G Venkatasubbaiah, well-known kannada Lexicographer, dies at 107

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

Bengaluru, April 19, 2021:      G Venkatasubbaish, well-known Kannada lexicographer, died in Bengaluru on Monday. Professor G Venkatasubbaiah, was an authority in grammar and a literary critic. He had compiled 12 dictionaries. Professor G Venkatasubbaiah was also proficient in Kannada literature, poetry, essays and translations. Paying tribute to Professor G Venkatasubbaiah, many people tweeted that his death is a ’’great loss’’ to the literary world. He was 107.

 

Recipient of the Padma Shri, Kannada Sahitya Akademi Award and the Pampa Award among others, G Venkatasubbiah’s contribution to the world of Kannada dictionary science is huge. His works include socio-linguistic dictionaries encompassing Kannada phrases, idiomatic expressions, usages and history of dialects, which are a goldmine for linguists and others.

G Venkatasubbiah was best known for his work on Kannada dictionary science, Kannada Nighantu Shastra Parichaya, which was published about a hundred years after a Kannada-English dictionary was brought out by a German Indologist. Reverend Ferdinand Kittel in 1894.

He was the vice president of the Lexicographical Association of India for 17 years. G Venkatasubbaiah’s column, Igo Kannada, which he had been writing for over a decade in Prajavani, have been compiled into four volumes.

G Venkatasubbiah was born on 23rd August, 1913. At the age of 92, G Venkatasubbiah, had presided over the launch of Srikanthayana - collection of essays and articles on various subjects including Indology, history and archaeology by his teacher S Srikanta Sastri.