Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (13 October 1807 – 3 September 1874) was a German politician who served as prime minister of the Duchy of

Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilometer ...

from 1848 to 1849. He was also a gifted linguist and an authority on the

Manchu language Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...

. He devised a standard romanized transliteration system for Manchu whose creation is often incorrectly credited to his compatriot

Paul Georg von Möllendorff Paul Georg von Möllendorff (17 February 1847 in Zehdenick, Prussia – 20 April 1901 in Ningbo, China) was a German linguist and diplomat. Möllendorff is mostly known for his service as an adviser to the Korean king Gojong in the late nineteen ...

Life

Born at

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

, Hans Conon von der Gabelentz studied finance, law and oriental languages at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

and the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. He entered the civil service in

in 1830 and was promoted to parliamentary and government councillor in 1831. As the ''Landmarschall'' (Country Marshal) in the

Grand Duchy of Weimar Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

since 1847, he was present at the preliminary parliament for

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and then became one of the for the Saxon Duchies. Later, he was interim parliamentary envoy until the dissolution of the parliament in July 1848. At the end of November, 1848, he was named Prime Minister of the Duchy of Altenburg and resigned in August 1849. In 1850, he went to the parliament in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

as a member of the ''Staatenhaus''. In 1851, the ''Landschaft'' of Saxe-Altenburg elected him President. Gabelentz died on 3 September 1874 at his family home at Lemnitz, near Triptis. His son

Georg von der Gabelentz Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz (16 March 1840 – 11 December 1893) was a German general linguist and sinologist. His (1881), according to a critic, "remains until today recognized as probably the finest overall grammatical survey of the Clas ...

also became a famous

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

Work

The fruits of his many years of study are his ''Elémens'' ic''de la grammaire mandchoue'' (Altenburg 1833). In the '' Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes'' (Journal for Oriental Studies, ZMK), which he co-founded. He provided essays about Mongolian and then with Julius Loebe published a new critical edition of

Ulfilas Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionary ...

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 ...

translation of the Bible, together with grammar, a Greek-Gothic dictionary and a Latin translation (Leipzig 1843, two volumes). He later devoted himself to the Finnish language family, as Germany was working on rational principles for the German language at that time. He published a

Mordvin The Mordvins (also Unified Mordvin people, Mordvinians, Mordovians; russian: мордва, Mordva, Mordvins (no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya)) is an obsolete but official term used in the Russian Federation to refer both to Erzyas and Moks ...

grammar in Vol. 2 of his ''Journal'', ''Vergleichung der beiden tscheremissischen Dialekte'' (Comparison of the Two Mari Dialects) in Vol. 4, and ''Grundzüge der syrjänischen Grammatik'' (Essentials of

Permic The Permic or Permian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in several regions to the west of the Ural Mountains within the Russian Federation. The total number of speakers is around 950,000, of which around 550,00 ...

Grammar) soon afterwards (Altenburg 1841). His work covered nearly new linguistic territory for Germany, with his ''Kurze Grammatik der tscherokesischen Sprache'' (Short Grammar of the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

Language) in Höfer's ''Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft der Sprache'' (Journal for the Science of Language) (Vol. 3), ''Beiträge zur Sprachenkunde'' (Articles on Linguistics), the first three issues of which (Leipzig 1852) contained grammars of the Dayak,

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

and Kiriri languages, as well as his ''Grammatik mit Wörterbuch der Kassiasprache'' (Grammar with Dictionary of the

Khasi Khasi may refer to: * Khasi people, an ethnic group of Meghalaya, India * Khasi language, a major Austroasiatic language spoken in Meghalaya, India * Khāṣi language, an Indo-Aryan language of Jammu and Kashmir, India See also * Khasi Hills * Gh ...

Language) (Leipzig 1857). Furthermore, the ''Abhandlungen'' (Transactions) of the ''Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften'' (Society of Sciences) in Leipzig (1860) contained: ''Die melanesischen Sprachen nach ihrem grammatischen Bau etc. '' (The

Melanesian Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to: * Melanesians * Melanesian mythology * Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...

Languages According to their Grammatical Structure, etc.), followed by the second part in 1873, and ''Über das Passivum'' (About Passive Voice) (Leipzig 1860). Finally, he published the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

translation of the Chinese work: ''Sse-schu, Schu-king, Schi-king'', with a Manchu-German lexicon (Leipzig 1864). The ''Mitteilungen'' (Communications) of the ''Geschichts- und Altertumsforschenden Gesellschaft des Osterlandes'' (Society for Historical and Archeological Research of the Eastern Lands) contained many valuable articles by him on knowledge of the history of his closer homeland. After his death, ''Geschichte des großen Liao, aus dem Mandschu übersetzt'' (History of the Great Liao, Translated from Manchu) (

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

1877) appeared. The number of languages which Gabelentz more-or-less thoroughly researched—and which he was the first to have scientifically worked on—numbers over 80. He was a full member of the Academy of Sciences in Leipzig.

Selected literature

* Hartmut Walravens und Martin Gimm (eds.): ''Deutsch-mandjurisches Wörterverzeichnis (nach H. C. von der Gabelentz' Mandschu-Deutschem Wörterbuch)''. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1978. ''in German'' * Klaus Jena: ''Der Sprachforscher Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (1807 – 1874). Eine Reflexion von Olaf Wegewitz anläßlich der Ausstellung im

Lindenau-Museum The Lindenau-Museum is an art museum in Altenburg, Thuringia, Germany. It originated as the house-museum of baron and collector Bernhard August von Lindenau. The building was completed in 1876. The museum's main attraction is its collection o ...

Altenburg "Der Sprachforscher Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (1807 – 1874)". Altenburg: Lindenau-Museum 1998. ''in German'' * Martin Gimm: ''Hans Conon von der Gabelentz und die Übersetzung des chinesischen Romans Jin Ping Mei''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005. ''in German''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabelentz, Hans Conon von der 1807 births 1874 deaths German philologists German orientalists German sinologists Manchurologists People from Altenburg People from Saxe-Altenburg Leipzig University alumni University of Göttingen alumni German male non-fiction writers