Thorvald Jacobsen Rommestad
Thorvald Jacobsen Rømmestad, born 1832 at his ancestral farm Rømmestad and dead at Sjìgádzé (gẊis-ka-c̃e) 1897, was a Norwegian missionary and linguist. Having early been recognized as a linguistic prodigy and a zealous Lutheran he was only 17 years old when he began his studies of Theology and Oriental languages at Copenhagen University. When he was 22 he left for India already with his mind set on going to Tibet, and after only one and a half year of studying Indian languages at Xrírámpur University he left for Tibet. He stayed for three years in Sjìgádzé learning Tibetan and studying Tibetan Buddhist literature before going on to Hlásá to obtain the Tibetan government's permission to preach the Lutheran form of Christianity in Tibet. He had to wait in Hlásá for five years before obtaining this permission, under which time he was required to study Buddhism. During the following 42 years he left Tibet only for three brief periods, staying mainly in Sjìgádzé where he passed away in 1897 at the age of 65.
