SCHLEICHER, AUGUST (1821-1868)

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 330 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAR-SCY

SCHLEICHER, AUGUST (1821-1868) , German philologist, was born at

Meiningen

MEININGEN

on the 19th of February 1821, the son of a
medical practitioner. He attended (18351840) the gymnasium at Coburg. In the autumn of 184o he entered the university of

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

as a student of theology, but exchanged

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

in the

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger.
springer
- SPRINGER (Fr. rein)
- SPRINGER, ANTON HEINRICH (1825–1891)
, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

of 1841 for Tubingen. Here he remained two years, and under the influence of the famous orientalist Ewald, relinquished the study of theology for that of languages. Proceeding to the university of

Bonn

BONN

in 1843, he took his

doctor

DOCTOR (Lat. for " teacher ")

's degree in 1846 and established himself as Privatdozent for comparative philology. In 185o he was appointed extraordinary professor of classical philology at the university of Prague, and in 1853 was advanced as

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

professor to the chair of German and comparative philology and Sanskrit. While at Prague he commenced the study of Slavonic languages, and with the assistance of the Vienna

academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

of sciences undertook in. 1852 a journey of scientific research into Prussian Lithuania, the fruits of which were the first scientific examination and description of the character of the Lithuanian language. In 1857 he became professor of philology at Jena, where he lived and worked until his death on the 6th of December 1868. Next to Franz Bopp (q.v.), the founder on the science of language, no German savant left a more enduring stamp of his personality upon this science than
did Schleicher.
His first scientific

work

WORK

, Zur vergleichenden Sprachgeschichte (1848), was followed by Die Sprachen Europas (185o) ; but the book by which he is best known is Kompendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen (2 pts., 1861, 1864; 4th ed., 1876), and a supplementary volume, Indogermanische Chrestomathie (1869). Among his

minor

writings are " Zur Morphologie der Sprache " (in the Memoires de l'academie de St. Petersbourg, 1859) ; Die Darwinsche Theorie and die Sprachwissenschaft (1863, new ed. 1873), Ober die Bedeutung der Sprache fur die Naturgeschichte des Menschen (1865); while in the department of Slavonic and Lithuanian languages the following may be mentioned: Formenlehre der kirchenslavischen Sprache (1852) ; Handbuch der litauischen Sprache (with grammar, reader and glossary, 18561857). Besides Lithuanian legends he published an edition of Christian Donaleitis' Litauische Dichtungen (1865).
See S. Lefmann, August Schleicher (187o) and Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung, vol. xviii.

End of Article: SCHLEICHER, AUGUST (1821-1868)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SAR_SCY/SCHLEICHER_AUGUST_1821_1868_.html">
SCHLEICHER, AUGUST (1821-1868)
</a>

(Previous)
SCHLEGEL, KARL WILHELM FRIEDRICH VON (1772-1829)

(Next)
SCHLEIDEN, MATTHIAS JAKOB (1804-1881)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email