Hermann Wilhelm Ebel (10 May 1820 – 19 August 1875) was a German philologist.

Biography

Ebel was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He displayed in his early years a remarkable capacity for the study of languages, and at the same time a passionate fondness for music and poetry. At the age of sixteen he became a student at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, applying himself especially to

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

, and attending the lectures of Böckh. Music continued to be the favorite occupation of his leisure hours, and he pursued the study of it under the direction of

Joseph Marx Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic. Life and career Marx was born in Graz and pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earni ...

. In the spring of 1838 he passed to the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, and there began to apply himself to comparative philology under August Pott. Returning in the following year to his native city, he continued this study as a disciple of

Franz Bopp Franz Bopp (; 14 September 1791 – 23 October 1867) was a German linguist known for extensive and pioneering comparative work on Indo-European languages. Early life Bopp was born in Mainz, but the political disarray in the Republic of Mai ...

. He took his degree in 1842, and, after spending his year of probation at the French Gymnasium of Berlin, he resumed with great earnestness his language studies. About 1847 he began to study Old Persian. In 1852 he accepted a professorship at the Beheim-Schwarzbach Institution at Filehne, a post he held for six years. It was during this period that his studies in the

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

and

Celtic language The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

s began. In 1858 he removed to Schneidemühl, and there he discharged the duties of first professor for ten years. He was afterwards called to the chair of comparative philology at the University of Berlin. He died at Misdroy on 19 August 1875. The most important work of Ebel in the field of Celtic philology is his revised edition of the ''Grammatica Celtica'' of Professor Johann Zeuss, completed in 1871. This had been preceded by his treatises ''De verbi Britannici futuro ac conjunctivo'' (1866), and ''De Zeussii curis positis in Grammatica Celtica'' (1869). He made many learned contributions to Kuhn's ''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung'', and to

August Schleicher August Schleicher (; 19 February 1821 – 6 December 1868) was a German linguist. His great work was ''A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages'' in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European languag ...

's ''Beitrage zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung''; and a selection of these contributions was translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

by Sullivan, and published under the title of ''Celtic Studies'' (1863). Ebel contributed the Old Irish section to Schleicher's ''Indogermanische Chrestomathie'' (1869). Among his other works must be named ''Die Lehnworter der deutschen Sprache'' (1856).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ebel, Hermann Wilhelm 1820 births 1875 deaths Writers from Berlin German philologists Pupils of Joseph Marx German male writers