Alfred Theophil Holder (4 April 1840 – 12 January 1916) was an Austrian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, historian, and librarian. A specialist of Latin literature and Roman history, he is best known for his editions of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

, and

Avianus Avianus (or possibly Avienus;Alan Cameron, "Avienus or Avienius?", ''ZPE'' 108 (1995), p. 260 c. AD 400) a Latin writer of fables,"Avianus" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 5. identified as a pagan. The 4 ...

, as well as for his three-volume lexicon of ancient Celtic languages entitled ''Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz'' (1891–1913).

Biography

Alfred Theophil Holder was born on 4 April 1840 in Vienna, the son of Gottlieb Holder (1806–1845), a painter, and Natalie Rheinboldt. He studied classical and

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at the universities of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, then continued his education in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. From 1863 he worked as a schoolteacher in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was an ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and in

Ladenburg Ladenburg is a town in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies on the right bank of the river Neckar, northwest of Heidelberg and east of Mannheim. The town's history goes back to the Celtic and Roman Ages, when it was called Lopo ...

. In 1867 he joined the Grand Ducal Baden Court and State Library in Karlsruhe, where he became a librarian in 1870. In 1904, he became head of the manuscript department and in 1911 was appointed director.Holder, Alfred
Deutsche Biographie From 1895 to 1918, he authored volumes 3, 5–7 of the ''Die Handschriften der Grossherzoglich Badischen Hof- und Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe'' (The manuscripts of the Grand Ducal Baden Court and State Library in Karlsruhe).
/ref> He died on 12 January 1916 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Selected works

* ''Opera recensvervnt O. Keller et A. Holder'', 2 volumes, 1864-70 (with Otto Keller). * ''Altdeutsche Grammatik, umfassend die gotische, altnordische, altsächsische Sprache'', 1870 (original author:

Adolf Holtzmann Adolf Holtzmann (2 May 1810 in Karlsruhe – 3 July 1870 in Heidelberg) was a German professor and philologist. His name is associated with a Proto-Germanic sound law known as Holtzmann's Law. He studied theology at the universities of Halle and ...

) – Old Germanic grammar;

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

Old Saxon language Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It is ...

s. * ''Waltharius: lateinisches Gedicht des zehnten Jahrhunderts'' (edition of "

Waltharius ''Waltharius'' is a Latin epic poem founded on German popular tradition relating the exploits of the Visigothic hero Walter of Aquitaine Walter or Walther of Aquitaine is a king of the Visigoths in Germanic heroic legend. Epic poetry Walter ...

", original author:

Ekkehard I Ekkehard I ( la, Eccehardus; died 14 January 973), called ''Major'' or ''Senex'' (the Elder), was a monk of the Abbey of Saint Gall. He was of noble birth, of the Jonschwyl family in Toggenburg, and was educated in the monastery of St. Gall; afte ...

, Dean of St. Gall, with

Joseph Victor von Scheffel Joseph Victor von Scheffel (16 February 1826 – 9 April 1886) was a German poet and novelist. Biography He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a retired major in the Baden army, was a civil engineer and member of the commission for regulating the ...

), 1874. * ''De origine et situ Germanorum liber'' (edition of Tacitus) 1878. * ''Q. Horati Flacci opera'', 4 parts (edition of Horace) 1878, with Otto Keller. * ''Einhardi Vita Karoli imperatoris'', (edition of

Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...

) 1881. * ''Beowulf'', 2 parts (edition of "

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

") 1882-84. * ''Baedae Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorvm'' (edition of

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, the Venerable), 1882. * ''Saxonis Grammatici Gesta Danorvm'', (edition of

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

) 1886. * ''Herodoti Historiae'', 2 volumes (edition of

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

) 1886-88. * ''Rufi Festi Avieni Carmina'' (edition of

Avienius Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (sometimes erroneously Avienus) was a Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of Volsinii in Etruria, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi. Avienius is not identical with the historian Fe ...

), 1887. * ''Historiarum liber quintus'', 5 volumes 1887-90. * ''Commentum in Horatium Flaccum'', (edition of

Pomponius Porphyrion Pomponius Porphyrion (or Porphyrio) was a Latin grammarian and commentator on Horace. Biography He was possibly a native of Africa, and flourished during the 2nd century A.D. (according to some, much later). Works His ''scholia'' on Horace, which ...

) 1894. * ''Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz'', 3 volumes. 1896-1919. * ''C. Iuli Caesaris belli civilis libri III'', (edition of Julius Caesar) 1898. * ''Favonii Eulogii Disputatio de Somnio Scipionis'', (edition of Favonius Eulogius) 1901.

References

External links

* 1840 births 1916 deaths Celtic studies scholars Latinists Writers from Vienna Writers from Karlsruhe German librarians Heidelberg University alumni University of Bonn alumni {{Germany-linguist-stub