Robert Caldwell

Scottish missionary

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June 22, 2026

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Robert Caldwell was a Scottish missionary and bishop who significantly contributed to the study of Dravidian languages. In 1856, he published A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages. This work was groundbreaking as it demonstrated that the Dravidian languages were not related to Sanskrit, challenging a long-held belief. Caldwell identified 12 Dravidian languages, expanding on the work of earlier scholars like Francis Whyte Ellis. His research laid the foundation for comparative Dravidian linguistics, influencing subsequent studies on the family of languages spoken primarily in southern India.12

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Dravidian languages
The history of the Dravidian languages
Robert Caldwell, the Scottish missionary and bishop who wrote the first comparative grammar of the Dravidian languages (1856), argued that the term sometimes referred ambiguously to South Indian people and their languages; he adopted it as a generic name for the whole family since Tamil…
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Robert Caldwell, the Scottish missionary and bishop who wrote the first comparative grammar of the Dravidian languages (1856), argued that the term sometimes referred ambiguously to South Indian people and their languages; he adopted it as a generic name for the whole family since Tamil…
Read More