegenbalg, Bartholomaus

Ziegenbalg, Bartholomaus a well-known Protestant missionlry of Germany, was born June 14, 1683, at Pulsnitz, in Lusatia. He studied at Halle, where A.H. Francke enlisted him for missionary service. On November 29, 1705, he left for Tranquebar with his friend Pliitschow. For a time his work was opposed by the Danish officers, but finally he succeeded. Having mastered the language, he translated Luther's smaller catechism, the New Test., and commenced the translation of the Old Test. into the Malabar language. He also founded schools and built chapels there. In 1714 he returned to Europe, to return again to Tranquebar in 1716, where he died, February 23, 1719. He published, Grammatica Damulica (Halle, 1716): — together with J.E. Grundler, he published Theologia Thetica in qua Omnia Dogmata ad Salutem Cognoscendam Necessaria Perspicua Methodo Tractantur, etc. (2d ed. Halle, 1856). — See German, Ziegenbalg und Plutschow (Erlangen, 1868, 2 vols.); Theologisches Universallexikon, s.v.; Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. 2:1491. (B. P.)